The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Music Recommendation: The Thrombey Family Theme by Nathan Johnson

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On the other side of the castle, Lucy sat in one of the rooms all alone by herself holding a glass in her hand. She sat on the chair, in front of the large semi-circle window that started from the room's floor. The window had thin grills on it. Since morning, the clear window had turned foggy because of the cold temperature.

The vampiress stared at nothing in particular, her red eyes hollow like the weather which was gloomy right now. Lucy had isolated herself from her family and other people in the castle so that she could spend alone time with herself. She had also refused to spend time with her husband since a few days. Lucy couldn't look at him. Knowing the things he did to her, she had been in shock, and it took her days to process it.

Relationship with her husband and her family members loosely hung by a thread as she didn't know whom to believe and whom to side with. Being the former princess, and being the sister of the King, she had to abide by the words that were ordered by the King. Her cousin Markus, someone whom she knew before Calhoun had entered the castle was dead, and there was nothing that could be fixed because of the treason he caused. Even his family had been forbidden to enter the castle.

She had lost her parents right after she got married. Decades had passed, but the pain and confusion of what took place years ago still haunted her. She wasn't able to forget the sight of her parent's body that was found in the undercrofts of the castle covered in blood.

The door to the room she was in opened, and in came the person, walking towards her to stop behind her.

Lucy didn't have to turn to see who it was, "Is it true what Aunt Rosamund said?" her face had turned pale because of the lack of intake of blood and her voice was nothing less to a whisper which was heard by the person.

"Did you kill mama and papa?" she asked, and Calhoun who stood behind her had a sullen look on his face.

Calhoun had the opportunity to spin more lies and weave innocent Lucy in his web of lies like many other times before, but for once, he didn't reply to her right away.

Instead, he asked, "What do you think?"

"Does it matter what I think when something has already happened, brother Calhoun," asked Lucy, her voice sad, "I am tired of being lied to by people whom I care and love. Tired that all these years, people have done nothing but hide things from me like I am a child, lied to like it is nothing big." She hadn't turned to look at Calhoun, and she continued to stare at the large glass in front of her.

"Have you considered it might be because people wanted to protect you and didn't want you to be part of the world that doesn't go well with you," asked Calhoun, his tone calm and collected.

Lucy shook her head, "Isn't it something people should let me decide? When I was small, it was mother and father who decided things for me. Then Theodore decided," Calhoun's eyebrows raised, wondering if Lucy was going to speak about what was between the two of them which no one knew properly as it was always kept under wraps. "He decided I should get married to Samuel, and I did. And then Samuel decided what was to be hidden from me."

"What did Samuel hide?" Calhoun asked, not knowing what Lucy wanted to get to. He was the kind of person who spoke things directly, but now that his half-sister was questioning, he let her get there.

Lucy got up from the chair she was sitting on, and she turned around to meet Calhoun's eyes, "You knew what he was doing. I know it because Theodore is loyal to you and he saw it. He knows. Why didn't you tell me?" she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Every time you came to visit the castle, you liked to tell people how good your husband is and how much love you both are in, but I am guessing now it was only to rub it against Theo's face. Am I right?" questioned Calhoun to have Lucy's jaw tick. It was very rare to see Lucy get angry or upset about something, and now she was genuinely upset.

"That isn't reason enough, brother Calhoun," she shook her head once again. She closed her eyes, feeling the embarrassment of what she said and what was going on behind her back.

"Tell me, Lucy. Why haven't you confronted it with Samuel if you are upset about what he did? Why wait?" Calhoun's intelligent eyes stared into Lucy's eyes, "Yes, I have known about it for some time, but he's been smart when it comes to cleaning the traces. It just happens that he was sloppy this time and you caught him. You were happy, and it seemed like he was treating you well, I didn't want you to feel wronged."

Lucy had always believed Calhoun. Therefore it was hard for her to hold him to be responsible when he was speaking about her happiness, "What about our parents?" her question had a lot of emotions in it as she waited for him to answer.

"Do you want the truth that will hurt and scar you forever, or do you want a lie that will save you from the angst and let you live the way you have been living?" Calhoun wanted to give Lucy an option, one which their father and her mother didn't give her. Being brought up in the vampire household, one who belonged to the royal family, she was a sheltered princess who knew no difficulties as she had never gone through it.

Lucy and Sophie were brought up similarly. They were given everything, and they didn't have to go through difficulties, they were both molded by their mothers to behave in a certain way. The only difference was that while Sophie wanted more than what she had, Lucy had grown up to be content with what she had.

With being lied to all this time, Lucy said, "I want the truth. Nothing but pure truth without being sugar-coated."

Calhoun stared at Lucy for a second more before saying, "Yes, I was the one who killed them." Tears burned in Lucy's eyes, and it rolled out of her red eyes before falling on the ground. She took a deep breath. Seeing Lucy still here in the room, willing to listen more, he said, "You have heard the part where my mother was a mistress of our father, but you didn't hear what happened to her when she was here and after she was thrown out of the castle."

"You killed grandmother," Lucy whispered, her eyebrows furrowing deeply. Calhoun gave her a nod, and Lucy turned away from him. Though she didn't know what her grandmother did, somewhere, Lucy knew it was Calhoun's work, who had set the older vampiress death in the dungeon.

"They deserved death, and if you turned back the time, I wouldn't have it any other way," confessed Calhoun.

Lucy felt her head hurt, and she said, "Thank you for telling me the truth after all these years. I would now like to be excused."

Calhoun didn't stop her, and he gave her a nod. Lucy didn't wait and walked towards the door, pulling it open to find Theodore standing outside. When she pushed the door, her eyes fell on him, and her expression turned to one of anger before she left without another word.

Theodore stepped inside the room, seeing Calhoun standing in front of the large-sized window.

"She was upset and angry. Do you think she will be alright?" asked Theodore. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea, to tell the truth to Lucy.

"I don't know," Calhoun exhaled air out of his lips.

Theodore had a frown on his face. He was standing outside, listening to their conversation when Lucy stormed out of the room, giving him a look as if it was him who had killed her parents and not Calhoun.

"Let us see what reaction it gets now," hummed Calhoun, and Theodore raised his eyebrows. Did Calhoun speak to Lucy to catalyse a reaction?