The Crown's Obsession

229 Findings- Part 2

He wanted to go right away and meet the maid, but at the same time, he wanted to make sure his father was doing alright as he was sick in the morning. James had to remind himself that there was still time, and there was no need to go looking for the maid who worked in the castle. He didn't even know if the maid would be there in her house, or if she had gone back to work at the castle.

James walked towards the large window of his shop, unlocking it, he pushed it open to get some air. He could wait for tomorrow, he said to himself.

Afterwards, when James was getting his shop closed for the day, locking every door and window before heading out of it with his assistants, the carriage that left from the village of East Carswell had reached the castle of the King of Devon, Calhoun Hawthrone.

The man named Emilio gave the coin for the ride and said, "I will need a ride back to East Carswell later."

"If you have the coin to pay, I am here," said the carriage man in his gruff voice. He took the carriage to park it at the side while his eyes took in the castle that he had only see from outside but never inside.

Emilio didn't wait but walked forward to be stopped by the guard, "I am here to see the King," stated Emilio. The guard sized the man up and down, who had stepped out of the carriage as he had never seen this man here before.

"Wait here," ordered the guard and then went up the stairs, disappearing at the top. Like the carriage man, it was the first time for Emilio to be here. He could not help but look around the place from where he stood. He was excited to be here but more than that he was excited at the reward he was going to get from the King.

After minutes passed, the guard returned to lead him inside the castle. The guard took him to one of the rooms, and asked him to wait there. Emilio didn't have his pocket watch with him to know how many minutes had passed, not that he minded as he was in the castle. It was every person's dream to step in the castle and look at the beauty that it held, from the walls to the items that were used to decorate it. Candles were lit in the room as the evening had passed to welcome the night.

Emilio was fascinated by the vase that was near him that he went to touch it when he heard a deep voice in the room,

"Mr. Canon." The tailorman's assistant whipped his head around to look at the King, who stood tall and proud, but that wasn't what caught his attention. It was those red eyes that looked at him intensely.

The human quickly bowed his head to show respect to the King before going down on his knees to emphasize his emotion, "Hail to the King!" greeted Emilio.

Emilio's eyes widened, and he bowed his head again, "Forgive me, milord for disturbing you at this hour of the day."

"Speak," Calhoun demanded as he was in no mood to beat around the bush right now.

Calhoun noticed how the human's heartbeat had increased out of fear, something he very much enjoyed to do. Humans were such delicate beings that they were similar to birds. There was a time when a man had died because of his rapid and growing heart rate after meeting him. His lips twisted at the memory of it.

"Milord," Emilio began to say, "I am here with the news about Mr. Heathcliff. A man today appeared at the shop, he gave Mr. Heathcliff a parchment."

"And what did that parchment contain?" Calhoun asked, intrigue in his voice.

Calhoun hoped it was something good. Since the time he had spoken to Mr. Barnes about Catherine's marriage to the tailorman, Calhoun had gotten Theodore to have a mole present in the shop.

It was so that Calhoun could get information about James Heathcliff, to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Emilio looked up at the King who looked more dangerous up close, than the time, when the King had made an appearance during one of the executions that took place in the village of East Carswell. "Milord. The man who visited the shop said, it was the address of a maid who worked in the castle. Mr. Heathcliff had asked information about her."

Calhoun's eyes narrowed hearing this, "I am guessing that Mr. Heathcliff is not eyeing another girl while he is going to get married to Miss Barnes."

The human shook his head quickly, "No, my King. It seemed like Mr. Heathcliff wanted to meet her. The man who visited the shop also said something before leaving," Emilio saw the King raise one of his eyebrows in question and he continued, "He said something about not to let anyone know about the rumour of a girl. The rest was spoken in whispers."

Calhoun didn't look pleased. The human had heard part of the conversation, and it seemed like James Heathcliff was up to something, that he believed was related to Madeline. This made him question if he should just kill James so that it would save his time and let everyone move forward with their lives.

"Anything else you heard, Mr. Canon?" Calhoun asked Emilio, "I am curious about what you heard but its too vague. How is the wedding gown coming along?"

"We are working on it, milord. It should be done in a few days," the human answered. Calhoun moved two of his fingers for the person to stand up. As if remembering something, Emilio said, "There has been a rumour that has been going around for a few days. People have been whispering about Miss Harris trying to kill herself."

"Hm?" came the response from Calhoun. Emilio was about to repeat, but Calhoun raised his hand, not wanting to hear the human speak anymore. He heard it clearly the first time, but his question was why the rumour was going around.

His eyes narrowed in realization.

Pulling a gold coin from his pocket, Calhoun said, "Good to know that it wasn't all useless," and he threw the coin towards Emilio for the human to catch it, "You can leave now."

He saw the human bow his head again before making his way towards the door and out of the room. The human was talking about the time when Madeline had fallen from the tower when the glass had disappeared on her touch.

Calhoun's calm face turned grim, his eyes fierce when he wondered which servant of his had dared to speak about the incident outside the walls of the castle without permission.

"Theodore," Calhoun shouted the name, loud and clear. In less than ten seconds, Theodore made his way inside the room. "Find out which maid has gone to visit her home in or around East Carswell."

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