Robert

She gestured with her hands and someone was dragged in. We were at the top of the gallery so it would take them a few minutes to get to us, but I could see it was Robert. I didn’t have to see his face to know that. I glanced at Charles briefly and he avoided my gaze. That was all I needed to confirm that he had told on me. How could he? I came to him out of respect for our former friendship. I felt it wouldn’t be proper to report his woman to the council without informing him first. But I had been wrong. He had collected the evidence and most likely handed it over to Megan.

The leaders were present. It would be impossible for Robert to deny his involvement with me if he was questioned. Besides, Megan wouldn’t choose such a place to make a scene if she wasn’t certain she had everything under control. Robert must have already confessed. He was badly bruised. This was the perfect way to humiliate me. It would definitely make the headlines by tomorrow morning.

I kept my expression as neutral as possible. Looking guilty would mean I was admitting to the crime. I couldn’t afford to do that. How do I get out of this mess?

Someone suddenly bumped into the guards as they approached. I looked closer and sighted a very familiar red bun. It was Eve. What was she doing? The alteration lasted a few seconds as Isabella ran over to pick her up from the floor where she had fallen. She looked really confused as Isabella carried her away. Everyone turned their gaze back to me soon enough. The brief scene had only been a minor distraction.

The guards finally arrived and Robert was thrown to the floor mercilessly. He gave a painful grunt upon landing, but lay very still. If I hadn’t heard his grunt, I would have thought he was dead.

“This is your proof? He is barely alive,” I shouted, infuriated. How could she hurt Robert like this?

“You seem to care so much for this thing Archie, do you recognise it?”

“Of course,” I replied. “He was once a member of my household.” I couldn’t lie in front of the Leaders. Thankfully, the answer to that question wasn’t so implicating.

“He just admitted his connections with this thing, 1st leader,” Megan said with a wicked grin on her face.

“That wasn’t an admission of a crime, Megan. For your own good, I hope you aren’t wasting our time and disrupting this beautiful ball with this mess on baseless theory such as this,” the 1st Leader chided.

“This parasite have admitted to being the 10th healer’s little thief when I questioned it,” she replied defensively.

“Then we will have it speak,” the 1st Leader responded.

The entire hall went silent as everyone waited patiently to hear what Robert had to say. I glanced upwards towards the ceiling briefly, then glared at Megan. She had a huge grin on her face. I looked away immediately. She had really got me this time and had gone out of her way to have as many witnesses as possible.

“Parasite, what have you done?” the 1st leader asked.

Robert remained silent. Poor man, with what had been done to him, he could barely move more so speak.

“Compel it,” the 1st Leader ordered her eldest daughter.

This was bad. Compulsion was the scariest gift the Leaders possessed. It’s what had earned them their position as second in command to the royals. They could compel you to speak the truth. It was different from detecting lies because that only involved reading your pulse to gauge when it was behaving abnormally. I was told that the truth had a certain pulse range. Under compulsion, you would be forced to answer whatever question was asked truthfully. It was impossible to fight it. The only time a compulsion could be resisted was if the person being compelled was stronger than the compeller. The royals were naturally immune to compulsion, they were the only exception to the rule.

“I stole it” Robert admitted.

Lady Arya gave me a snide glance then continued her questioning.

“Who ordered you to?” she asked

“No… one my Lady, no one. I needed some money, so I stole it to exchange it for some cash” he replied.

Wait a minute, this wasn’t right. I ordered him to steal those documents.

Megan staggered backwards in shock. She glanced at me accusingly before shaking her head aggressively

“That’s impossible. It can’t be. It’s lying” she screamed hysterically.

“Just shameless! How dare you imply my compulsion was ineffective stupid woman” Lady Arya chided

“No, no, no, you don’t understand,” Megan insisted. “He has already admitted it to me”

Poor Megan. She looked so confused. I was just as confused, but I kept my expression neutral.

“Am not surprised it did,” lady Arya’s younger sister chimed in, “just look at what you did to it, it would admit to any crime just so you could leave it alone. You know very well it’s impossible to lie under compulsion or has your foolishness gotten to your brain”

“That’s enough!” Charles said. He had been quiet the entire time.

He met my gaze for the first time, then turned over to the Leaders. “The misunderstanding has been cleared already. There will be no more drama.”

“My Liege, aren’t you curious to know what was even stolen,” the 1st leader asked

“There would be no word on this incidence anymore. No one will speak of this in and out of this hall ever,” He said in a loud authoritative voice. Everyone got the memo and dispersed.

“Archie, this is just a little misunderstanding. You would not take it to heart”

So he was protecting her. I wasn’t stupid enough to push my luck.

“Of course, my liege. I was shocked she would accuse me of such a thing. I’m just grateful I have been vindicated from all of this.”

Turning to the leaders, I gave them a slight bow then then glanced at Megan. The poor woman was still in shock. I glanced down at Robert who lay lifeless on the ground. He needed to be treated immediately. I could sense he was dying.

“Take this parasite to the harvesting grounds,” Charles ordered, disrupting my line of thoughts.

“My liege, please show mercy,” I pleaded.

“I won’t have you beg for it. It admitted to stealing from its owner, it will die.”

“But...”

Suddenly, the sound of something crashing caught my attention. I traced the source of the sound to a little group not too far away from us. To my dismay, Eve was at the centre of the group. Isabella held her up with a worried expression on her face as a couple more people fanned her.

I ran over to them immediately. “What happened?”

“She suddenly collapsed,” Isabella replied frantically.

I checked her pulse. It seemed fine. She must have fainted out of shock.

“Take your ward home. She must have been frightened by all of this,” Charles said, coming from behind me.

I glanced back at Robert one last time, then did as I was told.

This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have gotten him involved in the first place. Now, I was the reason he was going to be killed.