Chapter 56 - Evidence Elimination

"Mother!" Michael moaned as he encountered his mother at the entrance of his chamber.

He was trying to go out and get his head clear. He would then visit the king. That was what he had planned to do as all the situation seemed unmanageable for him.

"Michael, where are you going?" Queen Teresa shoved him back in.

"I am going to the range and then to check on father" he said truthfully.

"I think you will have to suspend that. Where is Martha?" Queen Teresa sounded serious?

"I hope there is no problem" Michael asked.

"Problems. There is a lot of it. Where is your guest" she was already moving towards her corner.

"I think she might be taking a nap" Michael didn't want his mother to bother her.

"I am not bothering her. Just have to ask her some questions" she assured him.

"My Lady, you want to see me. You should have just sent for me" Martha smiled as she dashed out toward them.

"I just want to ask you a question" she repeated.

"And I will answer all of it truthfully" she continued smiling.

"You gave Michael here a potion to use on the king?" she asked straight.

Martha stared at Michael instead of answering her.

"Give me answers now. I have different questions for him" she asserted.

"Mother. Yes. She gave me some potion to use on myself not the king. And if I may ask, how did you get that information?" he asked.

"I am not here to answer your questions. But to ask you" she maintained. "You use the potion and visited the King,isn't it, Michael" she turned to him.

"Yes. But...." Michael knew where she was headed. He had already thought about that too and he was wrong.

"The thing you put on your body is the cause of the King's ailment" she said exactly what Michael was thinking.

"I know that is what you are going to say. If the potion on my body is killing the King. Why am I still alive?" he asked smiling?

"She will tell us how she did that" Queen Teresa said strictly. She wasn't ready to listen to Michael. "Guards!!" she yelled.

Some guards up to six in number rushed in. They held Martha forcefully.

"Six guards?" Michael turned to his mother in amazement. "Isn't that too much for her?" he questioned.

"Michael, she is not who we think she is" Queen Teresa walked outwards.

Michael laughed as he remembered those words. Julia had earlier said something like that.

"You let that girl influence you, Mother" he laughed again. "Do not make the same mistake I made" he advised.

"Martha, I will get you out safe. Do not worry" Michael assured her.

"She is not getting out anywhere unless you are going to join her because both of you had committed a great crime that deserves a death penalty" Queen Teresa asserted.

"Mother?" Michael couldn't believe his ears. His mother was mistaking. "You are not going to kill her on the words of a maid. You won't want that to happen" he smiled.

"I can't kill both of you because I am your mother. But your Queen can and she will" she stated strongly.

"I swear I don't know anything about the king's ailment" Martha cried bitterly.

"I will advise you to produce the antidote if you want to live" Queen Teresa suggested. "Take her away" she commanded the guards.

"No you can't take her" Michael obstructed them.

"Michael get out of the way now" Queen Teresa was serious.

"No. She goes nowhere" he asserted.

"Do you know why there are six guards in here. Two for her, Four for you if you are protecting her" she explained. "Guards, if he resisted. Take him along" she ordered

Michael moved aside immediately. He would not be able to save her if they were both locked up.

"A wise decision" Queen Teresa nodded.

"Martha, stop crying. I will make sure she understands everything she was missing" he promised her as they dragged her away.

Michael was extremely angry. Julia kept overstepping her boundaries. He needed to teach her deserved lessons.

His problem had increased with Queen Teresa now on Martha's neck.

Martha was paying for his sins, he thought. She was just trying to help him and now she was caught within.

He would need to find the cause of his father's sickness to convince his mother.


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"Michael" Julia called softly.

Michael was sitting down with his head buried in both hands. He was obviously devastated. He didn't even realize someone had entered.

"Michael" she called him again.

"You?" he lifted up his head and looked in her eyes. "She has arrested Martha and she might be killed" he narrated.

"You mean you haven't seen all that is happening?" Julia was surprised. She thought Michael would have realized all that was happening around him.

"What should I see, that you are the saint and you are protecting me. That's Martha out there. She is going to be killed for helping me" he said sadly.

"No, Michael" she moved closer to him. "Martha is not helping you. She is using you. I don't know why you trust her so much but this isn't hard to understand. She want to use you in killing your father" she said slowly hoping to reach him.

"Why would she want my father dead? Why? Julia. You hated her and you have gotten her to the verge of death pit. That is what I understand!" he exclaimed.

"We should worry about your father. He is dying. I don't think you know this. If he does now, you will be killed and if you are not killed. You will have to forget about the throne" she explained.

"My father won't die. And I don't think you know this. You are still alive because I haven't find the cause of his sickness. Once I find that, and Martha is acquitted. I will kill you" he threatened.

Julia was surprised. She wouldn't believe Michael could say that. She hoped Martha had not getting anything on him.

"Then let's find it together but not only the cause but the cure as well" she tried to hide her disappointment but tears still found a way to stream down her eyes.

Michael ignored her. He stood up.

"I think I know who is doing all this. It is James" she disclosed.

"James is out somewhere brooding heavily on the loss of his friend" he asserted.

"If I had been killed the same way Harold was killed. Will you go out somewhere and be brooding?" she asked.

Michael was silent. That was really hard for him to answer.

"Tell me, Michael. What will you do?" she pressed on.

"No. I will be busy planning a revenge because I wouldn't have discovered the real you at that time" he said forcefully.

Julia was embittered by the way Michael kept shading her. She just wouldn't let that stop her. She was determined to save him.

"Then why won't he plan, why will he be brooding? Think Michael, think" she advised him.

"You are saying James is using Martha to get to me?" he laughed. It seemed he didn't buy that.

"Yes. James will come back soon and he will arrest you for killing your father. He will sentence you to death" Julia revealed.

Michael paused. It seemed he was moved by what she just said.

"He can't just pass a death sentence on me. He will need evidence. So what you are thinking is not possible" he threw away her idea.

"Yes. It is not possible if we didn't let him get his hand on any evidence or we stopped your father from dying" Julia explained.

"If I understand you well. There is something somewhere that will connect my father's death to me after he dies?" Michael sought for clarification.

"The somewhere might be probably be in this chamber" Julia looked round and shook her head.

"If you are to search for anything that could implicate someone. Where will you search?" Julia asked to support herself.

"The bedchamber,the bedchamber!" Michael seemed to have that screaming in his head. He moved into his bedchamber quickly and searched under his bed.

He brought out his shirt. It seemed the shirt was wounded around something. He separated it hurriedly and a vial fell to the ground.

"What is that?" Julia asked immediately.

"This is same as the vial Martha gave me" he picked it up and removed the cork. He nearly threw up from the disgusting stench from the vial.

"It is the same as that one" he announced.

"Did you put it there?" Julia covered her nose.

"No. She said she didn't have any left. She must have put it here" he concluded.

"Let's get that tested by the physician to know if it has to do with your father's sickness" Julia advised.

"No. It is clear to me. It is a good thing I found it myself" he held out the vial and stared at it.

"Martha, why?" he moaned.