The Princess desperately knocked on the side door to the castle, hammering the metal bearing repeatedly. Its clanging sounds rang through the air, and we waited a few moments. When no answer came, the Princess began to furiously bang it again.

Finally after a few more seconds, with the clicking of locks, the door slowly opened and a bald head popped out.

"What insolence, have you no decour? Immediately get off the premi-." He stopped, eyes growing wide.

"Princess! My apologies! But, how!" He opened the door fully and looked at us bewildered. "I thought your Highness was at the raid. It isn't the twelfth yet." He only gave me a cursory glance before looking behind me, and when he saw no one else, questioned the princess.

"Princess, you must explain what has happened! Princess?"

I couldn't see the Princess's face, but I saw her shoulders begin to move up and down. Slowly, sniffling sounds began to sound from her, until eventually, she began to ball her eyes out.

"Uncle Ferdinand! I.. I… " she began to say in between tears, "The dragon, it… it…destroyed everyone." She couldn't finish her thoughts.

This was a distant relative of Princess Isadora, a butler who served the royal family, but she considered him an uncle. Even growing up, she was raised by a nanny, but lacking a father figure, he was the next closest thing.

He waved her into the house with his gloved hands, saying, "Quickly come in Princess, don't stay in the cold. I will bring the Queen immediately, your highness can explain to her what happened"

The Princess nodded and entered the castle. When I began to follow her, he stuck out an arm, blocking my path. I feigned ignorance and simply acted like any good slave would act, and blankly stared up at him. Unlike the warm and worrying eyes he had looked at the Princess with, he merely had cold indifference on my face. After a couple of seconds, he stared deep into my eyes, as if trying to find something like a weirdo, before swishing around and following the princess I followed too.

This side door, located left of the main entrance where other entrants would enter, led to a separate corridor apart from the main one, and it was used mostly by servants. The Princess continued to walk, the butler leading the way, and me following. 

We finally reached an inconspicuous door, and the butler opened it for us. We emerged out of one of the walls, in which the door blended in as if there was nothing there. We had come to a main corridor, the floors padded with velvet walls decorated with expensive blue paint and gold. Lanterns, the newest technology, lighted the place up.

I recognized it as the corridor to the throne hall, and the Princess, who I imagined knew as well, sped up her pace and now began to run. I limped along, following both of them. The butler sped up as well but continued to walk in a dignified fashion.

Reaching two double giant doors, elaborately decorated with engravings and gold, the Princess burst into the room. When she caught sight of the person sitting on the throne on the opposite side, she yelled out, "MOTHER!!"

As I entered the room behind her, I gained sight of the person whom the Princess called mother, and my mind blanked for a couple of seconds, my heart skipping a beat. 

She was an older version of the princess, with blond hair, green eyes, with a more mature charm that seemed to be able to gain the attention of anyone. She seemed to be in her thirties, I knew she was older, but her appearance did not say so. Sitting on the throne, almost lazily, her eyes glinting with a dangerous light even I could see from far away, with her legs crossed. She wore bright red robes which seemed to accent her curvy body and a golden crown.

As the butler stood to the side of the door, I did the same after a couple of seconds. I don't know why I was acting like this. I had seen the Queen multiple times, but I had not felt like this, much less anything. I shook my head to try to clear my thoughts and kneeled down on the floor toward the Queen, as expected of a slave. 

The Princess, who had continued to run forward, finally reached the throne, yelling out again, "Mother!"

"Silence."

Though I couldn't see, I could imagine the face of the Princess, as I saw her falter and then stop moving altogether.

"What is this unsightly behavior? Behave and stand correctly."

The Queen's red lips seemed mesmerizing, her voice husky, as if she had just woken up. She uncrossed her legs, leaned forward, and stared at the princess.

"Isadora. A princess must act proper at all times. What would happen if a subject saw this behavior?"

I could see the shoulders of the princess scrunch up, and for a second remain, before I saw it fall down, releasing all of her energy. Her sniffling stopped.

"There, that's better." The Queen leaned back again against the throne, crossing her legs again, and looked at her hands as if there was something interesting. "So, why are you back so early from the raid? And where is that useless son of mine? He should have come back with you, no?" She turned her head.

The Princess responded with a more steady voice, like the one I was so used to her talking in. "Mother, the dragon… it was all going well until the dragon used some kind of spell and cut off our mana and-"

"Cut off your mana? That's not possible."

"You have to trust me mother, it happened. All our artifacts failed to activate to, and when it suddenly spit out fire into the sky and rained it down, like a spell or something-"

"A dragon casting a spell? That's unheard of too." She looked up from her hands. "Are you sure you were not hallucinating?."

"... No, I am sure. And I don't know what happened after that. My slave, " she pointed toward me, "got me out of there and brought us to the city with the carriage. He claims he couldn't find anyone else."

After the Princess stopped talking, silence permeated the air as the Queen sat still as if thinking. A couple of moments later, she motioned with her hand toward the butler. "Bring the slave here."

Me? I questioned in my head before the butler grabbed me roughly and pushed me toward the front. I stumbled forward, and when I reached the princess, I crashed down onto my knees, facing the Queen. When I slowly raised my head, my eyes met hers. 

"Command the slave to speak" the Queen commanded, and Princess Isadora turned toward me.

"Answer all of the queen's questions."

I bowed my head and replied, "Yes Princess. Then, I turned back toward the Queen, waiting for her to speak. For a few seconds, she stood looking at my face, then she spoke.  

"Slave. Explain exactly what happened with the dragon.."

I thought back to the last scene I had witnessed, one where Matthias was clearly taking the side of the dragon. I thought for a second, but I decided not to mention it. There was nothing good that could happen from reporting it, and if I did, it would merely lead to me probably getting interrogated by a soldier. I mean, it was probably me hallucinating from the pin right? How could a hunter become partners with a dragon, much less work with it? And why would Matthias do that in the first place?

"Your majesty, I do not know. I escaped as soon as I recovered the princess. I couldn't find the prince, so I left with the carriage toward safety." I said. 

"Hmmmm." She tapped her chin in thought. "And how did you, a mere healer, get out of there with the dragon still there? If it was able to wipe out the party, it could have easily killed you. " She turned her face again. "Is there anything else?"

"No, Your Majesty, there was nothing else. Although," I paused, " the hunters might have survived as well, I recommend looking for them."

She then stared at me again, and sweat began to roll across my back. Had I said something wrong? I bowed my head to the ground, and again, I could only see the blue of the carpet of the ground. I heard a swishing sound above me, and when I looked up, the Queen was slowly walking toward me and the princess. 

Her footsteps were elegant coming down the stairs, calmly, as if she had no care in the world. I looked down again and closed my eyes.

After a few moments, I sensed she had come near me, then suddenly I felt the touch of a warm hand on my chin. It raised my head up, up until when I opened my eyes, mine met the ones of the Queen. Her green eyes were mesmerizing, and closer, her mature charm had increased further. Though I felt a bit of deja vu and my heart started to beat faster, I maintained a facade of no reaction.

"Your slave has a handsome face," she suddenly said, turning toward the princess, "I don't remember when we bought him, but he was clearly a good purchase. Hmmm. It's a pity," she released her hold, "his face isn't going to be the same when the interrogators finish with him."

Interrogators? My mind froze, and the Queen spoke to the butler. "Carry him away to the back rooms."

Why was I going to the back rooms? They were the places where the interrogators operated, revealing the secrets of any poor soul who made it to their rooms. I hadn't said anything wrong.

For the first time, my emotionless face broke for a second, and I glanced at the princess. She had risen up, but unlike what I had hoped, she held an expression of confidence.

"Worm obviously has no secrets, the interrogators won't find anything anyway. Why are we sending him?" She questioned.

"It is always best for a queen to remain utmost cautious and have a 100 percent certainty about everything. Otherwise, someday, you will be killed by the ones closest to you." the queen said.

"Well, okay. It's fine if his face is a little malled, but can you ask them to not go so hard?". 

"Do not worry too much about the slave"

I nearly broke down. When my life was going to be in danger, the only thing she cared about was my face. I had so many secrets to hide! If they discovered that I had escaped the drug, I would be done for. My body froze now too. I couldn't decide whether to run. hide, or kill myself.

Soldiers had already entered the room. The queen and princess turned and began to walk toward the throne, both talking about something I couldn't hear in my state. I wanted to turn around, to run, but something, I don't know fear and helplessness, stopped me. Finally, two arms grabbed me by my shoulders, and I began to be carried away.