***
Queen Gilsis’ words left Judith frozen, her face drained of color, and the same fear etched onto the faces of those standing nearby.
“Your Majesty!
I have spoken nothing but the truth.
I have only followed your orders.
Why are you doing this to me?”
“Silence!
I took you in, a wretched creature crawling in the dirt from some backwater country, and yet you dare mock me to my face?”
Judith’s shoulders began to tremble violently, her pallor deepening.
Seeing Helen standing there, hesitant, the queen stomped her foot and roared.
“What are you standing there for?
Bring it now!”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty,” Helen stammered, scurrying away.
As she disappeared, the queen turned to the maids, who had been unable to even raise their heads.
At her sharp call, they approached her, bowing low as though begging for mercy.
Queen Gilsis gestured sharply toward Judith and spoke.
“Hold that girl tight.
If you fail to do so properly, I’ll have your necks wrung.”
The maids, unable to defy the queen even at the risk of their lives, exchanged anxious glances before reluctantly stepping forward.
They seized her arms and shoulders, which looked like they could snap with the slightest pressure.
Judith twisted and struggled desperately, screaming, “Your Majesty, this is truly a misunderstanding.
Where is there any evidence that I mocked you?”
“You still haven’t gotten it, have you?
Evidence?
Your little performance— the way you recited those words so boldly, is the evidence.”
It was a nonsensical claim, but no one dared to point that out to her.
Helen soon returned with a long, thick whip made of stiff leather.
It was about the thickness of two or three fingers, gracefully curved, with a small knot at the end.
Queen Gilsis often used it to discipline erring maids.
Judith struggled harder, but the maids held her tight, their strength overpowering hers.
The queen gave a nod, and Helen roughly spun Judith around, ripping the buttons off the back of her dress.
“Your Majesty!”
The fabric of her dress fell open, revealing her thin, underdeveloped back.
Helen, her movements brusque and impatient, seized her by the hair and forced her head down.
Judith squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth.
The taut leather whip slashed through the air with a crack.
“Agh…!”
A stinging pain ripped through Judith’s fragile back, leaving an angry, red welt in its wake.
But Queen Gilsis showed no mercy, swinging the whip again and again, giving Judith no time to breathe.
She struck her with no regard for the fact that Judith was a member of the royal family, or that she was still just a young girl.
Just then, a commotion erupted at the entrance to the chamber.
The heavy doors swung open, and in the blink of an eye, Franz appeared before the queen, interrupting her fourth strike.
“Your Highness!”
The sharp crack of leather tearing through flesh was accompanied by Helen’s scream of terror as she was shoved aside.
Queen Gilsis froze mid-swing, her hand trembling violently.
Her eyes were bloodshot as she glared at him.
It was Franz, surprisingly, who pushed Helen aside and leapt forward to block the queen’s merciless strikes.
The queen was rendered speechless upon seeing the long gash on his face, where he’d taken the blow meant for Judith.
Her lips trembled, “You… you… you dare…?”
“Your Majesty,” Franz began, his eyes blazing with a fire no one had ever seen before, “if my wife has done wrong, it is only right that she be punished.”
It was the first time he had ever looked at her with such fire in his eyes, a man who had endured her cruel abuse since childhood.
Helen scrambled to her feet, rushing to support the trembling queen.
“But is this punishment just?
How can you be so cruel?
Even if she’d committed a crime worthy of death, no one deserves this.”
“You… you dare to speak to me like that?
You!
Who let you in here?
You dare to defend that woman in my presence?”
“Who else will defend my wife’s honor if not me?
Franz retorted.
“This has gone far enough, Your Majesty.
Calm down.
If you are still not satisfied, punish me instead.
You know as well as I do that my wife is not strong enough to endure this.”
Franz, his voice tight with suppressed rage, pushed aside the maids, who were stunned into silence, and scooped up Judith’s unconscious body into his arms.
Her light, fragile weight filled him with a deep churning sorrow.
“Put her down!
Don’t you dare walk out of here with her!
Do you think I’ll just take this abuse sitting?” the queen shrieked hysterically as the doors slammed shut behind him.
Franz ignored the hot trickle of blood down his cheek and ran, carrying Judith.
* * *
Her head felt heavy and fuzzy, her vision blurred.
Still, Judith forced her eyes open, struggling to focus.
The first thing she saw was the dark blue ceiling, adorned with gold and green silk at the edges.
It was like the desert night sky she had once seen in a picture book, a vast, awe-inspiring darkness.
“Your Highness!”
She had barely opened her eyes when a voice pierced her ears.
Marianne, her face streaked with tears, was right beside her.
A long sigh escaped Judith’s slightly parted lips.
Then came her voice.
“Marianne… where are we?”
“A-A-Astell Palace.
H-h-his Highness brought you…!”
“Don’t cry, Marianne.
If someone hears you, they’ll think I’ve died.”
“I thought you really were!
You were unconscious for so long—I nearly swallowed my own tongue from panic!”
Marianne’s face was a mess of tears and snot, but she was yelling at Judith.
Judith grimaced and smiled weakly.
She felt something damp against her back, a sensation she didn’t enjoy.
Now that she had regained consciousness, she felt a burning pain.
“Marianne, my back… it feels strange.”
“It’s medicine.
The healers said you should lie still all night.
You were unconscious and lying on your stomach, so they had no choice but to apply crushed herbs on your back.
Judith, what happened?
How could this happen to you?”
Marianne’s voice, briefly steady, cracked again, choked with emotion.
Judith tried to reach out and stroke Marianne’s flushed face, but her throbbing back made it hard to move her arm.
The sound of leather ripping through the air was still fresh in her ears.
It wasn’t the first time she had fainted from being whipped.
Her shoulders, back, and forearms had turned red, swollen, and bloodied.
The scars had remained, forcing her to wear dresses that covered her neck for a long time.
Even during the stifling heat of summer, she had suffered, unable to wear short-sleeved clothing.
But this time, the pain didn’t feel the same as before.
The pain was no less intense, but she had seen someone shielding her as she lost consciousness.
The familiar scent of his body lingered in the air, and as she faded away, she somehow felt safe.
“You did well, Marianne.
You told His Highness, didn’t you?”
Marianne wiped her wet face with the back of her hand and nodded quickly.
“You were taken to the queen’s chamber, and I felt something was wrong, so His Highness rushed over right away.
He didn’t even hesitate.”
“He didn’t…?”
‘He didn’t hesitate.’
Judith closed her eyes, her vision blurring once more, and smiled faintly.
In truth, she hadn’t truly believed he would come when she asked Marianne to call him.
She had her doubts, considering the queen’s relentless hostility toward him.
She figured he would pretend not to hear Marianne, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Even so, she had told Franz about it because she wanted him to see what the queen had done to her.
She hoped to spark even a flicker of vengeance in him.
It seemed better for him to nurture a thirst for revenge, however small, than spiral into madness driven by fear and aimless fury.
He could repay the queen, tenfold, a hundredfold, for the smallest harm she had done.
But Franz had defied her expectations and rushed to the queen’s chamber.
Not only that, he had brought her back.
He knew it would further enrage the queen, yet he chose to do it anyway.
His decision astonished her, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“Where is His Highness?”
“He watched you get treated, then went to get treated himself.
And a Duke Berzi came by and yelled and stormed off.”
“Is His Highness hurt?”
Judith tried to sit up, but the pain in her shoulder made her bite her tongue.
Marianne rushed to her side and gently pushed her back down.
“You can’t get up.
The healers said you have to stay still for today.”
“Why is His Highness getting treated?
Where is he hurt?”
“Well, it’s his face.
Here… around this area…”
Marianne, looking embarrassed and fidgeting, traced a line from her temple to her ear.
Judith’s face turned white, prompting Marianne to quickly add, “B-but it’s not a visible spot.
And it’s not a deep wound.
He’ll be fine if he just applies medicine and takes good care of it.
He won’t get a scar or anything.
So please don’t worry too much.”
“I need to see His Highness.
Help me up.”
“No, Your Highness!
His Highness ordered you to stay put, no matter what!
Even if he hadn’t, you can’t get up now.
Even if you locked me in a dungeon for three hundred years, I wouldn’t let you.”
Judith clenched her teeth and glared, but Marianne held her ground.
In the end, Judith conceded.
She buried her sweaty cheek in the pillow and mumbled, “I would never lock you in a dungeon, not even if you committed a crime worthy of death.”
“So please, just rest a little longer.
I’ll be here.
Okay?”
A cool, damp cloth gently wiped Judith’s forehead.
Her lips moved as if to speak, but she closed them again.
Instead, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.