"Everything changed when Lady Sarowa ca into the palace. The royal family had a lot of bastard children, but that was normal. Their mothers were paid off to stay away, or they knew better to approach."
Phari sucked in a quick breath.
"But Lady Sarowa made sure the king never forgot about Nikun. She hauled him everywhere, even when his siblings made it clear they didn’t want him sharing their lessons." Phari shook her head sadly. "All the boys were bigger and older than him, and even the girls didn’t like him, because that would have made them a target."
She continued, "Truthfully, Your Highness, I felt very sorry for him. Back then, he was only a young boy that barely ca up to my knee."
"Was there any sibling he was particularly close to?" Daphne asked, and every eye turned towards her. Phari’s words confird that Nikun’s mother made sure everyone knew her son, which ant Nikun wasn’t lying about that part, but she had to know if Nikun’s sob story about his sister was real.
Phari frowned. "I’m not too sure... there might have been a princess or two that was close to him. But if they were, they would have kept it a secret for fear of retaliation. And I wasn’t close enough to them to know for sure. I was only in charge of scrubbing the floors."
"Do you know anything about Princess Eiko?" Daphne asked again, trying her best not to lose hope. It wasn’t a flat-out no, but Phari’s words did not instill her with a lot of confidence.
Phari blinked in surprise. "Yes, I do, Your Highness. But how do you know her? She’s not common knowledge, even among Santok’s own people."
"Nikun told about her. He claid that they were close."
Phari furrowed her brows. "It is possible, but I cannot confirm it. The seventh princess rarely interacts with anyone. It is said that her birth brought bad luck to the royal family."
"Oh," Daphne said, her mouth suddenly turning dry. That would explain why Nikun was so worried about his sister’s marriage.
It was strange, but she imdiately felt a kinship with Princess Eiko from Phari’s words. She knew all too well how it felt to be ostracized in her own family and kingdom.
Was that the reason why Nikun gravitated towards her more than anyone, allowing her to know more about his life? Perhaps he just missed his family, and Daphne was the closest person he could find as a replacent.
And Daphne did nothing as he was hauled off to the dungeons.
Atticus caught Daphne’s pained expression and cleared his throat. While he didn’t mind Nikun’s brief visit to the dungeons, he also didn’t want Daphne to be upset over sothing she could not control.
"Sunshine, he could be lying to you." Atticus didn’t want to play the villain, but he had to point things out. It seed awfully convenient that Nikun just happened to say the right things to tug at Daphne’s heartstrings.
"Perhaps he purposely sold you the story of caring for this particular sister, since she has a similar past to you. Maybe he picked her out of everyone else because there is a lesser chance of anyone contradicting his story. Phari, didn’t you say that Princess Eiko had a tendency to keep to herself?"
Phari jolted at being addressed by Atticus for a change, and her husband placed a comforting hand on her back, calming her down.
"Yes! I an, yes, Your Highness. At least, from what I could tell," Phari said. "Back then, even us servants weren’t sent to her chambers to do the cleaning. And she would send for food to be brought to her chambers instead."
Well, this was simply sounding awfully familiar.
"Nikun could be telling the truth," Daphne insisted. "Since he was also an unwanted child, it would make sense that he gravitated to the one sibling that didn’t belong and ford a strong bond with said sibling."
Just like how she had so easily fallen for Drusilla’s machinations in the past. She was lost and lonely, and desperate for a kind hand, a warm smile. Nikun would have been desperate to keep his one safe harbor safe from external threats.
"Even if he was telling the truth about his sister, it still does not absolve him in the least." Cordelia’s face hardened. "In fact, if his words are true, this ans that he had every motive to kill. He needed a position in my court to ensure his disfavoured sister had a way out of their family."
Daphne’s face paled as Cordelia’s words rang true. What was the life of a random stranger worth, if it ant he got to enter the contest and win Cordelia’s heart, ensuring his sister’s safety?
But surely he couldn’t be responsible. If he had gotten arrested in Nedour, then who would look after his sister on his behalf?
"Have you seen this before?" Cordelia asked brusquely, changing the topic as she reached into her drawers to pull out the dagger, and the tiny ruby jewel that Jonah had shown earlier.
Phari leaned in and gasped, while her husband’s mouth fell open in shock. "This... this is from the royal family! How... how did it end up in the palace?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Would Nikun have access to them, if he’s a bastard prince?" Cordelia asked with narrowed eyes.
To everyone’s surprise, Phari shook her head. "No... Bastard children would never be allowed a dagger with gold insignias, or with real rubies no matter their feats. If Nikun had this, he must have gotten it from soone else and kept it hidden for a long ti. His brothers would beat him half-to-death for daring to wield such a weapon."
"What about princesses?" Atticus asked the question that was on the tip of Daphne’s tongue. "Would a princess be allowed a dagger of her own, even if she had no idea how to use it?"
Slowly but surely, Phari’s head nodded. "It’s not unheard of, but usually the princesses wield smaller daggers that have more ornate handles. They are ant as showpieces, not actual weapons. This dagger... doesn’t attract much attention in comparison."
"I guess one of Nikun’s sisters could’ve wanted to give her brother a fighting chance for the throne here then," Atticus said grimly.
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