"What?" Daphne blinked in surprise. "Maisie, what are you talking about? What is it about Eugene Attonson?"
Maisie nodded weakly, fat tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to gather herself enough to speak through her sobs. "He... he... convinced ... to help him escape! Because he said... he said..."
"He said what?" Daphne asked frantically. Just as she feared, Eugene Attonson had successfully sunk his claws into Maisie. Perhaps it was her good fortune that Maisie wasn’t dead like the other prisoners or guards.
"He said that you and the king were arguing because of him." Maisie warbled. "So the best way to stop the both of you from fighting was for him to be gone. As long as he is here, then you will always argue. So it was for your own good. Yours and the king’s."
Daphne sucked in a breath. Eugene Attonson truly knew how to twist a situation to suit his ends. While it was true that they argued over Eugene’s presence, they also argued over his absence.
Now that she thought about it, Eugene was rely the powder keg that ignited the conflict between the both of them. If it wasn’t for him, they would have fought over sothing or soone else. It was only a matter of ti.
"Maisie... you do know it’s not your job to fix our relationship, right?" Daphne chided her, trying to restrain her irritation. Maisie might have had the best of intentions, but Daphne personally did not like the feeling of people doing things for her own good.
Her whole life was full of decisions made by others who claid they were doing this for her own good. And for her own maid, a girl younger than her to do this for her... made her feel like an inept, helpless child.
But there was no point in yelling at Maisie now. The milk had long been spilled.
"Atticus and I are adults." Even if they didn’t act like it sotis. "You shouldn’t have interfered."
Maisie nodded miserably. "I know that now, Your Highness... but back then... I really hoped... you and the king would love each other again if he was gone..."
"I understand," Daphne said. She made a ntal note to be more cordial with Atticus in Maisie’s presence, assuming they both made it out of this sad excuse of a dungeon unscathed. "But as I said, it was not your problem to solve."
Maisie sniffled, nodding in agreent.
"Now tell more about what Eugene made you do," Daphne instructed, her eyes flashing with purpose. This was the important part. "And turn around. Let’s get you out of these binds."
Maisie dutifully listened, patiently waiting. Daphne stared long and hard at the ropes before turning around so that her back faced Maisie’s. Her hands searched for the ropes and once she found them, her fingers clenched tightly around them. She focused, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to reach for so heat to help her.
She couldn’t read her own binds since they tied her wrists together, but she could potentially burn the ropes off Maisie at least. In a stroke of miracle, Daphne felt her hands heat up. It didn’t cause a fla but the heat was just enough to sear the ropes. It started to char and thin out until eventually when Maisie tugged as instructed by Daphne, it ca off with a snap.
"How did you do that?" Maisie asked in astonishnt. She stared at the ropes and then at her wrists with awe. With her hands free, she began to undo the bindings on Daphne.
"Nevermind that," Daphne said. "Answer my question."
"I took so toys for him," Maisie whispered shafully.
"Toys?" Daphne repeated, puzzled. How could Eugene kill so many people with toys?
"They... they were from the king’s office." Maisie shuddered as though she expected Atticus to appear right in front of her to te out punishnt.
"You stole from Atticus?" Daphne squawked, her mouth falling open just as Maisie finished undoing the knots of the rope. Daphne rubbed her sore wrists and said, "Maisie, where did you get the nerve?"
Not even Daphne would dare to filch sothing from Atticus’s own office. And she was his actual wife!
Maisie bit her lip, looking trendously guilty. She continued to speak. "I don’t know, Your Highness... Lord Attonson told to take so of the toys from the office. So I did."
Daphne’s blood chilled as she recalled her previous experience with toys. "Maisie, were those toys for children? Did they look like sothing from the market?"
"Yes!" Maisie said, relieved that Daphne understood her. "I thought... they were just ordinary toys. I didn’t think he could do anything with them. I didn’t know he was going to cause so many problems!"
"No, you wouldn’t," Daphne said faintly, her mind whirling with the implications. No one was supposed to know that the toys had crystal fragnts inside them― not even their own seller was aware. Atticus had also made it a closely guarded secret in the castle, and Daphne had not spoken of this to Maisie.
So how did Eugene Attonson know about this closely guarded state secret? Atticus hated that man; he would never have leaked the news to him.
Unless Eugene was responsible for the smuggling in the first place. Then everything would make a terrible amount of sense.
"So you took the toys, and gave it to him in the dungeons?"
"Yes. I thought the king would notice, but he never found out. I think it was because his office was too ssy. Everything was buried under his papers." Maisie confided nervously. Daphne could only snort. When they got out of this ss, she’d make Atticus sweep up his own office.
How could he leave important docunts lying around the tables? What if Maisie was a spy for another country and stole them?
"Then he told to stand outside and wait. So I did."
"So you didn’t see what he did inside?"
"No," Maisie said, but she gulped nervously. "I only heard... sounds. Like screaming and yelling. I dared not check. Then it suddenly beca quiet, and he ca out of the dungeons."
Daphne could only close her eyes, recalling the carnage she had stumbled on when she entered the dungeons. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Eugene had done as Maisie waited.
"And you left with him? Just like that?" Daphne asked. "Why didn’t you co and look for to begin with? Even when he wanted you to steal sothing from Atticus, you should have told !"
Maisie began to cry more fiercely. Daphne imdiately felt bad for yelling at her.
"I... I wanted to find you... but... but he said I had to leave with him. Because... the king... he would kill if he found out. I didn’t have ti... to say goodbye... "
"Then, is he right here in this town?" Daphne asked, her teeth gritted in anger. If he was, Daphne was going to send him to hell the mont she got out of this place.
"No, Your Highness," Maisie said sadly. "He left here and told to make a new life."
"But what about Bram?"
"Who is that, Your Highness?"
"The man that brought us here," Daphne said, frowning. "Orange hair, scar on his face, gave you a nick on the neck?"
"Your Highness," Maisie replied, her face suddenly blanched white. She pointed behind Daphne. "Is that the man you’re referring to?"
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