"That’s her," Martha said, pointing an accusatory finger at Rose. "She’s the one who stole His Highness’s coat."
"What are you doing, Martha?" It was Edna who spoke first.
"Isn’t it obvious? Catching a thief. Peasants truly only ever act like this."
Rose stood her ground, her chin lifting defiantly. "I didn’t steal anyt’ing," she said, her voice steady despite the fear clawing at her chest.
"Yes," Edna agreed with her. "There’s no way she could have stolen sothing like this without the crown prince noticing. And why would she even steal it in the first place?"
"Thieves don’t need reasons to steal. Or are you supporting the thief?"
"I am not a t’ief!"
Martha burst out laughing. "She can’t even pronounce it right. It’s ’thief,’ not whatever you just said. Look at the coat there!"
The guards stepped forward, their eyes narrowing as they took in the scene. One of them reached for the coat, picking it off the ground. "Is this yours?" he asked, his tone cold.
"Nay," Rose said easily, but before she could say anything more, the guard grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out. "I didn’t steal anyt’ing," she said, trying to fight him off, but the second guard grabbed her other arm.
"Martha!" Edna yelled. "Shouldn’t you at least confirm before you accuse her of stealing?"
"Confirm what? She’s clearly in possession of the crown prince’s coat. What other confirmation is needed?" Martha asked. "Take her away."
The guards nodded and moved obediently, dragging Rose, who was struggling to get out of their grip.
"You’re acting a little unfair!" Edna stated as she watched them drag Rose away. Then she rushed after the guards, who were cruelly pulling Rose.
"You can’t take her away," Edna cried, trying to pull Rose back.
"I wouldn’t advise that," Martha said, disturbingly close.
Rose was tired of fighting, and she just let them drag her to wherever they wanted to take her. As long as it didn’t include whipping or anything of that sort, she was sure she could take it. She didn’t have any energy to fight, and it was pretty clear the guards weren’t listening to her.
"You can’t do this," Edna cried.
"I’m not doing anything. I simply reported a thief. I wonder what Mistress Edith would say about this—and better still, the crown prince. Clearly, she hasn’t learned her lesson from last ti," Martha proudly stated. "She’ll learn this ti."
The guards dragged her all the way down, pulling her across the ground as Rose refused to walk. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, she didn’t have the strength to. She had stopped expecting her luck to change, and right now, she was just waiting for this to pass.
"At least carry her properly," Edna begged.
"How is it your business?" Martha asked.
Rose couldn’t believe the two maids were still following her. Right now, she couldn’t think of who would co to her rescue. None of the guards would inquire if they saw them dragging her around. Everyone would assu she had done sothing to deserve it.
"How can you be so cruel? Her legs have been scraping over the floor, and it’s not like she’s fighting," Edna scolded.
One of the guards seed to have had enough of Edna’s protests as he stopped walking and turned. "Go away, unless you want to lock you up too as her accomplice."
Edna was shaken by this threat, and Martha smirked at her. "You should listen to the guard."
"I’m sorry, Rose," she said.
Rose neither responded to this nor acted as though she heard. Not long after Edna spoke, her footsteps could be heard retreating.
Rose looked around. They were now in a secluded hallway. It was darker than the rest of the house, and there was no window in sight. Rose didn’t need anyone to tell her she was being taken to the dungeons, and she knew the castle dungeons were usually underground.
Not long after this thought, a stairway appeared, and Rose tried to stand to her full height. If she were dragged across the stairs, she was sure to get enough bruises, and even if she didn’t, the pain on her shins would be too much to bear.
However, the guards didn’t let her. They dragged her down the nurous stairs and tossed her to the bottom. Rose rolled, and her back hit the bars. She cried in pain as the wounds from last night made contact. Rose gathered her legs to herself. She had lost her shoes during the process of coming here, and right now, her bare soles lay on the rough floor.
"Who is this?" she heard a voice ask.
"A thief," Martha announced proudly. "She stole the crown prince’s coat."
Rose heard footsteps, and so stopped in front of her. "You’ve got so nerve, eh? Clearly, you’d like to lose a few fingers." His voice sounded like he had phlegm stuck in his throat. Rose thought it was absolutely disgusting.
"Who is this beauty?" she heard an even more disgusting voice say, and soone tried to touch her hair.
Rose scread and quickly scrambled away. She looked back to see an older man with a lot of missing teeth snickering at her. Rose almost threw up. Did she really have to stay here?
"Hey, warden! Put her with us," he sneered.
"Shut up!" the warden said—it was the man with the disgusting voice.
She heard the unlocking of a door, followed by a kick to her side. Rose scread in pain and fell to the floor. "Get in!" the voice said.
It took a while for her to push herself up as tears filled her eyes. The pain in her side was crippling. Rose grabbed it, but try as she might, she couldn’t stand on her feet. Instead, she crawled into the space, and the door closed behind her, almost catching her leg.
"Next ti," she heard Martha say, "you’ll think twice about stealing."
Rose didn’t look up. She just retreated to the corner of the cell. It was pretty dark, and it slled damp, but other than that, it was decent. The floor was hard, but she had slept on harder surfaces. Curling up into a ball, Rose closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.
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