Chapter 91: Mother Queen’s Shenanigans
In one of the corridors on the forbidden side of the palace, Princess Emily walked in haste, holding the front of her dress. Upon seeing her grandmother, the princess exclaimed,
"Grandmother! There has been a problem! Anna is in trouble!"
"What trouble? More secrets?" the Mother Queen questioned her granddaughter.
"Anna has been assigned to service one of the men of the court. I went to Madame Minerva to get the details, but she was unwilling to disclose anything. She said she could not tell me the whereabouts or the identity of the one who took Anna," Princess Emily’s worry grew with every passing second. "I tried to find her, but the maids and the other servants were clueless. Do you think she was taken outside the palace?"
Unlike the concubines, who were bound by strict rules forbidding them from leaving the palace walls, it wasn’t the same for the courtesans, who enjoyed greater freedom. They had the privilege of accompanying men who desired their company, granting them the liberty to step outside the confines of the palace.
The Mother Queen scowled at this information and demanded, "How dare that witch try to come in between my plans and goals? Where is she?"
"Is there a way to get to Anna directly rather than through Madame Minerva? I am sure if we meddle with her, word will be sent to Queen Maya, which in turn will alert her and the others," Princess Emily explained to her grandmother, who looked furious.
"Let us go and ascertain if she’s still in the palace," the old woman decided in a resolute tone.
Princess Emily decided to accompany her grandmother and said, "But the corridors are guarded as they are restricted now. How will we navigate them without being noticed?"
"I have that covered. You will see," the old woman assured her as she started walking, and the princess quickly followed her footsteps. When they reached one of the deserted corridors, they looked left and right to make certain they were empty before the Mother Queen kicked one of the bricks in the wall.
Soon, the bricks in the walls began to move, forming the opening of a hidden doorway, inviting them to step inside. Princess Emily’s mouth fell open, because in her twenty years in the palace, she had never known about this. Curiosity prompted her to ask,