Chapter 46: Why So Cruel?
Edna dressed Rose, and she didn’t even stir. Not when she lifted her into a sitting position, and not even when she accidentally pulled a little too hard on her hair as Edna struggled to put Rose’s clothes on. Rose was practically dead weight, and Edna wasn’t the strongest.
When she was done, making sure to secure the robes, Edna was exhausted. There were sweat beads on her face, and her arms were sore from all the effort. She stood from the bed and walked to the exit, knocked on the door, and it opened almost immediately.
A guard walked into the room while Mister Henry stood behind. The guard lifted Rose onto his shoulder and carried her out of the room, with Edna and Henry following behind.
"What’s the meaning of this?" Henry whispered. "Can you explain?"
Edna nodded. "She must be tired from all the tasks she had to do."
"What do you mean? Is it any different from normal?"
"Yes, something happened last night," Edna started to explain.
Mister Henry listened attentively as Edna explained as quickly as she could what had transpired the night before while they followed behind the guard. Henry didn’t say a word as she spoke, but his expression slowly changed from shock to fury.
"So, she spent the entirety of the day cleaning the south wing. Mistress Edith only gave her a week," Edna concluded.
Henry was quiet. He had noticed that servants were going back and forth from the south wing, but he hadn’t asked too many questions. He was far too busy. The crown prince had been especially cranky this morning, and Henry could only imagine it would get worse by tomorrow. He was just happy he still had his head.
However, to think his niece was the reason for this—was his threat not enough? He couldn’t comprehend why she wouldn’t stop bothering the poor woman.
They soon got to the room, and Henry knocked twice. It took some time for Martha to respond, even though Edna had said it was Rose. She scoffed as she opened the door but was visibly taken aback when she saw the number of people was more than Edna had mentioned.