Chapter 265: Interrogation 101 (1)
Maria was in her room, with her guards stationed outside as usual. But this time, there was no yelling, no noise from within—just an eerie silence. The typical scene of Maria throwing a tantrum on her failure couldn’t be noticed by anyone.
For once, the room was not in disarray. There were no broken items, no scattered belongings. Everything was in its place, meticulously organised as if everything had been cleaned moments ago.
As for Maria, she was sitting next to a large glass wall, staring at the massive empire she had built over the years. But even she knew none of it would have happened without Charles.
Charles was more than her right hand. He was her sentinel who always carried her to victory. But this time, he failed and left Maria to collect the pieces alone.
As she watched the lively streets, everything seemed to be at peace—everything but her heart. Charles was gone. She had received the news a while ago but was only coming to terms with it now.
Learning of his passing had been a blow, but Maria hadn’t thrown a fit. She knew that Charles wasn’t there to help her clean up anymore, and that thought kept her from making a mess.
As much as she hated to admit it, her tantrums resulted from needing attention. Now that she knew Charles wasn’t there to give her that, she couldn’t find a reason to thrash the room with most of Charles’s memories.
She never told him that, but Charles had been more than a servant to her; he had been a friend, a confidant, more reliable and caring than her pathetic father had ever been.
Now that Charles was gone forever, Maria didn’t want to imagine him sad or worried about her, so she cleaned the room, remembering all the times he was there to comfort her and enjoying her moments with him in silence.