“Disappear from my sight right now.”
Abril laughed ironically. She had never been treated well in that palace. Trample on others, she laughed at that term because it was the maid and that woman, like a poisonous snake, who trampled on her and hurt her.
But he wouldn’t believe her, no matter what she said, he would think she was guilty. Abril got up, the thorns in her feet dug in even deeper and made her bleed. She walked away as fast as she could and returned to her room. On arrival, she removed as many thorns as she could with the help of a needle, but there were others that she couldn’t reach, and she didn’t know how she would remove them.
Alessandro took Victoria to the palace. After giving her a cup of tea to calm her down, he sent her back home.
Alessandro called the butler and said, “Jaffar, send a doctor to see the princess.”
“Right away, Your majesty,” he replied.
The butler carried out the king’s orders without asking any questions.
Abril was thinking about how she would remove the remaining thorns when she heard someone knocking on the door. It was the doctor.
“They sent me to take care of you.”
Abril was surprised, she didn’t expect anyone to come and help her, let alone a doctor. He attended to her without asking questions, he removed the remaining thorns, cleaned the wounds, and said to her,
“Try not to get the wounds wet. If your feet are in worse condition, try not to get out of bed until they are better.”
“Thank you, doctor, I will keep that in mind.”
“I will tell the maids to change the bandages and regularly check the wounds to avoid infection.”
Abril knew that even if she told the maids to change her bandage and check her wounds, they wouldn’t do it.
“Doctor, could you leave me the bandages, I would change them myself.”
“I don’t like other people touching me.”
“Still, I think it would be better if one of the maids did it,” the doctor answered.
“Please….”
The doctor, upon seeing the princess’s pleading eyes, agreed to her wishes and handed her several bandages and some ointments for the wounds.
“Try to check the wounds that are possible to see.”
“If you agree, I will come in a few days to see how you are doing and make sure the wounds have not become infected.”
“Thank you very much.”
“I would be eternally grateful if you did that,” replied the princess.
That doctor was old and kind, he knew there was something hidden in all this. It was impossible that the princess would be bothered by others touching her body since she had not pulled back when he touched her. There was a hidden story behind all of this, but he did not want to insist that she told him.
After the doctor left, the king summoned him. He didn’t ask about the princess, he just made him stand for a while, then the doctor started speaking without being asked.
“Luckily, the princess’s wounds are not as serious as to leave scars. However, she must take special care of the wounds on her feet. The thorns pierced deeper as she walked while having them on her feet.”
Alessandro listened without asking any questions, then the doctor left.
A few days later, the doctor returned to visit Abril. Her wounds were almost healed, only the deeper ones remained unhealed completely.
*****
During a meeting, Victoria’s father, Duke Alfonso Vampel, was furious about the alleged attack that his daughter had suffered at the hands of the princess. He demanded that the princess be punished.
After insisting so much, Alessandro decided to give Abril a punishment, and the meeting ended shortly after.
Alessandro was tired, he didn’t feel like arguing with the nobles anymore. Almost the whole kingdom hated the Venobich family. He knew that incident was just an excuse to make the princess go through a tough time. Alessandro had thought that her getting injured was enough punishment for her misdeeds, but the nobles didn’t see it the same way.
Alessandro leaned back in his chair, sighed heavily, and thought of giving the princess a punishment that was neither too severe nor too lenient, so that the nobles wouldn’t keep bothering him.
After a few days, when the doctor said that the princess was fully recovered, he went to visit her in her room. She was standing by the window, looking at the garden with her bare feet. Alessandro considered her an extravagant princess who liked to go without shoes and wear light clothes, as her dress was short and showed more than necessary.
He cleared his throat and said to her,
“Princess.”
Abril turned around upon hearing a male voice behind her. Upon seeing the king, she wondered what he was doing in her room, as he always showed his hatred whenever he saw her.
With an annoyed face, the king continued speaking.
“I see that you are feeling better now.”
“Due to your misbehavior, you will receive a deserving punishment.”
“You will be transferred to a distant part of the castle for a few days, you will not have maids at your service, and you will have to manage on your own.”
“Perhaps, this way, you will appreciate the work of the servants and reflect on your behavior.”
Abril sighed, the king was doing the same thing as her father, leaving her forgotten in a corner of the palace. She just hoped that the place would not be in ruins.
“Will l be entitled to two square meals at least?” Abril asked.
That question annoyed Alessandro. He was punishing her, not starving her.
“Of course,” he replied.
If she was going to have her three square meals, Abril didn’t care about anything else and obediently, she accepted a punishment she didn’t deserve.
That same afternoon, she was taken to the farthest part of the castle. They left her in a small cottage that must have been used by the gardener at some point. It was small, pleasant, and cozy. Although it was supposed to be a punishment, Abril felt that it was a reward for her. She wouldn’t have to live locked in a room anymore, she would have a small house with a yard.
Abril tried to put on a sad expression because she felt if the maids saw her happy, they would want to bother her again.
The maid gave her a basket of fruits and vegetables and told her,
“This place is too remote, the princess will have to prepare her own meals since we cannot come here to deliver them, we are too busy for that.”
“Besides, His Majesty said this was your punishment.”
Abril knew that the maids were lying, they simply didn’t want to take care of her anymore and this was a good opportunity to stop doing it.
At least they had given her the ingredients to make her own food. That was a relief for Abril. She took the baskets with vegetables and entered the house. The maids left immediately.
That house was small but very well taken care of. There was also a fireplace so that when winter came, she wouldn’t freeze if she collected firewood before winter arrived. Abril smiled widely. What was supposed to be a punishment she saw as a blessing. There was no one there to watch over her or prevent her from leaving her room, although she had to make sure not to get close to the palace because if the servants saw her, they might want to get her into trouble.
Abril gave a sigh of relief. For the first time in a long time, it seemed that luck was finally smiling at her.
“In the end, I came out victorious in all of these.”
“That woman wanted to see me suffer.”
“However, she doesn’t know that she ended up doing me a favor.”
“I hope she stays healthy and has a good life.” Abril said.
Abril started her new life. There in that small house she felt happy. She found a small garden near the house and dedicated herself to taking care of it. It became her source of food as the maids had not returned since the day they had left her in that place.
During spring, Abril took care of the garden, just as she did in the summer. In the autumn, she harvested its fruits and prepared herself for winter.
When the cold became bothersome, Abril stopped leaving her house. That was the first winter in which Abril didn’t hate winter. That year, she had enough food and a fireplace to keep herself warm. She wished all her winters could be like that.
Another year passed since Abril had married the prince. When spring arrived, Abril turned seventeen. She was no longer that skinny little girl she had always been, and finally looked like a seventeen-year-old young woman. Her growth had been slower because she had never had proper nutrition, but for the past two years, she had been eating well, and her body had developed marvelously.
Abril sat at the entrance of the small house. From there, she could see the imposing towers of the castle. She was glad they had sent her to that small house instead of one of those towers that reached towards the sky. She was deeply grateful because, even though they had forgotten about her, she didn’t feel it that way. On the contrary, she felt that, for the first time in her life, she was living and not just surviving as she had been doing her whole life.
She lifted her gaze to the sky. It was clear and bright. The sun shone so beautifully that Abril wished she could see that beautiful view every day.
The seasons passed. In the blink of an eye, two years went by. Abril continued to live comfortably in that small house, enjoying her day-to-day life. It was a beautiful spring season and Abril decided to go to the forest near her house to collect mushrooms. As she walked through the forest, she saw a man on the ground. Immediately, she hid behind a tree and stared at the body lying on the ground. If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, the man had blood on his clothes.
Abril looked around, wondering if there were more people who could help that man, but there was no one besides her. Abril approached very carefully. That man was her husband, Alessandro. She wondered why he was injured and what he was doing in such a remote part of the palace.
“Did they kill him?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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