Chapter 12: Cascade of Events


Roy and Riza's glorious moment was halted during the late afternoon as a messenger disturbed their tea. Roy, looking up from his cup, asked the man.

"What is it?"

"The British ambassador, Sir Maes Hughes, has arrived, sir. He is asking for your presence, he implies that it is for great importance. He asks that you hurry, sir." The young man pronounced clearly. Roy smiled to himself and caught Riza's questioning gaze. She was curious about the matter.

"Maes is the best friend I was talking about. Come," He stood from his seat, extending an out to her."We must meet him."

Riza took his hand and stood from her seat. She brushed bread crumbles off her azure dress. She flicked long blonde stray hair strands from her face back over her shoulders. She smiled her assent. Roy smiled back as he led her away from the open veranda and into the lighted hallway. Glowing torches sat on holders bolted to the stone walls, bathing it in bright light.

"Actually, Maes isn't just my best friend. He's a brother to me." Roy's face turned into crimson at his confession. But, to his great relief, Riza just smiled and nodded. To fill up the silence, Roy asked.

"What about you, Riza? Do you have any family?" His exultant smile withered when all the blood drained from Riza's face. Her pale face stood out, white, against the yellowish light of the lamps. A torrent of self-loathing was loose inside Roy. He had unwittingly made her retreat to her cold, iron mask. To make up, he quiclky added. "Unless you don't want to tell me. I don't want to press into your life."

However, Riza stood silent, frozen on the spot. She looked so beautiful, so statuesque. But her eyes held no warmth, no feeling. And when she spoke, her voice was cold steel.

"I don't have a family."

"Riza, you don't have t-"

"I was left to fend for myself ever since I was a baby." Lamplight danced in her eyes, on her skin. It made her ethereal, a sublime creature made of wisp and light. "That was until I was found by an old woman. She cared for me, raised me, fed me. Even though she never said her name, I didn't care. I was happy, I had a family. Everything was alright again. Until I became six." Riza suddenly became eerily silent. Roy was content to let her stop, but his curiosity became his downfall.

"What happened?"

A lone tear slid from her eyes and shot to the stone floor. Her face held no expression, but her voice carried more feeling than Roy could ever understand.

"She sold me. Sold me to a man who used me for his pleasure."

Roy couldn't understand himself at her revelation. Anger and sadness clashed heatedly in him. He couldn't bring himself to give her any consolation. It was not because he was opposed to the idea; rather, he was more than willing to heal wounds the size of a gorge if it meant seeing Riza's smile again. It was the fact that she accepted the pain as her own fault. She blamed herself for her scars. She accepted salvation through self-disgust. It wasn't right to mend a heart of someone who was confused. It would only confuse them more.

"I'm so sorry."

Riza's face was livid against the light. "He would grab my hair as he hauled himself into me. He didn't pay attention to my screams at him, telling me to stop. He would then beat me to a bloody pulp and plunge a thick wooden rod inside me, while he stood there, laughing. Every time he fell asleep, I would curl into a ball and cry. My body would hurt so bad that even crying felt like a knife being stabbed into my gut. And every morning, he would then twist my arm as he forced me to taste him. I couldn't stop him. He was too strong."

Roy could feel his ire rising at every malice, at every wrong that people had done to this woman. He badly wanted to wrap her in his arms and soothe her soul and destroy the nightmares. Instead, he listened to her talking about her grisly past.

"One day, when he was sleeping, some men entered the house and saw me on the floor, covered in my own blood. Everything happened in a blur. I was so hurt that all my senses were disoriented. I only heard gunshots and screams. I felt someone lift me and carry me outside and into a carriage. From the window, I could see the men dragging a body. It was the man. It was several years later, when I began working in the palace, that I found out he was a criminal." Unable to bear her pain, Roy grasped her hand and continued their way. Behind, Riza strode stiffly, like an upright statue walking.

When they reached the antechamber towards the Petitioners' Hall, Roy spun on Riza and pressed her to the wall. Her face showed the slightest hint of distress when her eyes suddenly became resigned and tired.

It wasn't sad despair or delicate pity that coursed in him; it was blazing anger. It was ferocious and savage and only Riza could keep it down. Every fiber of his being was ablaze with thundering wrath.

Grasping her chin, Roy made her look at him squarely. "Riza, that was a long time ago! The man is dead, you are fine now. Everything is fine now! I won't let anything happen to you! Damn it, Riza! I promise you this! Okay? I'm not going to stand here and watch you crumble! If I have to, I will have you locked up in the safest place in the world and guarded by a whole army!"

The return of her dainty smile becalmed his volcanic rage. "But an army was unable to stop death from taking them, one by one." So did her sarcasm.

For that, and everything she was, Roy let go of himself and captured her in his arms, smiling.


Of all structures, the Petitioners' Hall must have been the most formal and most sophisticated; aside from the Monarch's Tower. Dazzling walls of stone, painted to sheer white and brilliant gold, like the Masonic architecture of old, were a boring facade compared to the delicate stencils on them and the added decorations on every piece of space. Fake leaves and fruits, grasped by mythical creatures, either hung on the walls or were surrounding the majestic dais on the very front. Gray and white pieces of marble criscrossed the floor as the light from the gigantic chandelier were reflected in them, like tiny wisps of photon illumination. The rotunda encapsulated them both like a large glass to a trapped ant. The windows, from ceiling to floor, were covered with regal violet drapes, enclosing Roy and Riza in a splendid orb of beauty and undefiled elegance.

The exquisiteness of the building, of every fine detail of every thing, stunned them both. Even for Roy, who had entered this building for many times and Riza, who had cleaned this almost everyday of her life, it still stupefied them.

Roy's gaze caught the sight of a man standing by a pillar, leaning against it, arms crossed over his chest. Unknowingly, a grin was born on Roy's face. He turned his head to see Riza nodding at him.

"Good evening, sir." British ambassador Maes Hughes made a formal bow to Roy. Smirking in all earnest mockery, Roy followed suit and bowed to the British man. Maes stood up and was quick to frown at Roy's sardonic action.

Roy looked up at the man. He could recall every detail of him. The dark hair that may sometimes shine like dark emerald, the gold eyes that were always observant, the stubble and the omnipresent pair of glasses. Maes was still the man who looked big and often scared people. Roy chuckled. Maes lifted an eyebrow.

"Maes! You're back!" Maes returned the smile Roy had sent him and took of the gray coat he had and folded it in his arms.

"Good to be back." Roy held out an introductory hand out to Riza. "Maes, I want you to meet Elizabeth. She is one of the Grand Duchess' ladies-in-waiting." Riza made a bow as Roy watch Maes' smirk grow. He raised a brow. "What?"

"One of your wh-" Maes demeaning words, and his smirk, were cut down mercilessly by Roy's venomous voice. "No. She is a friend."

The room grew unpleasantly quiet. Even the muffled footsteps of people outside the building was but a distant thought. All the three occupants were painfully still and stiff. It was Maes' words that killed it.

"Fine. Whatever." He made an uncaring gesture to the air. Roy breathed air more easily. Riza stood silently, but not as stiffly as she had been. Roy remembered why Maes' was here.

"So, Maes, what was the reason why you called me?" Maes' face grew pallid, like a specter among the dead. When he spoke, his voice became serious. "Roy, another has been found killed." Roy groaned. Recently, he has been reading about the murders of people in the region of Tuscany. Some of them were gruesome than normal. It irritated him that there was a madman on the loose in the place and the police not even doing their best to find him.

"So, who was it?" Roy asked, tiredly.

"Theodore Vilmerra."

"I remember him. He was one of the petitioners that wanted a change in the governing of Tuscany. He was a nice man. I even accepted his petition of limiting the aristocrats' power. Where was he found?" Roy asked, sick to the stomach. Theodore had been one of Roy's political ally. Even though Theodore wanted to limit the power of the aristocracy, he also included that in times of emergency, the aristocrats could grab absolute power to protect the lands.

"He was found in the remains of a chapel, not too far away from the city. We are still unable to pinpoint exactly where and when he was taken." Maes answered.

Roy didn't want to ask the question, but he needed to find out. "How did he die?" When Maes looked uncomfortably at Riza, Roy knew the answer. Before Roy could set aside the matter, Riza spoke up.

"I have seen things more horrible and more unbearble than murder and torture. It is fine, Sir Hughes. Say what you want." Roy was taken aback by Riza's strength. He quickly smiled at her, she smiled back.

Maes sighed and let loose the horror. "From what we have seen, he was tied to a boulder and tortured endlessly. But we are still unspecific if this was the case."

Roy nodded quietly. However, a thought came to his head. It was mysteriously eerie. "What do you mean unspecific, haven't you fully investigated the body?"

He watch Maes swallow deeply. It could only mean one thing. "There was no body, was there Maes?" The man shook his head.

"So. Was he burned? Skinned? Mutilated?" Roy listed out horrific deaths after the other. "Perforat-"

"He was devoured by rats." Roy sucked back his words silently. To his right, he could see Riza sober quickly. Maes was quietly livid with panic.

"Devoured by rats? You mean, he was eaten by two or three rats?" Roy questioned skeptically.

"When the investigators arrived, the place was overrun by a flood of rats."

"Dear God preserve us."

The matter was decidedly too painful to continue. Roy was in a trance of anger at another person's life thrown away. He was so angry that he almost forgot that Maes' arriving here was suspicious. Though a murder was seriously taken, it wasn't the job of a British ambassador. It was of the investigators.

"Maes, what are you really here for? A murder is to be presented only by the police alone." Roy critically appraised the man before him. Maes' face spread in a slow smile.

"I knew I could never fool you."

"So, what are you here for?"

"Her Royal Highness, Queen Victoria, has agreed to create a stronger army. Russia's hostility with us has now escalated to terrible heights. Any time now, war could erupt. The Queen has took cautionary actions to safeguard our country from the Russians, if they were to attack. With Britain at nigh war, the Queen is asking if the Italian Republic would take our side. We are outnumbered by the Russians. They have Austria, Prussia and Spain to back them. We only have France. The delegation we sent to Switzerland has not yet finalized their decisions. We are in a corner." Though Maes was stating it professionally, Roy could hear the pleading tone in his voice.

The news was not good. Italy maintained a close relationship with both Britain and Russia. It would be hard-pressed to choose a side. Italy could not also stand neutral. Her political bastions in Britain and Russia would be vulnerable to attack. Trade would be disrupted if war were to happen, and the most of Italy depended on the trade system. She would be left for months without any provisions.

"I have to inform the Grand Duke, first. Maybe we can suggest this to the Prime Minister of Italy." He didn't include that it would be a friendly decision to Britain. Britain was allied with France. Italy rivaled France. In the Mediterranean, France was the opposition of Italy. It was going to be a really difficult choice.

"Thank you, Roy. For considering."

"Be thankful that you're my best friend or else, I would have killed you. This business with war is something I never want to see again."

"Who does, anyway." Was Maes' answer.

Riza quietly followed them both, as they all exited the rotunda.