Everyone present was nervous, waiting for the king to speak.
"It seems like the people who are working in the kitchen are not aware of the princess' diet and have chosen to feed her desserts," King Draco finally spoke sternly. "For that act, it is enough to dismiss all of you and lose your jobs."
"What?" Rowena's eyes widened in shock.
"Silence." King Draco narrowed his eyes on his daughter. His gaze returned back to the kitchen workers. "If the rest of you wish to be spared, I will only be making an example from one of you. Tell me, who was it that served the young princess the dessert?"
Rowena watched in horror as all of the kitchen workers immediately pointed out Leia. All of the people betrayed their fellow workers just to survive and have their jobs. King Draco looked at Leia and frowned.
"You are not supposed to be here," King Draco said. He lied to Rowena when he said that her two nannies were still working in the castle because in reality, he had dismissed them and even paid them well to return to their villages.
He did not expect that one of them would crawl all the way back here.
King Draco looked at everyone in the throne hall and said, "Everyone else shall be dismissed back to their proper places. The princess and this cook shall remain here."
"Your Majesty…" Lady Mary tried to speak up.
"Everyone shall leave." King Draco narrowed his eyes. "Or do you also wish to be held responsible for my daughter's inability to listen to instructions, Lady Mary Rochester?"
The two ladies who revealed Little Rowena's actions ended up immediately leaving. They weren't going to see how the princess was going to be punished, but there was some satisfaction on their faces as they left.
Once everyone was gone, Rowena looked at Leia and was afraid of what was going to happen to her. She tried to approach her father and beg for some mercy. "Father, it is my fault for going to the kitchen. Leia doesn't know anything."
"Your Highness." Leia's expression softened at the young girl, but she shook her head. "Please do not believe the young child, Your Majesty. I was the one who gave her the dessert when she came into the kitchen."
It was clear that the two of them had a strong relationship and were both trying to shield each other from punishment. King Draco didn't bat an eye and simply turned to Rowena with a dark look.
"Do you know how disappointed I am to hear from your instructors that you have disobeyed their guidelines meant to help you?" King Draco said as he pulled up to his feet. "On this hour, I would have been elsewhere but I came here because it was about you, Rowena."
Little Rowena bit down on her lip and lowered her gaze. "I… I apologize, Father. I did not wish for you to be disturbed. I understand that you are a busy person."
"Good," King Draco said. "This will not happen again, Rowena, right?"
"No, Father."
"Let us make sure of it," King Draco said.
He turned back to Leia and unsheathed his sword. Before anyone realized what he wanted to do, the king had swung his sword and beheaded the poor servant with one blow.
The silent thump of a head rolled into the throne hall's floors.
Rowena's eyes widened and suddenly brimmed with tears. "Leia!"
She froze in her place by the debilitating shock and for a few moments couldn't move or make any sounds, except for her sobbings.
Draco stepped forward, wiped the blood on his sword to Leia's dress, and sheathed it back. Then, he approached Rowena and stood before her silently, watching her incessant tears streaming down her face.
He bent down a little and looked at the little girl in her eyes, from such close proximity. His voice was cold and his expression was flat when he spoke. "If you didn't misbehave, Leia wouldn't have died. You made her pay for your crimes."
Rowena couldn't hear anything else after that. Her father's words kept ringing in her head. It was her fault. She misbehaved and got Leia killed.
She was guilty. Leia would have been still alive if it wasn't for her.
"Do you understand?" King Draco asked the little girl whose body was shaking and looked deeply traumatized. He tugged her chin and made her look him in the eye. "Do. You. Understand?"
He emphasized every word.
Rowena could see from the corner of her eyes, the headless body was lifted by two servants away from the room and she felt her chest was physically in pain. She closed her eyes and tried to forget the memory of what just happened but she couldn't.
It was as if it was played over and over again in her mind.
She begged Leia to give her a cupcake, knowing full well that she was not allowed to eat sweets. And Leia took the blame for her. She died because Rowena couldn't hold back her desire to eat one cupcake.
It was all her fault.
"Answer me!" King Draco's voice became stern. "If you still don't admit your mistake and regret it, I might need to punish more people because of you. Hmm.. where should I start? I know Leia has a family in the village. They should take the blame too for raising a stupid daughter who dared to disobey their king."
Rowena's breath suddenly panted. She panicked.
No…! Leia often told her stories about her loving family. Her parents were very poor farmers who worked so hard to raise her two young nieces after Leia's sister and brother-in-law died of fever.
Her father was weak because he fell from a horse one time, and her mother took most of the work at home and at the farm. Leia loved her parents very much.
If King Draco decided to kill Leia's family, Rowena could imagine Leia would blame her even more and hate her. No… no… she couldn't let her father punish Leia's family for something Rowena did.
The little girl gripped King Draco's arms and looked at him pleadingly. "N-no… please…"
"So?"
"Yes…" Rowena's tears had flooded and wet her dress. She added with a hoarse voice, "It's my fault."
It was her fault that Leia died.
