Reborn as the Villainess's Bodyguard, I Refused to Stop at Bodyguard novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Order

The summons came at breakfast.

It was a single guard from the palace, and he would not say what it was for.

Haruka went down the tower stairs with her jaw set and Corwin a step behind her.

Every lord and lady in Aldmere seemed to be standing in the Hall of Mirrors.

Prince Aldric sat on a low dais under the Queen's empty chair, in his white and gold coat.

At his feet two guards held a thin figure in a grey prison shift with iron on her wrists.

Seraphine's hair was loose and her chin was up.

She did not look at Haruka.

"Captain Delamere," Aldric said, bright and clear. "Come forward."

Haruka walked to the middle of the black and white floor and stopped at the proper distance.

"The Queen keeps her bed this week with a cough," said the Prince. "In her name, I have a matter for the court."

He unfolded a paper and held it up.

It was a duty roster.

On the back, in Haruka's own plain hand, were a rampart, a gate, a boat shed and a river road.

A hush went through the hall.

Haruka's mouth went dry.

"A map of the Greywatch postern," Aldric said. "Found in your quarters, with a tally of the night watches. Drawn by the Captain of the Guard who is sworn to deliver the condemned."

"It's a drainage plan," Haruka said. "The postern floods in winter."

"And this?" He turned the paper. "Thirteenth night, boat, river road. Do you plan to row down the Aldrin in a flood?"

Laughter ran along the mirrors.

Haruka said nothing.

It was a true thing, the map.

Lying about it would help no one.

"I am not a cruel man," Aldric went on, to the hall. "Captain Delamere served the Queen for nine years. I would like to believe she was merely foolish. But when a guard draws a way out for her prisoner, the court must ask what she is guarding."

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