A Night With The King

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The guard who had dragged her in after her name was registered as a criminal said as he pushed her towards a group of women all wearing similar clothes, they all looked at her weirdly as she tried to steady herself but she was much too weak to do anything right, aside from the fact that she has been toasted up and down for hours, she hasn’t even eaten and her body was beyond weak.

“You better be ready to talk, neither the king nor anyone else will buy your lies, better speak up and get punished,”

The guard said and turned to leave locking her up with the women.

It was like having a staring contest with the women, there were five of them in the small room, she knew the living conditions here were bad but she never thought it would be this bad, there was basically nothing in here but worn-out beds that looked more like trash than a bed, a small table and nothing else, the beds bunks looked uncomfortable.

“Are you going to introduce yourself or do you want a beating as an introduction?”

A huge woman who was seated and being fanned by another woman asked glaring at her.

“My name is Sophie,”

She said and they all looked at her weirdly.

“You are not from here? You are a foreigner and you still choose to be a criminal?”

The lady asked and Sophie was tempted to tell her that they were both technically in prison so no one should be a moral police but she knew that might get her in trouble so she kept quiet still trying to process everything that happened so far, she regretted not using the time she met with the king to speak up, she should have spoken up instead of just keeping quiet, maybe he would have listened, yeah highly doubt that.

“You are quiet again? Do I have to ask all the questions? What’s your crime?”

The lady asked.

“I don’t have a crime, I was accused wrongly,”

She said and they all started laughing, she didn’t know what was funny to them so she just watched.

“Bestie, if you were just accused, you won’t be here, you will be at the other side where people who still have a chance to prove their innocence are, you are in this hellhole so you are guilty,”

Another lady said and the others started laughing even harder, Sophie felt tears well up in her eyes again, so she was already crucified, no one wanted her own side of the story, it was all wrong but she had no one to defend her and point that out.

“Don’t cry, we are very nice here,”

The First Lady said. Sophie highly doubted that was the case.

“You can use that bed, the person who was there before took the easy route out,”

She said and Sophie couldn’t resist asking.

“What route?”

“Don’t look so hopeful, the easiest route out of this place is death,”

The First Lady revealed and all hopes Sophie had melted away, still she went and sat on the bed.

“Now to orientation, I am the queen here, there is no one above me here, you either do as I say and enjoy your time here, which might be till death do us part or you don’t do as I say and meet your end real soon,”

The supposed queen said and Sophie felt her stomach coil in fear and hunger, not even an hour here and her life was already in danger.

“We have a rule here, you survive if you follow every one of them, I am being extra generous and kind today because I choose to be, now that doesn’t mean I will be kind tomorrow, and just so you know, no one goes against me here, not even the wardens, they don’t care, do behave,”

She warned Sophie was too weak to even say anything so she nodded, as much as she wasn’t comfortable there, she didn’t have a choice and she was so tired that she decided to lay down.

The door to the room opened and she looked up.

“Time to eat,”

A lady wearing a similar uniform as the others informed and all the women except the one fanning the supposed queen and the queen got up and left, Sophie was hungry but she was too tired to even go and eat.

“Aren’t you going? You won’t get anything else to eat today if you don’t eat now,”

The woman fanning the queen said, she looked so sad.

“I can’t, I am so tired,”

She replied weakly as she closed her eyes, hoping that when she woke up, she would not be here, she would be back working as a palace maid, not pregnant, and most importantly, not sleeping with the king.

“You will learn the hard way that it is better to eat when you are served no matter how tired you are,”

The “queen” said walking out, the other woman followed her out and Sophie was left on her own, she was too tired to do anything, not even cry, her whole body ached and all she wanted to do was fall asleep and forget all the pains but sleep didn’t want to come.

“Hey, I brought something for you to eat,”

Sophie heard a voice say about twenty minutes later and open her eyes to see the woman who had been fanning the self-appointed queen earlier, at the sight of the food, her stomach jumped and she got up and collected the food.

“Thank you,”

She said taking a bite, it wasn’t grand, not like she expected it to be but it was good so it was fine.

“You have to eat no matter what, food doesn’t come by much here, please you need to adjust to it,”

She said. Sophie nodded, grateful that she had been thoughtful enough to bring something for her, she didn’t realize just how hungry she was until she took a bite.

“Thank you,”

“It’s fine, you good?”

The lady asked and Sophie nodded even though she wasn’t, how could anyone be good in a situation like this? She knew this wasn’t the end, her pains were far from over, and she knew tomorrow would bring much more pain and sorrow.

“Here survival is key, the king is evil and the people suffer unjustly,”

The woman said and Sophie wondered why everyone in the kingdom saw the king as such a devil. Well, he is right? If not why will she be here?

“I am sorry what’s your name and how long have you been here? What’s your crime?”

Sophie asked after she finished the food and drank water.

“My name is Leah, crime? Killing my abusive husband by accident but everyone thinks I did it because I wanted his property. He doesn’t even have anything, how long have I been here? Since the king started ruling and decided that all female prisoners be locked up in the palace prison, initially I spent two years at the other prison, so a total of seven years,”

She explained bitterly, she looked so young to have spent seven years in prison which made Sophie wonder just how young she was when she got married, she had a lot of questions but she just didn’t want to prey further than she already did.