𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 - 𝐴𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑘𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

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Millicent.

Millicent.

Millicent.

"Shut up, Merlin." She groaned as she stirred slowly, her eyes fluttering open groggily. Sunlight filtered through the window, casting a warm golden glow over the room. She shifted, her muscles protesting slightly with an unpleasant ache, a reminder of her and Merlin's journey.

As her senses gradually returned, her vision became clearer. She looked down and saw Merlin, still sound asleep. She frowned. She swore she heard him call out to her. That was part of what woke her. That voice.

Surely she was dreaming.

She got out of bed and walked over to Merlin, sinking her feet into his stomach without apology. Merlin woke suddenly with a clatter of pain as her sister left him breathless for a minute.

As he struggled to regain his composure, staring at the ceiling with the eyes of a dying man and cursing her, Millicent quickly dressed before leaving the bedroom first. She greeted Gaius, who held a bowl of porridge for her. Of liquid porridge. Very liquid.

She held back a grimace as it seemed rather disgusting, but she just took the bowl with a forced smile. She sat down at the table and took a first spoonful. She swallowed slowly, apprehensive.

Well. It could have been worse.

"I got your brother water. He didn't wash last night." Speaking of the devil, they heard the bedroom door open as Merlin came to join them.

Gaius was carrying a large bucket of water to put on the table, but he deliberately put it on the edge. Gaius « accidentally » bumped into it as he walked by the table.

Millicent's eyes immediately went to the bucket, but she just watched it fall. Merlin, who was putting on his jacket, raised his head just in time to use his magic to stop the bucket before it hit the floor, its contents already half spilled on the floor.

Millicent stopped her spoon in mid-movement. Merlin stood up and Gaius and he shared a look of astonishment. Gaius' gaze shifted from Merlin to his sister. Then they all looked back at the bucket which suddenly continued its fall. The water spilled all over the floor.

Gaius gave the boy a questioning look before turning to his sister. "Don't you know how to do what your brother does ?" the old man wondered at the brunette's inaction. He didn't give her time to reply, still amazed at what he had just witnessed, before turning back to Merlin. "Doesn't she know how to do what you do ?"

"No, I mean yes, it's just... Well..." Millicent watched the two men exchange words about her as if she wasn't there. She looked at Merlin with interest, curious to hear what he was going to say. "It's Milli. She's like that."

"What does that mean ?"

He took a peek at his sister and nodded slightly with a sigh. "You'll understand soon enough," he contented himself with answering.

Gaius looked sceptical but stopped insisting. "How did you do it ?" he finally asked Merlin. "Did you incant a spell in your mind ?"

Merlin shook his head animatedly, trying to explain himself while his sister continued to eat as if nothing had happened. "I don't know any spells."

"So what did you do ? There must be something."

"It just happens." Uncomfortable with the situation, the boy turned to pick up a mop and began to clean the floor. Millicent stopped eating and stood up before taking the mop from his hand. "Eat, I'll finish."

Millicent went back to her brother, but he had done most of the work. She cleared her own dishes and the table around Merlin, who tried to finish his plate with as much gusto as his sister had done before him.

"We better keep you out of trouble."

"Don't worry about Milli, she has a talent for it," Merlin replied with a hint of mockery in his tone.

"And for you, Merlin ?" he asked, his tone quite denunciatory of what the old man could already observe in Merlin.

Millicent sneered discreetly. "Well, I'm here," she simply replied. An answer that didn't reassure the court physician at all. Merlin didn't even protest because there was only truth in his sister's words. She was the one who kept them out of trouble.

Gaius suddenly seemed lost in thought as he looked at the twins. After a minute he broke his silence. "Merlin, you could help me until I find some paid work for you." Merlin nodded, wanting to be as discreet as possible from now on.

Then Gaius turned to Millicent and seemed less inspired. "Well, I may have an idea for you, we could find some paid work for you more easily."

Merlin frowned. "And until you do, what is she going to do ?"

Gaius looked at the windows. "Camelot is a lively city, you could visit, I'm sure you'd find something to keep you busy." Hearing this, Merlin opened his mouth in indignation at the injustice, but didn't say a word.

First the bed, now she gets to have free time and he doesn't, when all she'd done since they arrived was act selfishly and she wasn't the synonym for lovable when he was. But Merlin didn't really have the time to be falsely angry at his sister for all her advantages, or at Gaius for what the boy would consider favouritism.

Millicent suddenly spoke. "On second thought, I've realised that the three of us can't live here."

She didn't even let Gaius protest. The old man wanted to reassure her, to tell her that it might be an organisation that would take some getting used to, but that it would be all right. But as soon as he tried to speak, she spoke again.

"This is fine. Don't worry about it. I just want some paid work and a little more of your help in finding a place to live, then I'll go."

Surprised, Gaius didn't know what to say. It wasn't Merlin's case. He protested thoughtlessly. "Leave ? What are you talking about ? You don't have to." He turned to Gaius. "Gaius, tell her."

Gaius' eyes darted between Merlin and Millicent. There was some truth in the girl's words. Not wanting to put Gaius in the position of having to choose between emotion and rationality, Millicent spoke again.

"I will stay in Camelot, Merlin." She calmed the situation, understanding that her brother was genuinely disturbed by the thought of the two of them not living together for the first time in their lives.

"It will be better for all three of us."

Gaius finished with a nod to indicate his agreement. He placed a hand on Merlin's arm. "That won't happen now. She needs a job and an income first. She'll stay with us for a few more weeks."

At these words, Merlin felt a kind of release. In a few weeks they would have settled into a routine, he would make his sister see that they could live here together and persuade her to stay. But he should know her well enough now to know that this was the kind of decision she had made and that she would not go back.

Gaius changed the subject by telling Merlin his task for the day. Some potions to give to some nobles of the court. Before they both left he called to them. "And, Merlin, Millicent, I need hardly to tell you that the practice of any form of enchantments will get you killed."

They nodded in response. They could only take one step when the court physician called them once more. Millicent lifted her eyes and barely held back a sight that, at the right moment, drowned out all her annoyance.

"And here." But when she turned back to see Merlin taking two sandwiches held out to him by Gaius, her irritation turned to rapture. The twins shared a smile before leaving.

At the exact second the door closed behind them, Merlin handed one of the sandwiches to his sister before they both ran for it. The boy devoured it while his sister savoured every bite.

"That porridge was disgusting." Merlin said once he had wolfed down his sandwich.

"You're damn right, it was." They chuckled before heading down the stairs. "So, who shall we go and see again first ?"

"We ? And why are you here again ?"

"Did you think I was going to stay in there with Gaius all day ?" Without really giving him a choice, Millicent left with her brother. After a while they found their way to Sir Olwen's apartment.

"Remember Gaius said he couldn't take it all at once."

"I know, I don't need you to remember. I can do it myself." Merlin paused at the door to Sir Olwen's chamber, hesitating for a second before deciding what to say. He repeated several sentences in his head.

Millicent sighed, then pushed her brother aside and knocked on the door before walking back. Merlin didn't even have time to curse his sister when the door opened, giving him no time to think.

"I brought you your medicine." Merlin said simply, before holding the potion out to him. But being blind, he couldn't grasp it. Merlin finally put it in his hand before turning back. He looked at his sister, proud of himself.

"Merlin you didn't-" She had barely begun to speak when Merlin turned to inform Sir Olwen of the tip-off Gaius had given them. However, the two siblings watched as the old blind man swallowed his potion in one gulp.

Merlin took his sister's arms and pulled her away, walking down the corridor. "I'm sure, it's fine," he said to her.

"Are you saying that to reassure me or yourself ?"

"You. Me. Maybe both of us. Definitely both of us."

"Well then it's the moment I leave you before you find a way to kill Lady Percival." She taunted him. "I don't want to be a witness to anything and I'd have to cover you."

"Yeah, go, I'd probably be better off without you anyway !" he shouted as Millicent left him.

"Yes, yes," she waved, brushing his words away. "I'll meet you outside the drawbridge," she told him. "Don't go into town without me."

She didn't give him time to answer. Or rather, she walked away before she could hear him answer. Surely he said something about being able to go his own way. No, he couldn't. She was sure he would be able to get himself into a lot of trouble, because he had a talent for it.

She was on her way into town, across the courtyard. A man she assumed to be a knight almost bumped into her, chatting and laughing with men who were surely knights too. Millicent avoided the man, glaring at him before leaving the area.

Knights.

After a few minutes, Millicent left the main avenue of the town, which led straight to the drawbridge and the castle, and wandered haphazardly through other streets, guided only by her curiosity to explore the town.

She walked aimlessly. She went down one street and then another, wandering through small alleys before returning to the larger streets. She discovered the lives of its inhabitants. The houses, the public places, the people - many of whom seemed to know each other in one way or another - the different shops, the different activities.

She also encountered guards on several occasions. They often seemed to be walking around the citadel. The city looked quite safe. Maybe that's why life there seemed so peaceful, once you forgot all about magic and the "threat" it posed to the kingdom.

She stayed in the upper town, deciding to wait for Merlin before going to the lower town. Surely he had completed his tasks and she should find him now. But in the midst of her discovery of the city, she found it difficult to leave the area and return to the drawbridge.

As she walked down a street leading to the main avenue, she saw a stall owner in a rather animated conversation with someone standing on the other side of the stall.

"I can't close my shop for even a few days," the owner said as Millicent heard the conversation more clearly as she got closer.

"So at least limit what you sell." Some of the words exchanged faded before Millicent could make out any new words spoken by the owner. "Anything can be used for an ointment, a poultice or a potion."

"Don't you dare say that." The woman she was talking to looked around in panic before turning back to the shopkeeper. They exchanged a few words before the woman left, leaving the owner of this little shop alone in her stall.

Millicent didn't quite understand the subject of the conversation or what it was about, but she had the impression that it had something to do with magic and its use. That should have convinced her to continue, but her curiosity had been piqued.

The brunette only realised that her gaze had been too persistent when the gaze of the woman running the stall locked onto her. And it was too late to continue her journey as if nothing had happened when the woman called out to her.

"You're not from around here, are you ?"

Millicent was about to leave when the saleswoman called her back. "I sell plants for all sorts of things. Remedies. Perfumes. Embellishing tincture. Flavourings for food, most have medicinal properties, you can make potions."

The woman gave her a broad smile as she showed her stall. Millicent sighed, then approached slowly, looking carefully at what the woman was proposing. "So you're a godsend," she finally said, forcing a smile from the woman.

While she could have pretended to look and then walked away, Millicent's curiosity was too piqued by the little scene she had witnessed. The fruit never falls far from the tree. And in that moment, she did what her brother might have done.

"May I ask what the problem is with your business ?" The woman seemed surprised at the sudden question from the youngest. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be indiscreet, but I heard your friend's advice as I came down the street."

"When did you arrive ?" the woman asked suddenly.

Millicent hesitated for a moment before answering. "Yesterday."

"Then you witnessed what happened in the courtyard."

"Yes, I arrived at that very moment." Millicent nodded, deliberately omitting her brother's presence at her side. She couldn't help replaying the images of the execution in her mind. "A very sad sight," the witch added in a whisper.

"Not everyone thinks so." The shopkeeper, who had not missed Millicent's words, retorted immediately. "Don't say that out loud, the walls of Camelot have ears."

Millicent nodded, realising her mistake and cursing herself for her carelessness. The saleswoman resumed her monologue. "Some people are suspicious," she said, explaining that when Thomas Collins was arrested for witchcraft, his house was turned upside down and searched from top to bottom for incriminating evidence.

On the spot they found - or placed - an ointment. A simple ointment. But an ointment was found in a sorcerer's house. What was immediately assumed to be a magical ointment, without knowing whether it really was or not. An object of witchcraft. And Millicent understood the problem. His eyes swept over the stall. Most of the things she sold could be used to make ointments.

"In the villages, people don't necessarily have access to a physician. In the villages, it's common for ordinary people to make their own ointments to treat their sick children. The plants are readily available. But more and more, they no longer dare to make and use it unless it has been made by a physician for fear of being mistaken for witchcraft."

"But they're just plants. It was completely stupid."

"And with what happened yesterday, I'm in for a few weeks of bad business." She sighed heavily. "It happens every time. People avoid herbalists for a while when something like this happens."

"It's ridiculous." Millicent couldn't help saying it.

Millcent was about to say something when the woman she was talking to cut her off. After a quick glance over the brunette's shoulder, she looked down at the various plants on her stall. "Don't turn around," she said, "If we behave normally they won't come this way."

Millicent was surprised at first, not understanding what it was all about, but then she began to hear metallic clanking noises, like the ones she'd heard whenever she'd come across soldiers making their rounds in the city.

But these sounds didn't go away - on the contrary, they came closer until a man's deep voice was heard, making it impossible for the two women to ignore their presence.

"Ladies."

"Soldiers !" the saleswoman exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, not allowing the man who had just spoken to say another word. Millicent had turned to look at them, tensing up more than necessary, but managing to maintain a nonchalant air.

"What brings you here, have you come to contribute to my trade ?"

"No, we haven't come as buyers, but we are interested in your business."

Millicent felt utterly obsolete, and she clearly was in the eyes of the two soldiers who acted without considering her presence. They scrutinised the stall and the woman holding it.

Millicent didn't say a word, didn't try to leave. She didn't move to make herself as invisible as possible. She didn't know what was going on yet, but she knew it smelled bad and she didn't want to get involved in case she had the misfortune of talking to the wrong person.

"What are you looking for ?" asked the shopkeeper, trying to hide her growing nervousness.

"The accomplices of Thomas James Collins."

Millicent froze and looked at the shopkeeper who seemed petrified. "A.. A... Accomplices ? Accomplices, you say ?" she babbled.

"Yes, as you may know, the sorcerer was arrested after a magical ointment was found in his house. We're looking for anyone who might have helped him."

"Helped him?" The woman almost choked on the word.

"Yes. By providing him with what he needed, for example. Anyone who dealt with a sorcerer is an accomplice." And just as the saleswoman seemed to be breaking down, the soldier added a final sentence that seemed to be the final blow. "It is said that he gets his supplies in Camelot. Some people have seen him in the area."

Suddenly, everything the woman had told her before made even more sense to Millicent and she finally understood why the woman's friend had advised her to close the stall.

Millicent looked at the woman who had turned red. Innocent or not, she looked guilty. At least that was how the soldiers looked at her. But perhaps this woman had nothing to feel guilty about. Perhaps she was afraid of being condemned without even seeking the truth of her possible guilt.

Millicent had talked to this woman and she seemed intelligent. Too intelligent to still be selling her products if she had anything to do with this witchcraft case.

The day before, she had witnessed the execution of someone she believed to be innocent. It had turned her stomach, angered her and hurt her. If this woman was taken in for questioning, guilty or not, Millicent felt she would suffer the same fate as Thomas James Collins.

She couldn't let that happen.

The other soldier leaned over the stall, restored some of the plants, showed them to the saleswoman and asked for explanations. And the woman's confidence was slipping. She struggled to justify herself.

"And that, what is that ? If it's not dangerous, you should be able to explain it to us," he said, waving a creamy white umbel in front of her eyes.

"It is meadowsweet." The shopkeeper and the two soldiers suddenly turned their heads towards Millicent, who had just spoken in a clear, confident voice. In a burst of confidence, Millicent took the plant from the soldier's hands. "It's a medicinal plant. It helps with fever."

She put the flower down before picking up a few green leaves and showing them to the soldiers. "Wild mint for stomach aches."

Milicent sensed that she had caught their attention and continued her little act. She replaced the wild mint with another plant. "Mugwort for... You know," She put her hand to her mouth and whispered, as if revealing a secret. "Ladies' problems."

The soldier suddenly sat up uncomfortably. Millicent held back a smile. She had made him uncomfortable. It always made men uncomfortable and that was the point. The brunette then moved on to the second part of her plan : to flood them with information. Send them such a deluge that they'd get bored, forget why they'd come and just run away from this conversation.

"Lemon balm is used for nausea during pregnancy." She put the plant down and looked around the stall for something else she knew. There was angelica, which some people said helped with the plague, but Millicent decided it was better not to talk about it, as for others only magic could have an effect on such illnesses.

So she picked up some pretty flowers. "Poppy."

The guard who had first called out to her straightened up as his eyebrows furrowed. Millicent pursed her lips, wondering what she could have said wrong. "Isn't that supposed to be a sedative ?" he asked in his hoarse, suspicious voice.

"Can you blame people for wanting to make the suffering of their loved ones more acceptable and their deaths easier, perhaps you could have a word with the King about access to the services of the court physician ?" Millicent's tone was more aggressive than she would have liked. But the common people's lack of access to medicine had always affected her deeply. She had seen the consequences many times in her village.

For a second, Millicent thought her accusatory tone would get her into trouble, but instead she saw the two guards exchange glances before furtively lowering their eyes.

She had only been here a day. She knew nothing of Camelot. The fact that the lower classes didn't have access to medicine was just an assumption, but Camelot was a city like any other and it was the same everywhere. She knew she was very lucky to have hit the mark, judging by the reactions of the two soldiers.

"Gaius is doing his best," one of the men replied in a calmer voice.

"I know he's my uncle," Millicent took the opportunity to slip in this information. The three people around her looked at him in surprise as one of the guards straightened. It seemed to her that his gaze had just changed. It was as if this kinship had suddenly given her more credit.

The older guard cleared his throat. "Really? I didn't know he had a family."

Then Millicent suddenly turned back to the stall and pointed to several plants. "These are tincture plants."

"We get it," the man who had been looking at the plants a little earlier replied in an annoyed tone.

They were still there, so Millicent thought they didn't get it enough.

While the youngest of the soldiers seemed ready to resume their rounds of the town, the oldest did not seem to be finished with them. "And this ?" he asked, showing red berries. "Looks like poison."

Millicent took one of the berries and squeezed it between her fingers. "It's for the lips !" She spread it on her lips and then offered them her brightest smile.

"Court ladies don't use this."

"Perhaps, but they are rich. There is no good fruit, but they make their mark."

"Once squeezed, these berries can be placed on your lips," the woman, who had been silent since Millicent's first intervention, suddenly intervened. She supported the young woman's words. "These are only harmless tinctures for a little embellishment."

"And this, sir, it's lavender, women use it as perfume to smell good. To please men..." Millicent brought the lavender close to the inside of her wrist, then paused before finally pressing it to her neck, hard enough to get the scent but leaving a red mark.

"Do you want to smell ?" She held out her hand and gave him a flirtatious look, hoping to charm the soldier enough to make him consider her harmless, but not enough to make him want to continue this conversation.

The soldier played along, and after a few more words, they set off. As they rounded the corner, the shopkeeper sighed with relief. "Phew, I thought they'd never leave."

The smile that had been on Millicent's face from the start suddenly disappeared and she turned to the woman. Millicent wiped her mouth and spat on the floor. There was nothing friendly about the look she gave her.

"As you've seen, I can tell a lot of things. I think it would be wise if you listened to your friend and closed your stall for a while. And when you reopen it, it would be best if you got rid of some of these products."

The woman's face became more serious. She had got the message.

"You know a lot," the woman remarked to her.

Millicent sighed before she spoke. "My mother knew a lot. I never thought I'd need it. Then one day my brother got sick. My mother was the one who took care of him. But she fell ill too."

Millicent felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered. She was nine and terrified at the thought of losing her twin brother and her mother. To be alone. And in Ealdor, the nearest physician was at least three days away on horseback.

"My mother was one of the only people in our village who could read. She taught us. Some of them have a few rudiments, but let's say at six we already read better than most of them."

Millicent looked up at the sky before continuing. "She had a book. The sort of book my uncle had. The kind of book you would want. I had to find out how to cure them myself." She shrugged before adding, "I had retained one or two useful things I read."

🎕

Milicent arrived not far from the drawbridge and did not see her brother, but given the time she had spent in the streets of the city, she was sure he was finished with the tasks Gaius had given him. She sighed, imagining that he hadn't waited for her.

She approached several people, asking if they had seen him pass. But apart from a few sidelong glances, or other people simply ignoring her, and one woman who replied with a sorry smile that she hadn't seen anyone of that description, it wasn't very glorious.

Millicent sighed and put her hands on her hips as she looked around. Her gaze fell on a puny boy standing just outside the drawbridge at the entrance to the town, next to a group of knights. The boy kept staring at her, and when he saw that she had noticed him, he looked away.

Millicent squinted. She was sure the boy knew something. She approached him with a friendly smile to put him at ease. "Hello," she said. Her voice was surprisingly friendly, friendlier than it had been since she had left Ealdor.

The boy turned and looked around before realising she was talking to him. "Hello..." he replied, between embarrassment and shyness. He looked at the group of knights. Millicent followed his gaze, assuming that he worked for them and couldn't possibly be chatting, but since the knights were in the middle of a discussion of their own, and since in her opinion the knights were far too self-centred to pay attention to a servant, she thought they wouldn't notice this conversation.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a boy, have you seen him ? He's about my age, about this tall," she put her hand more than a head above her head. "He's dark-haired, his hair is darker than mine, you can get the impression it sometimes turns black," she continued. "He's skinny and He walks around with a perpetual look of «nincompoop» on his face."

It was clear to Millicent, the more she spoke, that the boy had definitely made Merlin's acquaintance. She didn't have time to add another word to her description before someone intervened.

"You mean that idiot ?" As the boy regained his composure, Millicent turned to the group of knights who had approached. One of them, a blonde, had broken away from the group and was facing her.

She blinked for a moment. It was the idiot who had almost bumped into her earlier.

"An idiot ?" she asked. Compared to a few seconds earlier, Millicent's face was devoid of sympathy. She didn't like the idea of her brother being called an idiot, even if he was one, and she hoped to hell it wasn't him the blond boy was talking about.

"Yes, that boy tried to hit me." The boy said this with an astonished laugh, as if the idea that anyone would want to hit him was completely ridiculous.

Millicent was rather relieved to hear the words. It couldn't have been Merlin. Merlin was not a violent man. Stupid, sure, but not violent. But the blond boy didn't stop there.

"Yes, I was having fun with my friends, you see," Millicent crossed her arms and listened to him with a bored look on her face. There was something about him she didn't like, apart from the fact that he was a knight. It was the way he spoke. "We were training and this boy misinterpreted the situation. He thought I was bullying my friend here." The blond pointed at the boy she was talking to and asked him to intervene. She followed his gaze and the boy forced a smile.

«His friend.» She wasn't so sure. She was convinced that he had to martyr this boy. And she didn't like that information. Because even if Merlin wasn't violent, he was the kind of person who would intervene if he saw an injustice or a group of boys bothering someone weaker.

"Just when I was about to set things right, to calm him down," the blond man put his hand dramatically to his chest. "He started insulting me."

Millicent arched an eyebrow and couldn't help but look mockingly dumbfounded. "Insulting you ? You who are so sympathetic."

"Isn't it ?" The boy had obviously missed the irony in the brunette's words, and that was no bad thing. "What was his name again..." The knight seemed to think, looked up and snapped his fingers a few times. "Ah yes ! Merlin."

Merlin.

Hearing her brother's name, Millicent froze. She slowly closed her eyes with an exasperated sigh before pinching the bridge of her nose. "I see he's managed to make friends already," she muttered to herself.

She was going to kill him.

She took a deep breath to stay calm and straightened up, regaining her composure. "So you saw him."

"Yes. Before I sent him to the dungeons."

Millicent's eyes opened wider, she even unconsciously reached out as if to make sure she'd heard right, and her jaw almost dropped. "To what ?"

The knight completely ignored her question and continued his monologue. "He took himself a bit for..."

This was too much for her. When she realised that her brother was actually in a cell as she spoke, she couldn't help but make a scathing remark. "And you, who do you think you are to send him to a cell ?" she asked, stunned.

Her brother might be insufferable, but not enough to put him in irons. Besides, the boy was only a knight. She was pretty sure he couldn't do that.

"For the Prince. Arthur. Arthur Pendragon. The King's son." Arthur said the words with satisfaction and a hint of contempt as he grinned. As for Millicent, she thought she felt her eyes leave their sockets as the announcement had the effect of a bucket of cold water on her head.

"The prince..." she repeated in a small voice, still in disbelief. She took a deep breath and raised her eyes to the sky, feeling a nervous breakdown coming on. "How on earth could he have beef with a prince ?" She whispered to herself.

She thought about Gaius' words. And she thought about why she had told Merlin to wait for her at the drawbridge. To avoid something like this, but letting him go to the drawbridge alone was obviously giving him too much independence.

If their mother knew...

Arthur continued his explanation, going into great detail, but Millicent only listened with one ear. She didn't recognise any of her brother's personality traits in what he was saying. Naturally, she was convinced that he was distorting events. The prince sounded like a complete moron. But moron or not, she wanted to kill her brother for putting himself in such a situation.

"Are you his girlfriend ?" Arthur asked suddenly, snapping Millicent out of her thoughts.

Of all the things she'd heard so far, it was the most startling thing anyone had ever said to her. "His what ?" She almost choked on the words. "If you come out with that kind of nonsense, I can understand why he called you an idiot."

The words had come out of her mouth and she regretted them when she saw the look of confusion on the prince's face. "I beg your pardon !?"

To be clear, she meant every word she had just said, but she did not want to get into the same trouble as her brother. So with all the strength she could muster, she painted a smile on her face and looked like a fool. "Excuse me, sir, we come from a small village and you know girls like me don't have the same education, I don't know good manners." But even the kindest smile couldn't remove the note of sarcasm from his voice.

Arthur studied her for a moment. Millicent psychologically prepared herself to find herself in a cell next to her brother's for having touched the wrong person's ego, but surprisingly the prince let it go.

"Anyway, a boy like him couldn't have gone out with a girl like that." This remark provoked comment from Arthur's knightly friends. Millicent assumed it was meant as a compliment, but didn't take it as such and did her best to suppress a grimace, but her contempt was evident in her eyes.

"If he's not your boyfriend, who are you ?"

"His sister."

"Ah..." he exclaimed with a chuckle, looking over his shoulder at his friends. Did he really need an audience for his antics ? "That explains a lot," he added.

Millicent raised an eyebrow as she felt her patience wearing thin. She was beginning to understand why Merlin had wanted to beat the boy, even if she still doubted the veracity of the information. "What exactly do you mean by that ?"

"Your arrogance. I mean your arrogance. You have the same"

Millicent laughed. Condescension personified calling her arrogant. She almost choked as she fought the words from her throat. She wore an arrogant smile - she might as well prove him right now - before correcting him. "Please, my prince," her tone was more than mocking and this time Arthur understood and seemed to be annoyed at the way this girl was behaving towards him. He was not used to it. "Don't insult me, I taught him arrogance."

A mocking sound echoed in Arhtur's throat. "A girl who shapes a boy's personality, eh ?" The prince's companions chuckled at the remark, while Millicent felt her face tighten.

It was official, the son was worse than the father.

"Perhaps I should send you to the dungeons instead of him, then."

"Maybe... But you won't." Arthur seemed surprised at this cheeky reply. "I wouldn't ?" He chuckled. "What makes you think that ?"

"I just know, that's all. And you have no reason to."

Arthur laughed in his face, something that annoyed Millicent deeply, but it was clear now that the mere existence of this boy annoyed the brunette. Everything about that boy was annoying. She hadn't thought she could be so annoyed by anyone.

"I could do it because I want to. For my own pleasure."

If this thought was meant to frighten or intimidate Millicent, it didn't work. In fact, it had the opposite effect, making her even more shameless.

"And your people will know that their future king is a tyrant." Millicent uncrossed her arms and spread them out, pointing to what was around them. Arthur noticed that some passers-by had stopped to watch the road.

The Prince's smile faded and when the people realised that the Prince was watching them, they all continued on their way. Millicent could see that the Prince had been affected by this, even though he was doing his best to pretend that he didn't care.

Arthur forced a smile that looked a little petty on his face. "You're going to see your brother, I suppose ?" Millicent didn't answer, figuring it was none of his business what she was going to do. But he took her silence as a positive response. "Perhaps you'd like me to show you the way ?"

Millicent sensed the underlying threat behind his false sympathy, but it also seemed to be tinged with something else.

"No, thank you, I can find my way. I'll just have to start by looking where you won't be," she replied with a wide, falsely friendly smile on her face.

Without another word, Millicent walked away. As her footsteps echoed on the stone of the drawbridge she was crossing, Arthur addressed her one last time, raising his voice to make sure he was heard. "What's your name, Merlin's sister ?"

Millicent did not stop, nor did she even glance over her shoulder in the direction of the prince. She merely raised her voice and replied simply. "You didn't need to know it as we will never talk to each other again." Arthur watched her walk away with panache, flabbergasted, her long brown hair swaying behind her back, her long skirt moving in time with her footsteps.

She had just left, without a glance at him. No one, let alone a girl, had ever behaved like that to him. He cast a dumbfounded glance at his fellow knights as Millicent clung to the firm belief that she would never speak to this prince prat again.

Little did she know that she would never be so wrong in her entire life.

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Hi, it took me a lot longer than expected to post this chapter, but I had a block in writing a certain scene in this chapter. Now I'm going to post a chapter when the next one is already written.

I wanted to give a bit more background to the whole magic situation. I hope you like the idea.

In the next chapter, Milli meets Morgana and Gwen.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter ! Have a good day/night <3