Hot torches were placed across the staircase's wall as she went down and avoided the flickering flames. The dungeons somehow reminded Rowena of the stifling feeling she had when she used to stay in the tower all by herself. 

It was only much worse and she couldn't believe that prisoners were trapped here without any sunlight at all. This made her feel even more worried about Julian if he had been stuck here like some kind of animal.

Even Lucent didn't like it when he was in the cage, how much more Julian?

As she went down and carried the tray of food, Rowena remembered the look of betrayal across the young man's face and swallowed a lurch in her throat. She was going to save him… but was he going to be happy to see her?

Would he blame her for everything?

"What are you doing here?" an unfriendly voice spoke.

Rowena squashed her fears and glanced up to the two guards stationed near the prison cell. Inside them was no other than Julian himself, his head was bowed down and he looked battered and bruised as well. Jarvis seemed to have really beaten him up.

Bile filled her throat, but Rowena caught herself and looked at the guard who spoke.

"I'm here to deliver food for the prisoner," Rowena said.

"... we don't remember any schedules for feeding the prisoner," One of the guards said.

"This boy just arrived recently too." The second one added with a grumble underneath his breath. "Why would he be fed immediately when we're stuck here with him?"

Rowena licked her lips and spoke timidly. She portrayed herself as a meek maid and nodded her head slowly. "They're new orders. This will be the boy's last meal before he's sentenced to die." 

It was a bad thing to say aloud because she saw Julian look up from the prison cell, but that seemed to have convinced the two guards. A look of relief crossed over the face of the first guard who leaned against the wall and turned to his companion.

"Hah, I knew we wouldn't be cooped up inside for too long. His Majesty never lets a prisoner stay here too long. It's a waste of resources, I told you."

"Good. I was going to lose my mind if I got stuck here for weeks," the second one said. "But what about those goblets, girl? I don't think that's for the boy unless the drink's poisoned for him."

Rowena's heart skipped a beat.

It seemed like poisoning wasn't an odd event for them. Did it mean that it was commonly done? Rowena ignored those sudden thoughts and only continued to lie to convince them. 

"Ah, these are for you. One of the cooks added it because he knew that you two would be bored to death here." Rowena said with a smile on her voice. "A little drink to cheer up the spirits."

"Huh." The first guard looked disbelieving.

"Well, I guess we could go for some alcohol."

"We can't drink on the job."

"This dungeon's freezing!" The other one complained and snatched the goblet from Rowena's tray. The wine sloshed a little as he gave his friend a look and greedily drank his share. "If you want to drink rat's piss from your waterskin, then drink up."

Rowena's eyes widened. 

The both of them had to drink and not just one.

So she picked up the goblet and approached the first guard. Rowena looked up at him and batted her eyes as she held it up to him and spoke demurely. "It would be a waste to let this drink be taken back up, sir."

Although Rowena's face was covered with a thick scarf that obscured her features, the guard caught a glimpse of her beautiful purple eyes. They seemed to sparkle at that moment from the weak flickering lights of the fire and dazed him. 

The first guard cleared his throat and averted his gaze as he accepted the goblet. "Fine. Just feed the prisoner his meal now and get back up. This is no place for a girl." 

"Haha!" the second guard laughed and punched his friend in the arm.

Rowena ignored their conversation as she bent down a little and approached the prison chamber. She held up the tray of food and noticed Julian's unkind gaze on her. He looked unhappy but refused to show fear at all.

"I don't need that," he spat.

Rowena didn't know what to say, she placed the tray of food down and didn't speak at first and only looked at him. She was counting the moments till the effects of the sleeping drug kicked in… but then all of a sudden, the second guard kicked the tray inside of the prison chamber. 

It scattered all of its contents across the cold and dark floor.

Some of it even hit Julian.

"Bah! Someone's bringing you food and you still refuse. Pathetic."

Rowena's expression darkened at that moment. Some of the men who served the castle had good intentions, even though they hurt other people like Jarvis… but some were absolute scum who abused their power and the fact that they were at a higher position than others.

It sickened her as the view she had of the world changed a little.

"Was it necessary?" Rowena asked in a low voice.

"Huh… what did you say?" the second guard narrowed his gaze at her.

"I said, was it necessary for you to do this? Does it make you feel good about yourself just because you're not the one who's imprisoned?" Rowena balled her fist. 

"I think it's time for you to head up, girl." A worried look came from the first guard. "My friend is hotheaded—"

"What if you were in his shoes and treated like this?"

"Hah!" The second guard slapped the maid's hat away from Rowena's head and glared at her. "Do you think you can lecture me just because you're a woman? You're just a pathetic maid."

Julian's eyes widened at the mistreatment. He also recognized the golden hair and forced himself to stand up. "Wait, don't do that to her. I'm the one that you have a problem with!"

The guard ignored the boy as he yanked Rowena up by the hair and narrowed his eyes at her. "What's with this awfully thick scarf anyway? You're hiding something underneath? Let's take a look, shall we?"

.

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From Missrealitybites:

I know a lot of you must be missing Harlow and Raphael, and maybe even Mars, Emmelyn, and perhaps... Gewen?

Sorry, we have to take a detour and explore Rowena's story in the past, so things in the future can make sense.

If you remember how patient you were, waiting for 300+ chapters until Mars and Emmelyn can reunite, you must remember that a nice reward awaited you at the end of the journey or the wait. The same goes with this story.

I have finished 10 stories on Webnovel so far and all their endings are great. I actually take personal pride in my stories' endings. All stories have happy and wholesome endings.

I plan to end Harlow's story by June and publish a new one to MAYBE join WSA (Webnovel's Spirity Award).. I plan to write a completely new story - with another doting husband, but hopefully a more unique storyline.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.