I nodded slowly, destabilized by Payne's sudden change in demeanor. His offer to involve me in the investigation felt both unexpected and suspicious. But regardless of his motivations, my priority was to protect Quistis:
"Yes. I want to help as much as I can."
Payne quickly nodded:
"Good. We'll start immediately. But first, tell me everything you overheard."
Payne took out a notebook which made me frown. I just couldn't understand him.
"Mister Zeidan?"
I forced myself to focus. A long time had passed but I still remembered exactly what the maid looked like. I described her to Payne in detail and he listened to me patiently writing down everything. Once done, Payne rubbed his chin, his eyes having lost focus.
"What you say poses a serious threat. We should identify the maid as soon as possible without raising suspicion."
I had only spent two days in the Grimsbane mansion and we still had a lot of time before the poisoning but I preferred to act immediately nonetheless. Who knew how the changes impacted the future? Every second passed was a second where Quistis was in danger.
Payne called all the maids and so it wouldn't raise suspicion, he pretended that he was calling them to tell them about my schedule. Having just arrived, it was natural to do so. Everyone lined up in the Great haul and Payne extended me his hand to escort me down the stairs. I looked at his arm for a bit before finally accepting. We had to pretend to be close. Payne smiled when I accepted his arm but I ignored him and focused on the maids. Just as I was looking at their faces, I felt Payne bend closer to my ear:
"Stay close to me."
I ignored him and walked down the stairs.
"We have gathered you here today..."
I wasn't listening to anything Payne was saying. As he was talking, I looked around the unfamiliar faces, searching for the right one. I was surprised when I recognized her. One because she looked ordinary. So ordinary that I never would have remembered her in a crowd. And two because I didn't expect her to still be there. She was the only maid that was familiar among the crowd. Why would she be the only maid that Payne didn't fire? That felt just too weird. On the other hand, I really didn't pay attention to anything during my stay in the past. Maybe I had already seen each and every one of them but just couldn't remember. That was way more likely.
Having recognized the maid, I immediately strengthened my hold around Payne's hand. The latter stopped talking that second and looked down at me:
"Mister Zeidan? Is everything okay?"
He followed my gaze and saw the maid I had been staring at. Not wanting her to get suspicious, I quickly looked up at Payne and placed my other hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at me:
"Sorry, I just got distracted for a second. Do go on."
Payne didn't continue talking however. He just kept staring at me, blinking again and again.
"Your Majesty?"
He flinched and finally seemed to get his control over his body back. He straightened up and continued where he left off:
"Hum... To finish, dinner should be served at 8 p.m in the dinner hall. We won't tolerate any delay."
He covered my hand with his as he was talking and gently tapped it. Once finished, the maids thought they could finally go back to their duties but that was when five knights erupted into the Grand Hall. The maids flinched hearing the commotion and Payne immediately surrounded my waist of his arm. I looked up at him with a frown. I wasn't scared. I knew exactly what was going on. Unfortunately, being watched I couldn't push him back but I was going to tell him about it later on.
One of the knights stepped forward:
"Apologies, Your Majesties. We received urgent information about a potential threat to the youngest Princess."
Payne pretended to be angry while I could feel my muscles relax. Had the knights found proof? Already?
"A suspicious behavior has been brought to our attention. Therefore we took the initiative to search the maid's sleeping quarters and found this."
The knight raised a flask towards Payne. The latter motioned for the knight to come closer and I could already see the maid getting restless. She started looking at the knights and at the nearest door, trying to find a way out.
Payne took the flask and looked at the pink liquid inside:
"What is this?
-We have found this flask next to a letter giving instructions to poison the princess."
Everyone gasped and that was when the maid knew that it was over. She decided to run for it but didn't get very far and two knights grabbed her from both sides. The rest of the maids retreated from the one who got caught, looking at her in disbelief. Moments later, the knights walked up to us, dragging the maid after them. She was trying her best to get out of their hold and I could see tears in her eyes, having already realized that it was over. Her face was pale, her eyes wide open in fear. Her eyes passed me but when she saw Payne, she immediately froze.
I followed her gaze and realized why. Payne's expression was menacing, his presence commanding authority. Seeing him of the sort reminded me of my past life and I realized that the old Payne was still there. It somewhat comforted me. I finally found something familiar in this new life.
"Following this evidence, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Princess Quistis."
Payne's voice was firm and unwavering. The maid opened her mouth as if to protest, but no words came out. She looked at me briefly, as if looking for help. I didn't understand why she would look at me and I met her gaze evenly.
Payne didn't seem to like our exchange because he immediately raised his voice:
"Take her to the dungeons."
His tone left no room for argument and being taken away finally woke up the maid:
"Please! No! Please, have mercy! I didn't mean to! I was forced to! Please! The mansion has numerous enemies! They forced me to do it! They would have killed me otherwise!"
Feeling that it wasn't working, she quickly changed her plans and looked at me:
"Zeidan! You should understand!"
Payne didn't like that and his face turned red in anger:
"How dare you!"
I didn't give him time to finish. I strengthened my hold around Payne's arm and he immediately motioned for the knights to stop. Payne had a hard time holding back and he bit his lower lip until he started bleeding.
"Please elaborate on that."
The maid's eyes started shining.
"Your Highness... I knew you would understand! You are exactly in the same situation as me.
-The same situation you say?"
Hearing me laugh made everyone frown.
"And what would that situation be?
The maid had no idea how to react:
"I... We are both protecting our families. That is why you got engaged to the Duke."
She slowly started getting her energy back:
"It is exactly the same for me. Please believe me. I didn't mean to hurt the Princess. My family. They were threatening my family! I had to save them. You would have done exactly the same thing."
I spat at her. It was stronger than me. I just couldn't take it anymore. It sent a deep silence across the room for a few seconds. People looked at each other, wondering if they had seen the same thing. Even Payne stared at me, bewildered.
"Coward.
-What?
-You are a disgusting coward. How dare you target an innocent child? Did you really think that I would believe your pathetic excuse? I heard you talking about your plan. No one was threatening you to do anything. And if it is revenge you're after, you should have gotten it like an adult.
-I..."
I let go of Payne's arm and walked closer to the maid. Payne didn't seem to like that and he grabbed my arm but I pushed him back.
"You will serve as a lesson to everyone else in the future. If anyone dares touch a hair on the head of the child. I am going to kill them."
The maid looked one last time at Payne before finally dropping her act. Her eyes got filled with disdain and she screamed as she got dragged away:
"Everything would have gone according to plan if it wasn't for you! You destroyed everything! You should suffer! You deserve to suffer the worst pain in the world! "
She turned back towards me:
"How could you be on their side? You should be ashamed of yourself! How could you forget about your origins so easily?"