Helena quietly opened the large doors to the prince's chambers to get him ready for the day. The king was going to arrive at the palace in a few hours, so her majesty wanted to wake up earlier and help with the formal preparations. Helena tiptoed over to the crib and peered in. Her scream echoed through the halls of the imperial palace. The guards and a few other servants rushed into the room.

"What's wrong, Lady Helena?" A guard asked, walking over to the quivering handmaiden who had fallen onto the floor.

"S-someone kidnapped the crown prince!" She wailed, clutching a scroll in her shaking hands.

"What?" the captain of the castle guards asked, walking past the crowd towards Helena.

He grabbed the scroll out of her hands and held it up to the light. The note read,

'We have taken the crown prince, but don't fret. He is safe, for now. All you need to do is hand over 100,000 gold from the royal treasury, and we will safely deliver your son. This is a transmission scroll, which means that once you transfer the money, We will reveal the crown prince's location for the guards to come and claim.'

The captain shook in a fury.

"How could this happen on your watch, you blithering idiots!" He bellowed, pushing one of the guards with his arm.

"Forgive me for s-speaking out of turn captain, but all the special guard unit went with the king, so if they used magic, w-we wouldn't know!" A guard in the corner of the room stuttered.

"I will not hear these excuses! No one except the most trusted servants of the Royal Family knew about the soldiers leaving! That's unless one of you committed treason of the highest caliber!" The captain boomed.

"Send word to the Majestys and the Special unit immediately!"

"Sir!" The guards responded, clinking their heels together and saluting, and promptly exited.

The captain, still furious, threw the scroll onto the floor next to Helena.

"I'll find these bastards." He grumbled.

"Captain, I have a report." A scrawny guard walked into the room and kneeled. "One of the queen's handmaidens disappeared from the castle grounds, and she never requested permission to leave." He looked up at the captain's face, which was still twisted with anger. "What this means is that there is a high prob-"

"I know what this means, soldier! What do you take me for? An idiot?" The captain spit.

The guard flinched at the captain's words.

"No, sir." He sighed.

"Well then, now that we know who's most likely responsible go find guards with nothing to do to search the castle grounds and the surrounding area now!"

"Sir!" The soldier said, running out of the room.

Shock still paralyzed Helena, who was shaking on the ground. She tugged at the hem of the guard's pant leg.

"Last night, I was feeling a bit under the weather, so Cathleen," Helena's voice quivered. "So Cathleen offered to go look after the prince in my place." She broke out into a sob.

The captain stared down at her face.

"No need for you to worry about yourself, M'lady. No one would have guessed that the personal handmaiden of the queen would go so far to kidnap the newborn infant."

Helena stood up, looking down at her feet. She brushed off her skirt with her hands and grabbed a handkerchief from her small bag to dab the tears from her eyes. She inhaled deeply and looked up at the captain.

"Forgive me for my informal outburst, but if you will excuse me, I will go tend to her Majesty and try to console her."

"Of course, M'lady." The captain stepped aside in good manners to let Helena walk past.

What a mess...

Helena peeked through the slightly opened door in the queen's chamber. The queen was huddled in a pile of blankets on the bed, quietly sobbing to herself.

"My baby, my precious baby is gone, and it's my fault!" She sobbed, covering her puffy eyes with her slender hands.

"Your majesty..." Helena whispered, slowly approaching the bed.

The queen looked up at her handmaiden.

"Oh, Helena, how did this happen? I thought you were looking after my baby..." She whispered. The queen's face looked like a pleading child who wanted desperately for the news not to be true.

Helena reached out and hugged the queen, like a loving mother. Helena had been taking care of the queen since she was but 4 years old. The queen was the daughter of the former king's most trusted advisor, so the matchup was mainly political, but the king and queen grew to love each other deeply.

"I'm sorry, my queen, but dont worry. I do not doubt that we will be able to retrieve the prince with no further complications safely."

"What will my husband think... his fist son... kidnapped by my own handmaiden. What will I do?" The queen sobbed.

Helena combed her silky hair with her fingers. She sat with the queen until she fell asleep from the exhaustion.

The king arrived shortly after, and the events that had recently transpired were explained to him. He ordered all the best soldiers and mages to search for the missing handmaiden and the lost prince. Despite their efforts, the only thing they found was an abandoned wagon with traces of poison. News of the kidnapped prince spread all over the continent. Even after the gold was transferred through the scroll, no location ever showed up.