Queen Maria had slept so long into the night that she didn't even wake up to go and have her dinner with her husband.
She later woke up and frowned when she stared at the huge wall clock that hung brightly on the wall in her chamber.
The palace had electricity supply and Queen Maria hadn't switched off her room bulb either. She stretched and sat up on her bed, but as she turned and stared at her bed, she was so shocked that she thought she was probably dreaming, probably in a dream and hadn't woken up.
Queen Maria blinked her blue eyes, rubbing them to see clearly as she saw only one baby, Princess Miranda, on the bed.
"No!" Queen Maria screamed out.
"No! No no...!" she screamed, alerting the whole palace and began to sob.
"This can't be true, Guards!" Queen Maria called on the guards, as the time was already 2:25 am when she had woken up.
"Guards!!!" Queen Maria thundered, and even King Richard ran out from his chambers upstairs, rushing down to the second floor and to her room as he heard her voice.
When King Richard came into Queen Maria's room, being the first to enter, he asked her, "What's going on? What's the matter, my love?!" he asked as he came to her side, seeing her scattering all the clothes on the bed, and searching under the bed in hope to see her precious little daughter.
"What's the matter?!" King Richard questioned her again, as she stood up to meet his gaze.
"Where's my baby?!" Queen Maria screamed, and the guards and maids that had rushed into the room, standing at the door, froze.
They stared at the bed and discovered only one baby was on the bed and the other baby, who had blonde hair, was missing.
"Where's my baby?!" Queen Maria screamed aloud again as she went hysterical.
King Richard continued to stare at the bed, surprised and in shock. He managed to gather himself after processing his wife's question, and he turned to calm her down after seeing her charge towards the guards and maids that stood at the door, hitting them with her hands that she held into a fist.
"Where's my baby?! Where's my baby?!" Queen Maria cried.
King Richard swallowed hard and went to hold her. "Calm down, my love, we will find her. Remember, they can crawl a little, maybe she's still in the palace." He tried to calm his wife as he knew how ruthless she was when hurt.
"Are you sure about that, honey?" Queen Maria wiped her sobs, as she stared at her husband, turning to look at the guards and maids who stood at her double-door room entrance.
She shouted, "What are you all doing there? Go find my baby and no one dares to leave this palace!" she thundered, and they immediately scrambled out and left, hitting each other as they ran out in search for the little princess, searching everywhere, including under the chair, rugs, pot, fridge, and even inside the toilet.
Yet they couldn't find little Princess Mary.
"Did you find her? Did you find her?" The maids and guards questioned themselves as they ran up and down, ransacking the whole Ubi palace searching for the little princess.
King Richard held his wife and tried to calm her down. "My love, please, you need to get a hold of your emotions. I promise you we will find her." He tried to assure his wife as he was still stunned about the news of one of his twin daughters missing.
King Richard needed to as well calm down so he could properly think on how to handle the matter with extra caution and not to harm the innocent in the process.
"Your Majesty! We couldn't find Princess Mary in the palace," one of the guards returned to the Queen's room door and said.
Queen Maria stepped away from her husband's embrace and rebuked him, "You're lying, go back and find my daughter, else I will deal with you all, go find her!" she screamed and cried into her husband's arms again.
"It's okay, my love, we will find her," King Richard assured his wife as he sighed. He helped his wife sit on her bed, and he stared at his second daughter, who was sleeping peacefully on the bed.
King Richard then spoke to his wife again, "I'm coming, let me see how the search is going on downstairs and where the guards and maids are probably searching." Then he stood upright and left.
Queen Maria cried her eyes out, she couldn't believe her eyes, she hoped by daybreak she would wake up from such a torturing nightmare.
'Where was her daughter?' Queen Maria looked around her room again and stood up. 'Where was her replica?' She went to her wardrobe and searched. "Where's my baby?!" she burst out crying as she rushed out downstairs, going down to the first floor to search for her daughter by herself.
King Richard got downstairs first and helped in the search. He had first gone to Prince Mike's room on the second floor that was guarded by two stationed guards, and yet little Princess Mary wasn't there.
How was this possible? King Richard looked around his son's room and only Prince Mike was in there sleeping on his bed.
King Richard shook his head and went back downstairs to interrogate the guards and maids on the first floor because it had been three hours since they were all searching the palace and yet they haven't seen the little princess yet.
No clues, no traces, it simply meant she was no longer in the palace. No, King Richard didn't want to believe that.
King Richard went downstairs and as he arrived, he saw his wife slap a maid hard across her face.
"You fools!" Queen Maria cursed, as she left the maid and went to hijack the guard guarding her room door.
"Tell me, didn't you see my child crawling out or do you know where she is?" Queen Maria questioned the guard, whom she held by his collar and shook him to respond.
"Your Majesty, I swear I was up all night and I didn't see any baby crawl out. I did not see any baby, I swear," the guard spoke his innocence.
"Shut up!" Queen Maria pushed the guard away and walked backward. She fell on the sofa behind her, and she curled her legs upward towards her chest. Then she began to sob, shaking her head in regret as tears poured out from her eyes like a waterfall.
King Richard breathed out heavily and came forward to cover his wife's view away from the guards and maids. As he stood in front of her, facing the guards and maids.
It was already after 4 am and yet they still hadn't seen the little princess, nor spotted any little trace of her in the palace.
"Joseph!" King Richard called, and Joseph stepped forward, stepping out from the rest of the guards and maids in the living room.
"Give me the names and records of all that has been going on in this palace. Who left this palace last, and whatever suspicious thing you noticed," King Richard stated, as he stared at the rest.
Joseph nodded and stepped back.
King Richard turned to face his wife's two personal guards who were stationed to guard his wife's door, as he knew his wife wasn't in her right frame to give him any clue. So, he spoke to the two guards, "I have already contacted the police and soon they will be here. Tell me the truth, Lawrence and Victor, whom did you allow into my wife's chamber and where is my first daughter?!" King Richard questioned them calmly.
"Your Majesty, we didn't allow anyone in..." Victor's voice trailed, as he spoke to the king.
King Richard went to him and dragged him up by his collar too, startling everyone as they hadn't seen the king turn violent before.
He let go of Victor and landed him a hot slap and the living room fell into utmost silence. As they heard the police siren next, breaking the silence.
"I will ask you this question for the last time, who did you let into my wife's chamber and where is my first daughter?!" King Richard thundered with blue veins popping out his neckline.
"Your Majesty... to be honest we didn't, but wait oo, I think it was only..."
"Only who?" King Richard held on to Lawrence's collar tightly, "Only who did you see?! Speak to me, where did you both connive and keep my daughter?!" King Richard questioned.
The policemen stepped into the royal mansion and bowed at King Richard.
"Greetings, Your Majesty, we got your call from the station, how may we be of help?" the first police officer questioned, as he stepped forward.
"You are welcome, officers," King Richard replied, as he finally let go of Lawrence's collar and turned to shake hands with the first police officer.
"Officers, my little daughter, Princess Mary Wilfred, all of a sudden is missing from this palace and these two guards are the prime suspects behind her kidnap," King Richard stated, as he pointed towards Lawrence and Victor, who stared at the king in shock.
"Your Majesty, we are innocent," they quickly responded and pleaded.
"Shut up!" the police officer thundered, and they stiffened.
"Officer, I am innocent, I swear, I did not see the little princess, it was only Martha that had gone into the Queen's chamber several times today," Lawrence said, and Queen Maria stood up from where she sat crying, "Martha! Yes, where's Martha?" Queen Maria questioned, as she turned and stared around at the rest of the maids and guards that stood downstairs on the first floor inside the living room.
They turned to stare at the queen, including her husband. "Honey, yes, I remembered this evening I had asked Martha to clean my room. I remembered I slept after that."
"Where's Martha?" Queen Maria questioned, as she looked around again in hope to see Martha, as she wiped her tears with her handkerchief.
Seeing that no one named Martha stepped forward, King Richard frowned and stared at his wife in disappointment. "Officers, take them away, we will continue with the investigation from there," he told the two police officers, who bowed before the king, "Yes, Your Majesty," they replied in unison and went to handcuff the two guards that were stationed to always guard Queen Maria's chamber.