But the prince’s eyes remained on the child. He had seen Ifeoma before, sitting near the kitchen baskets with an old notebook, drawing suns, crowns and a man she called “the man of light.” Once, during a rainy afternoon near the royal library, she had shown him a drawing of his black car and told him she did not like it because it carried him away.
Now the same child was kneeling before him, trembling as if she had seen death waiting inside the vehicle.
Chinedu crouched in front of her.
—Look at me, Ifeoma. Why did you call me Papa?
Her lips quivered.
—I don’t know. My heart said it before my mouth could stop it.
The courtyard went colder.
Chinedu’s voice softened.
—And why do you think someone will hurt me?
Ifeoma pressed both hands to her chest.
—Because I saw it. The Unity Square. The flags. You standing on the stage. Men hiding behind the platform. Smoke everywhere. People screaming. And a red hibiscus flower on the ground.
Commander Musa, the prince’s chief of security, stepped closer. His expression changed when he heard the details.
Queen Amara folded her arms.
—Enough. A child’s dream cannot cancel a national ceremony.
Nneka bowed her head to the stone.
—Please, Your Majesty. Punish me if you must, but do not touch my daughter.
Ifeoma shook her head violently.
—Mama, I am not lying. The man with the smiling mouth and dead eyes planned it.
Prince Chinedu slowly turned toward the ministers standing near the palace steps. Minister Dike, head of internal affairs, stood among them in a dark agbada, his beard neat, his smile thin. He had always hated Chinedu’s plan to return seized farmlands to poor communities. He had called the reform childish. Dangerous. An insult to the families who had supported the throne.
Only 3 nights earlier, Nneka had passed a half-open salon door and heard Dike’s voice.
—If the prince refuses to understand, after the ceremony it will be too late for regret.
She had been too afraid to speak. Who would believe a maid over a minister?
Chinedu stood.
—Commander Musa, cancel my departure. Send a different team to Unity Square. Not the internal affairs team. Check the stage, the flowers, the cameras, the cars, the back entrances, everything.
The queen gasped.
—You will humiliate the crown because of a servant’s child?
Chinedu looked at Ifeoma, then at Nneka, still kneeling like a woman waiting for judgment.
—No, Mother. I am stopping because no child cries like this for a lie.
Minister Dike stepped forward.
—Your Highness, the whole country is waiting. The cameras are ready. The chiefs have arrived. If you fail to appear, it will be a scandal.
Chinedu’s eyes narrowed.
—Then let the scandal save my life.
Ifeoma suddenly pointed behind him, straight at Dike.
—That is him. That is the man whose eyes hide something.
For the first time, Minister Dike’s smile disappeared.
Part 2
“Daddy, Don’t Go!” The Maid’s Daughter Stops the Prince and Reveals a Terrible Plot
