The Cursed King

Marc cleared his throat and started recounting his finding of Madeline York.

"Madeline York went missing when she was 4 years old. Her family went on a vacation to Salamanca in Spain and she was kidnapped from the villa they were staying in."

"Her family was looking for her for fifteen years. They hired so many private investigators and provided a reward for anyone who can give any clues that would lead to her being found."

"They worked with Interpol, the anti child-traficking agencies, they spoke to many news outlets to beg anyone who saw or kept their daughter to return her to them. For over fifteen years, nothing happened but they never gave up."

Loriel held his breath when he heard Marc\'s explanation. This sounded logical. Maybe, the York family thought Elise was their missing daughter when they found her and decided to take her in.

"How did they find her?" Finally, he asked the question.

He glanced at Elise who was busy in the kitchen preparing tea for them, and he basked in her presence while listening to Marc\'s reply.

"Well, five years ago someone reported to the private investigator that they found Madeline in a village on the mountain in Germany. She was in a pitiful condition and the York family immediately sent their lawyer to check on her and brought her home to US."

"How did they know it was their missing daughter? Did they do any DNA tests? How was the result?"

"They didn\'t need to. She looked a lot like the late Mrs. York, and she was also autistic, just like the missing Madeline," said Marc. "They immediately thought it was her. Usually, DNA tests are only done if the people involved, in this case, the parents are doubting that the person they found is their child, but the Yorks are very certain. They didn\'t want to do any tests."

"Autistic?"

Loriel furrowed his brows. Elise didn\'t seem like an autistic person. She was shy and quiet, but she could express herself well.

"Yes. When they found her, she couldn\'t speak, just like the missing little girl who was autistic. So, her spitting image to the young Mrs. York and coupled with the fact that she was autistic, Mr. Daniel York, her father, immediately knew it was her."

He added, "They brought her back home and tried to find out what happened to her throughout the years, but they couldn\'t get anything. However, with the help of some experts and live-in nanny, she could slowly talk."

Ahh… now everything seemed to fall into place. Loriel could now guess what happened. He put the bits and pieces of information he received from Marc and started to put all the puzzles together.

So, Elise arrived in the modern world five years ago and she was thought as the missing daughter of the York family. Madeline York.

Since she was shy and couldn\'t speak the language, the people who found her thought she was autistic.

The Yorks might be too obsessed by the idea that they had finally found their daughter after 15 years of disappearance, that they didn\'t bother doing any DNA test.

Now, after 5 years, Elise could already adjust to living like modern people. She learned the language and learned about the world.

Yes, she lived a sheltered life and had not known how to use Google Maps, for example, but overall, she could adjust to this new life pretty well.

Since she didn\'t have her memory when she arrived here, Elise finally accepted the fact that she was Madeline York. 

She just remembered her name, Elise, when she suddenly needed to give a fake identity to Loriel when they met for the first time in the cafe.

Elise didn\'t know that it was actually her real name. That\'s why it came out automatically from her lips.

The Yorks must have been grieving about their lost child for years and then when they found someone who looked exactly like Madeline in another country, she was then claimed to be their long-lost child.

It was very difficult for Marc to unearth some of this information because it was something that the family itself wanted to bury and hide.

Since the Yorks were affluent too, it wouldn\'t be possible to uncover the information if Marc was not a Sanderman. For this, Loriel was grateful for having such an efficient nephew.

Now.. what happened to Elise that she decided to run away from home, leaving behind the comfortable life she had with the Yorks? Did anyone bully her?

Loriel furrowed his brows, trying to think of all the possibilities. 

Wait.. Elise did say that her father was ill and she was not allowed to visit him. Did something happen to Mr. York?

"Marc, do you know where their family resides? Also, is the father okay?" He decided to ask Marc.

"Oh… Mr. Daniel York is now in a long-term care facility. He had a stroke and went into a coma several months ago."

"Oh.. what about his wife?"

"She passed away ten years ago. She was very stressed after losing their daughter and the media attention on their family. Some people even accused them of killing their daughter and hiding her body, then pretending that Madeline is kidnapped."

Loriel sighed. He turned to look at Elise and thought about the poor family who had taken in his wife and cared for her for five years before Loriel could find her.

The former king could imagine the grief and pain that the couple went through.

Losing the daughter they loved to the kidnapper and then having to face accusations from mindless people… must be so hard.

"I see…" he nodded.

"Yeah, Mr. York thought she looked so much like his wife when she was younger and so, he didn\'t want to do any DNA test. They gave Madeline York\'s identity to her and took her in." Marc paused from reading the information he kept on his tablet. "The ID that she gave to the hostel is real. She is really Madeline York."

Something came to his mind when he was talking to his uncle. Why did Loriel feel so interested in Madeline York?

Did his great uncle know the woman personally?

Did he know something that the lawyers and private investigators didn\'t?

"Do you know her, Uncle?" Marc finally decided to ask Loriel. "Is she there with you now?"

Marc was not dumb. He had put two and two together and realized that Madeline York must be the girl whom Loriel wanted to chase out of the hostel, for some mysterious reasons that now he was dying to know.

But why did Loriel do that? Where would Madeline go after the hostel claimed to have faulty electricity? Didn\'t he feel sorry for the girl? Why chased her out of her accommodation?

Also, what was she doing in a hostel? Wasn\'t the York wealthy? As the only daughter of the York family, Madeline could easily stay in five-star hotels in New York.

Wait.. Loriel said Madeline went to the hostel at 7 pm to get her bag. How did he know? Did Loriel go there with her?

What was the relationship between Loriel and the girl?

For the first time in his life, Marc felt his great uncle acted so mysteriously.

"Yes, she is with me. She is safe," said Loriel calmly. "Now, I need to know why she left home and came to New York on her own. Please find the information for me. Thank you."

His last sentences were uttered in such a gentle tone that Marc thought he was dreaming. Did Loriel speak gently to him just now?

How weird!

"All right, Uncle. I will do my best," said Marc. Before he could say anything else, Loriel had hung up.

The man\'s hand became weak all of a sudden, that he dropped his phone to the carpeted floor. He was looking at Elise with eyes filled with longing.

The woman seemed to try to turn on the stove several times to no avail. She was starting to look desperate because she didn\'t really know how a kitchen and stove worked.

Finally, after thinking about it and refused to let despair won, she resorted to holding the teapot with both hands. She didn\'t pay attention to Loriel because she thought the man was busy with his phone call.

When she thought Loriel was not looking, Elise warmed up the water to boil tea in the teapot. Soon, the wonderful smell of tea had wafted in the air.

She didn\'t realize Loriel was watching her every move with tears forming in his eyes.