The Royal Physician
Chapter 05 - The Royal Physician
Dr. Lucien Voss attempted to leave the country before dawn.
Border police stopped his car near the northern crossing.
Inside were cash, forged passports, and old medical records bearing the royal seal.
Under questioning, Voss denied kidnapping anyone.
He called the infant transfer an emergency succession decision.
Seven years earlier, the monarchy faced crisis. Sophia’s baby was stillborn. The palace had already announced the birth of a healthy heir. Revealing the loss could destabilize the government and expose Adrian’s earlier relationship with Elena.
Beatrice proposed a solution.
Elena’s child carried royal blood.
The public did not need to know which woman gave birth.
Voss altered the records.
Elena delivered Clara by emergency surgery while unconscious. The infant was moved to Sophia’s room. Elena was declared mentally unwell and transferred under another name.
Adrian listened through the observation glass.
“You stole a child,” Marcus said.
Voss looked offended.
“I preserved the succession.”
“You destroyed three women.”
“I followed the Crown.”
Beatrice had paid him through the Royal Heritage Fund.
The same fund financed the clinic, the institution holding Elena, and the investigator who disappeared.
Voss also revealed that Sophia’s illness was not natural.
Beatrice ordered medication added to her treatment after discovering the diary.
The dose weakened Sophia’s heart until infection became fatal.
Voss insisted he never intended death.
Adrian entered the room.
The physician stood.
“Your Highness—”
“Do not use my title to explain what you did.”
Voss lowered his eyes.
Adrian placed the baby bracelet on the table.
“My daughter was treated as an object that could be moved between rooms because men with titles believed stability mattered more than consent.”
Voss replied quietly.
“Your mother made the decision.”
“And you made it possible.”
The physician agreed to cooperate in exchange for protection.
His records opened a criminal investigation into the Queen Mother.
For the first time in modern history, palace prosecutors prepared to question a royal matriarch under caution.
Voss’s records revealed that Elena woke repeatedly after surgery and asked for the baby.
Nurses were ordered to increase sedation.
One nurse wrote in the margin:
Patient states she heard an infant crying in adjoining room. Senior physician says this is hallucination.
The infant had been Clara.
Elena requested the nurse’s name.
Margaret Lyon was now retired and living abroad. She agreed to testify after learning Elena survived.
Margaret had kept a copy of the original chart because the orders disturbed her. She spent seven years believing she had failed a dead woman.
When Elena spoke to her by video, neither knew how to comfort the other.
“You heard me,” Elena said. “You were not allowed to act.”
Margaret answered, “I could have acted anyway.”
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Both truths remained.
The testimony added another layer to the case: systems did not require every participant to be cruel. They only required enough people to obey.
