Alicia bumped into Susan, who was coming out of Prince Harold's chamber with a dejected look on her face.
Both Susan and Alicia stopped walking as soon as they saw each other. Susan, especially, looked awkward until Alicia made the move and resumed walking. When she got closer to Susan, she stopped and asked, "Is he awake?"
Susan seemed a bit surprised that Alicia was initiating a conversation. She nodded and looked back at the door. "But he fell back asleep."
Alicia nodded. "Thanks to you, he could survive."
"I didn't have a choice. My brother's life was also in danger." Susan said modestly.
Alicia nodded in understanding.
Silence passed between them, making it even more awkward. However, Alicia spoke, breaking the silence.
"You don't have to feel too awkward around me. I have already let go of whatever hurt I felt about the secret you all kept from me." She said in a sincere tone.
"Really?" Susan asked hopefully before her look turned sullen again "But I... I got angry at you—"
Alicia cut her off. "It doesn't matter. You all were the ones risking your lives to save me."
"So... you really are not angry anymore?" Susan asked, watching her face closely.
Alicia nodded to affirm it. "There is no point in that. It's all in the past."
Susan broke into a big smile, and before Alicia knew what was happening, Susan was already hugging her. "Thank you so much. I thought you hated me now."
Susan sounded like a boulder had been lifted off her shoulders, so Alicia believed her.
"I now know why I always liked you," Susan said with a big smile as she broke away from the hug.
"Why?" Alicia asked, smiling too.
"You are..." Susan paused, not finding the right words. "I don't know how to explain it."
"Cool?" Alicia offered, amused.
Susan pondered before she nodded. "But even better!"
Alicia laughed before saying, "Let's not avoid each other."
Besides, she didn't know how long she had here left.
"Let's not do that." Susan quickly bobbed her head, agreeing to that. She could not stop smiling. "I'm happy to see you back to yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"I always wished I was like you," Susan confessed. "You are confident. Very confident. You are not the type to let someone use you and just let them do that. It was why I could do that to Prince Ivan. Because I believed you would have done the same." She beamed.
Her words made Alicia soften. It was similar to what Harold had told her this morning. He had mentioned that he was glad she was the type of person he could count on to take care of herself even if he wasn't around. He had said it didn't mean he was going to leave her on her own, but he just liked how she always fought back.
Despite their words, she felt that wasn't entirely true.
She had given up in her past life and tried to kill herself. She had almost given up when the court found her guilty and wanted to kill her. She had let them do to her as she pleased, even going so far as to try to kill Paulina.
Those people had toyed with her. Now that she thought about it, it made her burn with rage. She had gotten a glimpse of what Anne and Amber had been like. Even though she didn't know most of the details, she could tell they hadn't been pushovers. She was Alicia Queen. She was not a pushover.
With this new-found determination and anger in her, she found herself in front of the mirror that evening, staring at her new reflection.
A confident smile that looked creepy appeared on her face, pleased at what she had done. She had never felt so confident and empowered. The transformation she had undergone was nothing short of miraculous. She had been through so much in her life—the countless trials and the near-death experiences—and she was done with being a victim.
She had cut her hair into a short bob, and it framed her face perfectly, giving her an edgy look. She was done with the prim and proper princess look. She was not going to live by their rules anymore.
The dark eyeliner and red lipstick she had been able to make from her mix of makeup products added to her newfound confidence, and she couldn't help but feel like a completely different person.
She then put on her new attire, the tunic and breeches she had worn outside the palace that had caused controversy in the kingdom. She also rolled up her sleeves, revealing her toned arms, all thanks to Princess Amber's effort in keeping her body fit. Lastly, she wore brocade boots and fixed her daggers on them.
Whoever was messing with her, she was prepared for them. If they wanted trouble, she would just have to give them that in a hundred folds.
And with that, Alicia strode out into the world, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead. She was a new person, with a new determination, and she was ready to make her mark on the world.
From the moment she stepped outside her chamber, everyone within the palace could feel a chill they could not fathom. The ones who had it worse were those who saw her pass by. It had taken a while for them to realize it was her, and the shock had been... shocking.
For some reason, she seemed much scarier than Prince Harold at this moment, and they could not even stay to watch or gossip. As soon as they saw her, they fled. Everything about her was weird. The hair, her face, the clothes, the aura. Everything was simply... strange. And it made them begin to believe that she was truly a witch.
Alicia walked with a purposeful stride, her head held high and her eyes fixed on the horizon. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she was not going to let anything stand in her way. She believed she had been brought to this era for a reason, and she was not going to be a coward about it.
A crazy smile appeared on Alicia's face when she noticed all that was happening around her.
"Buckle up motherfuckers." She muttered as she continued her journey straight down to the stables.
"Hellion," she called softly when she got to where the white wild horse was tied.
She approached it slowly, keeping her eyes on its face. With the look on Hellion's face, it was obvious that the horse was not happy to see her.
"You need to get used to this face because you will see me often." She spoke to the horse and smiled at it before turning around and leaving the stables, while Hellion stared at her in confusion, as though wondering who the crazy woman was.
By now, word about her was spreading throughout the palace.
But Alicia was prepared for what was to come, and she was currently on the archery range, trying to remember what Harold had taught her before all the craziness started. In one of her memory flashes, she had heard Princess Amber say, "Using weapons comes easy for us."
Alicia didn't know the "us" Amber had been talking about, but she assumed she was talking about her lineage considering Anne had also been good at it.
She picked up the smaller bow and arrow and aimed, letting the arrow fly. Of course, it didn't hit the bullseye. In fact, it hadn't hit anywhere at all and simply fell to the floor, which she had expected it to. But she was determined to get better. Because whoever had tried to get rid of her, she was going to kill that person with her own hands.
Determined, she continued, letting several arrows keep flying for the next hour. She repeated the process and noticed she was getting better with each shot. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she added a flourish to her shots, twirling her bow in her hand as she reached for another arrow. She released it, and this time, she was able to hit a target, albeit not the bullseye.
She gasped in surprise and looked at what she had done with pride, tears almost filling her eyes.
"It really does come easy for your blood."
She turned around immediately and saw Harvey behind her, his eyes on the arrow she had shot.
"That was a good shot."
********
AUTHORS NOTE:
Hello, beautiful readers! I had to write here because it's a little long.
So this book isn't ranking too well in the Golden Tickets section, so I was thinking about ways to improve that. I have seen some authors do this, so I was considering also doing a similar thing.
In case you are not aware, Golden Tickets come from the coins readers spend on this book, either by opening privilege chapters or sending gifts.
So I was thinking that maybe I should introduce a win-win situation...
The usual update for this book is going to be 7/WEEK.
If I get a 1000-coin gift (LUXURY CAR), there is going to be an extra chapter the following day, making it 8/WEEK.
If I get a 2000 coin gift (DRAGON), it's going to be 9/WEEK.
5000 coins is going to be 10/WEEK
10,000 coins—12/WEEK
and 15,000 coins—14 Chapters the following week.
Of course, this is not mandatory, so I'm not asking you guys to break your banks for it. And also, if anyone sends me more coins in a day or week, I'll gladly accept them and even do a happy dance! Lol.
But if this plan is going to work, I'll be asking my boss for at least one day off a week so I can compile chapters and keep updating. I hope you all support me, please.
Thank you.
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦