Unedited.
After Harold left, Alicia roamed around her room, feeling angry and frustrated. She had poured out her heart to the bastard, thinking that he would sympathize with her and help her find a way to escape, but he was just a selfish prick. What had she been expecting from someone like him anyway? She shouldn't have confided in him. She should have just kept it all to herself.
What did he mean by saying she could escape but should try not to get caught? Why was he bent on keeping her here? Why did he keep insisting that she was his wife and not Amber? How did it even make sense? Alicia thought as she sucked her teeth.
This was the fault of those stupid royalties who had ruined her plans. The thought of not having breakfast the next morning since it was the time of the week where they skipped breakfast made her relieved. She would rather starve than see all those faces again after they ruined her plans last night. She had run out of options now and had no idea what to do to be able to escape this place.
In need of something to do to keep herself busy, she lifted the tray that contained their barely touched dinner from the bed to the dressing table. She doubted that the maids would come back to take the plates now that the third bell had been rung. If she wasn't so upset about her ruined escape plan, she would probably have devoured the meal, but now she had no appetite.
It seemed like the last option she had now was to find a way to make that horse, Hellion, like her. Once she was able to do that, she would find a way to escape with the horse and take Paulina along with her.
If she was going to escape, when was she going to do so? It definitely couldn't be during the day when all eyes would see her. Especially Harold, who had warned that she shouldn't be caught by him. It would have to be at night then? Maybe during dinner, while the members of the royal family would be busy eating?
Her heart began to beat at the thought of those scary-looking animals patrolling outside. Should she take the risk and see whether she would be able to escape from them? She shook the thought out of her head immediately. The last way she wanted to die was being ripped apart by an animal, Alicia thought with a yawn, suddenly feeling exhausted now.
Still thinking about the best way to go about it, she reached for the portrait painting that Paulina had given her and lowered the lantern before going to lie on the bed. It was only now that she held the painting against her chest that she realized she didn't even know the name of the woman in the painting. She sleepily made a mental note to ask Paulina about it in the morning before drifting off to sleep.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a strange place and looked around, wondering when she got here when she was just in bed just now. It was daytime, and she was in a busy marketplace with people moving about. The market looked different from the one she had visited with Harold. It was smaller and had fewer fancy things. As she kept looking around, wondering if she was in a different world, she heard loud voices coming from the corner beside her and began to head towards that direction. A lot of people were also hurrying towards that direction to see what was happening. She also began to head there, but stopped when she passed a mirror and noticed that she was back in her real body. This was her real face!
"What is going on?" A woman asked a man who was hurrying there, making Alicia return to her senses.
It's the loan sharks that work for the king. They are harassing families again and demanding a double of the initial interest. Saviour showed up again and was—"he stopped talking when they heard someone wail in pain.
The man stopped narrating and ran towards the direction where people were gathered cheering for their saviour, leaving the woman and Alicia, who had been listening to the conversation, wondering who this saviour was.
Alicia hurried towards the direction where the crowd was chanting "Saviour, Saviour" repeatedly. As she pushed her way to the front of the crowd, she was met with a jaw-dropping scene.
A young lady, dressed like a commoner, was in a serious battle with four bulky men. She was little compared to them, but it seemed she had the upper hand. She kicked, punched, slapped, and did some jaw-dropping flips that got Alicia interested in watching the fight instead of finding out what exactly she was doing here.
When the last man fell face-first to the ground, the crowd went wild, cheering excitedly.
The young lady called Saviour sighed loudly before turning around to face the crowd, smiling.
Alicia did a double take when she saw the girl's face. It was herself.
"Saviour, what is your real name?"
"What family are you from?"
Many questions were thrown at the young lady who was beaming at them, but she answered none of their questions.
Meanwhile, Alicia was still staring at her in shock as she wondered who this person was and what games the universe was playing this time.
Stand up for your rights and stop letting these people bully you. If they show up again, you know where to find me. " The girl said to the crowd.
The families she had just saved fell on their knees to thank her repeatedly while she tried to pull them up.
No need to be too excited. They are going to return another day. You all need to stand together and fight against injustice, "she said to them, and the crowd began to cheer again.
The girl suddenly turned and looked straight in Alicia's direction. The smile left her face, and she seemed shocked to see Alicia. As Alicia tried to step forward to meet her, she suddenly found she could not, and the next thing she knew, she was on her bed. It was the morning. And she had been dreaming.
She sat up and looked down at the portrait she was still holding to her chest. This was the same person she had seen in her dream, Princess Amber's mother. There was no way the dream was just her imagination. Why was she dreaming of both her mother and daughter? Why did that woman have that face? Was she like her ancestor or something?
She stood up as her eyebrows creased in a frown. How come the girl looked surprised when she saw her? This whole thing didn't make sense. If Paulina had said that Princess Amber's mother was the Queen, why was she dressed in that way fighting the king's people on the street? Was that why she was executed and Amber was sent to exile?
Perhaps she had been sent to this age and time because there was something that she needed to figure out. Maybe whatever she found was going to throw light on why she became an orphan and had a difficult life. She paced around the room as different thoughts ran through her mind, and she only stopped when a knock sounded on the door before it was pushed open, and Paulina came in behind Princess Luciana and the other maids.
"Good morning!" Luciana greeted her with a wide smile as she walked into the room, and she signaled to the maids to prepare the bath, while Paulina went to stand beside her mistress.
She still had no idea what Alicia had been thinking by pulling the stunt she did last night, but she sure hoped that Princess Amber would make an even worse and unforgivable mistake soon and be sent out of the palace.
She had been shocked by the way the usually timid Tyra had pleaded on Amber's behalf. She doubted that anyone at that table would have done something like that had she been the one that had made the mistake that Amber had made. Amber was a threat to her position. She was the first daughter-in-law, but Amber was overshadowing her and she didn't like it.
"We are not having breakfast today. Is this necessary today? " Alicia asked, not in the mood to face her.
"Yes, It is not only necessary, but also very important for every member of the royal family to look their best at all times.You never know when you will be called upon. After your bath, we will continue with your classes, "Luciana said," as she gestured to the bathroom for her to go in.
Not wanting to argue with her or talk more than was necessary, Alicia did as she was told while the servants and Paulina cleaned her room and set out her clothes on the bed.
Going forward, she was just going to remain calm and do everything as they wanted her to. That way, they wouldn't see it coming when she decided to escape. Yes! That was exactly what she was going to do. She was going to convince Harold into believing that she no longer wanted to leave, and then make him let down his guard.
He said she shouldn't be caught, right? Alicia thought with a smirk that she was going to escape right under his nose when the time was right.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺