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Four

Eva

Her

The wind blew and the sun shone brightly. She was chasing a butterfly, laughing. The butterfly flew to a place she had never known of, she followed anyway. It finally settled at a beautiful pond filled with water lilies.

"There you are," Adrianna spoke, finally close to the beautiful butterfly. However, as she stretched, the butterfly grew farther and farther, like she was living a dream. Suddenly, everywhere became dark. So dark she could hardly see anything. It stayed dark until she heard a voice.

"It's so nice to finally see you, Adrianna."

She turned around, wondering where the voice came from. The butterfly settled on her eyes and immediately she blinked, she was back to the beautiful garden again. She saw a girl sitting by the pond. She was about Adrianna's age, they had the same red hair. She backed her and Adrianna couldn't see her face.

"Hello," she tried to say to the stranger. Adrianna was already beginning to doubt if everything around her was true.

The stranger turned to look at her. It was her exact lookalike. Adrianna was already going crazy.

"Who... Who are you? Why do you have my face?"

The girl smiled, stood up, and appeared at Adrianna's front.

"I can't show you my identity, yet, Adrianna. "

Adrianna's eyes widened,

"How did you know my name? "

"My name is Eva. You awoke my spirit the moment you appeared here."

"Is that a bad thing? "

Eva smiled. She walked around Adrianna in circles,

"Certainly not. I shall be your guide from now on. Your arrival here isn't just because of a revenge plan - you have been chosen by the great one. "

Adrianna raised her eyebrows, surprised at Eva's words. Of all the humans in the world, why her?

Eva stopped circling her. She faced her directly.

"You are the chosen one, Adrianna. And I shall help you in your journey to success. It's a long way ahead, you may make mistakes or you may not need me anymore. But your victory will only be assured if you pay attention. "

"I don't understand, Eva. Why was I chosen? I'm a princess. By now, I'm supposed to be married to a prince, not this. "

"Would you rather live your life like any ordinary princess and be a wife alone? Or, do you want to be a legend in Austeria? "

Adrianna thought for a few moments. Imagine Ranier wasn't a demon. She'd just be his wife. Who knows, maybe one of his many wives. She'd be living her everyday life like Queen Elena. Barely looking after her children and one day, selling them off to princes and men of high value. A repeated cycle.

"What is the task that I must do here?"

Eva smiled, looking more and more like Adrianna's cloned lookalike.

"I shall inform you very soon. However, bear in mind that this is a very difficult task. A task where failing is not an option. You may want to give up and I may become unbearable to you. Strengthen your mind and prepare for the challenge in front of you."

Adrianna was hesitant to reply. Eva just spoke on riddles. Did she even have a choice? If she'd told Eva to take her back home, would Eva be able to do that?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the many eerie voices her brain could interpret.

"Wake up,"

"Sleep is over."

"Wake up."


"Wake up! " A voice spoke to her and she jumped up immediately. She coughed loudly due to over-inhaling the toxic air. Her heart may probably give up on her one day before she can complete her so-called mission.

She looked around, it was supposed to be morning but was still dark.

"The sun is hidden from this kingdom - everyone's heart is evil." A spooky voice spoke. Adrianna wasn't surprised. She only saw Rainier physically. She wondered how many demons were in the kingdom. She was beginning to get used to her new friends.

"Why can't I see your face?"

"We don't have a face. We've been ghosted," another replied. She could not understand how many they were, and why she couldn't hear a voice repeating itself. More so, she did not know what 'ghosted' meant. She chose not to bother herself with it.

"Is there a way to make this place illuminated? I can't see anything and it's supposed to be morning."

" Your eyes will get used to it soon." A voice interrupted. It was firm, not like the eerie and slow voices.

She looked towards the location and found a pair of dangling eyes - eyes without any other body parts. She wanted to throw up her intestines, watching the eyes. How could it talk? How could she see the eyes?

"Who are you?"

"I've been sent by the Prince to give you this."

Suddenly, a fireball appeared in front of her.

"For easy navigation. It's not like fire, it doesn't burn or bring out flames or get quenched. It will help you."

Truly, the fireball was a great help. She could see her room better - at least, dim enough to overlook the many many beings she was living with.

"Is that all?"

"He also gave you a message," the eyes replied. She was still wondering where its mouth was and how it could talk without a mouth or a voice or anything.

"Show me,"

Suddenly, a scroll appeared in her front. She picked up the fireball and read the words clearly,

"Either you work for your needs or die of starvation. Your choice."

It was short but carried enough information to tell her that he wanted her to work as a human slave. Truly, she was starving. She never got to eat anything before her wedding day and that was probably a day ago.

"What work will I be subjected to?"

"The kitchen, today. "

Great. At least, she'd have a way to eat.

"Okay. Let's go," Adrianna replied.

She held the fireball and navigated through the walls. She was able to easily dissolve into the wall and come out through the back.

"Every structure here is operated by a command," the eyes explained. They won't let you pass if they're not instructed to.

She nodded. She finally arrived at the kitchen. This time around, she saw several hands doing different chores around the kitchen. She would've been intrigued if she wasn't already used to it.

"You can start by washing the dishes by your right. "

Her eyes moved to her right and she found so many dishes waiting for her.

"How will I wash everything today? They're so much and I don't even have any knowledge of dishwashing."

Truly. As a princess, she never had to touch a dirty plate or do any work in the kitchen. Every minute, Adrianna started to understand that the place she once called a prison was a haven. Her stomach grumbled,

"May I at least eat something first? I haven't eaten since yesterday." She pleaded.

"You can eat. But only because you're new here. Maids don't eat this late. From tomorrow, you have to wake up early to have your first meal. You can ask the spirits to wake you up early. "

There were so many things weird about the dimension she was in. A princess once upon a time was now reduced to a maid. Moreso, in a world she could hardly see anything, except for her supposed wedding gift. Adrianna was given a pot of soup so watery she could use it to wriggle her mouth. She wondered if she'd ever come out of her wedding dress.

Sitting next to the many dishes waiting for her to wash, she started drinking the not-so-tasteless soup. She was too hungry to bother what it was.

"To make a plate clean, you pick a sponge like that, work with soap till it turns lather, and scrub on every plate till you're satisfied. You can remove the lather by placing the plate on the water over there."

Her eyes looked towards what she thought was black paint. Even the water was black?

"Whatever you wash will vanish into its original position. There are 24,000 dishes today. You have only two breaks and you must finish them before retiring to your chamber."

Her eyes fell. How in the world could she even wash a dirty plate for food? She felt like cursing the world and running back to her kingdom.

"I will come back to inform you when you can take a break," the eyes finally spoke, without asking her if she understood the concept well enough. Accepting her fate, she started to work on the concept called "washing dishes."

Her hands were sore from the hard work. Throughout her life, she never thought she'd be made to do such strenuous work. Her sleep was cut short with the voices waking her up. She had to have breakfast and start working so as not to finish late like the night before.

Munching on her bread and watery stew, she heard a voice approaching the kitchen.

"I'm here to take the Prince's breakfast."

She raised her head to look at the owner of the voice. It wasn't a body part like the ones she's been used to. It was a woman. She had gray eyes and very long hair. She was beautiful, except for the somewhat horrific eyes.

The strange woman turned to Adrianna's side and smiled. She walked towards her.

"You must be Adrianna," she spoke, giving a wide smile.

Adrianna nodded, still eating. Her shame had reduced to a point where she forgot all the Princess's manners.

"I'm Rokella. It's so nice to meet you."

Adrianna smiled, not interested a bit about Rokella. Did the spirits not say everyone in Austeria was wicked and had a black heart?

Rokella realized Adrianna was too busy munching on her breakfast to answer her. She turned to whoever was listening,

"Give Adrianna a break today. I want to show her around."

"What about the Prince's food? Won't you deliver it? " Adrianna asked,

"Something else will. Follow me. "

Adrianna was hesitant at first. She wasn't done with her food yet.

"Don't worry, another food will be brought to you."

That was all it took. Adrianna stood up to walk with Rokella. They went through several turns and routes, she showed Adrianna all the different places of work aside from the kitchen. There was a laundry place, with hands, as usual, another dishwashing place, for dishes eaten by the royal family. She was shown the place where numerous cleaning equipment were kept.

After leaving the servant's quarters, she entered the royal quarters. Now, there weren't body parts like before, except for the eyes - which she found out to be messengers.

She saw several demons with human disguise walking for one reason or the other, none paying attention to her.

"Some days, you may be asked to clean the floors of the palace. Your work shall be on rotation with many others. For the days you're made to clean, you wake up and work throughout the night. Then rest through the day."

Adrianna was beginning to doubt the difference between day and night. Except that she found out the moon brought light during the night, but the day was dark, without a source of light. Therefore, in Austeria, the night was brighter than the day.

They continued to walk around the palace. It was strenuous but she preferred it to washing 24,000 dishes. After she was shown around, Rokella turned around,

"Is that all?"

"Don't worry, your food will be kept in your chambers within an hour. "

" I mean, that's the whole tour? "

"Oh. Yeah. I just showed you the place you may be working on. The rest of the palace has no business to do with you. "

Her heart fell. She was expecting Rokella to show her Rainier's chamber. She accepted her fate and followed Rokella.

However, something caught her eye. A demon touched a part of the wall and it opened into a staircase. He made sure no one was looking before entering it and fading away.

"Adrianna, is everything okay?"

Rokella asked, noticing that Adrianna stopped.

"Yes. Sorry. Let's go," she replied. She didn't want Rokella to be suspicious of what she just saw. Especially if that was what she thought it was - a tunnel: a secret tunnel. If it was a secret tunnel, she would try to escape her hellhole as soon as she could.

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