Chapter 12: The history

Ave was surprised when she woke up the next morning in Selene's chamber, remembering clearly falling asleep with a creature in the forest.

She quickly looked down at her clothes and realized she wasn't wearing her bloody chemise from last night. Instead, she was now wearing a beautiful orange robe. From the brightened room, she guessed she had slept well past morning.

How the hell was this possible? How did she end up in bed when she hadn't slept there last night? Could all that had happened last night be a dream? Her escape, the crazy shadow, and then that beast—were they all unreal?

As she was about to climb down from the bed, the smell of something delicious and enticing swirled to her nose. Inhaling the aroma made her stomach growl loudly. She pursed her lips and followed her nose to the source.

Ave's eyes widened as she was met with a spread mat where all sorts of food were arranged. She didn't recognize any of the dishes, but she was starving. She ran to the mat and began to stuff her mouth with anything her hand touched, eating like a cavewoman, devouring and swallowing without even tasting the food.

She hadn't eaten since the day she'd woken up and it was a surprise she hadn't passed out. All thanks to that damned prince!

As she was eating, the door to the chamber opened and Lydia hurried in, crying in relief and concern. She fell to her knees beside Ave who was too busy eating to ask why the girl was crying again.

"Your Highness... why did you leave the palace? I thought you were dead when Lord Zane brought you in all covered in blood in the middle of the night," Lydia cried out. She had been so scared that her mistress had gotten into another trouble and was killed this time when she saw the blood on her clothes last night.

Ave stopped mid-chew and turned to Lydia, speaking with a mouthful. "What did you just say?"

Lydia glanced up, her green eyes shining with tears. "I thought you were... dead..." She broke down again, too relieved to stop crying.

Ave sighed and gestured with her finger in a rewind motion. "After that. Who did you say brought me in?" So last night hadn't been a dream? She'd really gone out and had the craziest experience of her life. Her falling asleep in the forest with Beasty was also real?

Beasty... Was the poor thing all right, or did he get hunted down again?

Lydia wiped her cheeks and began to explain. "It was Lord Zane. He... he brought you back here and came to wake me up in the servants' quarters to attend to you. He said he found you lying on the forest ground. Why did you go to the forest in your undergarments, Your Highness? You..."

Ave blocked off whatever Lydia was saying as she tried to process the events of last night now that she knew it wasn't a dream. She had failed to find the inn and had ended up meeting a shadow woman instead.

Remembering the woman's words now made her scoff. Her, Aveline, make a psychopath fall in love and help him become Emperor? That was absurd and insane. If that woman thought for a moment that she had bought any of her stupid fantasy, she was mistaken.

Aveline had never been the kind to want a man or have anything to do with love or marriages. Love was a weakness that made many women act stupid and senseless. And marriage was something she'd sworn never to get entangled in.

She liked her life, free from men and relationship drama, and she wasn't going to compromise any of her vows because some shadow woman told her that was the only way to go back to her time. She was still going to go after that inn and fall from the window. Nothing could stop...

"...the inn has been demolished by the Empress the day you fell from the window. You shouldn't—"

Ave, who had blocked Lydia's words from her mind, finally heard those parts. "What did you just say?" She asked, turning her full attention to the maid.

Lydia hesitated before she repeated her words with a shaky voice. "The Empress had demolished the inn after the incident and beheaded the owner, and if she found out that you went out last night again, she might really behead us both like she threatened the last time. Your Highness, you must not do that again..."

Whatever Lydia said didn't worry Ave like the fact that the inn she'd risked her life to go to last night had been demolished! What was it with this damn place? Why did it seem like everything was going against her when she'd thought she'd figured it out? And this Empress, what was her role in Selene's life?

Ave frowned in annoyance. "Damn her! Why did she demolish it and why the hell would she behead me when I'm a princess?"

Lydia looked at her mistress with concern as she realized she must have forgotten everything to this point. The most important part of her life that had been the main reason why no one respected her despite the fact that she was married to a prince. "Have you forgotten, Your Highness? You were..."

When Lydia finished explaining Selene's origin to Ave, her eyes rounded in disbelief. "So you mean to tell me Selene is just a daughter of a hostage noble from a conquered kingdom and was taken in by the Empress at a very young age to work as her errand girl, and now she owes her entire life to the Empress? Interesting..." She muttered.

So because this Empress had taken Selene under her wings at a young age, where they had killed her parents and conquered her land, she had to be grateful and be careful or else her head would be severed just like her family?

No wonder none of the servants or guards respected her when she ordered them. She was just a princess by name. Not to mention her scary husband didn't care about her enough for the servants to respect her.

This Empress seemed to be an interesting character in Selene's life. Why else would she demolish an inn and kill the owner? And what had happened that day at the inn, and how the hell did Selene fall from the second-floor window while talking to her husband? What were they even doing there?

Ahh! How was she going to go back now that the inn was demolished? If only this palace had a window where she could jump and hurt her head again, but unfortunately, it was just one huge building with no stories or anything.

If she didn't find her way back soon enough, her curiosity to find out more might get the best of her. And the last thing she wanted was to get entangled in Selene's mess.

And what if she never found her way back home? What if that shadow woman from last night was serious about her making a feared, scary prince fall for her?

Oh no! If her fate were to depend on making someone fall in love with her, then she might as well just kill herself!

She was the last person anyone would like, not to mention love. Even in her time, she was every man's nightmare.

There must be a story building around here apart from the inn where she could throw herself from the window. Now that she knew she wasn't any important figure in the Empire with people after her head, she was more determined to leave.

Lydia frowned when she noticed her mistress's lost expression. "Your Highness, are you feeling alright?" She asked, and then as if realizing something, she said with an understanding look. "You must be worried about meeting Empress Elara at the main palace tonight."

"Meet Empress Elara tonight?" She repeated in confusion and a bit lost as the name rang a bell in her mind.

Lydia nodded. "Yes. It's the night where the entire Pendragon royal family comes together to have dinner."

At the mention of Pendragon and Elara, Ave's eyes widened. The Pendragon Dynasty! She was in the Pendragon Dynasty!

She might have been ignorant of many things back in her time, but the Pendragon Dynasty had been an era so intense it had been in history and taught in history classes. Ave had never paid attention to any of the history lessons because of how scary it was and how power-hungry the royals were.

If this Empress Elara Lydia had mentioned was the same as the one in history, then Ave would rather never meet her in person until she left this place. Among all the people in history, the Empress had been an unforgettable character to Ave, and the history of the rest was a blur to her.

Of all the eras, she had to end up in the Pendragon Dynasty.

"Can I skip this dinner by any chance?" She asked with a nervous smile, but Lydia quickly shook her head. "No. You have been personally invited by the Empress. And..." She hesitated with a shy blush creeping up her pale cheeks and when Ave raised a questioning brow, she completed the words with her hands shyly covering her face.

"... he's going to be there as well. I know you must have missed him and you snuck out in the middle of the night to see him, Your Highness..."

"...?"