LUNARIS

Chapter 14

As I stared at the ceiling blanklessly, I began imagining what could possibly reside within the walls of that palace my new caretakers had warned me about. Maybe that was the wolves den or something, but being honest, nothing felt sensical. Maybe there was some unknown danger in the palace I hadn't read about in books. What could possibly be more fearful than a pack of wolves? Bears, maybe.

     Even though Casper and Molly had shown me kindness (Molly mostly), I still feared that the fact that I was a former resident of Dawnsbury -a previous threat to Lunaris- would make them harm me in ways I wouldn't dare to imagine. Their words made me trust them, but I still couldn't let my guard down living in this new place where my people is despised.

      That night I couldn't sleep. I didn't know wether if it was the bed or if all my worries decided to appear at an undesirable time. I rolled around the bed but I couldn't find a comfortable sleeping position, then I saw the sun coming up and suddenly I could sleep.

     When I woke up the sky was blue and cloudless. I wondered how much I had slept, and I was hoping I hadn't missed most of the day. 

     It took me some time to get ready to get out of "my" room, but I finally did it. I walked straight to the living room, where I found Casper staring at the floor emotionless until I walked in. 

     "Good morning." I yawned and he laughed. Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "What's so funny?"

     Casper snorted and his hand went to his mouth and answered, "It's already the afternoon." after saying that he laughed harder. 

     I sighed, ready to argue, but instead I yawned and asked Casper what activities I could do during my stay, if I ever had to leave Lunaris. When I was a princess, my daily activities would be waking up, eating, reading, classes, walking around and sometimes talk with my parents, since I wasn't heiress back then I didn't attend meetings. Doing that daily would get pretty boring, but now that I was in a new place, that meant I probably had more stuff to do rather than telling people to do me a favor. 

     Casper got up and stood in front of me. I was surprised that, for a woman, I was almost his height, he was probably around eight centimeters taller. "I guess you haven't done any of these things before as a princess." He told me. 

     Nodding in agreement, I replied, "I probably haven't done most of these things. I've lived a life where everyone around me does everything for me, well, not everything, but I guess you've got the point." 

     "Do you know how to mop the floor?" Casper asked and both hands went to his hips.

     "According to what I've seen from the maids at the castle, I believe it's just sliding the mop cloth on the floor and make the floor shiny." I told him.

     Casper snorted and nodded, "I guess you are good." He told me and took a step closer to me, "Look, Clementine. If you want to live here, you need to fit in. You aren't going be treated like royalty or such, people will be upset at you if you dare to treat them as slaves."

     "I'm aware." I told him, feeling quite offended about his comment, which of course was partly true. "I'm mopping this house's floor I have no one to worry about."

     He sighed, "Good. I hope you stick to that as long as you stay here." Then he exited the room, without telling me where the mop was. I began my search for lovely Molly, hoping she was awake. After exploring the gorgeous, half-destroyed house, I found Molly in what had become my room. She was staring blanklessly at the bed, looking quite pity, but when she heard my steps in the room she turned to me and grinned. She walked towards me with open arms and placed her hands on my shoulders.

     "Hello darling~!" She greeted and smiled even wider. "Look at how beautiful you look right now! Not with that ripped dress you were wearing when you came." She complimented.

     "Hello, Molly. Do you know where I can find a mop?" I asked her and blinked twice. 

      Opening her mouth ready to speak, both of her hands went back to where they belonged, "I-I haven't swept the floor yet." She said, "Don't tell me Casper told you to mop the floor?!" She added enraged.

      I nodded, "Don't worry, I would love to know your ways." 

     "Don't you understand? It's your first day, darling! You are our guest, not any sort of maid! Let me speak to him-!"

     Stopping her before she stepped a foot out of the room, i grabbed her arm gently and she turned her head to me. "No! Seriously, Molly. You're kind, and I acknowledge that, but seriously, I would love to live your ways." I pleaded. 

     She studied my eyes and I let go of her arm. Molly crossed her arms and sighed, "Alright, then. But first! Let me scold Casper for ordering you that. Then I'll sweep the floor, after that you can mop it, alright?" She said.

     Giggling, I said, "Casper didn't force me." 

      "Well, I like scolding him from time to time. His reactions are priceless~" Molly joked and joined me. "I'll see you later. At the time, you can take a bath or go outside."

      Questioning her suggestions with a glance of worry, I stuttered once. "Is it safe?" I asked.

     She nodded, even though I was aware she was unsure as well. "No one recognizes someone from Dawnsbury by physical appearance, darling." She assured me and walked away.

     Despite her confident tone while she spoke that phrase, I was still afraid somehow somebody would recognize me and attack me. I feared for my life, I have been doing that for the rest of it. I remained in the same place for a couple of seconds then decided to challenge myself to go outside, and hopefully, make some friends -if there was anyone my age-.

~

Walking outside and feeling the breeze on my face relaxed me and made me stop worrying about what I'd thought before. However, I hadn't seen no one around. As much as i explored the streets the only thing I could hear were the tree branches crashing into each other as the breeze hit them. It began getting quite scary to me. Being alone was one of the biggest fears I had, or maybe even the entire world population shared my fear.

      I hadn't realized I was getting closer and closer to the palace until it was literally few steps away from me. I looked up, despite being blinded by the disturbing sun light. I saw one of the palace's towers, which looked even taller than the other ones. It felt as if the palace somehow lured me to it. Molly's and Casper's warnings played themselves in my head, and despite feeling loud, I walked closer and closer to the castle. Now I was five steps away from the main entrance. The warnings became even louder, but temptation felt like a scream. I pushed one of the doors and it opened instantly.

     It was dark inside, with only few rays of sunshine inside. Before walking in, I looked behind me to make sure nobody would stop me from walking in, and I did, then closed the door. I followed the rays of sunshine. There seemed to be no obstacle that would make me trip, only the pieces of broken glass. I saw a chandelier broken on the floor, it was ridiculously big. I tried walking around it, but slipped with something and fell to the ground, where pieces of glass stung the palm of my hands and knees. I groaned silently, but it was loud enough to produce echoes. 

     When I got up, I stared at my bloody eyes, then down at the dress that was slightly stained with blood. I sighed in pain, but it wasn't strong enough to stop me from keeping me going forward. I spotted a hallway which had even more sun rays, making it easier for me to see. The hallway's walls had portraits of what I supposed were the kings and their children, but all their faces were covered in vines of a familiar plant. When I looked closer, I realized they were the vines where the blue roses grew. If Dawnsbury had the same amount of vines, it would've probably become one of the richest kingdoms of the continent. 

     Even though amazed, i kept my exploring and found out the hallway had lead me to one of the towers' stairs, whose walls were mostly covered in blue roses vines. Looking up amazed, I noticed few of the stairs were missing but also replaced by the vines. I walked towards the stairs and placed one foot on the first stair. Only by doing that I felt an unbelievable amount of amazement and excitement. I could tell I was smiling with amazement.

But where did the danger prevail?