Our Past, Present, and Future

The Time to Disappear

I jerked my head towards the door, where I heard loud knocks.

"Your Highness," the maid, again. "please open up. It is time for dinner."

Grudging the fact I had to wake up, I grunted and got out of my bed. I still found myself feel  groggy. It was rare for me to be sick, but this sick... It's never happened. I changed into thin clothes; a white collared shirt and a pair of grey flat front pants. This, I wouldn't have done unless we had guests. And just to my luck, we had people over again. This is the problem with me, I am the only daughter of the rulers of Britannia, and I'm supposed to be lady-like. But am I? No. To the point I'm called a young lad whenever I sneak out of the castle, though it might be because I dress as a boy. But I'm always told to stop acting like a boy here too, so I like to consider myself as a 'pretty-much-a-boy' tomboy.

"Have they already started?" I asked the maid.

"Yes, they have." she replied in her monotone voice. This is why I don't really like the people here, they were all monotone and unfeeling. And, to make matters worse, they honestly couldn't read the atmosphere. They also call me 'Your Highness' or 'Her Highness', so it's starting to get on my nerves after ten years. At first, I thought nothing of it, but now, I really don't want to be royalty, not when my 'parents' are like this. But then again, when I say 'parents', they're my adoptive parents, and are actually some descendant of my aunt and uncle. But I still consider them as my aunt and uncle, since I don't know who they actually are. I sigh internally, I officially hate having to deal with this. We made our way down the spacious hallways in utter silence, until we reached the unnecessarily large dining hall. The maid slowly opened the door, it creaked because of its' age. I squinted once I saw how brightly lit the room was. It was blinding white, just the way we're supposed to be, pure. Except, no one in the world, as I saw, was pure. Everyone is 'poisoned', somewhere.

"Ah, you have finally come, Dindraine." my uncle said with false delight. But I ignored it, and instead said, "Please excuse my lateness." A line I practiced so many times, it felt like bile. "I was feeling slightly unwell, so I took some rest." Slightly. I thought dryly to myself. I still felt terrible.

"Oh my. Are you sure you are feeling fine now?" the guest lady, a noble I remember meeting before, asked, she sounded concerned. Maybe because she didn't want to get sick herself. But I put on the best mask I had, the sweet, kind smile I always use. "Yes, I'm feeling much better than how I started the day, in fact. Thank you for your concern, Lady Bellwin." For some reason, I'm good at acting and seeing through acts and lies and everyone believes me, while my aunt and uncle... Well, let's just say they're terrible at it.

"Dindraine," my aunt said, "have a seat, dear."

I incline my head slightly and moved to the open seat next to a boy around my physical body's age. The thing is, I was trapped in another Realm for thousands of years, just under four thousand, since I was twelve. So I have no idea nor clue who my parents were, no one except my 12 year older brother. I've tried asking him before, but he never told me. All he said was "You'll find out one day." with his mischievous smirk. I've barely aged after I was finally freed from the Realm, known as Non Tempus. My body is thirteen years old now, as far as I could tell, yet I should be 22 years old, or at least, publicly. He turned his head slightly to take a look at me, and held his hand out.

"Cadorius le Noir, Your Highness." he introduces himself. He wore some finely tailored clothes, a crimson red, silk tunic, carefully embroidered with golden string, with a black belt adorn with fragile bead-like gold. I thought of my possible options, and decided to go with the least troublesome one. I smiled at him nicely, and firmly shook his hand. "Dindraine D. Grandiere. A pleasure to meet you."

"So you have different surnames from your parents and brothers?" he asks carefully. I chuckle, "Well, it is a tradition in our family, you see. However, I quite like it, it gives us individuality. Though some exceptions occur... For example my older brother, Ibliss, has the same surname as me, because we are both the first born."

"You are twins?" he asks, this time out of pure curiosity. I chuckled soundlessly, "No, I mean I have a younger twin brother, as does Ibliss. I may be the first daughter, but I am the second youngest, after my younger twin brother, of course." I wanted to cringe away. To be fair, my aunt's and uncle's two kids are actually younger than us all, if I were to go by when they were born. But when it comes to actual age, they are older. The brother was the elder, and seven years older than me, 29, and the sister was five years older, 27. The only one who was older than both was my 12 year older brother, Aurelius Lionel, who was basically 34. Ibliss and his twin, Skirnir Blumenthal, are a year older than me, being 23.

The chef came in and served us our dinner. "Please help yourselves." He bowed down deeply, and left. Chatter filled the room except for one place. The walls. There, stood trained guards, making sure no one would be harmed. They always stood there, always tense, ready to pounce on any intruder or enemy. They were loyal, and that I was fine with, but they were too quiet. It was kind of creepy, actually. There was only one guard I liked, but he wasn't here today, to my disappointment. One day, I walked up to him and started conversing with him, it was the first day in the castle.

"Your Highness," he started, once he noticed me walking up to him. "you will catch a cold."

It was a snowy, winter day. "I don't get sick that often." I retort. "What are you doing here, yourself?"

"Guards don't get days off that often." He used the exact same tone as I did just a few seconds ago. "I need to protect the Royal Family, it's my job."

"Hmph." I grunt, "I thought you'd be interesting, but seems as though I was wrong."

"What could you possibly mean by that?" he asks, his voice seemed unguarded, like he didn't care if someone could tell what he was feeling. Maybe he doesn't. I thought. I say, "I mean you seem too serious."

Then, he burst out laughing, "Me? Serious? You're the first one to ever say that!"

"Well, looking at the other guards, most wouldn't think that." I say, just as the guard was about to say something, I start stating, "But, you're genuinely a serious person, I think. The others were trained to be like that, but it seems to be in your nature."

"You're good at reading people, aren't you?" The guard patted my head. "But you should sometimes keep it to yourself."

Just as I was about to ask why, my aunt called my name out worriedly. The guard chuckled and raised a brow, "Seems as though you snuck out, hm?"

"Geez, I hate having to take those court lessons, I already know all that crap." I say. The guard whistled in amazement, "Oh? So you're not a polite one, are you, m'lady?"

"Don't call me that, or I will personally throw you over the fence, order the guards and townspeople not to let you in. I'll even make sure you're buck naked when I do that." I threatened halfheartedly. The guard looked at me in surprise, "You've got quite the tongue and attitude, don't you?"

"I get that a lot." I say dryly. "Well, see ya..." Just as I was about to turn around the corner, I remembered to ask one question, "What's your name?"

The guard looked at me with genuine surprise, so I demanded, "What?! Problem?"

"No..." he said, "Not at all. Dagonet Durnure."

I smiled and walked towards the voice calling me. That was fun. I thought to myself.

Cadorius started striking up a conversation with me, and I was half listening, half thinking about when I should leave the castle. The time to disappear.