Darkness fell upon the land as the sun drifted off into the night. It was late and Olivia Carter began to wake. There was a small blood stain on the pillow from when she hit her head. As she left the haze of her dream land, she had a vision of Olivia Praxis hiding her Diary in a secret cabin in the wall next to her bed. She felt Olivia Praxis lay down, and as she finally roused from her sleep she could hear the faint voice of Olivia Praxis say 'Good luck Olivia'
'Olivia?' Olivia Carter called out in her mind. When Olivia Praxis didn't respond she sat up.
'Olivia! Answer me!' There was no response. 'Olivia stop messing around! Answer me! I'm sorry ok, I was just dealing with something in my head.' She hadn't noticed she was the one moving her body. She hadn't noticed that it was indeed her body now. There was no Olivia Praxis other than herself. 'Olivia please. Answer me! Olivia I need you. I don't know what I'm doing!' Olivia began to shake, and her stomach growled. She didn't know if she was shaking because she was panicking without the original Olivia, or if it was because the last meal she had was in the bedroom of King Adarian.
As it was, she didn't know where the kitchen was. She couldn't just walk around in this dangerous place where people get slapped and drugged and no one notices. Who knows what could happen to her if she stepped outside of this room? This place was safe... for now. She had to think of something. She had to get away from this place. Wouldn't the original Olivia have been better off if the Marquis never found her? It was much too late for that now though.
Olivia sat at the edge of the bed, and only now realized she had control over her body. She looked at her fingers. Her hands looked healthy. Her arms looked strong. She was still in her dress that she wore to the ball. Weren't all ladies in these kinds of books supposed to have help in getting dressed and undressed.
Olivia knew at this point she had no choice but to try and rid herself of the uncomfortable clothing on her own. She took off lair by lair untying and twisting what she could, where she could just to get out of it. She had most of it undone before a knock came at her door. "Who is it?" she asked nervously. Her voice was not the same as it used to be. It was huskier, and just a little seductive. She was written to be the seductive type of villainess after all. Of course her voice sounded like that. She didn't even think of the fact that the person on the other end could only be a female servant at this time.
"Miss it's Agetha," she heard a pitiful little voice on the other end of the door. She remembered, this was the name of the scarred maid. This girl was one of Graciella's maids. Olivia didn't know what to do, but she was tangled now, and needed help. She walked awkwardly to the door and unlocked it, "Enter," she said as she stepped behind the door.
Agetha opened the door to what looked like an empty room. She closed the door behind her as she entered, not noticing Olivia had hidden behind the door so no one would see her when it was opened. She walked over to the table near the balcony and placed down a tray.
"Miss?" Agetha began to call thinking Olivia was choosing her night clothes in her closet, she began to walk in that direction.
"I'm here," Olivia called out, startling an already jumpy Agetha.
Agetha put her hand over her heart, and stifled a scream, "You scared me, Miss!" She noticed Olivia's state of clothing. "Ah! Please let me help you! Your father sent Claire to clean the chicken coop today. So she was unable to come help you. I'm sorry."
Olivia inferred that Claire was the name of her maid. Agetha began to help Olivia with the tangled mess she was in while volunteering more information. "She had to clean it fifteen times today. I thought she was going to faint from hunger at dinner. It was only then she was able to tell me she hadn't been able to come help you ready for bed or get you a meal. I know you had a rough morning, so while you eat I'll prepare your bath."
Olivia noted Agetha said she had a rough morning, and not a rough night. "Thank you Agetha," Olivia said as she sat down at the table in her underclothes.
Agetha smiled, "Now don't start that again miss. We both know if you hadn't given me that salve, my wound would have gotten infected. Who knows what I would look like, or if I would even be alive if it weren't for you. Of course... I took the secret path here. We can't have Miss Graciella find out I've brought you food."
Olivia almost dropped the spoon she was about to stick in her mouth. She suddenly couldn't put the food in her mouth no matter what. Agetha saw this and smiled sadly. "I made it myself, Miss. I washed the bowl before I put the soup in it too. I know how you are with food since she who shall not be named at the dinner table put all those things in it." Agetha paused, "If you don't mind sharing a spoon miss, I can show you nothing is wrong with it."
"Please," Olivia handed the spoon to Agetha. Agetha put the spoon back into the bowl and mixed it, She then brought the spoon to her mouth, and she seemed to enjoy it. "It's a little bland Miss, but it's good other than that."
Olivia smiled at her, and took the spoon back. She was starving. As she ate she watched Agetha open up another door. Soon she heard running water flowing into a tub. 'Ah,' she thought, 'magic stones in the bathroom create running water. How convenient.'
While she took her bath, Agetha cleaned up a bit, and helped Olivia, by choosing her house dress to wear for tomorrow. It was a much simpler design, so Olivia shouldn't have too much trouble wearing it on her own. When Olivia came out of the bath, Agetha was gone. Olivia dressed in the nightclothes that Agetha left out for her.
She was too wired to go to bed, and was still anxious over the original Olivia's disappearance. It felt like it was late into the night, but when she looked at the clock it was only 10 pm. Olivia didn't really know what to do, so she decided to look for Olivia Praxis' diary. She found it easily. She didn't really want to open it, because it felt like such an invasion of privacy. Olivia battled for a second between her morals and her survival. Survival won. She needed as much information as possible if she was to survive the coming days.
She opened up the diary to the latest page. The words [Good luck Olivia] were written clearly on top. It looked like it hadn't dried all the way before closing, as some of the ink bled onto the page next to it. There were some folded papers loose in between the pages. She opened them curiously. There was a rough map of the house on one of the pages, and a rough map of the grounds on the other. Only a few rooms were labeled on the house map, including a secret passage that led to the kitchen, and the times the kitchen was left unoccupied. Looks like this Olivia had issues with her food as well. On the side was a note that said: Hide this map well. You hit your head pretty hard when you were slapped. This can serve as an excuse if you have "memory issues."
Olivia left this for her? She turned to the latest entry of the diary. The only thing written after the events of the ball were written; omitting Olivia Carter's involvement of course; was the words good luck Olivia. Flipping through the thick diary, she noted, at the beginning the words were written like a child's writing, the styles changed from time to time, but the handwriting was similar to her own. She was glad they used the same alphabet and she could read it. She had read some transmigration stories where the protagonist had to meet god before they could read and speak the language.
She did not want to go that route. Not yet. That would mean she died. She still had hope that she was in a coma in her own world and that she would wake up one day when the story was over.
Olivia skimmed through the diary. At first, only reading a bit here and there. She thought to herself as she read ' I had no idea Graciella was so evil. She is Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones level of evil; mixed with the sneakiness of Nick Fury from the Marvel comics. This is not a good combination to go up against. Especially when you are just a girl with average intelligence, and not nearly ruthless enough. Graciella has a history that even a guilty Elizabeth Bathory would find appalling. Though if Elizabeth Bathory were innocent then she would still find it appalling. Maybe Elizabeth Bathory was a bad example? Argh, who cares. The comparison has already been made. '
'Oh no! Earth pop culture and history references? I just realized I know nothing about this place! No history, no pop culture. I didn't even recognize any of the music that was playing at the ball! How am I supposed to talk to anyone!'
'I guess using my excellent conversational skills is out.'
Olivia snorted. She knew she had zero conversational skills. Not unless it dealt with pop culture. But actual conversation without the knowledge? There was no way this was going to work.