Everyday Adarian was amazed by the amount of knowledge this girl had inside of her. Most of it had simply been scraped off the surface of what had once been normal to her. He wondered what life would be like if he had been suddenly thrust into a different world. Would he have enough knowledge about anything to make a difference like Olivia Carter?
Even though it was supposed to be her day off, Olivia would not have known what to do if she did not keep herself busy. She knew she was just using avoidance tactics. But she really didn't want to think about transmigrating. She didn't know when or if she would wake up from this dream. She didn't know when or if Olivia Praxis would come back. It was easier to keep busy like she had been. She began to Drag Adarian around the castle, taking a tour to see where and how the pipes would go once they were installed.
They held hands almost the entire time causing all the knights, guards and maids to think they were truly in love. They had all heard about the King stealing his cousin's bride away and at first they thought the rumor was spread by the Praxis family. But a few of the maids and guards had been nearby when the King got all worked up about Olivia possibly moving the date of the wedding with Oscar up the night after the ball.
A few of the guards were there when one of the attendants came out of the Kings office. The attendant told them the King was wanting him to "Fix the rumors".
The knights who had to practice with the King in the mornings for training had all seen the difference being with Olivia had made. He was harder on them in their training. He wanted them to have the skills to protect "his wife."
Then there were the maids that had seen Olivia when she had first arrived. She had looked confused about why she had been brought to the castle. She had been asking why she was there, she asked what was going on, and the personal guard silently led her to the King's personal Apartments.
All of them had heard the King calling Lady Olivia his wife. They had yet to hear her call him her husband. But she did call him by his name intimately. From the looks of it the King had practically kidnaped the girl and single handedly made her his fiance. They watched Lady Olivia get dragged around by the King everywhere he went. They watched Lady Olivia warm up to the King's advances.
At first they were all worried that Lady Olivia would be just as bad as all the rumors made her out to be. They worried they would be mistreated by her and that the King would turn a blind eye to their suffering because of love. But as they watched her small limited interactions with every staff member she came across, they slowly started to doubt the rumors. Olivia thanked them for doing their jobs more often than not. She also smiled at them more often than not.
Now they were all busy preparing the castle for the ball to take place soon. the King was going to announce his wedding date. Some of them still worried that Lady Olivia was just biding her time and would only show her true colors after the wedding.
The rumors of maids constantly quitting because they were treated badly under Lady Olivia still rang clearly in their ears. And they all knew about the scars on the once beautiful Agetha's face.
But the strangest thing out of all of this was the reaction of NanNan. She was like the grandmother of all the maids. She made sure they were all well looked after and taken care of. NanNan who they expected to be the strongest objector to this marriage was in full support of the marriage instead.
What tricks did Lady Olivia have that she was able to trick NanNan into being on her side? When the King had brought Lady Olivia that night of the ball they knew NanNan had disapproved. She was the only one in the castle who could be disapproving of the King to his face and get away with it. Yet, lady Olivia had somehow turned that disapproval around, and NanNan even seemed to be close to the king again.
All of these things needed to add up somehow. If the rumors surrounding Lady Olivia were true, then she was much scarier than she seemed at first glance. If they weren't true, then why had so many of her maids quit before? And what had really happened to Agetha's face?
Olivia and Adarian walked hand in hand through the castle. Adarian noticed that Olivia was really oblivious to all the people staring at her. She was much too engrossed in looking at the walls and examining where the pipes for her indoor plumbing would go.
Though Adarian was engrossed in watching and following Olivia, he was still conscious of all the eyes on them. When he would glare in the direction of the stares the people watching would scurry away.
All these spys. How could he trust any of them? Adarian frowned thinking about the way Graciella had gotten his people on her side. Were any of them really loyal to him right now? How could he rust them near his wife?
"Adarian?" Olivia called. The last of the maids and guards that had been nearby had finally gotten the hint and left them alone.
"Adarian?" Olivia called again a little louder.
"Hmm?" Adarian finally heard her calling him. He turned back to look at Olivia. She looked at him displeased that he hadn't been paying attention to her.
"I said, let's check out this room next." Olivia pointed to a set of wide doors.
Adarian paled as he saw where they were. Olivia had thoroughly distracted him. He had followed her without even noticing where they were. This was the place of regrets and nightmares. This was the place he passed down Olivia's death sentence. He could still hear her crying out that she was innocent. This was the place he had been betrayed and murdered. He had unknowingly avoided this room since the night he came back to the past.
Olivia had no idea of the significance of this room. She was not the same Olivia. She was Olivia Carter. Olivia Carter who had up until 9 days ago never set foot in the castle.
Olivia saw Adairians face go pale. Then she heard his breath hitch. She saw his eyes widen in horror and his breathing began to become rapid.
"Hey…" She soothed softly. "Hey... It's ok. I'm here. You're ok."
His breathing was coming too rapidly. She knew she needed to calm him down. It didn't matter if someone had anemia or not, breathing like that could make anyone knock themselves out.
"Adarian, baby," Olivia called him and held his face in her hands. She blocked his view with her hands at the side of his face and made him look at her. "Baby I need you to breathe with me okay. Breathe when I say breathe. Ok?"
He nodded briefly. Looking into her eyes. He focused on her. He focused on her face, on her words, he focused on doing what she was telling him to do.
Breathe in… Hold… Breathe out… Hold… Breathe in… Hold…
This went on for a whole on repeat until he had calmed down. He was grateful that Olivia was the only one who had seen him break down like that. What was wrong with him? This wasn't like him at all. He had never gotten this way before. Had he always been so useless? He was not this weak! He opened the door forcefully with a scowl on his face. This was a very large and empty room. There was the Thrones at the end of a long walk way. They sometimes set up court in this room for important state cases. When that happened they would bring in long benches and a stand to place the accused on. They were different from the seats used for ceremonies.
But the room always remained empty after these events were done. It made it easier to set everything back up at a moment's notice. The only thing that never changed were the thrones at the end of the long walkway.