Did he say I died? How did he know that?
Did I misheard him? My eyes widened and I coughed a little bit.
His face was still as calm as ever and there was no hint that he even said those words that shocked me. I heard a breeze blow through me making me aware of how quiet things have gone. I think I could even hear a leaf that fell from a tree.
'I'm sorry what did you say?' I need to know if I heard him right. My heart was racing and my hand was trembling as I held the tea cup in my hand.
What if he knows that I'm not really Elaine? Will I be executed like witches in the olden times getting hunted and burned at the stake?
'Do you really not remember me Ellen? I'm hurt,' he smiled at me teasingly and put a hand over his heart.
Then it hit me. I recognize his voice, he was the person who talked to me in my dream. I looked at him for a few seconds not knowing what to think right now. The king of the nation is the one who reincarnated me?
A character inside a book can do that?
'Wha- ' I looked at the king with his typical white beard and his typical shiny crown and his typical purple robe and wondered how could he have that kind of power. I'm definitely not dreaming, I try to pinch my arm, all I got was a stinging pain and a red mark on my arm, but no waking up. Not that I thought it would work, but why not try.
'Hahaha. Why pinch yourself? You're not in a dream dear,' once again he took a sip of his tea.
Why was he so calm about all this? Not to sound angry, but I kind of want to know how the heck I'm alive.
After one long sip, he let out a sigh and was again ready to talk while I waited for something, anything out of him that would explain our situation. Why reincarnate me? Why was I Elaine?
'Now, now. Calm yourself, I know this must be a shock to you, but please hear me out,' this time he sat up straight and looked me directly in the eye. There was not a single moment where our eyes lose contact.
'What happened was that executing Elaine was a mistake. I could not say enough words to express how sorry I am, but I had to do something to reverse what I had done. That's where you came in, your soul was similar to that of Elaine's,' he looked at me waiting for me to say something, though I still wanted him to finish his explanation first. He seemed to understand the look I gave him and continued.
'Elaine's soul unfortunately had died when she did, so I put your soul that almost died in her body when I reversed back time,' what he's saying sounds crazy. But what other explanation is there? So that means the real Elaine is dead and just like that all I could feel is cold detachment when I looked at the king.
How could he agree to kill someone only to regret it later on, saying 'Oh! Sorry!' Elaine deserved better, though I guess I'm lucky since it was the only reason I'm alive right now. Still, I couldn't bear to look at his face anymore.
Though there was something that popped up in my head.
'Why did you regret killing her?' There must be a reason right? If he's the type of person to kill someone so easily, then there would be no reason why he feels bad all of a sudden.
His eyes held a lot of words that seems to not be said, eventually he slouched and looked down towards the ground. He released a heavy sigh that seems as if huge bricks were put on his shoulders.
'After Alex and Anastasia marries, the kingdom fell to pieces. The kingdom fell to poverty, civil war broke out between the nations and the entire kingdom was in turmoil. It all fell apart after you died and I thought that bringing Elaine back would make things right.'
I looked at him with the coldest eyes. There was no forgiveness in my heart as there was nothing to forgive. I don't know how Elaine's death could've caused all that, but all I heard was that he cared about his kingdom, not Elaine. I don't know why I was so angry for her, but maybe it was because I knew how miserable she felt and no one cared about her till the very end of her life.
She was like me and I was like her.
Even the being that was powerful enough to bring me back to life, enough to turn back time itself did not care about her and could not save her. All he was was a selfish king who killed a young girl.
Sure Elaine was selfish and arrogant in the book, but she didn't deserve death.
'Aren't you going to say something?' he looked at me like a dog trying to please their master, but I couldn't care less about him. I shook my head and left him alone in the empty garden, not giving him another second of my time.
I walked alone in the halls of the castle and thought of what I was supposed to do now. In retrospect it was probably not a good idea to leave without getting the details of how the country went to ruin, but I couldn't stay there any longer.
Besides, why should I care what happens to this country? I was given a second chance at life and I'm not going to waste it doing someone else's grunt work. Maybe that was selfish of me, but I don't care.
I soon realized that I was lost in the castle and did not know where I was. There was doors to my left and right, but not a single person was in sight.
I kept walking but there was no end to this endless hall of rooms. I finally decided to open one of the doors hoping to find someone who could give me directions and I saw inside the room was a maid washing some clothes using a wash board and bucket.
'Uh hi,' I greeted her. She looked up from her bucket and wiped the sweat off the forehead.
'Hi.'
'I was wondering if you know where my parents are? My name is Elaine Castelle.'
'Oh-uh of course, come with me,' she lifted up her maid skirt and walked towards me, hands still wet with water and soap.
We went out of the room and walked back through the halls, past the throne room and garden which was now empty and she was about to open the door when a little girl came running towards us and hugged her tightly.
'Sophia, you mustn't behave like this in the palace. My apologies, she's my little sister,' I gave her a small smile telling her that it was alright.
'Where are her parents?'
'Oh well... Our parents died when we were young and now it's just us.'
There was an awkward silence for a bit, but sometimes it is better not to say anything. I know how it feels not to have parents, having people pity you didn't always make things better.
Should I apologize?
'It's alright though! I manage and once she grows up she's going to be teacher, isn't that right Sophia?' The little girl peered at me through her sister's skirt and nodded. All I could see are her eyes since she hid the rest of her body behind her sister.
'That's great!', but as I said that I remembered that she probably wasn't going to be a teacher considering there would be civil unrest in the kingdom in the near future. Soon after Alex and Anastasia fall in love, I don't know how, but they're going to ruin the country.
And where was I in this picture? Running away to a deserted land by myself? It dawned on me that I would never live in peace and neither was any person living in the kingdom if I didn't do something about it myself, knowing what I know.
Perhaps I need to talk to the king one more time.