The crowd around and even Janice herself was surprised.
But more than anyone it was Louisa who stepped back due to shock. "Didn't they say that the duke and duchess are on bad terms?" she thought to herself with panic. "I don't know what Lady Louisa is thinking but this is certainly an insult to the Gilbert Duchy?" he firmly stated.
"What is happening?" Janice found herself in a pool of questions.
The first reason was that she didn't know Janice's story and the second was the wave of hate that she felt through Duke Gilbert's touch when she was in Janice's body.
And then suddenly came back to that black room again. The memories, the emotions and the feelings were getting jumbled and more chaotic. "Aah." A sudden pain pierced her head and she kneeled on the ground. "Why is this happening? It doesn't feel like the normal way the memories always turn back." She mumbled to herself as she sat there holding her head tight.
"That's right Janice." A calm and soothing voice came towards her.
"Huh? Janice Tyler?" she swiftly turned back to see Janice's face. It was calm and composed but it wasn't Janice Tyler's face it was Janice Green's face.
The long black and flowy hair and her red lipstick defined her aura. With modern branded clothes. It was Janice Green, the stone-hearted and chilling glared bitch, CEO of W&K Corporations. "Huh?" Janice was surprised as she was seeing her own face as another person. She felt frightened first but as soon as more light started to appear in that black room, her fear went away.
"Janice Green." She called. That person was walking towards her. "Yes?" she responded.
"What are you doing here?", She asked naively and yet confidently.
That person kept on walking towards her and suddenly the smile on her face turned wider and wider. She wasn't Janice Green but someone who wore her disguise.
"So now these kinds of things are happening in my dream." Thought Janice and gave a long sigh.
That person stopped walking and suddenly a mysterious black fog appeared around that person. It was as thick as someone might mistake the fog as a black curtain and from in there walked a woman.
Brown hair and a tinge of green in her grey eyes. Eyes perfectly complementing her evil smile as she walked forward towards Janice elegantly in a magnificent gown.
"Louisa…" words came out of Janice's mouth.
The person stopped in front of her and stooped smiling just to glare her eyes with hate and malice. But her expression changed within a second and went to a calm smile.
"Good to see people don't change Janice." She whispered.
"What is this bitch whispering." Thought Janice to herself. Meanwhile, Louisa continued blabbering gibberish.
"Get to the point." Said Janice whose head was still stinging with pain.
"Hmm..?" Louisa stopped with an amused expression reflecting on her face.
"I see you grown to be braver Duchess Janice Gilbert or should I say Lady Janice Tyler or wait even better, Janice Green the CEO of W&K corporations." She sarcastically commented.
"Get over with your lousy jokes and tell me what do you want?" said Janice.
"Don't you even have a little bit of curiosity about who I might be, hmm?" she asked as Janice cringed at her way of talking.
"Shut the crap and tell me why did you invade my consciousness. As I can see you know who I am, so I don't really have to pretend to be a pretty and delicate and noble lady." She said. The aura around her felt different.
"You seem so different for someone who is always so quiet and acts friendly with the butler and even the duke sometimes." Mumbled Louisa.
"You know me. I am Janice Green and I don't have a fear of losing anything now." A sense of strength rushed through her words. Louisa was taken aback a little.
"Oh my…" continued Louisa, "You still don't know the full truth and yet you are so confident. Or shall I say completely foolish?" she walked a little towards Janice.
"You ask what I am here for right?" Louisa asked her with a devil in her eyes.
"She knows too much about me. I should be careful with what I say." Janice thought.
"Yes.." replied Janice.
"Well well, as our bond as former best friends I would like to tell you two things." Said Louisa with a bright smile.
"First, there are a lot of enemies than you think you have in this game. Every other person can become a threat to your life here. So you should stay safe." She said.
Janice stood there with only a single expression in her eyes, she was 'On guard' and brave.
"And second." Louisa continued, "You don't have anyone as an accomplice in this game." Suddenly Janice's eyes showed that she was shocked. She took stopped herself from expressing it loudly but she was clearly feeling played. A heaviness fell on her heart.
"Well, you might think why? I was told I have an accomplice who will help me in the few tasks that were assigned so what is this foolish bitch blabbering right?" Louisa clearly had the sparkle in her eyes as someone who is going to be the winner at the end of all this.
"So I know all this because I set up this game. And this isn't a fantasy world or an alternate universe. You are the true Janice Tyler. I bought the dead players back to life and you are one of the pawns. But don't worry, because you will be disposed of nicely." She said those words and vanished in the black smoke.
'Cough, cough'
"What the heck?" Janice got up in her own room.
It was dark outside and there was no one by her side.
"Crap, who is Louisa?" she thought to herself as she continued to feel panic.
"I was lied to from the very start. I got into an accident and now I don't even know if what she was saying is true or not. I know she was real as not anyone can invade my dreams. And if she could do that, that only means one thing…" Janice took a long pause.
"She is a witch. And a lot powerful at that." She mumbled.
Janice got down from her bed and opened the door. She walked and suddenly bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry.." she said and found it was Noah in front of her.
"We don't usually meet at all other than morning. Good to see you." Noah said in a sarcastic tone.
"What is up with this guy? Why is he talking so formally?" she grumbled and thought. "Oh right, He doesn't know that I know who he is.." she snickered.
"Then shall we have a dinner duke?" she asked with a broad smile.
"You must kill her." A voice whispered in Noah's ears.
"Sure.", Noah replied without hesitation.
"You don't have anyone as an accomplice." The words echoed in Janice's ears as she walked away to her room to get ready for dinner.
"I need to stop thinking about it. I don't know if what she said was true." Janice slapped her face to wake herself up. "But then again I don't have a reason to rely on anyone if I know no one is going to help me. I can only depend on myself and be prepared instead of getting scared." She made up her mind.
She dressed up a little and went to the dining room. It wasn't in a long time that they willingly sat with each other to talk and eat. Earlier it was just a few incidences that made them compulsory to stay together. There was the royal ball, then a dinner that failed due to countess Wendy and a whole roller coaster of missed timings.
"But I must talk to him today. He is Noah Robbins for sure and I must somehow tell him what happened to his mother. I don't need to make him fall in love with me but I need to tell him about the past. It's just because I feel guilty." She placed her clenched fist on her chest and opened the door of the dining room.
"Huh?" she saw two people sitting at the dining table.
"Pardon my intrusion, my lady." Said the Crown Prince with a beaming smile.
"He came earlier but you seemed to have been resting. So he waited and as a courtesy, I asked him to stay for dinner." Said Noah with the least bit of interest as he wiped his fork with a napkin.
"I apologize your highness. I was just having a tiring day and hence I fainted. I couldn't welcome you properly earlier." She bowed." No issues duchess. I was the one at fault to come without notice." He said with a beaming smile.
She settled down and the dinner was served.
The atmosphere grew quieter and awkward as time passed. And Eugene stood there watching as the butler.