After a harsh anxiety filled night
They gave me a really yummy but plain breakfast. mostly fruit from the garden and some jammed bread with egg.
I drank some water. ew...i forget water isn't properly filtered here yet...
I'll ask if they have tea next time or ill make some with the strawberry leaves...
In the afternoon louis and Centaurea came back to see me.
"miss..do you feel any better now... i will not delay my purpose anymore. i just hope you'll still agree to it after i say what i need to."
I could see she was struggling to bring out the right words without being long winded as the day before.
"I want you to take my place...
i know that its wrong of me...considering the way I might die. louis is someone I searched for... he made a part of my goal come true... he comes from a tribe that was banished to the other side of the 3 kindoms that make up this land as a whole... not many know of them any more... but they can grant one wish to someone they come to love... I wish to leave...to start a new life.. I do not want to die here alone.. at the hands of man obsessed with watching me die in misery...
my dreams haunt me...an i know soon... soon the man in my dreams will find me...the horrid sticky breath
of his...."
my eyes went wide...
"I have come to love louis and i know with this wish he's granted i know both of us can escape our fates and start a new... he summoned you...
to take my place and live in comfort.. as your desire ran as deep as mine... its mearly by chance that we are almost identical in name and appearance.. so please... I beg of you will you consider my offer..."
the internal screaming and face paralysis i was now facing made me unable to respond of show emotions
so many questions and concerns.
like first... louis seriously??!
second you want me to die in your place?!
and lastly do you know what that creepy guy looks like???!
" FIRST AND FOREMOST! who is that creepy guy you said huffed and puffed your ear? like ewwww and why was he in my dreams too?! like nooooooooo! I could never see his face in my dreams! but he said i would be his! like whyyyy!"
I snapped.
They both looked panicked.
"That was not supposed to happen.
the wish i granted was for someone who was perfectly compatible to take my lady's place and live a happy life in her stead to appear. But only one who would not suffer her own faint in turn..."
" he talked to you?!"
he face drew back in horror behind louis almost collapsing into the glass table behind her.
"yeah! why?....wait...did he never say anything in your dreams?!..."
"no! NO! he has never once spoken to me! he only wanted to see me writhe in pain! he would smile at me and sigh! I have yet to know his name or voice...i only know of his his vague appearance.. paled skin golden eyes an rubied lips...he towers over me by much more than a head..."
her breathing was spirratic as she gasped to hide her dismay.
i could see the horror she held...
"It's alright. he...only talks to me and its always the same thing...you don't have anything to worry about..."
i sighed deeply knowing i also feared the man...he did kill me in my dream.. at least in the very first dream i had...but maybe...he didn't kill me but...her....and i was seeing what she had seen...
I tried to make sense of it...
anything to keep myself from showing the fear i had..
.
.
.
.
After a few hours we all drew out our conclusions and tried to change the subject to something more interesting. Centaurea had sent louis out so we could chat and i had asked her to call me by my nickname i was used to being called.
"Miss Rea(ray-ah)...i know i can't change what we have done but i know.. we can definitely find you a place to belong here.. You do not have to attend anything taxing if you do not wish it as it was my usual custom...
even now i have already missed 4 days trying and successfully summoning you including the days spent with you as a whole... only one day remains of my families festivities...
would you like to attend once in my stead? many wonderful men and women have come from all over to visit as we run a very profitable business. "
I paused and thought hard..i saw a vague flash of mauve like flames dancing on the sunset i couldn't remember them well but i wanted to know why they were talking about something odd and never thinking to check their surroundings before saying what he did...that short man.. what did he look like i wonder.
"okay since tomorrow is the last day we have to get someone to modify a dress for me...after all, our appearance s are..very quite...different..."
I laughed a bit and smiled sweetly at her.
"I hope someone or something catches your eye miss Rea."
"okay centi i give... I'll do it."