"Everyone, please welcome He Song, our new student entering our university's pharmacognosy department!"
A pair of unreadable, dark brown eyes remained unmoved, as if fixed on an incomprehensible item at a distance as claps rang through the air and youthful whispers flitted about the room. The young man's sunken cheeks under his high cheekbones seemed to hold the lingering shadows of the sunny, springtime atmosphere, and his lips were set in a relaxed but firm line.
Her fingers that fiddled idly with the pen froze the moment she laid her eyes on the new student.
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮.
Time slowed down, and her ears filtered out all external sounds, except his low, steady voice that introduced himself to the class, and his slow footsteps walking up the stairs, which doubled the pace of her pounding heart as he drew closer. Her pen clattered onto the desk as she subconsciously reached out as he passed by.
"Wait--" Her voice escaped from her mind.
A familiar, warm gaze in her memories turned into ice cold eyes the moment the new student turned his head, toward her fingers that gripped the edge of his shirt. "Do I know you?"
Her grip loosened and her beating heart froze. "I--I'm sorry."
He walked past her seat as if nothing happened.
Her excitement hit rock bottom, and she numbly reclaimed the abandoned pen into her hand. It remained motionless between her fingers.
It was as if they did not go through what they did together at all.
"... --ness, Your Highness?" Elswyth's eyes flew open; she was in her room. Its elegant furniture was tinted golden by the setting sun, with long, warm brown shadows trailing behind. She turned to look at a young maid with soft eyes and freckles observing her with concern.
"Is everything alright? I was asking whether you preferred to put your hair up or leave a good portion of it down."
She moved her head back, and stared into the gold-laced mirror. A girl with smooth, porcelain skin stared back at her with a faint depth of sadness in her glassy, light blue eyes. Her originally limp, disheveled silver hair now faintly glowed like the moon under the amber sunlight, falling about her thin shoulders and down her waist in silky waves.
"Keep the majority of it down like always."
Her mind drifted off again into space. A pair of cold eyes again entered her vision, turning from brown to emerald green and lime.
She was the princess now, and Song was, if her inferences were correct about him, truly now Valerius.
His appearance a few days ago at the garden left her nearly entirely convinced that he knew about his identity as Song and remembered her as well. His look was like a mixture of ice and warmth; paired with his words, she was made to believe in the possibility.
The maid observed her silently as her master gazed off into the unknown once more, and her small lips slowly curved into a crooked, wide smile.
"Your Highness, the first prince also just sent over a dress. Would you like to see it?" The voice seemed oddly laced with excitement.
Elswyth was startled awake again from her thoughts and turned her eyes on her assistant. The maid gazed back with the same, gentle, concerned look as always. "Oh. Yes, bring it in."
As the maid left the room. Elswyth replayed her assistant's voice one more time. Was she just imagining things? It was as if she could almost decipher malicious intent.
An elegant, pale blue dress almost entirely comprised of tulle was presented. The maid held its graceful, drooping sleeves with her fingers, which seemed like they could slowly dissipate like the morning mist at any moment. The layers of tulle became longer at the back, trailing behind and giving the impression of a soft blanket of fog on a cool morning that was feeling the earth before lifting itself up. If not for the pure white, laced flowers and pearls falling artfully down the gown, which slightly added the feeling of weight, Elswyth felt as if she would float off the face of the earth in this piece of clothing.
She smiled. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.
She knew that he never would have considered actually giving a dress made from the same silk that she gave to him secretly during the first day back to her home.
Because silk was such a valuable material in Gerwenia, only the high class nobles and the royal family would dare to purchase it. There were only a few clothing businesses that could produce them in the country. The already sparse numbers of these manufacturers also had distinct ways of producing silk into thread. Due to this, giving her brother the pieces of silk from the enemy leader's garment would likely give clues that could prove helpful for tracking and identifying the group of kidnappers, through locating that certain silk business and observing their customers. Cautious as her brother was, he would never dare to risk her sister wearing a dress of silk from the same manufacturer of her kidnapper. She knew he preferred that she had nothing to do with any troublesome cases.
Elswyth dipped her head slightly in approval. "My brother made a good choice. I will wear it for the ball tonight."
The maid nodded obediently, then eyed the maids standing in silence at the princess' door entrance. "Come in and help her Royal Highness into this gown."
A row of maids padded into the room, some of their heads bowed as they efficiently dressed Elswyth like soulless machines. Others wore unusually bright smiles as they showered endless compliments on her beauty and how good she looked in the gown, to the point she thought she could see honey drip from their mouths.
Elswyth kept a light smile and an unassuming gaze on as she nodded in gratitude to every sweet sentence spoken toward her, refraining from uttering any word in response. All the while, she could feel the air tightening.
Strange. Everything was like before, but this time, she could tell that everyone around her now wore a mask. The time she spent as Li An warned her that something was wrong. And one maid seemed to be the center of the strained atmosphere.
"Flora." The maid that assisted with her hair and brought the gown in perked up her head. "Yes, Your Highness?"
"Has everything been going well among the maids, after I dismissed and fined the maid that was giving you a hard time before my capture?"
The tense air twisted even more tightly. A few maids that dressed the princess mutely flinched, before immediately concentrating on arranging the layers of her dress.
Elswyth was only able to detect their reaction at the corner of her eyes as Flora was already giving her reply, nodding eagerly before her with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes: "Yes, Your Highness. After that bullying maid was gone, everyone else treated me kindly and graciously, especially after you agreed to allow this humble maid to have the honor of being the head maid for the princess."
"Good." She arose from her seat, and the maids backed away from her sudden movement, like a ripple fleeing from a water droplet. Ignoring the throbbing pain up her legs that strained underneath her, she commanded, "Raise your heads, all of you."
Elswyth swept across every pair of eyes, before lingering a fraction of a second longer on Flora. "I hope that there will be no more occurrences of a maid oppressing her fellow maids. Otherwise, I will be obliged to perform more serious punishments. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness." Multiple voices stumbled across each other in varying pitches as the maids replied in discordant unison.
"You all are dismissed, Flora will stay to escort me to my partner for the ball." Elswyth offered a bland smile and strolled slowly toward her room's exit.
Stunned, the maids stared at the back of their princess as she walked out, whose cascading, silky grey hair, adorned with pearls and white ornaments, seemed to glow like the moon as it captured the remaining rays of the sun sinking into the dark earth.
When had the princess become so unreadable and firm? Before the kidnapping incident, she was merely a spoiled princess with a simple mind and quiet bearing.
Elswyth had immediately wanted to lie down again the very moment she stood up and addressed her maids. Her teeth clamped together as she focused on taking one step at a time, trying not to teeter while doing so.
Small hands encased her left arm. "Princess, let me assist you." Flora's doe-like eyes entered her vision. Her soft gaze sent chills up Elswyth's arm.
Her lips curved into an alluring smile and returned the gaze with her own innocent, unassuming look. "Thank you, Flora."
Both walked side by side through the lamp-lit hallway.