"Your Highness!" Alicia worriedly called, seeing her master's bare face.
Alaia looked back at her in confusion at the tone that Alicia used. She saw her servants' eyes wide open staring at her. Alaia frowned, didn't have any idea why her servants were reacting like that. She felt Maria's eyes on her, so her gaze fell on Maria and saw her look more shocked than her servants, but aside from that, her eyes were also twinkling in excitement, in happiness.
"Your mask, Your Highness." Alice simply stated in a low shaky voice, had understood that her master was still not aware.
Alaia looked down at her mask. She stared at it for two more seconds before she finally realized what she had just done. She slowly looked back at Maria and found the younger girl, still staring at her. Alaia gulped down in panic. She immediately turned her back on them while hardly gripping her mask. She put it on again even though there were still some juices on it and even though there was no use of her still wearing it. Her hands are trembling while she's tying the mask. Her mind is getting flooded with worried thoughts. She couldn't stop thinking about what would happen now. She's panicking. This was the first time she had ever felt this. This was the first time she had ever feared something to the point that her whole body was trembling. She doesn't have any plan to show her face to Maria, at least not yet, because she believes it was too risky, but she became careless and lets Maria see her face. Just because she let herself be too close to the younger girl.
"I'll go to my room now to rest." Alaia didn't stumble on any word, but her voice was shaking.
Alaia no longer waited for anyone to respond because she wasn't seeking their approval but just informing them. Her steps started small, but the more steps she took, the bigger they became.
Maria finally got back to her senses and realized what had just happened because of her clumsiness. She put down whatever she was holding and alternately walked and ran to catch up with Alaia.
"Your Highness!" Maria called at the top of her lungs, but Alaia didn't stop walking and even made her steps quicker and bigger. Alaia started panicking even more, thinking of what Maria would need from her; thinking of what would happen after this.
"Your Highness!" Maria called for the second time and, finally, Alaia stopped walking but kept her back on Maria.
Maria hates it. Maria hates it every time Alaia wouldn't turn her body and face her. She hates it because she sees it as Alaia doesn't want to see her. She hates it because it makes her think that she's just wasting Alaia's time; that Alaia hates her.
"Your Highness." Maria called for the third time while catching her breath. She had so many words that she wanted to say, but she was too nervous, so all she could ever do was call Alaia.
"What do you need Maria?" Alaia coldly asked, but the nervousness and panic could still be heard in her voice.
Maria took a deep breath and uttered the most worn-out phrase but the best set of words that she could ever say in this situation, "I'm sorry Your Highness."
Alaia paused but the apology didn't calm her. It only made her even more frustrated. Yes, Maria sounded so sincere, so guilty and so sad, but an apology isn't what she needs right now. With a heavy heart, she answered, "It was fine."
Maria knew that it was not fine. Alaia wasn't convincing enough and Maria couldn't just let things end like that. She needs to explain her side. She needs to clarify that that was just an accident or else something tells her that things will get sour if she let Alaia just leave.
Maria reached out for Alaia's arm.
"I didn't mean to do it. It was all just an accident-"
Alaia pulled her arm out of Maria's grasp and looked back at her. She lowered her head to level their eyes and glared at Maria. Now, she's no longer hiding her frustration.
"Sorry? You're sorry for what you did? You didn't mean to do it and it was purely an accident?"
Alaia lowered her face even more until they were so close to feeling each other's breath on their faces. Maria gulped down, not because Alaia's face was so close to hers, but because of the coldness in Alaia's voice and the disgust in her eyes. This was her first time seeing Alaia's eyes be enveloped by disgust while looking at her. It was terrifying. It gives her chills and pinches her heart.
"You want me to believe that?" Alaia asked again in a harder tone, not daring to blink her eyes at least once.
"Isn't that what you've been wanting to happen? To see my face?"
Alaia straightened her body to remove her mask and allowed Maria to see her face for the second time. She threw it on the ground while still glaring at Maria.
"Now stare at all you want. Then what?"
Alaia stifled a bitter laugh, "You're going to escape from here to reveal my identity to those idiots from your kingdom? You're going to ruin my plan?"
Maria shook her head, not understanding anything. She didn't know why Alaia thought that she would escape from here again. She didn't know the need to reveal Alaia's identity to her kingdom. And most importantly, she didn't have any idea about the plan that Alaia mentioned. Maria was so confused, but what she first needed to do was to clear up her intentions.
"No, Your Highness. Yes, it's true that I really want to see your face, but I didn't really mean to do that. It was just an accident. It was-"
Alaia lightly pushed Maria's shoulder but that still made the younger girl step back.
"Enough with your excuses. I don't want to hear them."
Maria was so close to crying. She doesn't know why things ended like this. One moment she was happy to finally see Alaia today, then the next moment, Alaia was glaring at her and throwing hateful words. If she had known this would happen, she no longer looked forward to seeing her today.
"You know what, ever since you arrived here. There were so many things that happened beyond my control. I don't even know why I listened to you and really wore that white mask instead of my beast mask. I don't know why I trusted you. I shouldn't-" Alaia paused. She contemplated if she would continue what she was about to say, but because she was so mad that she could no longer think straight, the words that she would surely regret left her lips.
"I shouldn't have trusted you. That was a mistake."
After saying that, Alaia left without bothering to pick up her mask. After all, she will no longer use it. There's no sense of her still using that because Maria already sees everything. What would she even cover?
That shut Maria off. She just stared at Alaia's retreating back as her vision slowly became blurry because of the pool of tears that were threatening to fall. She couldn't move to stop Alaia from leaving. Her mouth wouldn't open to explain for the second time. She felt so helpless.
No matter how much she thinks it through, she doesn't know where she went wrong. She doesn't know why that incident was treated as a big deal. She didn't really do it on purpose. It just so happened that the juices spurted into Alaia's face and mask. She didn't have any idea that Alaia would take off her mask when she pointed out the juices. She was innocent but Alaia refused to believe her.
"Maria, don't mind what Your Highness said. She just panicked and was probably exhausted so she ended up saying those words, but she really didn't mean those words."
Alicia said, trying to comfort her, but it wasn't effective at all. Those words couldn't even take at least an inch of her pain. Alicia held her shoulders as her eyes tried to meet Maria's eyes, but Maria didn't budge and just kept her eyes on Alaia's mask on the floor. After staring at it for two more seconds, Maria bent down to pick it up. She stared at it as her thumb wiped off the juices still lingering on the mask.
"I'm sorry. I don't think I can help more. I'll just work hard tomorrow." Maria said and started walking away from there without looking back at least once. Her friends were worried about her but they just let her leave, knowing that that would be the best thing to do. A tear fell from her eyes, but she immediately wiped it off and bit her lower lip to stop her eyes from shedding any more tears and to stop her lips from letting out a cry.
I don't understand.