Maria frowned as she busied herself changing with her back on the girl named Alicia. Alicia brought her into the room that she mentioned earlier when the beast is still around. At first, Maria doesn't want to come with her because she thought that Alicia would harm her. What the beast said before she left them alone sent shivers to Maria. Upon hearing that, Maria, lowered her head until it touched the cold ground. She begged Alicia to have mercy on her. She was already on the verge of crying when Alicia suddenly laughed out loud.
"I-Is there any problem?" Maria asked, confused as to why Alicia was laughing. Alicia is laughing like she just found something really funny and no matter how much Maria thinks about what she said or did, she can't think of anything that triggers Alicia to laugh. However, Maria is not offended by how she is acting.
Alicia just kept on laughing for the whole minute and it was surely the most awkward 1 minute that Maria has ever experienced. Maria can't bring herself to interrupt the green head woman and ask her why is she laughing because Alicia has the upper hand. Maria is still between two huge rocks that if she said something wrong, the rocks will squeeze her to death. In other words, Alicia will kill her or make her suffer, at least that's what Maria think would happen.
Alicia took deep breaths to calm herself and to fill her lungs with oxygen that she didn't get to do while laughing. She looks like haven't had enough laughing yet and just forces herself to stop because of Maria. Maria just watched her closely and waited patiently for Alicia to explain herself.
After taking one long last deep breath, Alicia lifted her head again. She stood up and offered her hand to Maria, to help her do the same thing. Maria hesitated at first but when Alicia offered an encouraging smile to her, she took Alicia's hand and get back on her feet.
"What's your name, beautiful?" Alicia asked instead and grabbed Maria's both shoulders, still smiling widely.
"M-Maria," Maria uttered, barely becoming audible in Alicia.
"Nice to meet you, Maria. You can call me Alicia and please ignore what Her Highness said because she's probably just teasing you. She's not that type of person. She won't harm you, I can assure that to you."
"A-Ahm, okay." Maria shyly replied, baffled by Alicia's friendly tone, expression, and whole statement.
"Come. I'll take you to the room I mentioned earlier. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen."
Even though Maria is still confused as to what's happening, she let Alicia drag her away from there. While walking towards the said room, she busied herself in looking around the place. It was indeed a humongous and nice place but the size of this is nothing compared to the palace of the Kingdom of Floria. Still, the place is leaving Maria in awe the deeper they reached.
Alicia stopped at an ordinary wooden door and let go of Maria's wrist to open it. Maria gulped down in nervousness in thinking of what or who could be inside the room. Even though Alicia assured her earlier, she still can't give her whole trust to the green head girl. Maria tightly closed her eyes when she heard the door's lock click as if doing that will protect her from any danger that will possibly appear before her. Maria held her breath while gripping tightly the sides of her clothes, mumbling prayers.
"Come on." Alicia softly uttered, holding the door widely opened for Maria to take a step towards the inside. Alicia smiled, finding Maria really cute when she's afraid.
Maria slowly opened her eyes and was slapped by embarrassment when she saw the inside of the room. She took a step towards the inside of the room and wandered her eyes. It was a typical room. There's a bed, a closet, and a table. There are no jail bars, chains, or anything that resembles torture. Maria isn't expecting any of this and her expression is giving it away.
"I told you, no one here will hurt you so you can get rid of those wicked thoughts already and just change into these clothes."
Alicia refused to leave the room so Maria ended up changing in front of her. Now that Maria eased up a little bit, Alicia made fun of her for what she did earlier: the begging, the kneeling, and closing her eyes. She can't blame Alicia though because even she is convinced that she looks so stupid earlier.
"You were really cute Maria," Alicia commented and again laughed out loud.
"S-Shut up," Maria whispered, feeling her whole face turning into a tomato.
Alicia blew out a breath and finally stopped laughing. She stood up from the bed and walked towards Maria. Alicia straightened Maria's moss green and white long sleeves dress and gave her light encouraging taps on her shoulder.
"Anyways, come on. I'll introduce you to everyone." Alicia excitedly said and pulled her hand to get out of the room.
"Everyone?" Maria asked, knitting her brows in confusion.
"Yeah, to everyone. Don't tell me you thought that only me and Her Highness are the ones living in this humongous place?"
Maria scratched her cheek, refusing to admit the truth "I-It's not like that. I'm just surprised, I guess?"
Alicia giggled at Maria's cuteness and just continued pulling the younger girl until they reach a room that looks like a lounge room.
"Everyone." Alicia cheerfully called, getting the attention of all the people casually sitting and chatting, at least that's what Maria thought of them.
Maria studied each of them. She made sure to meet each other's eyes for at least two seconds as if doing that will let her know who are they. Maria was mesmerized by the people standing before her. Like Alicia, they were all good-looking and fit to perfection. It's as if Maria entered a world where only perfect people are allowed to live but despite their close to perfection appearances, they are wearing the same clothes as Maria.
"Oh, is this the infamous girl that Her Highness mentioned?" A bright woman with yellow-gold hair asked, holding Maria on her both shoulders. Now that Maria is having a closer look at this girl, she realized that Alicia and her look really alike.
"Yes, Alice. So can you stop being impatient or else you will scare her?"
The woman named Alice pursed her lips but let go of Maria's shoulders and stepped aside.
"Guys, I want you to meet Maria. She's the daughter of the peasant that Her Highness helped 18 years ago."
Everyone except Maria and Alicia, awe in surprise. Maria arched up one of her brows in confusion, was sure that the peasant that Alicia is referring to is her father but doesn't have any idea about the helping part.
Alicia introduced everyone to Maria and Maria tried to remember their names but failed to do that as they are too many for Maria to easily memorize their names.
"A-Ahm. Where are we? I mean, are we still inside the Kingdom of Floria or in a different kingdom already?" Maria asked, looking at each of them, desperately searching for answers.
"We're not. We're not inside any Kingdom. We can't tell you the exact location but we're far from the Kingdom of Floria." A man and if Maria would remember right, his name is Ivan, approached her and offered a friendly smile to her.
It's not like Maria ever expected them to say their location. They will most likely keep it a secret from her, wary that she will try to escape from there.
"T-Then can you also explain what am I doing here? I mean, why does that person that you are addressing as 'Your Highness' take me? How did my father end up making an agreement with her?"
They all looked back at each other, wondering if they were allowed to answer the question when a manly familiar voice was heard, interrupting the silence.
"It's okay. I'll answer her questions."
Maria snapped her head in the direction where the voice came from. Her eyes widened when she recognized the man. Her right arm slowly lifts up, pointing her index finger at the man but she failed to utter the man's name since she never knew it in the first place.
The said man, Leo, walked closer to Maria and smiled widely at her.
"Looked like you still remember me. I'm glad then. By the way, my name is Leo."
Leo laid out his hand as an invitation for a handshake. Since Maria is still dazed, Leo just grabbed her hand that was still pointing into him and shook it himself.
"Y-You were that guy that was regularly buying crops in me, r-right?"
Leo nodded his head, still shaking Maria's hand with his.
"T-Then t-that girl who's always wearing mask and cloak is a-also here?" Maria asked, anticipating what could be Leo's answer to her question.
Leo smirked, finding it funny that Maria still hasn't realized that the girl she mentioned is actually the person that took her away from her wedding.
Leo let go of Maria's hand and looked away from her. He looked around the room and instead of answering Maria's question, he said "I think we should introduce ourselves first before I answered her questions. In that way, she will understand the situation easily."
"We already introduced ourselves," Alicia mumbled, gaining nods to support the statement from everyone.
"I mean who we really are; what we really are. Since starting now, she will live with us, I think she should know the truth, and also that would make her easily understand and believe what happened between Her Highness and her father."
Maria looked between them, lost at the conversation. She saw them slowly nod their heads in agreement and then they looked back at Maria, making the teenage girl, even more, confused as to what was happening and what they are talking about.
"Maria, it's okay to be surprised but I hope you won't be afraid of us," Leo said while smiling at Maria and then took a step back from Maria. Maria just stared at them, doesn't have any idea what she should expect.
Maria fell down to her butt as her eyes slowly widened in surprise. Everyone except for one person changed into something she never expected. Leo turned into a werewolf. The girl that led her here turned into something like a fairy. Her green hair suddenly became vines. She was still as beautiful as earlier but her whole body was now glowing. While for Alice, her yellow-gold hair also turned into vines. The other turned into a white-winged horse, a minotaur, and a phoenix.
Maria trembled in fear at the sight of the minotaur, and phoenix. She was about to crawl out of the room when she felt something touch the tip of her nose. Her fear subsided as she looked down at her nose and saw three tiny pixies flying around her, leaving their magical dust in the air, mesmerizing the teenage girl.
"Maria, except to me, the people that you met earlier, these are their real appearances but don't worry, they are all on your side," Ivan uttered and walked towards Maria, stealing her attention from the pixies. Ivan led out his hand to help Maria get back to her feet. Maria hesitated at first but when she realized that there was no reason for her to be afraid, she accepted Ivan's hand and stood up.
"Everyone here was saved by Her Highness. She saved us in a life-threatening situation so we're now willingly and loyally serving her. That's also how she met your parents. They were saved by Her Highness 18 years ago. Because they don't have anything to offer as compensation, Her Highness suggested you. Your parents agreed that when you turned 18 years of age, Her Highness will take you away from them and that's exactly what happened."
The dots inside Maria's mind are now starting to be connected as her questions finally found their answers.
"To tell you the truth, Her Highness no longer has any plan to take you away but when she learned that you will be married to the Prince on your 18th birthday, she was really mad because the thing that she hates the most is people toying with her and destroying the trust that she had for them." Leo, who now turned back to his human form, said.
Maria looked down, feeling bad for destroying someone else's trust even though she wasn't to blame. She can't imagine what would her father's reaction will be like when he learned this.
"T-Then what is she planning to do with me now?" Maria asked, meeting Leo's eyes once again.
Leo shrugged his shoulders, "To tell you the truth, I don't have any idea about Her Highness's plans too but you can ask her yourself. Come with me, I'll bring you to where she is and to the girl that was always with me in buying crops in you."