"Who am I and who are they?"
The same question came to Gretta's mind, she was conscious and silent. Now Gretta was in a different room than before. A brighter room, but empty. There was nothing there, not even a window.
Gretta sat in one corner of the room, hugging her knees and looking ahead without blinking. Her hands and feet no longer bound, she was free but also not free.
The door opened and someone walked in, a middle-aged woman who walked up to her. Gretta did not recognize the woman.
"Good morning, Princess." The woman bowed and greeted Gretta.
"Morning?" asked Gretta softly. She didn't even know if it was morning, noon, or night. It all looked the same to her eyes. Gretta looked at the woman from toe to hair.
"Why are you calling me princess? I'm here as a prisoner, not a princess."
"It is my duty to do so as an order from His Majesty the King, Princess." The woman bowed again.
Gretta returned to silence with all the turmoil in her head. She did not know how long she had spent in that room. After being captured by Colin again, several altercations had occurred as Colin tried to torture her. It all ended after Rhys came and stopped her and Colin.
Then, Gretta was brought into this room alone and locked up. And, this was the first time anyone had come to see her after that incident.
"You haven't eaten anything since yesterday, so today I will bring you some food. Is there anything you would like to eat, Princess?" the woman asked gently and very politely.
"Can you just bring it to me without asking? I don't even know how many kinds of food there are in this place and what the dishes look like," Gretta muttered quietly but enough to reach the woman's ears.
"Yes, Princess. I'll be right back." The woman walked away and left Gretta with the room.
'What princess is locked up in an empty room with nothing? Let alone a bed, not even a sheet,' Gretta thought after the woman left.
Gretta thought about herself again, putting together all the puzzles in her mind to find out the bright spot about her identity. Starting from when she was a child, her parents' treatment of her, the meeting with Leon, her parents' reaction after Gretta returned, and Mat's attack on her house.
Gretta did not find anything strange except for her changed state after arriving in Orlin. Her confused memories of this place that seemed familiar and the presence of werewolves that were not entirely frightening to Gretta.
Only about ten minutes away, the woman who had come to her earlier came back with two other people. The two women who were much younger than her carried food and drinks in their hands.
The two women placed the food they had brought before Gretta.
"Is this really how eating is done in this kingdom? Even if one is called 'Princess'?"
The woman who had brought the food immediately bowed and sat on her knees in front of Gretta. The two women behind her followed suit. They were now more on the same level, but Gretta became a little awkward. The three people were sitting bowed before her, which felt a little strange to Gretta.
"Sorry, Princess, please," said the middle-aged woman.
"What is your name, ma'am?" asked Gretta regardless of the food in front of her.
"My name is Sid, there's no need to address me as madam, Princess. I'm just a butler named Sid."
"Why can't I call you whatever I want? You can call me whatever you want too."
Sid looked down apologetically again, which made Gretta feel even worse. She had only meant to joke so that the people would be more relaxed and not like robots. But, it seemed like it was taken too seriously.
When she was invited back to eat, Gretta finally grabbed the food in front of her and began to eat it. The first bite she hesitated a little, what if the food had been poisoned?
But she shook off her doubts, even if it was poisoned it wouldn't matter. Perhaps it would be better than living a life of struggle and ending up locked up in that square room.
Sometimes there's nothing wrong with wishing for death, right? If it can make her reunite with her parents, then she can ask them everything she wants to know.
"How long am I going to be in this room? Until they get tired of locking me up or something?" Gretta asked Sid who was about to get ready to go out with his girls after Gretta was done with her food.
"We'll take you out soon, Princess. You won't be locked up for much longer." Sid left after finishing his answer and making sure Gretta no longer had any questions for him.
Gretta could only sigh, unsettled and anxious at the same time. Who knows what her fate will be, and who knows what Leon and Shan's fate is right now. Are they still alive or what?
"Like you're really bored in this room." Rhys came in as Gretta tried to walk around the room. "The butler told me that you were dying to get out."
Gretta turned around and welcomed Rhys' arrival. "Ah, you came?" Gretta asked. "Rather than going out, I want to be free." Their gazes met each other.
"Why are you doing this to me?" asked Gretta straight to the point.
"Not me, but yourself."
Gretta frowned at Rhys' ambiguous words.
"This has become your destiny, and this is what you must accept." Rhys walked closer to Gretta. "Not me," he continued.
That statement was not something Gretta wanted. Why talk about a destiny that was so unclear how it started let alone how it ended. Gretta was just stuck in a time game that was different from her world. This was not a destiny she should accept but one she should resolve and leave behind.
Now Gretta was getting tired and felt like giving up on her original goal that had led her to that place. Like a game of the heart, she was initially excited about this place, experiencing many changes that led her to find out who she was.
Now she wanted to forget everything, forget revenge, forget curiosity and find out her true identity. Everything felt ridiculous.
"Hm, you don't need to bother with revenge. You also don't need to bother looking for your true identity, because I can help you with that. The person you have been living with is not your parents, and what you need now is not Leon, but the person who is currently in front of you."