Alice explained this place became a prison for knights and employees who served the king but betrayed or committed crimes. This place was deliberately built in the basement for security, so they don't get out of the city. They were imprisoned here because it was a punishment they had done, whether it could endanger the king and his family or a small punishment. They are imprisoned here, not to be sentenced to life or death. They are imprisoned here so that they realize what they have done. In other words, this prison made them regret what they did. And once they realized that they were wrong, they would be released from jail.
But in the end, they died tragically. What they had been waiting for in this room of regret, namely their freedom, they never got it. Alice said that at that time, she saw they were 100% dead, and their bodies piled up in the same cell room. She watched her little friend, Princess Veronica, sit on top of them, smile, and say to her, "Want to play?"
She and Veronica had often played together after the incident, but in the end, the king was worried about Alice's condition. He was afraid if Alice had a bad incident, which had happened before in the basement, that could kill her because she was too close to his dangerous daughter. Ultimately, he told Alice not to play with Veronica again for her safety.
Until now, the incident that resulted in dozens of deaths was still kept secret by the royal family. The king kept it until he found out what had happened to his daughter. But until now, even if the incident had already been 15 years and they had asked Veronica for an explanation, they still couldn't find why Veronica was like that. Ignorance, that's how they feel. Veronica doesn't even remember the incident when she killed 10 people in prison.
Alice had been told to stay away from Veronica by the king and the royal family back then, but she didn't give up on helping them. Even when she was 9 years old, she tried to find out what had happened to Veronica. She continues to search for the real reason Veronica was able to kill them. So she can help her friends and the royal family.
But when another incident arose, her efforts to find out about it had to stop. The incident left her memory hazy and confused with what happened earlier, the reason why she could want to find out about the incident. It made her forget about what happened in the royal family, about Veronica, who killed 10 people. The incident that made her like that was when she was 12 years old.
When the incident occurred, the sun did not shine, night suddenly came, the air temperature grew colder, the fog appeared and obstructed the view, and the monsters became very aggressive. It made the people of the country panic and fear, and the next day, those who were in the incident couldn't remember anything about what happened 4 years ago. Everything that happened in the past 4 years seemed to disappear from their memories, and it was as if they had never lived in that year.
From then on, Alice lived an everyday life, became friends with Veronica again, and went about her activities as she did. And then, she didn't even know about the murder that Veronica committed 15 years ago. She forgot that, and no one could remember the incident.
"Why are you remembering it right now?"
"I don't know, but I can explain. I can remember the incident. I remember Veronica had killed them, stacked them together in one cell, sat on top of their pile, smiled, then said, Want to play? I remember about that."
"Um..."
Whatever it was, there had to be a trigger to make her remember the incident. I thought this place was the trigger for her memories, so she recalled the incident from this place. So now, I need to confirm whether the "Princess" is a good or bad woman.
I don't know if this event quest is only meant to save them, or maybe there's another purpose, so I'm anticipating that something bad will happen later on my way.
"Okay, I see. So you remember it and know what happened in this place?"
"Yeah, I remember it clearly. Veronica is a killer."
"Okay."
The two of us continued our search in this place. They were most likely at the end of this passage, so the two of us would soon meet them and save them. But before that, before getting there, I thought for a moment and tried to remember something.
If I'm not mistaken, thirty players were fighting the little dragons, ten players extinguished the fire from outside, forty players entered this palace—and they were trapped on the 1st floor—and 13 players sat in the yard. If they were still around the palace, they would help me if something bad happened. But will they help me? Putting that aside, I should be able to be alert and get out of here quickly if something bad happens. I don't want to lose my memory like Alice. My memories with them are beautiful things to me, so I don't want to get them out of my head.
I hope something like that will never happen.
We arrived at the end of this basement passage. It was a room with an iron door that seemed to be fireproof.
TOK! TOK! TOK!
Alice rushed to knock on the iron door.
"Are you guys in there? Open up; it's Alice. I want to save you!"
She repeatedly shouted the same words and kept knocking on the door.
After a while, the door finally opened.
"Alice?"
A young man appeared and was surprised to see Alice in front of him. He has a handsome face with fair skin and blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, a body taller than me, dressed like a prince who looks very neat and wears a necklace around his neck.
"Ted, are you all right? Where are King Eric and Queen Stella? Are they okay?"
"Thank goodness you came, Alice. Ah, we're fine."
After saying that, the man, who was probably the prince and had the name Ted briefly glanced at me before finally telling us to go there.
"Come in!"
We both came in and wanted to make sure they were okay or not.
The moment I entered the room, my Inner Eye skill became inactive. It was bright; many magic lights were on the room's ceiling.
Ted guided us until we saw the king, the queen, and the princess. I saw they were fine. They were sitting and cheering each other on.
"Is it safe outside?"
Ted asked before they noticed our presence.
"..."
Alice didn't answer that, maybe because she didn't know. She seems she can't be sure of that.
It's safe outside or not; that's not what they need to know. After all, this has a limited time. So, they should get out of here before time runs out instead of worrying about the conditions outside.
"Ah, it's safe outside."
Of course, I lied to get this all done quickly. If I said it wasn't safe outside, they would have chosen to stay here and not want to leave. I'd rather be a liar than have to waste all my time. Whatever happens next, it's the next thing. That's why anticipation is needed in the situation.
Ted glanced at Alice. He didn't seem convinced by my sentence. He chose to ignore me and kept walking.
They stood up and walked over to Alice when they noticed our presence.
"Alice..."
An older man came. He was quite old but had an aura of extraordinary charisma. Even if he had gray hair all over his hair and beard, he was a charismatic older man. Maybe he is the king of this country.
"Alice, are you all right?"
An older woman who was taller than Ted came and approached Alice. She also looks old, but her face shows she has taken good care of herself. I can't see any wrinkles on her face. Her purple hair looks quite beautiful, but one thing I don't particularly appreciate when I see her is that her purple hair is braided. I wouldn't say I like it when a woman braids her hair. I prefer it when a woman leaves her hair loose. It will look more dazzling than braided.
"Alice... why are you here?"
A young woman asked. She came and hugged Alice, and she seemed very happy with Alice's presence here. She had the same color as the older woman, long purple hair that was braided. Her hair was banged, perhaps deliberately allowing them to cover her forehead. She was the same height as Alice but had a slimmer body than Alice and was also very modestly dressed—in a navy blue dress. With her beautiful blue eyes, fair skin, and beautiful face, she truly deserved to be a princess.
However, I felt there was something strange about her. Somehow I can feel a bad intention in her.
As the two of them embraced, when I inadvertently glanced behind Alice and saw the young woman's face, I saw she smirked with scornful eyes.
"Hehehe..."
It left me speechless, and I could only see her.
...This is dangerous.