After bathing and changing her clothes, Vivian stared at herself in the mirror. "I'm 20 again... whatever that thing was... it sent me back four years in time."
She swept her flaming curls into a ponytail and touched her face and neck, sighing in relief that the dark bruises were gone. "I have to do something before that day comes," she muttered, referring to her upcoming meeting with Edgar.
Her mind raced back to the day they first met, a day after the parade. She remembered how she'd told Madam Erin about the imminent meeting. Madam Erin, always supportive, accepted her resignation, knowing Vivian would one day marry and leave. But Madam Erin's own daughter, Anna, was a different story. Anna insisted on marrying Maximus Osiris, the leader of the royal knights, not because she loved him, but because she craved power and the social status associated with his title.
Vivian, on the other hand, didn't know her man's name or even his appearance. Their connection began with a letter intended for Anna but mistakenly given to Vivian. The letter, a request for a match, had been rejected by Anna.
Vivian, feeling a sense of duty, responded to the letter, apologizing for Anna's lack of interest. This became a routine, with the maids taking turns delivering letters from various suitors to Anna. Each rejection resulted in a response from Vivian to the sender, stating her title and Anna's lack of interest. Most of the time, she never received a reply, imagining the men were too busy nursing their broken egos and hearts.
One day, a letter arrived for her instead, a surprising turn of events. The man didn't know her name as they'd never exchanged them but described the contents of her last letter. Intrigued, she responded, and a back-and-forth correspondence began. Over the next year, they bonded over their shared opinions of the capital, family, and the Great War he was fighting.
He promised to come for her when the war ended, to be by her side forever. The other maids teased her, doubting his intentions, but Vivian held onto his promise. She even described her appearance in a letter but never gave her name out of fear that the other maids might be right and he had ill intentions. He never gave his name either, and while she thought it a little suspicious, she couldn't blame him as she neglected to reveal hers.
Days turned into weeks since she'd received a reply, and anxiety crept into her mind. She feared he might have rejected her based on her appearance or worse, maybe he'd passed away in the war.
Then, the parade came. It was a welcoming home to the soldiers. Vivian and Crystal had no clue the event would be happening on the same day they were tasked to get groceries from the market. As she and Crystal watched the returning soldiers, Vivian's heart raced. She couldn't help but wonder if the man who had written her those letters was among them and if he was, what he looked like.