Outside the King's chamber, just as the royal physician was about to leave the castle's main door, a person suddenly appeared in front of him like a ghost, causing him to stagger backwards in fright. Placing a hand on his chest to calm his heart, he quickly steadied himself before looking at the person who stood in front of him.
"Your Highness," he offered a polite bow to the princess.
"What happened to the girl? Did she get hurt? How is she now?" Princess Leila asked the royal physician, her tone laced with half concern and half curiosity. She glanced around nervously, as if afraid her brother would make a sudden appearance as he had done earlier.
"I apologize, Your Highness. As this is a matter concerning His Majesty, I cannot disclose the condition of the young lady without the king's permission," the royal physician bowed his head apologetically.
"I am his sister, why am I not allowed to know about this? I am just worried about the girl" Princess Leila asked, pouting her lips.
'More like you are curious about the girl, Your Highness,' the royal physician thought. It was well-known throughout the castle that the young vampire princess had a tendency to be quite inquisitive and persistent until she obtained the information she desired.
"You know you can trust me, right? I promise not to tell a single soul about this," She promised, placing a hand on her heart, and continued, "Now, tell me. Is the girl fine?".
When she watched the man hesitating, she raised her eyebrows and stared at him with a sceptical gaze, "Don't tell me that my brother was the one who knocked her unconscious".
"That is not true, Your Highness. The lady was not hurt by His Majesty but was saved by him. I cannot disclose any further information without the king's permission. Please forgive me, Your Highness," he quickly replied in a low voice before offering a deep bow to her and bolting towards the door, disappearing from sight.
"Oh, he saved an unknown girl and even brought her to his chamber to check up on her? Was he really my brother, who was heartless and never cared about anyone or anything in all these years? What if he got possessed by a ghost?" she mumbled to herself, furrowing her brows, "Or… he might have taken a fancy to the girl. That might be the case," she thought aloud, stroking her chin.
When Princess Leila heard the footsteps of someone nearby, she hurriedly ran to her chamber. If her other half-brother, Prince Aaron, saw her loitering around the hallways even after being warned by him, she would get into big trouble. She hastily made her way to her chamber and sighed in relief as soon as she stepped inside and closed the door.
When morning arrived, unlike other days in the kingdom where the atmosphere was always cloudy and gloomy, the day started with golden sunrays screening through the clouds and scattering on the lands of Vicenzia,
A ray of light which reflected on the window of the king's chamber came to fall on the sleeping girl, causing her to stir in her sleep lightly. Her plump lips slightly parted and a soft breath fluttered a strand of hair that fell on her cheek. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking them a few times as her lashes fluttered gently like the wings of butterflies. And a yawn escaped her mouth as she stared at the ceiling for a moment.
The sound of the fire crackling in the fireplace caught her attention and she turned her head to the side to look at the fireplace. She moved her eyes and scanned her surroundings before everything that happened the previous night started to sink into her mind. She remembered the guards who chased her inside the forest. They were so close to catching her but she bumped into someone before she lost consciousness.
She sprang up from the bed swiftly, before she checked her body. Had they succeeded in getting their hands on her? She panicked and began searching for any evidence of sexual assault on her body. She let out a deep exhale of relief when she became absolutely certain that nothing bad had happened to her.
Eva moved her gaze towards the doors when she heard someone opening them from the outside and her purple eyes fell on a young girl in a white maid's uniform, who seemed no older than seventeen years.
She stared at the unfamiliar girl with both curiosity and confusion. The girl appeared cute and innocent, sporting a sweet smile on her face.
"Good morning, milady. My name is Maisie," said the girl with a cheerful smile, offering a bow to Eva. "I have been assigned to be your personal maid and I will take care of everything you might need. You can ask me anything you want, and I will be at your service."
"Where am I? What is this place, and who brought me here?" Eva asked in confusion, tilting her head.
"You are in Regan's castle, milady," the girl replied carefully. "I do not know who brought you here since this is my first day at work, but I was ordered by the king to serve you."
Considering the fact that royals never hire new or inexperienced maids to serve them in the castle, the maid girl could not fathom why the king would hire her, a mere human, to serve such a beautiful lady. Perhaps the king was concerned that the vampire maids might accidentally harm the delicate human lady, so he decided to employ a human maid like her to take care of the lady, Maisie mused.
Despite her fear of the night creatures, the girl was pleased to work within the castle as she could earn more money as a maid there rather than working for a small household. She knew working in a place teeming with blood-thirsty vampires was dangerous, yet she was willing to risk her life in order to save some money and provide for her little brother, who desperately needed medicine and treatment for his chronic illness. If she worked hard enough, she might even be able to request the royal physician to treat him. Although she knew it was her wishful thinking to get the royal physician to treat her brother, she refused to give up hope.
"What is the name of this king you are talking about?" Eva asked the girl, raising an eyebrow. Was he the man who had saved her last night? It couldn't possibly be the king, could it? Why would a king help a stranger in a creepy forest at such a time? It must have been someone working for the king who saw her being chased by the guards and came forward to help.
A panicked expression flashed across the maid's eyes when she heard Eva's question. How was she supposed to say the king's name out loud? Servants were not allowed to utter the name of the king carelessly, lest they be beheaded. Does this lady not know about the rules of the Kingdom?
"I am sorry, milady. Servants are not supposed to utter His Majesty's name," Maisie apologized meekly.
'Earlier, the girl said this was Regan's castle, right?' Eva was sure this was not her kingdom. The Whitlocks had a long history of being the royals that predated hundreds of years, so it was not possible for a 'Regan's castle' to be in the kingdom of Acassia. Unless she had somehow travelled hundreds of years back in time to the era when the four lands were still ruled by a single monarch, before being divided into four kingdoms, Vicenzia, Acassia, Faerwynia and Lunaria.
"Can you at least tell me the name of this kingdom? And also, what year is this?" she became so muddle-headed that she forgot to ask about the year earlier. How can she forget that? Eva scolded herself inside her heart.
The girl did not understand why Eva was asking such strange questions, but she still answered her, with a small nod, "Of course, milady. This is the Kingdom of Vicenzia, and the current year is 1703."
"Holy Shit", Eva's eyes circled wider and she clutched her head with her hands. She was in the Kingdom of Vicenza? She realized that she had not only travelled back in time to the 1700s but also ended up in their enemy kingdom. Why was this happening to her? As the frustration consumed her, she felt like banging her head against the wall.