Back to the confines of her room, Leah stood frozen for a while. The disbelief coated her expression greatly. It wasn't easy to accept everything as if it was the norm. No one should be subject to so many abrupt events all at once.
Luck favored her when she didn't panic or shut down.
Her knees wobbled beneath her as soon as she started walking. They gave out and hit the ground. She started sobbing silently, doing her best to keep a strong front. Everything was overwhelming. She wished she was given time to accept things and learn them slowly.
She calmed down fairly quickly. Leah rummaged through her drawers for a pair of wool socks to soften her feet before sitting on her bed and thinking of the next set of actions.
When she thought about how no one noticed her absence or her presence in the garden, ideas of exploring rooted deep within her mind.
It wasn't time for crying or grieving the death of her old world. There were a lot of cues that proved everything was real. Continuing to stay in denial would only lead her to harder situations.
She slapped her cheeks and firmed her resolve.
Leah grabbed her shawl and danced as she usually did. This time, it wasn't to escape her reality or keep in denial, but to think. Imagination settled in as she slowly spun on her feet and hummed. Eyes closed, a new world emerged before her pupils.
It was dark and cold. Cubes in red formed all around her, imagining that her world was formed of simple shapes. Then, slowly, the cubes merged and created sceneries that she had spent the last three days staring at.
From the moment she woke up to her current moment, her brain focused on retelling everything that happened, everything that remained strong in her memories.
She tried to block the stranger with compelling, dark eyes to swindle her out of her feet. It was scary to be there, with all those ghosts and a situation where every decision felt wrong.
Her singing stopped and her legs halted. She wasn't scared anymore. Instead, a new crimson emotion grew considerable.
She was angry.
She lost her world. Even if her old world was hard, she knew what it was. A known enemy was better than an unknown one. Everything was in place. Enemies categorized, fake faces too, even those who were harmless but with poisonous tongues that could shake parts of her life. Everything was just there, in its own place.
Now, everything was different, chaotic. She knew nothing. Like a newborn, she wanted to cry all the time, scream and make her voice heard, annoy others so everyone would see she wasn't okay with what happened.
The entire time, the key in her hand was still. Leah glanced at it.
She strode towards the door and tried to unlock it. Unlike what she thought, the lock didn't obey. What was that key for?
She returned to her drawers and rummaged through for a pin. The lock was similar to every lock she was used to. In a few clicks, she opened the door and stepped outside.
This was the first time she set foot outside of this room. It was a new world. She immediately stepped back into the room and closed the door. There were ghosts outside. She didn't know why they didn't come to her room but it was better. No need to question it.
A few seconds passed before her anger rose again. She grabbed a lantern that was next to the door, placed on a table and stepped outside again.
The ghosts all looked at her but she acted as if they didn't exist. The light from the lantern guided her way and let her memorize the paths.
Her eyes widened when she spotted the ghosts making way for her. They all lined close to the walls, still staring at her. The further she got into the mansion, the more ghosts reacted to her. They all acted the same way.
All of a sudden, something balled in from the window, shattering glass everywhere. With nimble feet, she hid around the corner. Her body struggled to mirror her old one but it did what it was supposed to.
A stranger wrapped in a cloak landed in front of the broken window, pained moans escaping from his mouth. The man froze for a bit before he noticed Leah. It was dumb to keep the lantern lit. Distraction was a sin in the face of death.
"Aurora!" a whisper enough to bring her out of her hiding place.
Leah thought he was some assassin sent to finish what was started but the recognition ignited a different feeling. This stranger knew the previous body owner.
The man stared at her silhouette, standing there, holding a lantern in right hand. She looked eerie, like an apparition.
"Are you doing your nightly patrols to appease lost souls again?"
His trembling voice betrayed the pain soaking his body. The man straightened up but only for a short moment, his body slumped forward.
Leah dashed forward and helped him stay balanced. He stared at her, his blue eyes a different contrast from her green eyes.
Aurora was always inscrutable in everyone's eyes, especially his eyes. She wasn't easy-going and would rather watch them fall than help minimize the pain. Usually, Aurora's eyes were cold, sending shivers down his spine. It never dawned on him why she always hated them.
But this time, the stare he received was a fierce glare.
She doesn't answer him right away.
A sudden anger sent him standing on his feet, hiding the injury he got from fighting assassins lurking outside the walls.
"I told you to pause your superstition thoughts and think logically. Who would be dumb enough to linger behind?"
She doesn't utter a sound, simply observe him as he walked away. It was awkward for her.
Leah smelled blood on him and felt his injury with her hand when she touched him. Who was this man and why was he like this with her? It wasn't like anyone visited her after she woke up. The faces in her mind were too blurry to remember and this one wasn't one of them.
She turned and started walking away. But a few inches away from where she was, she regretted letting him leave.
What goes around comes around, used to tell her Sebastien when she was young.
She sighed loudly and counted back her steps. She stalked down the corridor, following the trail of blood left behind. She rounded a corner and paused. Apparently, it was hard for the man to keep his hard face for long and was panting, using the wall to support him.
The moonlight seeping from the windows exposed his face growing paler. Eyes half-lidded, debating whether staying open was worth the effort.
"Aurora," the man noticed her, clutching his stomach.
"Fancy meeting you here."
After her last words, this was the first time he heard her voice and it sounded different, softer.
Leah crossed her arms, glaring down at him. "Why are you bleeding? And why did you come through the window?"
"Got stabbed," he said with a weak shrug, like it was an unfortunate but not entirely surprising event. "It happens from time to time. Not a big deal."
"It seems it's time to babysit a dying man," she stated, stepping forward to help him to him to his room.
"I'm not a dying man," he lashed out briefly, visibly offended. However, he let her wrap his free arm around her shoulders and take him to his room. "Just severely… inconvenienced."
Together, they shuffled down the corridor. It was an awkward dance of limping and muttered curses. Leah's temper flared with each step. The sheer absurdity of the situation gnawed at her. She didn't belong here. This wasn't her world. She had no memories of this place, no connections to the people in it. Yet, here she was, playing nursemaid to a bleeding stranger.
Once they were in his room and he was in his bed, she let go of a long sigh. She did things as she remembered.
"Hold still," she ordered, her tone still high because of the anger that refused to subside.
The man sat rigid on the bed, his shirt clinging to him and soaked in blood. He wondered what she would do. His eyes couldn't get used to the softness in her expression. He could tell she was mad at something from her scowls and the way she swore every now and then. However, she also kept a softness that was foreign to his eyes.
As long as he could remember, Aurora was cold, aloof. She never bothered to bond with anyone and was cruel to just anyone. Her behavior was taken for granted. Everyone came up with a nickname for her.
Ice Princess.
She was a concrete block of ice, only doing what seemed labeled as duty. The Aurora in front of him was somewhat different. It was expected after what happened.
The first time he found out about her nightly patrols, it was three years ago. It didn't suit her. He thought she was sneaking out so he asked. She replied peculiarly. Her words stuck with him for a long time. Not because of her cold expression, but it's because it was something that nobody would expect from her.
'Appeasing souls… or whatever they are,' she glanced away briefly, her expression shifting for the blink of a second before wearing an ice thick veil. 'No one wants to be lost. Darkness is misleading. Cold. No one wants to feel cold. I'm paving the path for them, to guide them. Maybe one day, they'll move on.'
This was why he thought she was doing it again. But there was no way she'd do it.
Leah found the first-aid kit in the man's private bathroom. She could tell this man was family. Maybe a brother or a cousin. It was painted all over.
She yanked the fabric of his shirt away from the wound, her lips pressed into a thin line as she surveyed the deep stab. The sight of so much blood didn't faze her. Instead, it seemed to stroke the fire in her eyes.
It was too much work.
The man didn't flinch at the pain.
"Are you always so rough with everything?"
She shot him a glare before putting herself to work. She had done this before. In the line of her work, everyone got wounded. She was too. It was a skill she got to have to guarantee survival.
She dabbed the wound with antiseptic, her hand pressing harder than necessary. It drew a sharp intake of breath from him.
"You've done this before."
It wasn't a question. Leah finally tore her eyes from what she was doing. This was bad. A princess dabbled in gold shouldn't know how to do this. She should faint at the sight of blood. What was she doing?
It seemed Sebastien was right. She was too soft for her own good.
"Shut up and let me work," she snapped, another feeling rising in her to accompany her anger.
"You shouldn't know this," he watched her with a calmness that unsettled her.
"You think I don't learn anything in my room. Everyone does things when no one is looking."
He didn't press her further, though the pieces of her story were beginning to fit together in his mind. She'd done this, many times. She was angry, but not at him. Again, it was expected. Who wouldn't be angry to be caught in a situation like hers?
"How did you return to your room, Aurora?" her confused expression pushed him to continue. "I saw you in the air, falling. How did you even survive such fall?"