Hi. We'll take a little peek into Lizzie's past and some clues. 🤗
Enjoy.
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Before Lizzie was found by the Norvillons, she lived in the Peduha slums. And yet, before her years of wandering on the streets, she once lived in an orphanage.
Home of Eryths, named after the believers of Erythrós, the god of death and rebirth.
Yet it seemed the god had never heard of such place, especially that they were only a few believers in once a kingdom, now an empire, open to all beliefs.
Rumors have it that a small portion of the population even worships a rock, and another few worship the emperor's sword.
Or maybe, Erythros heard of the place but disowned his believers for their selfishness.
The orphanage burned.
And it was the work of human selfishness. The headmistress was desperate for insurance money that she burned the old building along with the older children who were too old to be adopted.
Lizzie, who was friends with the older kids due to her mature behavior, snuck to one of the girl's beds, Willen, for a hushed gossip that the girl heard in the capital when she was taken for a trial adoption but was then returned with a broken leg after her prospect parent's beatings.
"Don't trust the adults," Willen told her and proceeded to talk the advances of nobles and the countries under the empire for the empty spot of the emperor's concubine. There was also news of a trade treaty between the empire and another island empire.
Lizzie asked for more information to find a clue about the world that was different from the memories in her head. Although the concept of rebirth or reincarnation was part of the religion in some countries, she felt that her hazy memories weren't purely her own.
She had to find the gap and for that, any information about her world is vital.
That same night, the orphanage burned and no one came for the disabled and sickly children gathered in that room.
Willen had to slap Lizzie out of her cries. Yet with a gentle voice, opposed to amber flames, crackles, and falling debris somewhere and probably close to them, she said, "I couldn't run, so do it for me. Run, little Lizzie, and live for us. You are still young, but you think maturely, you can survive."
Lizzie, who was never much of a crier unlike her peers, sobbed. What can a young girl do? She couldn't carry everyone with death at their door. Before she fled the room, Willen reminded her once more.
"Never trust the adults."
She climbed out the window, slipped, and fell, fortunately on the haystack behind the orphanage that was yet to be burned. She wheezed and with scratches from her struggles.
The orphanage was located by the town border of the Peduha territory. Orbiting the capital. So she took refuge in the woods, stealing fruits from the nearby farms. It would have been a miracle for a child to survive, but Lizzie would think that it was her willpower.
For Willen and the children of that room.
The younger children survived, but Lizzie, who was supposed to be sleeping in the hall was not among the survivors. It was just a few days after when the headmistress broke down in guilt and admitted her crimes.
Lizzie never returned to the newly repaired orphanage from the insurances and donations. She roamed the Peduha slums and refused help from adults. And for children with rare silver hair and distinct blue eyes, she dirtied herself and would always look down on her feet without meeting anyone's gaze.
Day in and out, she had nothing but to breathe, surviving after the tragedy
And yet, the fire was not even supposed to be part of the major three tragedies in her life, or so she was told.
According to Red's babble when they were still caught for slavery, there were three attempts on Lizzie's life.
First, was when she was still an infant. After her mother's disappearance, Lizzie was abducted schemed by the previous king, as a hostage against Devanti Norvillon's refusal for a better spirit stone trade. But the duke ignored the threat and Lizzie was abandoned in the orphanage.
Second, was the hunting ceremony, but it was supposed to be a few years from now. To prove her worth in the Norvillon House, she begged the duke to let her join the hunting ceremony. He allowed it, and the first woman to do so.
But after stronger monster attacks, Lizzie got lost in the forest for days and she had to save herself, only to find out that the duke never sent a search party for her because "She asked for it."
But why does it happen so early?! she thought.
She blinked away the memories in her head, from the burning of the orphanage to her life in the slums. Everything was so vivid and clear, unlike her hazy vision of a different world.
It was as if she was reading an open book—but it wasn't her eyes.
Strange.
Was this the gift of the past that magician-turned-gardener-turned-missing Red said?
She does not even know how long she slept after the beast's abduction, but she woke up parched and hungry.
It would have been laughable if the third tragedy isn't the blade that would pierce her heart, as Red said, but the hollow nothingness of her stomach.
Her short life passed before her eyes, from the slums to the castle.
It wasn't so bad, she thought, after eating the last piece of candy from the pouch, it didn't ease the hunger that seemed to worsen it. She was glad that she tasted honey after she was brought into the castle.
If it had been the slums that she tasted even a drop of such sinful food, her life would have been an earlier tragedy trying to steal honey.
She was starting to like ribbons too, although she hated the blinding pink and yellows in her wardrobe. Especially the hideous gown she was currently wearing. She wondered what were the contents of the tenth unit of the history book she was about to finish.
Why did Alexander expand the kingdom to an empire? Why didn't he spiral to insanity as Red said?
Maybe because of his dead fiancee, the baroness from Alcotta Isles?
"I don't know anymore," she whispered.
Alexander's actions were opposed to what she was told. Now she could not predict her fate and counter it with plans.
Idiot emperor.
She paused. Ah. She called him an idiot too as the Duke did.
The Duke. He's probably glad he didn't get to wear that bracelet. I haven't punched him yet even once.
Orogarthias and Erdanielle. They'd probably be sleeping by now. What time is it anyway?
"Well, at least I got a nice view," she said to the sky, cloudless and the two moons both half and beautiful as always. After the beast took her away, she woke up surrounded by huge eggs on a humongous nest, atop a tree.
I want some honey.
Lizzie scratched her neck, annoyed from the frills for the moment. Out of all her dresses, it was what she hated the most. The clothe, bulging from layers below, was even the same color tone with the beast eggs on the nest the worm-tentacle beast had brought her, only a tone darker.
Gods, she hated this shade of yellow.
And like the eggs, the sparkle of her bulky dress borrowed the light of the twin moons above. Now she looked like she was glowing too, less brighter, but still did, like she was a secondary target next to the eggs as big as her.
She did not understand the envy of the girls earlier about her dress, in line with the bright color trend in the Gran Dacchian capital.
I can't believe I'm dying with clothes I hated the most.
"As if!" Lizzie screamed and sat up from her supposed to be deathbed, nothing but dried leaves and twigs weaved as a huge nest. "I can survive! I am Lizzie! Just you wait—!"
Two round hazy eyes occupied half of the monster's head, stared back at her. Its mandibles wriggled as it inched closer to Lizzie.
She choked back the courage at the realization that a monster was observing her.
Right. More than hunger, she has a bigger problem.
The hideous monster, resembled a huge worm with a body as thick as a tree trunk, with tentacles attached to its head.
After it swam through the holes underground with Lizzie cocooned in one of its tentacles, she woke up in a nest on top of a tree, surrounded by eggs as big as her and yellow as her dress. She wasn't even sure which part of the forest she was or if it was still part of the hunting ceremony's perimeter.
Gibworms, as Garth described in one of their dinners were timid creatures unless they lay their eggs. And yet, they are also the weakest days after. Their sense of smell becomes dull, so their hazy vision, the only thing left for them, was very important.
She wondered once why Gibworms hatch eggs and build their nests on trees as non-monstrous birds do. The monster itself resembled a normal bird's food, the worms, just a thousand times larger. She even tilted her head in the irony. Garth at that time just shrugged, "Well, they're beasts. That's it."
The rest of the information was lost when there was no more space between Lizzie's head and the Gibworm's mouth, its mandibles opened like a door and its slimy round mouth was decorated with tiny sharp teeth. It was too big for her head. Her body would probably fit in well in one swallow too.
Of course, she wanted to flee. But all she had was an oddly shaped concave of twigs and leaves few meters in circumference and crowded with bright eggs. Where would she flee?
Lizzie pulled the bread knife from her pouch, praises to herself that she was able to hide cutlery from the maids did not matter for the moment.
"B-Bring it on, wormie," she whispered.
It's do or die.
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