"Why did you guys put Deux and Ace into the same room...? Deux would never get better by listening to screams every second of the day..." I said as the carriage I was in rolled over a few more rocks on the road.
"Deux wanted it that way, milady," Grey replied as he stared at the scenery outside of the window.
"...Why?"
"He wanted his beast taming magic to be the last resort in case Ace ever broke free..."
"Beast taming magic..."
"Yes, Deux holds extremely powerful beast taming magic, but Ace is a dragon...the odds of Deux's magic being strong enough to restrain Ace is...low."
"I see...But he still chose to stay in that room...?"
"He's a quiet person, milady, but when he feels the need to do something, he certainly never backs down," Grey said.
"It's rare to see you ever compliment someone, Grey."
"Was that a compliment, milady?"
"It sounded like one."
"...Perhaps Deux has rubbed off on me," Grey chuckled.
"Maybe."
There was silence for a while as the carriage continued to roll.
But in my mind, there was no such thing as silence.
The echoing screams of Ace's inescapable screams repeated and rewound in my mind over and over again.
And that sickening feeling of pure, painful guilt in my chest was not even on the verge of going away.
"Milady. Where have you been these past few months...?"
Grey finally asked the big question...and he did it when we were both alone too so that no one could get in his way.
"I was training," I said as I turned away from him.
"...Don't mess with me," Grey said harshly as he slammed his foot from the opposite side of the carriage onto the wall near the side of my head.
"I'm not lying," I said as I bit my tongue.
"You're telling me...that you went missing for three months...and caused an uproar in the entire nation...so you could train...?" Grey asked darkly.
"Yeah," I said as I stared at him straight in the eye.
"Milady...I'm not quite fond of these jokes of yours."
"I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I'm being serious," I said as I pushed him away from me.
Grey clicked his tongue and it looked as if though he was trying to suppress something murderous within him.
"I promise...I'll go into more detail later..." I said softly as I turned to the window.
Grey seemed like he had a lot he wanted to say in protest, but there was nothing he could say to convince me otherwise.
There were definitely things I needed to tell them...but I knew that if I told them the whole story...they would never let me have a proper sense of freedom again and would become too overprotective of me.
I couldn't let that happen.
"I'll take your word, milady," Grey sighed.
"Yeah," I replied as calmly as I could manage.
But before Grey could say another word, I silenced him.
I could feel soft vibrations on the ground that didn't come from the bumpiness of the road.
"There's something coming," I said in a low murmur for Grey to hear.
Something was heading to our carriage at an almost scary speed.
"Milady...? But there is noth-" Grey was about to say before he suddenly paused.
"Do you sense it now?" I muttered as I glanced out of the carriage windows.
Grey looked at me with surprise on his face as if I had sprouted two heads.
"Your senses have grown sharp, milady," Grey said as he also called for the coachman to stop the carriage.
"...There were...special circumstances..." I replied.
"But there is no need for you to worry," Grey told me.
"What?" I asked.
"Those two balls of energy heading toward us are not dangerous," Grey said.
"How do you kno-"
"There's no way I'd ever mistaken the master and the head maid," Grey sighed as he rubbed his head with a sigh.
I was slightly confused for a moment before I heard extremely loud footsteps that sounded as if though bulls were running through the streets.
Dust clouds filled the air as the stomping and running of whoever it was kicked up clouds of dirt from the road.
And then I could see a flash of similar blue hair and a familiar maid outfit.
"Sophie? Fathe-"
"MYYY ANGELLLLL!!!!!!! MYYY BABYYYYY!!!!!!! SWEETIEEE!!!!!!! YOUR PAPA IS HEREEEE!!!!!!" screeched my father in broad daylight.
A part of me inwardly cringed at his words and I was almost ashamed to admit that a very tiny part of me didn't even care and wanted to run into his arms anyway without a care in the world.
Behind him was the head maid of of my family's main estate, Sophie, who raised me since I was little.
She was charging toward me with a fearsome look on her face as well.
It was honestly scary.
"Go ahead, milady. The master and Sophie have missed you dearly," Grey said as he opened the door for me.
And even though the sight of my father and my maid in this state made me extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed, I wasn't able to stop the overflowing feeling of warmth I felt from seeing them nearby.
I hopped out of the carriage immediately and ran over to them on my two sore legs, jumping up to loop my arms around my father first.
"I missed you so much..." I said as I hugged my father, the sole Duke of our nation, on the empty streets of the capital.
My father was silent now.
He didn't utter a single word as he held me quietly in his arms.
It was as if he didn't know what the right words to say to me were.
He had heavy eye bags and his hair was much grayer than before.
Perhaps he had been stressed lately.
Currently, he was doing his best to confirm that I was real and was not a figment of his imagination.
"...Father...?" I asked him slowly.
He didn't respond for a while.
"Don't mind him, Cordelia...He's just a bit emotional," Sophie said as she wiped a tear away from her face.
I smiled softly at Sophie.
It seems like she was feeling emotional as well.
"Are you...really my daughter...?" my father asked me quietly.
"Who else would I be, father?" I replied softly.
"No...you can't be my daughter..."
"But why not?"
"...Because I don't remember my daughter growing up this much," he laughed happily for a moment as tears formed in his eyes.
I laughed a bit at my father's words.
Did I really grow up that much?
"Where were you, sweetie...?" my father asked me slowly as he pushed me away from him, grasping on my shoulders so he could stare at me, face-to-face.
His tone was soft but the look on his face told me that he wasn't giving me a choice on whether to answer his question or not.
"Not yet...I want to tell everyone at the same time...because I don't want to repeat it over again..." I replied softly.
I think my father took the hint...that I didn't want to recall what happened...
He didn't press any further and gave me a small smile instead.
"Of course," my father nodded, his expression full of warmth.
I nodded my thanks and gave him another hug.
"You don't even know how hard it was when I heard you went missing. I thought I had just lost everything...I didn't know what to do," my father said softly over my shoulder.
"I'm back now," I said reassuringly.
"I know...I know you're back. When I heard the news, I dropped all my work and rushed over here as fast as I could. The carriage was so slow that I had to hop out of it and run all the way here myself..."
"...Excuse me?"
"...And once I heard that you left the castle to go to the hospital, I was so scared. I couldn't even stop to take the time to prepare a carriage so I continued to run instead..."
"Wait...That's not the poin-"
"But then I heard that you left the hospital and I was so impatient that I started running through all the streets of the capital until I came across your carriage," my father said as he recalled his mini-adventure.
I didn't even know what to say.
My father certainly wasn't young anymore, since the average human lifespans here were much lower than the ones back on Earth.
And our estate was about two hours away from the capital by carriage...
Father was strong, but he certainly wasn't the fastest person I knew.
How did he even manage to...?
I gave a glance at Sophie.
She was shaking her head as if she were recalling a nightmare.
"Alastair, what in the world are you telling Cordelia right now?!" Sophie scolded my father loudly as she smacked him harshly on the head.
"Haha...Sorry, Sophie..." my father said as he tried to defend himself from Sophie's relentless smacks to the head.
It was hard to tell who was the employer and the employee.
Sophie pulled on my father's ear harshly.
"You must at least keep a noble's dignity, Alastair..." Sophie grunted as she finally let go of him.
My father moped for a bit.
"Yes...I'm sorry..." my father said with a downcast look on his face.
Apparently, my father's puppy face was Sophie's weakness because she slightly blushed and smacked him again.
For some reason...these two seemed to have...something between them.
"Sweetie...! Sophie is being so mean...Even though I was just happy you were safe..." my father cried as he went back to squeeze me as hard as possible.
I patted my father on the head.
Honestly, it was hard to tell that my father was the prized hard-working Duke of the nation when he acted like this.
.
.
A While Later
.
.
The happiness that I felt from reuniting with my father and seeing Sophie again was quickly replaced by a cold air.
We were all sitting in a dimly lit room.
And the eyes of everyone stared silently at me as they waited patiently for me to recount what happened these past few months.
No one spoke in fear that they would accidentally interrupt me or perhaps make me feel too uncomfortable to speak.
Unfortunately for them, no matter what they did, it was going to be uncomfortable for me anyway.
I shifted awkwardly in my chair.
Slowly, I began to tell them the reason why I went missing, leaving out a few details.
I told them how I was only trying to search for a place to train, but all of a sudden, I was teleported into a long pit that took me a good long few minutes or so to free fall to the bottom.
Already, everyone seemed to be conflicted.
Half of them seemed to have thought that I had gone crazy.
Then I told them of the mysterious voice of a woman who had led me there and how she gifted me with one wish.
And how I told her...that I didn't want to be weak anymore.
Everyone looked confused when I said that.
I didn't blame them though...my wish wasn't normal to begin with.
But none of them interrupted me to ask any unnecessary questions and they simply listened.
It made me feel guilty...that I wasn't going to tell them everything.
I told them about how I had to wander up 500 layers of dark caverns while completing 'trials' to grow stronger.
But I didn't tell them about the monsters...
...the lack of sleep...
...the starvation...
...the lack of water...
...the suicidal thoughts...
...the way the darkness made me feel like I was going insane...
...the times I talked to myself so I wouldn't feel lonely...
...the endless screams and groans of monsters as I killed them...
...the times I forgot that I was even alive...
...the pain I felt from the injuries I couldn't even heal...
...and how...tired I was...
...with everything...
...with life.
I didn't tell them anything other than the fact that I wandered through dark caves while completing puzzle-like trials on each floor to grow strong.
That was it.
I technically didn't lie, since labyrinths were like puzzles anyway.
"And that's why I looked like such a mess when I got back...It was really hard because I was always so lonely, but it's okay now," I finished awkwardly.
No one said anything.
"Um...Just in case you guys didn't know, I'm done with my story now...!" I said as I bit my tongue.
"That's it?" Ash asked as if he didn't believe me.
Actually, no one in the room looked like they fully believed me.
"Yep," I nodded.
"You just took a nice stroll underground while playing puzzle games...milady...?" Grey also asked me slowly.
"Exactly."
I tried giving them a cheerful smile.
There was no need for them to know what happened after all.
"Then why do you look like you're on the verge of crying...Lia..." Florence murmured.
I immediately froze, internally examining myself to make sure there were no tears in my eyes.
When I realized that I wasn't crying, I reached out to touch my face with my hand.
Was my expression sad or something...?
I certainly wasn't tearing up.
Then I felt their stares on me.
That's when I realized that I was tricked.
"Haha...Even now, you suck at lying, sis," Ash said as he scratched the back of his head.
"If you were truly being honest, you wouldn't have needed to worry about your facial expression, milady," Grey sighed.
"I-"
"Do you not trust us or something, Lia?" Florence asked me, interrupting me completely.
"No...! I was being honest..." I said unconvincingly.
"Did you...at least...tell us half of it...?" my father asked me slowly as I realized that he too did not fully believe me.
I froze and I didn't know how to answer my father's question.
But eventually, I gave up because they already caught me red-handed.
There was no point in denying it any further.
I nodded my head in reply.
"Then I am satisfied...I'm happy you at least told me that much, sweetie. You just need to take your time," my father said with a kind smile.
I smiled at my father.
I'm glad that he was so understanding.
But when I turned to the three male leads, I could see the look of dissatisfaction on their faces.
"Let me get this straight. No one kidnapped you, right?" Florence asked me.
I shook my head no.
"I stayed there because I chose to...and the person who brought me there is already dead," I said.
"Good...because I was wondering who I needed to execute next..." Florence said as he sunk to the floor slowly, groaning slightly as he let his tension go.
Uh...
I must've heard him wrong...
"Truly...I was worried that there was some...extra...work I would need to do, milady," Grey also sighed just like Florence as he leaned against the wall.
I didn't know what Grey was talking about either, but I didn't want to find out.
"You're an idiot, sis. Of all the things to wish for, why did you choose to grow stronger? That's such a dumb thing to wish for. You know you have a lot of people who can protect you right?" Ash asked me as if he was staring at the dumbest person on the planet.
"Unreliable people like you, Ash?" I teased.
Ash blushed and clicked his tongue in response.
I didn't expect anyone to understand.
I just...didn't want to have to rely on anyone anymore.
I didn't want to feel so weak in comparison to immeasurable strength.
I...wanted to be able to protect those I loved.
But those were just sweet secrets of mine that I didn't want to tell anyone.
.
.
Almost Two Months Later
.
.
"Cowdelia! Cowdelia! We have news," the twins said loudly as they each wrapped their dismembered hands around me.
"Hmm?" I questioned as I continued to eat my breakfast.
Things have become much more lively and irritating since the twins were released from the hospital.
Wolfe was released to, but he spends most of his days sleeping in one of the castle's guest rooms.
No one in our group goes back to school anymore.
We were all busy and influential people, so school honestly didn't matter.
And as for me, I was in the stage of recovering from trauma, or at least, that was what the people believed.
I honestly wasn't feeling too bad.
But...I was diagnosed with bathophobia, mazeophobia...and a slight case of PTSD.
But I was already getting over it...
...I swear.
The twins stared at me with a smirk.
"Sin's back~" they both giggled as they held out the teddy bear in front of my face.
His button eyes stared at me for a while before he decided to say something.
"Sh-t...Hey there, f--king b-tch...Did you get uglier?"
I stared back at the teddy bear.
"SIN?!" I yelled out loudly in shock as I quickly covered my mouth again.
He was gone so long that I nearly forgot about him!
"H-ll yeah, I'm back, baby. These d--kheads sure took their time getting me here," Sin said as he crossed his arms in a way that made him seem like the boss of this place.
"Where were you this whole time...?" I asked as I booped his button nose.
"A huge f--king mutt bit off my -ss, so I got it all stitched up," Sin said as he smacked his plushy booty.
"Oh. Wow...So that...can really happen..." I said awkwardly as I tried to imagine what the scene looked like.
"If you laugh, I'm f--king killing you off in your sleep, b-tch."
"Sure," I laughed sarcastically as I picked Sin up and placed him on my lap.
I continued to eat breakfast, caging him in with my arms.
"Hey, b-tch! What the h-ll?! Get me off!" he complained as he thrashed around with his plushy arms to try to escape.
"Shhh...Someone's coming~" I whispered as I gave Sin a wink.
Sin glared at me with his button eyes and immediately went limp, just like how a normal teddy bear should have been.
The door to the dining hall smashed open with a large bang.
Florence ran into the room, looking around until his eyes landed on me.
His face was tense and he looked like he had something extremely urgent to say.
"Lia...! Lia...Are you free right now?"
"Uh...I will be after I finish this plate of toast off," I replied as I continued to munch on my food calmly.
"This is really important though," Florence said as if the expression on his face didn't make it obvious enough.
"What is it?" I asked as I raised a fork to my lips.
"The hospital...they contacted me..."
The moment those words escaped his mouth, I paused.
"What..." I murmured as I lowered my fork.
"Ace is stable."
I dropped my fork and it clanged loudly on my plate.
I stood up sharply, causing the teddy bear in my lap, Sin, to fall off.
"F-CK!" Sin screeched the moment his head thumped onto the floor.
"What was tha-"
"It was nothing. Ace? Is he okay?" I said quickly as I interrupted Florence, kicking Sin farther under the table, causing him to curse loudly a few more times.
"Yeah...and..."
"And what?" I asked impatiently.
"...He has his memories back."
---------------------------------------------------
A/N: Hahaha...HAHAHAHA...I just love writing cliff-hangers. Sorry~
Uh, so that's it for this chapter! Cordelia's in the healing stage and is currently living in the castle. Most of the male leads have been discharged from the hospital too~
I wonder what will happen later on~ ;)
Heh.
Anyway, these days, school has become so much more stressful now that we've all "gotten used to things." Writing this story and doing homework at the same time is super hard, but I will persevere! It's a good thing I'm having so much fun writing~
Thanks, again, to my readers/voters/commenters! You guys are amazing people and I hope you guys have a great week~
Stay safe, everyone~
Okie byeee!
Word Count: 3185