Chapter 10: Shadow

“Sami just beeped me! She said that Mother's in a good mood today. Should we go and ask her to allow us into the backrooms?”

I leaned on the chair. Why am I here again? This girl, her name left an impression on me last time so why can’t I remember it now?

“Ofelia come on! We got nothing to do! Let’s go!” She pulled me from my seat and I instantly fell down. I coughed and saw some blood in my palm. My whole body is aching!

She reached for my other hand and tried her best to carry me to the bed.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were sick. Wait for me here while I call Mom for you.” She left in a hurry.

Darn. Is this a dream? Quite bizarre because I haven’t dreamed for a long time. Or is this perhaps a distant memory? But of whom? I have possessed countless humans that I can’t recall who could be the owner of this memory.

The girl returned crying and some people in lab coats followed.

“She coughed some blood earlier! Help her!”

They put me on the stretcher and moved me to a familiar room. Panic consumed me for some reason. Tears flooded my face, and I tried screaming, but my voice won’t come out. They started pinning me down and put a strap on my wrist and leg. One of the doctors whipped the same syringe I saw before and pointed it at my side.

“STOP! STOP!!” I shouted while crying but they acted like they did not hear me. What the fuck is happening right now?!

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

A strong shake on my shoulders woke me up. I looked up and saw Lyra’s worried face.

“MADAME!”

“Stop shaking me. I’m awake.”

Argh. My rib is in pain again. She handed me a glass of water and a towel because I was drenched with sweat and tears.

“Your nightmares are frequent these days, Madame.”

Yeah, tell me about it. Is it perhaps a premonition of an approaching danger?

My head is aching. It’s crystal clear that my sense of urgency has dulled after a long time of having things easily and not feeling any pain on my travels, and now a vague horror is creeping on me. Hah. Just whose memory was that?

I stood up and went to the bathroom. It’s been a week since we made the toilet, and I had one built in my room along with a lavatory sink and a tub. At first, Adam and Lyra disagreed with it for ‘sanitary issues’, but I was adamant about having one because there’s no way I am going to get down just to pee at midnight. As for the workers, I also have restrooms built for them, of course.

“Madame, it’ll be my first time going to the palace. Is it a scary place? I’ve heard stories, so I can’t help but ask.” Lyra is currently fixing my hair. Today’s the day I will go to the palace with her and Adam. Normally, it’ll take us weeks to travel but since we will be using the portal along with the teleportation scroll, we will arrive in 2 days if we don’t face any issues along the road. That’s what Adam said.

“I don’t know.”

“Eh? But you’ve been to the palace.”

I haven’t even left this place yet, how can I know what the palace looks like?

“The experience may vary. Why not learn whether what you heard is true or not by yourself?” That’s all I can say. It would be very helpful if I had a status board that game characters usually have. Ah, there you go again, Leonora. Trying to look for an easy way of living. That’s why your sense of urgency has dulled!

“As expected of Madame! All right, I shall do what you said.”

After tying my hair, she went to the closet and pulled out the rack full of dresses that I would wear while I’m in the palace.

“Is there even a suitcase that would fit all of those dresses?”

“Of course there is! The former grand duchess’s ladies use it a lot when they have to travel to the palace.”

“So… how huge is that suitcase then?”

Lyra looked confused by my statement. Seconds later, she hit her palm with the side of her fist as if she realized something.

“Oh right! You always had your ladies-in-waiting manage these tasks before. It’s no wonder you didn't know about the existence of the cube!”

Ladies-in-waiting? That makes so much sense considering my position, however, why have I not seen any of them around?

I was about to ask about it when Lyra immediately kneeled.

“Oh no- I apologize, Madame! I failed to realize that you will be uncomfortable upon hearing your former ladies-in-waiting!”

Now, now. What did the ‘Leonora’ they know do in the past again? Gah~ Why do I have to bear the aftermath of THAT Leonora’s decisions?

“It’s all right. Stand up and explain it to me.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She stood up and extended both of her hands with her palms open. After a few moments, a cube appeared.

“This is the cube I am talking about. If you have a lady-in-waiting, it would usually pick her to be its wielder, however, you have none. It picked a girl who can be seen with you frequently. I was really surprised when it appeared to me last time.”

Ohhhh! I see!

“So I guess I am close with Lyra huh?” I joked. Lyra’s forehead is now sweating; she must’ve been afraid.

“Y-you can take it, Madame! I did not know about its existence until it came to me and showed me what it does with the former duchesses. It’ll only stay with me until you can find the next noble that will serve you.”

Too much going on with this noble-ey stuff. As far as I can recall, ladies-in-waiting or court ladies aren’t paid and will only serve out of loyalty and for the honor they’ll get while serving. I know they are rich but working for free sounds like slavery.

“I’m not stingy, Lyra. Then how about I make you my lady in waiting?”

Her eyes widened and shook her head.

“Madame, I’m not a noble! Giving me that position will only tarnish your reputation!”

Reputation? Most of the things I heard about the past Leonora seem to suggest otherwise. Besides, I’m not one to care for it, but it looks like I can’t convince her like that.

“Only until I have my own court lady then. And I won’t take no for an answer.”

She’s a bit skeptical but eventually gave in. After showing me how the cube works, which is an infinite storage, we went down and saw Adam waiting in the carriage.

“I’ve already instructed the head maid to manage the palace while we are away. Is there anything you wish to command, Madame?”

I turned to the head maid. “Nothing. I trust you’ve already said what is needed. Let’s go.”

We arrived at the portal in about thirty minutes. Adam went out of the carriage to sit beside the coachman so he could use the teleportation scroll. The carriage shook a little, and the next thing I heard was Adam saying we’ve reached the next town.

“Are you all right, Madame?” He asked as he went in the carriage again.

I raised my eyebrow at him. “I don’t think I am frail enough for you to worry about a little shake, Adam.”

“Little shake? Miss Lyra fainted when I used the scroll.”

I glanced at Lyra and saw her slowly regaining consciousness. Ah~ that must be because I am so used to going through the dimensional shift. Sorry about that.

“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about me.” According to the map I memorized by heart, this town is called Oroleia, and Leonora’s land is called Stryker. Yep, their family name is the land’s name. Quite conceited if you ask me.

“We will use the next scroll in the next town. The horse will get sick if we use it more than once in an hour.”

The trip to the palace wasn’t that interesting as it was mostly just us sitting inside the carriage and Adam going out to use the scroll. We had no time to stop by and admire the view because it was necessary for us to arrive at the palace on time. And needless to say, we arrived in two days!

I jumped out of the carriage and stretched my body. “Ah, thank god! My butt is hurting from all that sitting!”

So this is the palace, huh? I wonder why they did not make it in the book when the exterior of this palace is outrageously covered in gold.

Adam went in first to talk to someone. Probably to announce my arrival or something.

“Wow, so this is the palace!” Lyra looked around and accidentally met my eyes. I almost burst out laughing when I saw a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

I leaned in to whisper. “It’s ugly, isn’t it?” She jumped by surprise and looked away.

“I dare not say something about it, Madame.”

It is indeed glittering in gold, however, the architecture of this palace is… unique in its own way, I guess. The developers probably hated this place.

A group of maids appeared and one of them extended her hands. “Your Grace, I’ll guide you to your room. It’s this way.”

They were about to separate Lyra from me when I raised my hand to stop them.

“I want her to stay in a room next to mine.”

They nodded as if they expected me to say that. I shrugged at Lyra who is now blushing so hard for I don’t know what reason. She must’ve been embarrassed. I mean, I always treat her as my equal since we’re both ‘coded’ human beings but in her perspective, it must be some kind of ‘The lady favors this one, treat her with care’ blah blah. I am very familiar with maids bullying other people so doing this much should be enough to prevent that. Then again, it pretty much depends on what the developers added. Meh.

When they finished showing me my room, I jumped on the bed. Ohh, this bed is fluffy!

“Madame, you didn’t have to do that!” Lyra worried. I sat up and smiled.

“You have all of my dress. It’ll be troublesome if something happens to you.”

She became silent so I dropped my body on the bed again. It’s really bouncy.

A knock on the door broke the silence. Lyra went to open it.

“Madame, it’s me.” Oh, it’s Adam.

“Let him enter. I am so tired to get up.”

“The king said he will meet you tomorrow.”

“That’s all?”

He nodded.

“Okay. Can I rest for some time now?”

“Of course, Madame. I will get going then. Miss Lyra is just next door if you need anything.”

He already knows about it? That was quick! As expected of Adam!

“Mr. Adam is right. We will leave you alone for now, Madame.”

I stared at the ceiling. Finally, some time alone.

The pain in my rib has barely subsided after that nightmare I had two days ago. If that was just a memory or dream, why does the pain still linger? This much pain is something I am unfamiliar with because I always get deported as soon as I feel an excessive amount of it. It’s as if on a scale of 1 to 10, I could only take level 2 of pain and I’ll be immediately on my way to another world but this one’s different.

I once thought that some gods are playing with me because of this ‘dimensional shifting’ thing but I shrugged that thought off after I realized that their existence is made up. Show yourselves to me first. I’ve run amok for so long now. I have something better to do than believe those kinds of bullshit.

“The pain isn’t really subsiding…” Ahh, I wish there’s a maiden that would appear out of nowhere to heal me. This is a video game after all. That isn’t impossible.

I am inside of a coded character but I feel pain and hunger like normal beings do. It is also weird that Lyra repeatedly vomited and fainted while we were traveling. If she is coded to do all of that, I’m impressed. That was almost believable.

Hah~ I wonder if I am following the storyline of this game because I am hoping I am not. I want to screw up the developers so badly and I don’t even know where that strong feeling is coming from.

With all those thoughts running through my mind, I fell asleep, unaware of the shadows that are lurking in the dark.