Taking her place

The ball

The people dancing look frivolous in their high-quality dresses and suits.

It’s disgusting.

The way they all dance while they complain about the amount of jewels they have or about the ones they weren’t able to purchase.

I try to entertain myself in another thought by the heat of Alec’s body is still there. Reminding me about how he made my blood boil from the embarrassment and I accidentally step on his foot with my heel.

“oh dear, I'm not the greatest dancer you see.” I smile as his lips twitch.

“it’s alright, I didn’t even feel it.” He smiles sweetly as proceeds to trip my foot, making me fall backward but he catches me.

‘f**k you.’

I smile as he pulls me back into his arms, pulling my waist closer to him until he is able to whisper in my ear without being too obvious. “I thought you were more levelheaded than this.”

‘I thought so too…’

Embarrassed by the clapping of the people around us I continue to dance with him until the song finishes with a dry smile.

“if your eyes were blades, I would be dead by now.” He mocks as the song finishes and I begin to walk away from him as he follows behind.

“I would prefer to be alone,” I say dryly as I walk towards the garden.

“you are, its just a coincidence that we are heading the same way.” I stop and face him as he stops walking and looks away.

I sigh heavily as I touch my forehead.

‘This is harder than I thought it would be.’

I continue to make my way into the garden as I stop when I see the view of red curly hair coming towards us.

I freeze.

‘oh, No!’

I turn around as soon as I can, but I’m interrupted by the words of Julius as he greets me. “my lady, it’s a pleasure to see you tonight.”

I close my eyes as I bite my lips but without a hint of emotion as I turn around to look at him I say, “I'm glad you were able to make it to the ball, I thank you in place if my family for making some time.”

“of course, anything for you my lady.” He smiles as he grabs my hand and kisses it gently. “I almost forgot to say it, but you look incredibly beautiful today.” He tries to pull my hand in for another kiss as I pull it away from him as slowly as I can trying to not show how uncomfortable I fell.

“thank you.”

He smiles brightly as he pretends that Alec is not here. “I'm quite sad that I won’t be able to see you every day like before in the academy.” He emphasizes on the word every day as he looks at Alec with a glare. “I saw you dance with your partner tonight and it was quite the spectacle of the night. Is he perhaps your cousin?”

‘um, what is happening.’

In the world of aristocracy there is a rule that a noble must always follow.

“never allow the enemy to see you walk with your tail in between your legs.”

I’ve seen women fight like cats as they tiptoe around each other elegantly throwing sweet words like knives but I’ve never seen men do it.

I’ve heard that with the male conversation its more like punches but since many have to be careful with the authority that I hold I have never seen a man try to tiptoe around another like the old hags of this high society.

Alec smiles as he looks at Julius with eyes that could murder.

We both freeze as my fingers begin to feel the tingly sensation of needing a knife in my hand to protect myself.

Alec smiles gently as he pulls my waist towards him. “we didn’t want to make this public so soon,”

My senses go wild as I look at him and I want to cover his mouth, I want to pull him away from this conversation, but I freeze instead. Not knowing what to do or say to avoid this situation.

‘make what public?’

“I’m actually engaged to her; she is my promised.” His green eyes sparkle as he looks at Julius with eyes that say “scum”. He puts his nose near my ear as I feel something warm press against my neck, “and I can assure you that she is also a beauty during the night.”

“I see.” Julius says as he begins to look pale.

“wait” I try to say but I cannot find the words.

‘wait. what can I possibly say that won't ruin my reputation right now? If I say that he's not, word will spread that I let a man touch me even though he's not engaged to me and if I don’t word will spread that I have a fiancé.’

By the time I finish my thought Julius is already walking away with a wry smile.

“wa-” Alec covers my mouth as I try to scream but he grabs my waist and carries me away from Julius and towards the fountain.

I struggle in his hold as he finally let’s go of me.

“do you know what you have just done?!” I ask as he walks towards a bush of roses and grabs one. I grab him by his clothes as I pull him closer to me. “are you listening to me?”

He puts the rose on my head as he grabs my hands with a calm demeanor as I get even more annoyed.

I have always hated people like that, especially in my previous life.

I had a friend who was especially good at not caring and whenever she made me angry, she would laugh instead, pissing me off even further.

I grab my hips as I try to calm down my breathing.

“it’ll be alright, I'm wearing a mask remember?” he says as he takes it off.

I speed walk towards him as I make him put it back on. “don’t take it off! What if someone recognizes you.” I say as I look around for any witnesses that might have seen him.

In case I need to take care of them.

“I will be fine if he can’t say who I am then all you have to do is say something along the lines of “we aren’t ready to tell the world.” And that’s that.” He smiles widely. “you don’t get bothered by guys like that and you’ll have an excuse as to why you can’t marry so soon. If anything, you are pretty much winning here.”

I laugh loudly as I sarcastically say “oh yeah! And then what happens when my mother asks me about meeting this suitor?”

“Just tell her that he is a busy man, by that time I'm sure that I'll be back to being the Duke of vespers and ill come to help you out.” He sits down on the water fountain as he smiles widely. “after all by that time I will owe you quite a bit already, id only be,” he looks at the floor as he passes his hand through his hair trying to make himself look as if he's thinking deeply. “what did I hear it being called, oh yeah- paying it forward.” He says as he snaps his finger. “something like that.”

I stare at him as I try to read his intentions but there is nothing. His eyes show me no emotion and although he is smiling, I can tell that it's not real. His green eyes look dark due to the lighting of the garden as well so that might also be part of why I cannot see anything.

I mumble the words “something like that…”

‘Sure.’

I stare at the flowers in front of me.

‘This means I would have to help him with his curse a lot more sooner than expected.’

I think to myself as I try to remember anything that could help me with his current constitution and the face of an old hag appear on my mind.

“you are always making trouble.” She said as she looked at me with disapproval.

Her old raggedy clothing hung from her body like strips of spaghetti as she sat down on her chair in front of the one, I sat on with great difficulty. “you sure are troublesome for someone who will be given another chance.”

“c’mon don’t look at me like that, you remind me of how my father would have looked like if he was still alive,” I said as I grabbed a bag from the bottom of my feet and threw it on the table.

She looked at it with disapproval, “what is this?”

“it's your breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the couple of six months that I won’t see you.”

She pushed them back into my side as she scowled. “don’t need it!”

She got up slowly as she struggled with her stick at hand, I rolled my eyes as I got up to help but she pushed me away.

As she sighed while looking away from me, she looked at her old dusty window, “that gold is probably covered in innocent blood.”

I tightened my fists as she looked away from me the entire time.

Not being able to tolerate the silence I walked out of her tiny home in the woods as I took my horse and away, I went.

Leaving the gold behind.

The witch of the neverlands.

I had met her in the life I was supposed to live out by pure coincidence. The things that she would sometimes say would never make sense until now.

“instead of helping me in this life, help me on your next.”

‘Perhaps she knew…’

I cover my mouth as my hands begin to tremble.

Alec gets up from the water fountain as he nervously takes my hands. “look I didn’t think you would freak out this much.”

“she knew.” I gasp as I take hold of Alec’s hands trying to avoid making him lose my thoughts. “she knew, all I have to do is find her!” I smile as I pull him towards the house.

‘I just need to find her.’

I grab a bag as I begin to pack my things up.

‘if I go now, ill be able to make it back in time for classes to begin again in two weeks.’

I pace around the room as I stare at the bag of clothes. ‘but if things get worse here, I won’t be able to move things according to how I want them to go.’

“its time for you to” lily enters my room as she stands to look at me with a frozen expression. She covers her hands as she begins to tear up. “my lady” she closes the door as she trembles with her lips quivering as she speaks. “are you planning to leave?”

I sigh softly as I look at the bag. “unfortunately, now isn’t the moment for me to go out on a long-distance trip.”

She sighs in relief.

I begin to write a letter as I seal it with wax. “ill need you to dispatch a high-ranking knight.”

She grabs the letter as she puts it against her chest. “tell them that I have an order.” She listens intensely as she looks at the letter with the official crest of the Artema family. “they must bring me the witch of the Neverlands, alive.”

Lily’s expression turns serious as she takes a bow. “I will deliver this order immediately.”

She runs out of the room as she slams the door behind her, not wasting a second.

I throw the bag under my bed as I cover it with the long sheets. ‘I won’t be needing it today but eventually, ill have to go somewhere.’

I walk out of my room as I make my way into the dining hall, the lights are on as the table is filled fruits. Probably from what is leftover from yesterday.

I grab an apple as I take a bite from it. “I see you woke up early today.” My mother says as she walks inside with her arms crossed from the cold. “today your sister will begin to take matters into her own hands as she deals with the Artema household.” She sits as a servant hands her a cup of chocolate. “we currently don’t have any high-ranking knights available,”

I straighten my back as I look at the table, troubled.

“but it seemed important, so I sent on of my dark knights instead.” She takes a sip of her chocolate as I begin to pull a chair and sit.

“thank you, things are all over the place that I don’t have the time to do the small things.” I take another bite from my apple as she laughs softly.

“ooh yes, traveling to another country is a small task.” She makes fun of it as she looks at me with bright eyes.

“well, it certainly isn’t the main thing in this entire situation so yes,” I laugh as she looks at the cup and looks at me with curious eyes.

“last night I heard something quite interesting.” She stretches her fingers as she plays with the table cover. “I heard you were engaged.”

I choke in the middle of my bite as I cough and try to finish swallowing my bite.

“so, it's true.” She smiles as she grabs her cup.

I hit my chest as I put the apple down on my plate. “well,”

She extends her hand as if she’s dismissing me “it’s alright, I was worried about you. Worried that you were too mature at first and then I got worried that perhaps you were too strict on yourself but I'm glad I was worried for nothing.” She touches her cup with but hands as if feeling the warmth. “you can take your time with this; it doesn’t matter about his background either. If you are happy, I will approve.”

“I have my reasons, I'm sorry,” I say as I look at my hands.

Although she is not related to me by blood, she has always viewed me as her daughter, and it makes me feel guilty. Especially because there is no guy.

‘if only that dumbass didn’t do something so stupid.’

I bite the corner of my lips as she smiles and reaches out for my hand.

The warmth of her palm makes me feel small again. Even though my hand looks stronger than hers I feel like a small kid again, being hugged by her protector and I crave it.

This warmth that I had rarely felt in both lives.

The warmth of a parent.

It is amazing.

The gallop of a horse can be heard from the distance as it slowly begins to canter until it finally comes to a full stop.

“well isn’t that a fine horse you got there?” an old man who takes care of his stable business says as he brushes the hair of another customer's horse.

His white shirt filled with dust becomes apparent as soon as he gets closer to his new customer.

The man is quite as he observes the man who is walking towards him without changing his expression.

He finally decides to get down from his horse as he takes off his black gloves.

His dark clothing gives him an ominous feeling as he reaches for something inside of his coat.

The old man closes his eyes as he thinks that this is perhaps how he’ll finally leave the world but opens them back up as soon as he hears the sound of coins in front of him.

The man in black holds out a small pouch as he swings it towards the old man. “for taking care of my horse while I'm here. I'm sure this will suffice.”

The old man laughs nervously as he grabs the pouch and looks inside it.

“gold coins!” he exclaims “I'm sorry but I only charge copper, I wouldn’t have the change for you.”

“This is for as long as my stay requires. You don’t need to return anything, just make sure that he is well taken care of.” He pats his horse before he hands over the rope to the old man.

The old man with tears in his eyes carries the pouch of gold in one hand and in the other he gently tugs at the horse in front of him as he bows to the mysterious man in black.

“of course! He’ll be treated like a king!”

The man begins to walk away but before he makes it out of the old man’s range of hearing he pauses. “one more thing.”

The old man listens intensely, after all this man has just given him and his family the possibility to send all four of his children to school and possibly the ability to have a stable income for the next fifty years. “yes!”

“where is the Artema household?”