V
1234 Words
The next day, Anastasia visited us in the room where we were staying. Oddly enough Hugo was not with her. I always thought the two were two peas in a pod, sort of like Edmund and me.
“Hello you two, how are you feeling?”
“”Quite fine.”” Ed and I answered at the same time while shrugging our shoulders.
“Would you look at that? You really are twins! Doing and saying the same things at the same time.” she said excitedly. “You remind me of Hugo and I!”
I looked at Ed and he only shrugged his shoulder.
-Now then, that’s good and all but we need to start our plan.
The previous day, at the dead of the night, Ed and I discussed our plan to ensure to avoid our respective demises. The first hurdle we needed to face to avoid the future I experienced was to never be snatched into the noble consort’s hands. So we decided that we needed the support and protection of the empress to make sure that Katherine Vimi (the noble consort) can neither easily bother us nor get us. That and to make the emperor acknowledge us.
-If the emperor deems us useful and exceptional, even he can’t deny we are his children, even if we’re his illegitimate children.
Our first step was already half-way done since Anastasia seemed to like us.
Anastasia and Hugo were children of the emperor birthed by Empress Hilda herself, along with the first imperial prince Gregory Sieja Primavera. The three had the strongest claim to the throne.
-Ugh. Just thinking that I’m using my own blood-relative for my own gain already makes me feel a little icky.
“Eleanor?” I heard Anastasia call which pulled me out of my thougts.
“Hmm? Did I miss something?”
“I said I had something to say, regarding your living arrangement.”
“Oh. What will happen to us now?” I asked.
“Well, I managed to convince my father, mother and brothers that you get to live with my mother.”
-She said what just now?
“The empress?”
“How did you know that?” she asked, surprised written all over her face.
-Oh sh*t! She never did introduce herself properly to us!
“Err… You mentioned your father being the emperor so I just assumed your mother is the empress.” I immediately reply, trying not to sound like I just made it on the spot.
“Huh, I did mention that. Quite good of you to notice.” she suddenly beamed at us. “You two are quite smart, aren’t you? And observant! That's good!”
I mentally shrugged at her comment.
“Anyway, yes, you will be living with the empress.”
“But you said you will be taking care of us.” Ed inserted his voice firm.
“I did say that, and I do have my own residence, but I sort of have a position within the imperial army and I have my own knight order to take care of, so I’m quite a busy person. My mother on the other hand, she’s in-charge of the imperial harem and its affairs, so she’s always in the Imperial City, and she can take better care of you than I do.”
Ed and I eyed each other. We already talked to about being mature yet also have childish innocence as we tackle in our new life. I mean, we were previous slaves, not to mention we were physically twelve.
“What’s a ‘harem’?” I asked, tilting my head to the side to show my confusion.
Anastasia suddenly looked perplexed. I could totally tell what was running on her mind.
“Uhm… It’s a word you’ll probably learn when you grow older.”
“It’s just a word.” I replied.
“Uhm… it’s a word not meant for kids.”
“Oh. I’ll just find that in a dictionary or something then.”
“Please don’t, but I suppose it’ll be much better if you know lots of stuff.”
“I have a question.” Ed interrupted, his right hand raised as if in a classroom. “Why are you so nice to us?”
“Hmm?” Anastasia looked confused.
So was I.
-Edmund Hunter! I thought we already talked about this last night?!
“The two of us like you because you saved us, but you on the other hand doesn’t have to go this far. We’re just kids that you saved from slave traders. We’re former slaves. You can just leave us somewhere to live our lives, you don’t have to take us in or have your mother take care of us. Not to mention you’re a princess, and we’re just…”
-Why does he sound like he has a point?
“Right… You have a point. Uhm, I can’t just leave you.”
“”Why not?”” the two of us asked.
“Because… because you two are my younger siblings.” I faked a gasp, therefore faked a surprised look, while Edmund just raised an eyebrow.
-I swear, his mafia boss self just really liked to mess with people while sounding logical.
She suddenly looked around, as if searching for something. Once she stopped, she grabbed the mirror placed at the corner of the room and showed it to us.
“See? You both have red eyes! Well Eleanor has one red eye but that’s enough evidence! The three of us have the same color of eyes! Hugo too and so are our siblings, and most importantly our father! You two are part of the imperial bloodline!” she exclaimed, almost like panicking. “Not to mention the two of you resembles Lady Gisella very much. We also already did a blood test and the two of you are definitely my younger siblings!”
-This world has a blood test?
“So… we’re your younger siblings?” I questioned.
“Yes, you two are.” she suddenly engulfed us in a hug. I couldn’t help but flinch, probably my body’s instinct after being abused as a slave for the last six years. I noticed Ed stiffen up as well.
-Well, he never was a big fan of hugs, unless the one doing it is someone he’s comfortable with.
“I’m your big sister. I’m sorry you had to live such a crazy and difficult life. From here on out, you will be treated as part of the imperial family and will have every right befitting your status as children with the imperial bloodline. You can forget about those years you spent as slaves, it will never happen again.”
-Has she always been like this?
I was confused. Very confused actually.
In the memories of my first life that I possessed, I never had much interaction with Anastasia. I didn’t know what kind of person she was, but it was probably an effect of being locked up and brainwashed by the noble consort. She always told us that my brother and I would support Vincent into becoming the emperor and that the other members of the imperial family were rotten and evil, and that we should avoid them at all cost.
It was a tough life.
“Your life will change starting today.”
- Writer
