The Escapade of Althea

Chapter 14

Third Person's POV

They're all famished so when the maids bring in the food to the table, they all became silent and eat wholeheartedly. 

"I have never eaten like this in my entire life, got to make eating food more earnestly now," Max said sincerely so the rest of the group just burst in laughing, even the King smiles at him and shook his head. 

"Well, I expect you to rest here till you get your full energy back, understood?" The King said to them, they all nodded and stand up and leaves the dining room. 

"Hey guys, you go first back in the room. Would love to walk around and maybe get some fresh air." They all look at her and nodded. 

"If you want something, you can tell to any of the maids here and ask them what you want," Chloe said smilingly to her. She smiles back and looks at the back of her teammate. 

When she sees nothing but an empty hall, she starts to wander around the palace. She walks and just thinks about what happened in the dining room. Her vision and the king being there, the two people who are also there and being so lovely to me. 

She arrives in one room and sees full of pictures of King and his family. She sees little Chloe who looks so cute clinging to her father. The room is huge, full of books with a long sofa in the middle of the room and the room has a natural light of the sun and has a view of the garden. 

She looks around the room and her eyes fixated on one picture, the man and the woman who gave a warm smile in the picture. She walks towards the picture and stops in front of it and stares at them. 

"It's the man and woman in my vision a while ago." She mutters to herself, she looks at the woman and touches her face. And immediately, her head keeps throbbing and aching. 

"Ugh, who are you? Why do my head keeps aching." Again she mutters to herself. 

"I see that you found our gallery room." She turns my head around to see who speaks, and as she expected, it's the king. He walked beside her and look at the pictures she's looking at.

"That's the late king and her wife, they die early cause of sickness." She looks at him while he speaks and sees the loneliness in his eyes while looking at it. 

"You must be so lonely without your parents around. Did they die when you were young?" I said as I tried to comfort him anyhow. But he laughs at me and thinks I'm crazy. 

"He's my brother and my sister-in-law, do you not know them?" He asked and so, I shook my head as a no. "They're an adventurer like you, they're one of the greatest adventurers I have ever known. No, they're the greatest adventurer I know. And when they rule and become the king and queen, they had a baby girl but went missing just before her first birthday. After that tragedy, they devote themselves to find their baby until they fell sick and couldn't bear the loneliness anymore."  

As I listen, I look at the picture of the late King and Queen and then glance my eyes to the current King. "How tragic. Is there any picture of their baby?" 

"Yes, there are. But I am curious as to why are you looking for it?" He said as he walked towards the corner and stop at the covered picture.

"I just want to know Chloe's family and for some reason, I have been seeing him and you in my vision a while ago." She answers honestly and walks toward him. He's curious as to why he's telling so much about his late brother comfortably to her too. He removes the cover where it shows the family picture of his late brother and sister-in-law with their baby. But as soon as she saw it, her headache so much that he kneels to the floor while touching her head. 

"Ahhh" She grunts. He immediately supported her so she won't get hurt. "What's all this? Why am I keep seeing them and me as their baby."

"Wha-" She cut him off by screaming and lie on the floor all curled up. "I will call the palace healer now, stay put and I'll get help." He said and quickly run outside to find someone who can call the healer so he can go back to her immediately. He notices a maid roaming, so he orders her to go fetch the healer and go quickly to the gallery. The maid runs fast as she could and follow his majesty order quickly. 

"Althea, the healer is on the way he- Are you okay?" He enters the room worriedly and only to see that she's standing alright and looking at the picture, touching his sister-in-law's face. She turns around smiling at him and said,

"I don't know how to explain this, but I think I am their lost daughter." She said proudly, the King's eyebrows met immediately. "I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out." 

He nodded to her and sit down on the couch and look at her intently. She did the same but her smile is still there. "I keep getting all the memories of the baby, her name is Athena but her mother is Althea. I remember her telling me why I am named Athena. I think it has to do with her adventure, that she meets their savior at the top of the tower." Her eyes grew bigger when she heard what she just said to him, and him too. 

"How did you kn-"

"Wait, they already climbed the top tower?! So why are they keep saying, no one ever climbed it." He sighs and looks at her.

"Because we kept it as a secret, that's what they want. I don't know how you know this, but you shouldn't tell this to anyone at all. This will be between you and me."