In Another Life

CHAPTER 2

In the middle of the night, I woke up to a sharp pain in my chest, my eyes darted open as I grope my left chest in agony. ‘Is it cardiac arrest?! Am I going to die?!’ Panicked I started to search for my phone around my bed and once I spotted it, immediately, I grab it. However, before I could even manage to dial the number, my vision turns blurry and as if I am morphed into another space. I looked closer to what I am holding. Its not my phone... ‘Its a rope?!’ And its connected to the ceiling. ‘Wait... this is not my bedroom!’ I frantically look around, searching for any clues as to where I am. Traditional mahogany king sized bed with a heavy looking draped red wine curtain hanging at each of the intricately carved wooden stilts. ‘WHERE AM I?!’

Suddenly, the heavy wooden door to the room was swung open and a lady dressed in a maid uniform rush in looking as pale as my white night gown. ‘Wait... night gown?!’ I look at my pajamas just to realize that I am no longer wearing my comfy grey t-shirt and white checkered pants but, I am dressed in a night gown with ruffled neck line and puffy sleeves. I feel like a princess in a fantasy movie. Not to mention the change of my physique. Slender fingers and my body is smaller than usual as if I am in a frail young lady’s body.

Without being able to take in the whole situation, the maid took a fast step towards me and asked, “Princess, are you okay?!”

I furrowed my eyebrows at this unfamiliar lady and asked, “Who are you? Where am I? What happened? Wait, what’s going on?”

The lady looked at me rather flabbergasted at my questions bombarding her. She cover her mouth with a gasped and stood up, “I shall call the royal physician immediately!” She bowed and left the room. I yelled for her to wait, but she did not hear me. ‘What’s going on with this place?! I better get going and chase her.’ However, as soon as I step out of the bed, my head started to spin and my vision became subtly foggy before I fell on both of my knees to the ground with one hand supporting my body acting as a cane. I winced and groaned, “Oh god, what’s wrong with me?”

A few moments later, the maid brought in two male figure behind her. One looked like the royal physician with a huge bag in his hand while the other one looks like an aristocrat with a worried look on his charming face.

The maiden gasped when she saw me on the ground and hurriedly help me get back up on the bed carefully as if I’m a fragile porcelain doll,“Your highness, his royal highness, the prince is here to assist you.” She said. ‘The prince? What prince?’ I thought as I look at the young man. The royal physician ask for my consent before he ran a few check ups on me.

The physician said, “The princess needs more rest for her body to recover fully. The civil war really do take quite a huge toll on the Princess’s health that the stress causes her to lose her memory. Good news is that its just going to be temporary and by helping her reminiscing a few memory may help gaining it back. In the mean time, I will prescribe her some remedies for her to take to restore her energy, your highness.”

“That would be great, Sir Vincent. Thank you for your help.” The ‘Prince’ said politely before the Physician left with the maid.

“Wisteria, my dear, are you feeling fine?” He gently asked while placing a hand on my left cheek, caressing it gently with his thumb. ‘Oh... so my name is Wisteria.’ I thought before asking the young man, “Who are you?”

The look of agony shows very well in his eyes as he furrowed his brow slightly. He gave me a gentle smile while tilting his head a bit to the side. “I am your husband, Prince Theo.”

‘Theo... Wisteria... husband... WAIT! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!’ I scream in my thoughts as I recall the sentences from the book. ‘Theodorus Henry Kensington, also being addressed as Prince Theo, an honourable knight as well as a humble prince himself. He is the most favourable prince among all his subjects no matter elderlies or young ones’, they are not easily intimidated by his kindness and gentle soul. Prince Theodorus also built a school dedicated to his passion for arts especially in singing and theatre. His acting skills and singing could easily swoon the audience in the great hall watching him display his talents. However, when it comes to him being on the battlefield, he is on par with Wisteria and both are the pair sent down by the heaven’s to seek peace and justice.’

My long paused worries the young man in front of me, “My dear, are you feeling okay? Shall I ask for the physician’s presence again?”

Without even thinking, I reach out one hand and touch his right cheek gently. The change of his expression clearly tells me that he could finally see through Wisteria’s true self. He took my hand in his hand while gently tracing my palm with his slender fingers. “Your hands...” The pain in his expression makes my heart ache, for instance I caught a glimpse of tears sparkling his beautiful eyes. Everything about this man is so delicate and charming. He forced a smile at me, “The hands of a warrior indeed. Your intentions are as pure as gold and you are not as wicked as what they intend you to be. I trusted you that you can do it and you have done your best to fulfill the peace that everyone has been longing. My love, for you shall conquer peace for this country in the amidst of war to perform your duty as the maiden of Filbenardich, I shall stand side by side with you and fulfill my duty as your eligible husband and the Knight of Filbenardich.” He said while squeezing both my hands in his warm hands. I pressed my lips while holding back my tears. I don’t know how accurately Wisteria had been living her whole life but deep down in my heart, I could feel that I’ve been longing to hear those words, the part where he praised me for my hard work rather than just simply giving credits to my talent like anybody else do. Without even realizing it, the tears that I’ve been holding for too long started to pour out. I chew down my lower lip trying so hard to control my sobs, but the tears started to pour out more than I could handle and soon enough, I started to cry out loud. All these foreign memories rushing through my head of me wielding the sword with shaking hands before I took someone else’s life. No matter how many lives I’ve taken, I still can’t put my emotions away. For peace I sacrifice my wisdom and stain my hands with the bloods of my enemy whom most probably had no choice but to fight for the war. They too perhaps had been brain washed by the upper hand to seek peace with war. I don’t want to kill, I never wanted to take someone else’s life again. They have a family to return to or even they have a home that they’ve been longing to seek warmth from. I’m deeply scarred, wounded down to my bones, I could still feel my flesh burning and the sharp pain sinking into my soul.

Suddenly, two pairs of arms pull me into a warm embrace. Prince Theo whispered in my ears while stroking my back gently, “I know how painful it is to live with constant regret and fear of the battle. You are burning and you can feel it yourself how painful the burns from the war has effected you—” He paused and look me in the eyes as he wiped my tears. Those beautiful eyes are so hollow now that I’m staring at it up close. He too, must have been traumatized by the war like any human being would. “If you wish to take some time to relax from the density of the battlefield, you may do so.” He said with a soft smile curved on his pink lips.

“What about you, your highness?” I asked, finally letting him hear my voice properly. He caresses my left cheek before planting a kiss on my forehead catching me off guard. My face turns red and I bet it is visible from how he let out a chuckle when he looked at me. He replied, “Like I said, I shall be side by side with you as your eligible husband and the knight of Filbenardich.”

He pulls me back in a warm embrace, cradling me like a child before putting me back to a deep slumber. ‘This is odd... For some reason I am getting used to this situation way faster than I thought I would.’ I thought. It was as if I am Wisteria herself from the very beginning.

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The sounds of the birds singing could be heard outside of my bedroom window with the rays of sun poking through my black out curtains. I squinted my eyes while stretching my whole body making a few cracking sounds with my bones. ‘That was a nice dream indeed.’ I thought with a smile curved on my face. My eyes are still closed as I am not yet prepared to welcome the daylight.

“You must have a very great dream, my beloved.” A raspy voice said right next to my ear. I nodded, “It is indeed—“ before I could finish my whole sentence, I open my eyes as wide as I’ve ever and turn to face the source of the voice.

Theo is laying next to me half naked while resting his head on the palm of his left hand with his whole arm supporting it. I let out a terrified scream while frantically moving away, but, with devil’s luck, I accidentally fell off the bed and hit my bum on the ground.

“Dear lord, Wisteria, are you hurt?!” He gasped while rushing towards me. I stretched out both my arms with full force indicating him to stop, “No, don’t come near me!” I yelled. He obliged with my command and stood frozen 5 feet away from me.

I gather up my sanity while trying to figure out what is going on and how did I even get sucked into the storybook. ‘Haha, I must be dreaming. Seems like I’m not even fully awake yet!’ I tried to be optimistic. Spontaneously I slapped my face real hard and even to the point where I pinched both of my cheeks and stretched it as far as I can go.

“Ow!” I winced as I can’t handle the pain even longer. I look at my whole body and look at Theodorus standing in front of me then search the room with my eyes. Its real. ‘How did it come to this?!’ I screamed in my thoughts. The Theodorus Henry Kensington in the book, is RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and the Wisteria Hardenbergia IS ME! WHAT SHOULD I DO IN THIS SITUATION?! Oh god, this is absurd!

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To be continue...