Was I really Alicia? And if so, who had been in this body before me? What had happened to my soul?
“Bella, help me up,” Alicia said, reaching for her.
“Are you all right, Allie?” Kalon immediately turned to her. “Do you need help?”
Allie.
He called her Allie.
Alicia laughed, touching his face. “I have a slight headache, that’s all. I’ll just be inside where it’s quiet for a little while, okay?”
The scene scooted forwards to Alicia resting on a couch in one of the sitting rooms and showed me Bella saying she’d get some tea and some of the nausea medicine the physician had left here. A few minutes passed before Rina opened the door.
“Your Highness, I have the tea here.” Rina carried the tray inside and set it down. “The maid gave it to me outside.”
“The maid? I thought Bella was making it,” Alicia said, slowly sitting up.
“She said Bella asked her while she was on the way to fetch your medicine.”
“Oh, right. Would you pour it for me, Rina?”
“Of course, Princess.”
“Ugh, you know that still sounds weird. It’s only been a few weeks since Kalon became Crown Prince.”
Rina smiled as she poured the tea. “I suppose you’ll have to get used to it. You’ll be the Empress one day.”
“I never signed up for that, you know,” Alicia grumbled, taking the teacup. “In fact, I went out of my way to avoid it. That silly father-in-law of mine got his own way in the end.”
“The Emperor loves you dearly, Princess.”
“Stop calling me that.” Alicia sipped. “I’ll be fine until Bella returns, so you can wait outside.”
Rina bowed her head and disappeared, and Alicia sighed happily and continued drinking her tea.
“Goodness, I’m exhausted.” She put the teacup down and leant back on the couch, closing her eyes. She rested her hand on her swollen stomach, gently rubbing it, until her hand stilled and fell to her thighs.
Her entire body went limp before my eyes, with her head lolling to the side before she slumped to the side.
No.
No, no, no.
Was I witnessing my own past death right now?
God, you cruel bastard! How could you?
The door opened, and Bella stepped inside with a tea tray. “Well, Your Highness, I—” Bella looked up, and an expression of pure horror etched itself across her features. “Allie!”
Her raw scream ripped through the room, and chaos erupted as Rina and everyone else nearby rushed into the room. I was merely a viewer to the heartbreak, but there was a real ache I felt from somewhere I couldn’t pinpoint.
It was Kalon rushing in that broke me.
He collapsed on the floor next to her and grabbed her, pulling her into him. “Allie, Allie, wake up. No, no, Allie.”
He touched her face, her arms, her hands. He poked and prodded, grabbed and squeezed, even hitting her cheeks, desperately trying to get a response from her.
But none came.
