(Rosalia side)
I... am confused.
Previously, I thought that Lotte was a genuine girl. But what I didn't expect was that he actually confessed to being a boy.
When I first met Lotte, I felt very happy.
I had never seen a maid with short black hair, plus such a cute face.
"This is a rare maid," I thought at the time. That's why I made Lotte my personal maid.
Because I wanted to know everything about Lotte. Starting from his age, his origins, and other things.
There had only been two maids before Lotte who became my personal maids.
But I didn't employ them for very long. Perhaps they only lasted less than a month.
——
There is one reason why I wanted to have a personal maid who would always be by my side.
Loneliness.
My two elder sisters had to be busy with their own worlds. Especially about who would inherit the kingdom later.
And they always had to keep moving, to make the citizens like them.
Because both of them were always busy, I was always alone in the castle. Without friends, and only books in my room.
For me, in the past books were just small scribbles on paper stacked together.
But no, after making reading books a hobby and habit, they became the ones who now accompanied me.
They wanted to listen to what I said, they wanted to accept what I wrote upon their bodies.
That was their shortcoming, they could not interact with me.
The more I spoke to books, the worse my mental health would become.
Making inanimate objects into friends, that is something wrong. But even so, I still often spoke to them, without thinking of what might happen in the future.
——
Mother and Father, of course, were very busy managing the kingdom. So, they could not accompany me.
Grandfather... he died shortly after I was born, and I still do not know why.
Every time I asked, no one wanted to explain to me what happened to grandfather.
So I decided, that Grandfather died from the illness he suffered.
And, there was one book that my two sisters said was grandfather's inheritance before he passed away.
That book contained the history of this kingdom, starting from who founded it, when it was founded, and much more.
Sometimes, there were some writings whose meanings I did not know.
The letters felt as if they were written using another language, different from the one I used.
What exactly did Grandfather write here?
Was it so secret that he didn't write it in this kingdom's language?
Those questions always haunted my mind, because the longer I searched, the more fruitless the results became.
——
When I was a child, I was also once kidnapped by a group of people when I was 5 years old.
That event was very terrifying for me, because I felt that my life was being targeted.
At that time, I was reading a book leisurely. And just as I was about to stand—
They suddenly appeared behind me, and immediately covered my mouth with cloth so that I couldn't make a sound.
Then quickly, they tied my hands and feet. After that, they took me away.
The castle was instantly thrown into an uproar, hearing that I had been kidnapped.
Father immediately ordered all his troops to search for and rescue me.
——
The people who kidnapped me took me to a small village quite far from the castle.
There, they threw me into a small house harshly.
BANG! My body felt heavily slammed, and it hurt.
I tried to open my eyes and make sure of the situation, and the door of the house was already closed.
I moved my hands and feet, but unfortunately they were already tied so tightly. Even if I forced myself to untie them, my hands and feet hurt terribly.
I also saw my hands starting to turn slightly blue.
Every time I took a breath, it hurt so much.
Fortunately, the window of this house wasn't closed. So there was still a little air and wind coming in.
But that didn't help during the night.
——
As night fell, the door of the house opened. I saw someone wearing a mask, placing a plate in front of me.
Then he checked my body's condition to see if I was still alive or not, and afterwards he sat in front of me.
I looked at the plate he had just brought, and its contents were a small piece of bread, some parts of which were green.
This bread must have already molded... but of course, this was normal treatment for me.
It's not possible that they kidnapped me, only to give me proper food.
That person removed the cloth covering my mouth. And now I could speak again.
But my body was already so weak. I focused more on breathing than on speaking.
Without warning, he forcibly opened my mouth.
"Eat this," he said while forcing me to eat the moldy bread.
So tormented, I couldn't hold back my tears. And I couldn't do anything.
After all the bread went into my mouth, he waited until I swallowed it all.
Even though it was disgusting, I had to swallow everything.
I immediately coughed, because I felt nauseous after eating that bread.
That person took the plate and went out of the house.
——
With these thin clothes of mine, the air in this house was very cold.
Because it was so cold, I wanted to go to the bathroom right away. I couldn't hold it in anymore...
Once again, I tried moving my hands and feet... but it was all in vain just like before.
Without realizing it, my eyes closed. And I fell asleep in a very uncomfortable condition.
All night, I slept while enduring pain throughout my body.
——
The next morning, I woke up and saw the person who had given me bread yesterday, pouring water into a glass.
I stared at him with a weak gaze, as if already prepared to accept whatever might happen to my body.
He opened my mouth and poured the water into it.
At first, I thought this was just ordinary water, without anything like poison in it.
But a moment after drinking it, my stomach felt very hot. As if something wanted to immediately come out of my body—
I cried because of the pain that gradually tortured me more and more.
That person released all the ropes binding me, and he carried me to a certain place.
Not far from the house, he had already dug a small hole. And he left me there.
I stared at that hole, with my thoughts growing more chaotic.
I immediately squatted over that hole, and released my urge that I had held in since yesterday.
The liquid felt very hot, I couldn't endure the pain when squatting there.
After I finished what I needed to, my body felt like it could no longer move.
And I collapsed on the ground, weak and helpless.
——
When I woke up afterward, I was already in my room.
Mother, Father, and my two sisters stood and surrounded me. They looked happy to see me awake.
They said that I had fainted because my hands and feet were tied.
Not wrong, but I had already forgotten what happened to me since my stomach started to feel so hot.
Mother also said that I had just been found that day. After two days missing.
Then, how could I forget about yesterday?
——
Since that incident, a boy from the Milhert noble family named Luis often came to play with me.
Although at first I was a bit uncomfortable, eventually I somewhat enjoyed the time with him.
My close relationship with him continued, until yesterday when his engagement letter came to me.