"You seriously need some discipline!"
Elvin's voice roared inside closed doors, somehow managing to contain the crowd's frenzy and dragging Vivia. Back in the carriage, his already worse temper deteriorated further.
"Have you completely lost your mind and forgot that you're a princess!? Why did you just jump out like a maniac!"
His outburst almost caused her ears to go deaf. Though his outrage didn't sit with her, his point of contention was valid as Vivia couldn't think of any excuse to explain her actions that looked ridiculous to anyone present.
"I just explained that I dearly missed Orseth," Even in the face of his wrath, her posture remained straight.
"But to me, it looked like you were searching for someone," Aeren's neutral voice intervened. "Why were you asking about a red-haired woman?"
Wait, wasn't I a little far away from the carriage? How did he still hear me!
It proved to be slightly more challenging to keep her eyes fixed at his while not giving into the rush of her panic.
"I didn't ask about any such woman. I was just talking to the people."
The piercing light in his eyes forced a nervous gulp down her throat.
I think Elvin's anger is much easier to face than Aeren's probing questions…
Elvin's warning snapped the invisible thread of tension in the air. "Missing Orseth's people? What a joke. Make one more nuisance, and you'll have it from me."
His threat barely fazed Vivia as her thoughts raced back to Audreya again.
That woman was definitely Audreya. But where did she go? What is she doing at the capital?
Amidst the countless questions swirling in her mind, the carriage came to a stop in front of the royal palace's gates. The two grand doors, screaming significance of the most important place in the Human Realm, opened with a thunderous creek as royal knights stood on either side of the pathway. Their backs straightened in attention upon their arrival.
"Long live Prince Elvin! Long live Prince Aeren! Long live Princess Clairette!"
As the carriage wheeled through the courtyard, shock and disbelief overtook Vivia's senses, witnessing the grandeur of the garden before her. If she wasn't riding in a carriage, she would have surely mistaken herself to have entered Heaven. Though Rudaheim's garden was a beauty in its own right, Emberlain certainly matched its level, giving it tough competition.
I knew Clairette loved gardening, but this is…beyond breathtaking!
Though maids regularly helped Clairette in maintaining the royal garden, it was Clairette herself who personally took to looking after each and every flower that blossomed under the sun. Her hands and dress that would get muddied with soul and hair that would mess up and entangle as she trimmed the weeds, expressed how dearly she held this garden.
Warmth filled her eyes as the delicate red hue of the poppies waved in the chill while the deep blue of scilla and silvery shades of the snowdrops chimed like bells.
Hm? The flowers. Something feels off here…
Strange. Why am I getting this weird feeling as if I'm missing something here?
The carriage came to a halt, bringing a steep break to her confusion. They now stood before the palace's threshold that numbed her thoughts for a long moment. Reaching out to her chest, a stiff suffocation coursed through, sending tremors down to her fingers and toes.
The two brothers had already walked past the doors, only to realize that Vivia hadn't moved an inch.
Aeren's brows furrowed lightly. "Come on in."
His words failed to reach her as the threshold seemed to have dulled her surroundings into nothingness. To Vivia, it wasn't a border she could simply cross like Clairette had done a million times.
For Vivia, her entire world was about to change with just a single step forward.
Beyond that threshold lay a world she knew very little about. Royalty, duty, responsibility, politics - she was about to embrace a world far different from what she had lived as a dancer in Stras.
Stras…
Vivia longed to go back to her hometown - to her free world where she could dance to her heart's content, curse Audreya until her mouth almost fell off, chatter endlessly with Raffert about her dreams and plan escapes from Reveal master Walterce's scoldings. Loneliness fenced in her from all sides as if she stood in the middle of a violent storm.
Would she be able to embrace both Vivia and Clairette, or was a sacrifice of her previous self inevitable?
Would Clairette Emberlain slowly erase Vivia Mariel from existence altogether?
A tremor knocked her heart upside down, lacking the strength in her legs to take that step beyond the threshold. The dark gloom of being an imposter rose prickly thorns all over her body. The fear of losing 'Vivia' wrung her neck like a tight noose was wrapped around it.
Being accused of treason and the future that came with it as the consequence felt like a vicious slap across her face. Death wasn't the bed of fire she wanted to walk through all over again. God was kind enough to grant her a second chance, but even God's blessings wouldn't help her beyond a certain limit.
The chance of a next chance was impossible.
"Clairette! Stop standing there like some lifeless statue. Get in already! You want to be so disrespectful as to make Father wait for you?"
Short bursts of uneasy breaths escaped through her quivering lips. For the first time, her confidence wavered. She willed herself to take that step, but the new world frightened her like a nightmare. Amidst these unnerving perplexities, her hand reached to caress the Lavender Vow dangling across her neck. Brushing her thumb against the jewel strangely enough washed ashore a warm wave of peace and comfort within her fidgety soul.
'You're Clairette Emberlain for the whole world, but to me, you'll always be Vivia. I'll never forget who you really are and won't let you forget it either.'
The ring of sweetness left behind in Zerath's reassurance gradually simmered down her dread and uncertainty. No matter who knew about the real Vivia and who didn't, there was one man in the whole world who loved her for who she was and on whom she could count to fall in his embrace as warm as the gentle dawn.
Finding the strength she needed in his loving golden eyes, a tender smile laced her lips, the light returning to her grey-cast eyes. Her heart pounded like a war drum as she looked beyond the threshold.
"Let's go and meet Mother and Father. I'm ready."
I don't know what lies in store for me beyond these doors, but I won't give up, Zerath.
I'll find who killed Clairette and me for sure.