Rory opened her eyes. She was staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. The ceiling was gorgeously gilded. She had to be dreaming. She immediately sat up.
"Princess, you are awake!" A girl dressed in a black dress with a white apron appeared.
"W-who are you?" Rory stuttered.
"Who am I? Oh no the princess lost her memories when she fell!" The girl dramatically exclaimed.
"Wait the princess? Who?" Rory was confused. Was it all a dream?
"You are the princess...Princess Mara." The girl responded.
Mara...that name was familiar to Rory. "Um...what happened?" Rory asked probably to clarify everything.
"You insisted on hanging the flower decorations and fell...I'm sorry! I should have saved you! I will accept any punishment!" The girl immediately went to her knees.
"What?...Uh...don't worry about it," Rory said to the girl as she got up and helped her up. The girl stared wide-eyed. Why was the princess helping her stand?
"So...um...where am I?" Rory asked. She needed to confirm her suspicions. There was only one person she knew named Mara. A character in a storybook.
"You are in Avland remember? You came here in order to marry your fiance."488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1q1dOoBwh
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"Wait Avland? The Avland? The story?" Rory was shocked. The girl awkwardly nodded.
"I need to call the doctor immediately! The princess has lost her mind!" The girl thought as she continued nodding.
"Wait...So I am Princess Mara?" Rory asked and again the girl nodded.
Suddenly the door to the room opened and a man with blonde hair and green eyes entered the room. Rory had read the story multiple times and so she knew who exactly this man was. Prince Magnus, the crown prince who was soon to be king.
"I came as soon as I heard you were injured," Magnus said. Rory was stun by his looks. He was more handsome than she imagined. Even the description in the story does him no favors.
"Mara?" Magnus called out to her.
"No need to worry I am fine," Rory said shaking her head vigorously. Although Magnus was Mara's fiance he was one of the bad guys in the story. He claimed to love Mara but secretly he planned to kill her.
Rory smiled to assure him.
"I am glad to hear that. I wish I could stay longer but my work--"
"Sure, go on ahead." Rory cut him off.
Hesitantly he left. He felt that Mara was acting differently. Usually, she would have hugged him and refused to let go.
At once the room went silent again.
"Can I have time alone..." Rory told the earlier girl. She immediately nodded and left the room.
"Okay, let me get this straight, I was in my room reading and fell asleep and suddenly I am in the Avland kingdom as Mara...Is this actually a dream?" Rory pinched herself to confirm her sanity. She moaned in pain.
"Not a dream! Okay, so I am Mara. The worst character in the entire book! Just great! Almost everyone hates Mara! No wonder the girl was surprised when I helped her up. Wait...that girl...Isn't she Alice...they girl that killed Mara..." Rory shivered. Since she was now somehow Mara she had to avoid death.
She had now a new resolution. Make everyone love Mara. Maybe that was the mission and then she would go back home.
"Why do I feel like I am forgetting something in this story..." Indeed there was one thing she forgot one very important thing.
"Alice said that Mara fell when she was hanging flowers...why was she hanging flowers? Is there some kind of celebration?"
"Princess, It's time!" Alice entered the room and Rory stared wide-eyed. Time for?
"For the dinner party. Your guests anxiously await. Prince Magnus's family is present and can't wait to meet their son's fiancee…"
Rory shivered, awkwardly flattening her dress's sides. Just now the young woman realized she dawned a beautiful gown, fit for a princess.
"Oh, snap! What the?!" She raised her left hand to the sunlight. The yellow diamond ring sparkled atop her slender finger. A cough escaped Alice's throat.
"You like it?" Rory asked knowing fully well Alice was jealous of Mara and Magnus.
"Oh, it's gorgeous, absolutely stunning… It suits you, quite slimming - "
"Yeah, I don't know… I think it's too small," Rory said eyeing Alice discreetly. "I think I'll ask my sweet Magnus for a bigger one. What do you think?"
"That's an excellent idea," Alice said through clenched teeth, squinting in an attempt to plaster on a smile.
<Yeah, I bet you like it you backstabbing, boyfriend-stealing pile of trash!> "Thank you, Alice. You are such a good friend and advisor."
"I'm here to serve…" Alice said, lowering her gaze. Rory saw the fire in her eyes but stifled her fears. She knew what this woman was capable of.
"If you would follow me, miss Mara. I'll introduce you as you make your entrance inside the dining area."
Rory followed behind her, knowing full well the dinner party was going to be a disaster. This was the part in the story where Lord Elric, prince Magnus's father, would duel Mara's uncle, the Crimson-Archer, as he was known by all. Feuds between these two bloodlines went on for three generations and counting. This engagement was supposed to bring peace and settle the score once and for all. But that's not how it all went down.
<There must be a way to stop lord Elric from challenging his opponent… I know, I'll sit next to him and defuse the situation. Oh, God, I hope this works!>
"Miss Mara. Miss Mara."
"Yes, that's me, sorry I was contemplating something. You were saying?"
Alice raised her hand. Rory followed it with her crystal-blue eyes.
"We have arrived."
***
Rory saw all the book's characters standing beside the table. She gulped air, her mind racing to remember details in the dinner scene chapter.
"Darling, be welcomed, my love, " Magnus said to Rory. "Father, I'd like you to meet Miss Mara, my bride to be."
The old man nodded, not smiling. Other dinner guests bowed their heads and patiently waited for Rory to be seated. As the butler escorted the young woman to her seat she stopped abruptly and sat next to her uncle, who gave her a wink and a smile.
"Um, my dear Magnus… II wish to sit beside my uncle if that's ok with you."
"If it's how?" Magnus asked, smiling awkwardly to his guests.
"Fine, fine with you. Sorry, I'm tired."
"You'll have to excuse the Miss, she took a rather nasty fall while handling the flower pots."
Rory frowned at Alice. Clearly, she wished her injuries to be greater.
"I'm fine now, thank you for your concern, Alice."
"I live to serve, Mistress."
"Have a seat, girl. I'm in good company now," her uncle roared. The micro-aggression didn't slip past lord Elric. The two men locked eyes.
"Er, how about a toast, my prince?"
Magnus caught off guard, reluctantly lifted his glass and said
"To a bright and peaceful alliance. And to my lovely bride, who is as beautiful as she is surprising."
The man felt new things for Mara. He viewed his relationship as a means to secure a position of power. But as of today, the woman showed herself to be fresh and witty, spontaneous, and confident, not her lifeless, gloomy, boring self.
The guest drank their fine wine and got lost in conversation with each other. Rory kept her uncle smiling, listening to his stories about other countries and adventures on the high seas. She knew from the book the beauty of such cities: stunning spiraling architecture, colorful rooftops, stained-glass cathedrals. She enjoyed his company. The feeling was mutual, he saw her as his own child.
"So, Mara, you agreed to marry. I can't tell you how happy I am for you."
"Thank you, uncle. I'm happy too."
"Are you really? He whispered leaning in." His family butchered our own, robbed us of our-"
" Wow chill, bro! I mean… Don't focus on the past, uncle. What's done is done. Now we don't kill each other anymore, now we're a family."
He looked at her not sure what to believe.
"Wait, are you really in love with Magnus?"
Rory looked at her prince and couldn't help but sigh at his chiseled features, long lustrous hair, white dress shirt that complement his pearly white smile. She found herself daydreaming, starstruck, unable to answer her uncle's questions.
On one hand, Mara loved this prince and on the other hand, she still died. Could answering 'No' to this question make a difference? She had decided to end the feud between them wouldn't saying no create more problems. Then again, It's not like Lord Elric himself is asking the question.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6HJfglNab
"What?!" Her train of thought stopped at the abrupt outburst of Lord Elric. Everyone in the room turned to the king. The messenger that had given the news that shocked the king moved aside.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbLKpcIId3
"Is this true?" The king turned to her uncle glaring with red shot eyes. Everyone remained silent.
"What is true your Majesty?" Her uncle asked again still managing to maintain contact with Elric.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAhNb4bJWc
"Your people, have killed all the men I sent to collect taxes." 488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOFBOjVm1d
"What?!" Now it was the Crimson-Achers turn.
Rory witnessed as her plan to stop the feud between the two fell apart. This part was not in the book.
In the book, the duel was caused by Mara's uncle's sudden outburst. "Today you are very generous despite the fact that your family butchered our own and robbed us of our land in the name of protecting the kingdom," Rory remembered the uncles' words as they were written in the book.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4j7yYum35v
It was then that Lord Elric got annoyed and challenged him into a duel that ended with Mara's uncle dead.
But there was no part of killing the king's men mentioned in the book this was simply new.
"What kind of absurdity is this?" Finley, Mara's uncle roared.
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"Are you trying to say that my messenger has lied to me and that my men just died?"
"I'm saying no such thing! My people would never kill your men! It could have been your own men!"
"Nonsense! My men are loyal! Well, then there's only one way to settle this!" Lord Elric said before drawing out a sword from a guard who happened to be near and pointed it to Finley. Today, Finley had not carried his bow and quiver and so he too pulled out a sword from a nearby guard and directed it at Lord Elric, a familiar gesture from the book.
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Rory knew she had to top this duel that would lead to Finley's death at any cost. But how would she do it?
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<Think Rory, Maybe I could...No. That would make me look like I am taking sides!>
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"S--" Rory was about to yell stop but Alice held her back.
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"Miss Mara, you shouldn't interfere." She whispered to her. Rory wasn't going to let her stop her. She tugged her arm from Alice's and said out loud for both men to hear. "I have a better idea to solve this conflict." She said and immediately everyone turned to her.
Rory was smart. She had good judgment and thus was able to determine a good solution.
"I shall go back to our land and investigate the events that occurred. If it is that our people have indeed killed your men then we shall willingly give you the rest of our lands but if it's your men's evil, then you shall return all our land. But if it happens to be that an external force has something to do with the killings, then both of you shall unite and form peace and end the feud between you."
<I, know it's not right to make decisions for our people but this is all I can think of. I really hope that it's the last option.>
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Rory believed that her uncle and their people would never stoop so low as to murder, she wanted to believe. She also knew that her sudden outburst would have consequences.488Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzS9OVY2LR
Much to her luck The two men nodded and placed away from their swords.
"And it shall be." Lord Elric said. He thought of how his son made a wise decision choosing a smart woman as his wife.
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Magnus on the other hand was surprised at Rory's suggestion. Who exactly is this woman? What happened to the docile woman who wouldn't even dare to speak to the King? He was fascinated and curious about her.
