Presently, situated within a carriage traversing a rocky terrain—a noble-like lady, a knight—presumably her escort—and Park Sungah could be seen attempting to initiate a conversation.
The girl possessed long blonde hair with stunning blue eyes, and a pale complexion. She was covered in jewelleries from head to toe, nearly blinding to simply gaze at her appearance.
The knight on the other hand had short, black hair, a pair of sharp eyes, and a vicious scar across his left cheek. He was cladded in iron armour with a unique wyvern-like crest engraved onto the chest plate.
"Þū scealt bēon ġefēaful þæt ic þē bohte!" The girl haughtily remarks.
Befuddled by the way she spoke, Sungah could only nod and hope she did not cause a misunderstanding between the both of them.
An hour had already passed since she was bought by the girl for a measly five gold pieces, the bare minimum required to purchase a prisoner from chamber five.
"Ic wēne þæt hēo ūs ne mæge understandan, mīn hlǣfdige." The knight whispered.
"Is þæt swā? Hm... ðonne ongyte ic ðæt ic hyre lǣre." She declared.
"Ac mīn hlǣfdige, hēo is āna gewuna-"
"Swā hwæt swā, ġif hēo is āna gewuna? Wǣre þū nōt ān gewuna ēac? And lōca hū þū wurde æfter mīnum fæder þē lǣrde." She retorted.
"For-Forlǣt mīne ylde, mīn hlǣfdige." The knight replied as he bowed at the woman.
The remainder of the journey was uneventful, time passing by without notice as eventually—Sungah found herself standing in front of the noble's manor. Upon arrival, a few servants were already present—curtsying the moment the noble stepped out of the carriage.
"Wilcuma eft, geonge mægden." An old man donning a black suit, black tie, white gloves and a white waistcoat greeted the noble.
"Ic eom eft, geseah. And ic bohte ǣnne ōðerne þrǣf. Lǣra þā tō bēon geswīðe tō bēon ōðer mǣgden." She ordered the butler before entering her residence, her lady-in-waiting following her.
"Þīn willa is mīn bebod, geonge mægden." The butler answered as he requesting for a few maids to neaten Sungah's unkempt appearance.
Nodding at his words, Sungah was quickly surrounded by four servants as she was dragged into a small hut located far away from the manor but was still considered as the noble's property. Inside was a medium-sized wooden tub filled with water, a basin, dry cloth and to Sungah's surprise—soap. Never did she know that soap existed even way far back in the past.
While bewildered, the maids began stripping her bare—being a bit mesmerised by her pale complexion—almost resembling that of a royalty. The clothes she wore also astonished them. It was the first time they had laid their eyes on modern clothing. Simple, comfortable and oddly stylish. It was truly a surreal sight for them.
Nevertheless, it was not time to be distracted as they had been given a task. Having folded her clothes, they promptly started washing her body.
"Wait! I can do it myself!" Sungah states, trying to clean herself without the need of outside help. However, due to the language barrier—her words were ignored as the ladies continued scrubbing every spot on her body until it was practically shining.
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Although embarrassed, there was nothing else she could do except to only admit defeat. They too helped dress her into a premade Victorian-style maid attire as she was patted dry with the cloth. It was a tad bit loose for her figure but overall it did not bother her whatsoever.
Afterwards, she was immediately assigned an etiquette instructor, a linguist, and a history tutor. The treatment she was granted albeit her records as a criminal within this world thoroughly bewildered her.
'Surely this isn't how servants were treated back in the past…this seems just far too generous.' Sungah could only ponder for her knowledge regarding history was rather shallow.
Days flew by rapidly, weeks felt like seconds and months seemed as though they were mere minutes. It was an uncanny sensation for her—to observe time seemingly passing through at such a terrifying speed and pace. Yet, Sungah did not complain one bit at all. Throughout history, numerous times has it been proven that—the ‘faster’ time appears to be moving, the more joyful and entertaining the days are for that person, often warping their perception over the flow of time.
The same principle could be applied to Sungah as she became acquainted with the servants, getting to know them on a personal level, gradually adapting to the change in era and lack of modern amenities—forcing herself to accept that the invention of a ‘proper’ restroom had yet to come, and perhaps would require a few hundreds of years more to pass. At the same time, the history lessons aided Sungah in discovering the history of the world, piece by piece, gradually having an understanding as to the events—the good and the bad—to have transpired and moulded this world into what it is now.
Simply by partaking in these activities, weeks passed by like a gust of wind—fast and unnoticeable. Before she had come to a realization, before she could notice the change and signs of her body aging naturally—a month had already went by since her arrival to this world.
…
"Sungah! Eart þū ēac gewunod tō þǣre stōwe ætēowd? (Sungah! Have you already accustomed to the place yet?)" A maid inquired while wiping even the tiniest speck of dust from the window frame.
"G-gea, ic...hæbbe. (Y-yes, I…have.)" Sungah murmured, still unable to fully grasp the kingdom's language despite having spent just a little under a month learning it.
"Ic gesēo þæt þū ġēt ne hæfst ondrǣdan sprǣcan. Ac bēon mǣg understandan is gōd swīðe! Ic eom ġesǣlig þæt þū on ende mæge sprǣcan flēoge. Þū scealt ēac bīdan and ēow sylfum trēowian, Sungah. Þū eart ġēot swīðe tōrfæst weorcsceaftig. (I see that you still haven't mastered speaking yet. But being able to understand is already good enough! I'm sure you'll eventually be able to speak fluently. You just have to keep practising and have faith in yourself, Sungah. You are already a hard worker after all.)"
"Þancas, Florin… (Thanks, Florin…)"
"Ic secge ġēot sōþ. On ǣlcum falle, wylt þū þæt ic ġeferige þǣr wē lēofodon? (I'm just saying the truth. Do you want me to continue where we left off?)"
"Gēa, efne. (Yes, please.)"
"Wel, lōca... ān þūsend wintra ǣr menn sumhwæt mǣhton samweorcan, wǣron ǣfre geboren ǣnlīcige mihtas þe him lēofodon tō forswīfan ðā bēc. Hīe wǣron tō gydennum gehātene, and betwux þā mǣstan cyre gydena, fēower ūtstōdon swā þā mǣstan. (Well, let's see...a thousand years prior before humans somewhat managed to coexist with each other, a few were born with special abilities that allowed them to defy the rules of nature. They were deemed as witches, and amongst the very few selection of witches, four stood out the most.)
"Þā fēower gydena stōdon on þǣre hēhstan scīre gydenrǣftes and rīcton on þǣre ēastdǣle, westdǣle, sūþdǣle, and norþdǣle be sīnum wīsan. Hīe ne wǣron þā betstan rīcere, ac þæt folc wæs him trēowe. Þæt is... oþ þæt ān lytel hīred unrihtlice feng mancyn tō, secgende þæt nān gydena sceal bēon cyningas. (These four witches stood at the pinnacle of witchcraft and governed the east, west, south, and north areas respectively. They weren't the best rulers, but the people were loyal to them. That is...until a small group of rebels began recruiting members, claiming that any and all witches are not meant to be monarchs.)
"Unrōt hlīewe be þǣre gydena befangen swā swīþe swā fȳr, þāra mōd wǣron ġeworht mid ungewissum, and māra and māra folc him tō þǣre ānsetle ġeinnodon. Slāwe ac sīþþan wǣron gydena sēcean and slōgan būtan ǣlcere mildheortnysse. Ēac þā cild wǣron ġecīgede. On ende ealles, nænig gemunde þā fēower gydena naman. Hit is sōþlīce sārig, nis hit swā? Hwā wāt hwæðer þā gydena wǣron tō wiccan geþōhte, oþþe þæt hīe wǣron gedōne for grēd. (Baseless rumours about the witches spread like wildfire as doubts plagued the people's minds and more and more of them joined in the rebellion. Slowly but surely, witches were hunted down without mercy. Even the children were killed. At the end of it all, no one remembered the four witches name. It's really sad, isn't it? Who knows whether the witches were truly wicked, or the rebellion was done out of greed.)" Florin explained.
"...Ic wāt þæt ic hæbbe rūhlice tō þē geseald... ac ic sīe þēond earfoð on ðām fēawum cunnuncgum þæt þū cann of wīccan. ("...I know I've been relying on you quite a bit...but I'm still shocked at the amount of knowledge you know about witches.)" Sungah expressed.
"Haha, wæs ic ġelufod mid hiera wununge siðþan ic wæs cildhāde. Ic meine, hwā mihte wiðstandan nā witan þā existence æt wununge þæt mihte geþēon lāðeondne þæt eallan ēðel on bælflōdan swā bearn? Eallunga, ūre fȳndþanc is on āsmǣte binnan cildhāde. (Haha, well, I was just infatuated with their existence since childhood. I mean, who could resist not knowing the existence of a being that could teleport an entire nation into a volcano as a child? After all, our curiosity is at its peak during childhood.)
"Iċ gēseah þæt swā sōðlice. (I suppose that's true.)"
"Oh, and Sungah. Wilt þū þissum lǣnan for mē healdan? (Oh, and Sungah. Do you mind holding onto this for me?)" Florin asked as she handed Sungah an inconspicuous letter.
"Sōþlīce ac... hwā is hit for and hwi mē? (Sure but...who is it for and why me?)"
"Þæt is āra, ac sīe swā wel swā hīe ætēowest, neod is þæt þū þæt lēttere healdest. Þū wāst hwām hit tō syllanne þonne þū hīe mēte. (That's a secret, but just please hold on to that letter. You know who to give it to once you met her.)"
Although slightly cautious by Florin's request, Sungah decided to not inquire any further for the moment as she has a few other things she must attend to.
"Hehe, þancas, Sungah. Nū, lǣt ūs gecuman tō ūrum þēowrǣdenum ǣr þæt hēafodmǣgden us sƿōge. (Hehe, thanks, Sungah. Now, let's get back to doing our duties before the head maid scolds us.)"
…