A/N: I think…something is honestly wrong with this…this was supposed to be something light-hearted but…is it getting darker or is it just me?

Chapter 4: A year old – Part 1

Ivonna was officially a year old.

The past few months had been blur. Time had passed so quickly without her noticing it. At first, the days were dull and slow. There wasn’t much to do and even if there was what could a mere baby do? She did nothing but lie around in her crib, stare at the white walls, at the painted ceilings and at the 4 corners of the room that she saw every day.

Occasionally, a maid would come and bring her out to the balcony to get some fresh air. Freedom was so close! And yet so far. How she yearned to go outside and escape the clutches of her cage (crib).

Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be.

To kill some time, when there was no one but her in the room she would practice walking around in her crib but all she could manage were a few steps before her toddler legs couldn’t support her anymore.

It frustrated her to say the least.

But she had gotten used to the slow days and soon the days just seemed to blur together.

A recent event that happened was her accidental first word.

A few weeks ago, her vocal cords had begun to work properly and there seemed to be nothing wrong but she still planned to keep on babbling like a baby to avoid needless scrutiny. If a baby that had only recently turned a year old started to talk perfectly surely that would guarantee attention that wasn’t appreciated.

That was her plan.

Unfortunately, it was all ruined because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

For the first time…in a long while…she was about to be bathe.

Foreign hands would be washing her body and for her who was an 18 year old girl, being washed by people she wasn’t familiar with was uncomfortable.

Well even if she was familiar with this people she wasn’t about to let them touch her.

This was a problem that months ago when she was only a few weeks old but…whenever someone touched her…as if on autopilot, she would recoil from their touch. The maids and even Dulcina’s touch felt slippery on her skin, like a worm was crawling on her skin.

Thankfully, Ivonna had more or less managed to stop recoiling when someone touch her.

But no matter how much control she had, when it came to some things it was impossible not to react.

That was human nature.

So when one of the maids…touched something that shouldn’t be touched…she had thrashed in their hold and yelled ‘STOP!’

…She might have accidentally bitten one of the maids…

It seems her impulsive tendencies came along with her rebirth into these new world.

It was…a very traumatizing day for Ivonna.

Right now, a maid – Elle-san was carrying her to her mother’s chambers. Behind the maid were two imperial knights that were ordered to guard her for the time being. It was the same two knights that stood outside her door.

Ivonna would occasionally see them when the doors were wide open and sometimes one of them would sneak into her room and make funny faces at her.

Knight-san had orange-ish hair and hazel eyes. The faces he made were ridiculous and hilarious, Ivonna couldn’t help but laugh.

The other knight was older than funny-face. He was a stoic man and Ivonna often saw him rubbing his temples at the antics of the younger knight.

Now though, their faces were solemn and it made Ivonna’s stomach twist uncomfortably.

But it wasn’t only the knights, as of late the whole castle seemed recently darker and a lot more silent.

It wasn’t a good sign in Ivonna’s eyes.

The maids would whisper when tending to her but their words were never clear and they would immediately become silent when their eyes met with hers.

…..There had been weird sounding rumors that princess was a prodigy and that she could understand the words being spoken...…as much as Ivonna would like to deny it, the part where she could understand them was true…and if she replied to their claims then the rumors would only get weirder.

Probably.

The people in the palace are very strange. How could they assume she was a prodigy just by speaking that one word?

She’d like to avoid triggering anymore weird flags, thank you very much.

So that was that.

They arrived in front of two dark brown doors. The maid adjusted her hold her and rapped her knuckles three times sharply against the door.

After a few moments of silence, Ivonna heard Dulcina’s voice through the door.

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“Come in!”

“Pardon the intrusion” the maid replied.

The double doors swung open and the first thought that appeared in her mind was:

Something smells weird.

Ivonna wrinkled her nose and resisted the urge to gag. When she looked around the room, there was a total of nine people including her, her maid and the two knights behind them.

The others were her mother who was sitting upright in her bed, Dulcina, an old man wearing a white coat and the two ladies besides her mother’s bedside.

The man was the royal physician that was assigned to her mother.

As for the two ladies in the back they were her mother’s ladies-in-waiting.

Ivonna didn’t know much about how the royal hierarchy worked and whose social standing was higher than who or what the conditions are to be a queen’s lady-in-waiting but Ivonna always saw them beside her mother no matter where she went; in the gardens, hallways, on the rare occasions she visited her room and well…during these check-ups.

Mother smiled at her as she was brought closer. Dulcina first received her before she was handed over to her mother.

Warm. Her mother was very warm and soft…..

But the air still smelled weird and stale.

It smelled like something burning, roses, citrus and…a sweet spicy scent?

Ivonna looked around, much like a child would when seeing new surroundings but in reality she was looking at the faces of the people in the room to see their reactions.

No one seemed to notice the strange smell though.

Or maybe she was overthinking things and the strange smell was actually normal, some sort of medicine maybe?

Maybe she should start reading the medicinal books of this world…

A shiver went up her spine and Ivonna clung to her mother. There it was again, the slimy feeling that was just above her skin.

“What’s wrong Ivonna?”

Mother’s voice was soft and melodic. Light blue eyes stared at her with concern but Ivonna just shook her head and buried herself into her mother’s bosom.

She couldn’t make her mother worried, anymore stress might worsen her mother’s health.

Her mother was sickly, Ivonna realized that the first time she was allowed into this room. Her mother's skin was paler than hers (and that was saying something since Ivonna was almost as pale as snow), black bags under her eyes that looked permanent as of late and Ivonna could see some of he bones protruding from her skin.

This was one of the rare times she was allowed in her mother’s chambers. The first time that she was brought here, there had been a huge discussion right in front of her mother's chambers about whether it was safe or not. They were afraid that she might be infected with the same disease as her mother.

Ivonna missed the way her mother’s eyes widened ever so slightly when she replied to her mother’s 'unanswered' question.

“Your majesty, please avoid any strenuous activity. Also, drink this concoction after your meals. It might taste a bit bitter but please bear with it for the sake of your health.”

Ivonna confusedly watched as the fog in her mother’s eyes disappeared. Just now, it seemed her mother was thinking about something very deeply.

Her mother cleared her throat “Ah…yes…of course doctor. Thank you for your help as always. You’ve been very patient with me for this long…really…I’m grateful…”

Her mother’s eyes glistened a bit.

The doctor shook his head “My lady, I still have very large debt to repay you. This is nothing, compared to your generosity.” The old man smiled gently and lightly patted mother’s head.

A warm smile appeared on her mother’s face.

The next events happened so quickly, Ivonna didn't have time to think what happened for things to quickly go downhill.  

Mother’s eyes widened and her body shook. Without hesitation, Dulcina scooped up her tiny form from her mother’s arm and handed her over to her maid. The two ladies went into action, carrying basins and towels.

And the doctor took out several vials.

Ivonna could only watched helplessly as her mother’s body shook. Her mother coughed violently and she saw red drops of liquid fall into the white surface of her sheets.

The last thing Ivonna saw before the doors closed on her face was the doctor’s hands hovering above her mother’s chest, his hands emitting a pale green light.

And when Ivonna was brought back to her room, the image of her frail brother from her previous life popped up in her mind; looking frail, pale, tired, weak and coughing out blood.

Ivonna couldn't sleep that night.