My heart was racing in my chest as everyone looked at me. Even sitting on my mother's lap wasn’t reassuring enough. If the silence in the room continued any longer, I would probably have broken. Luckily, Mother broke the silence for me. “En, dear, you said you had something to tell us all?”

“Um…you all probably won’t believe me, but…”

The room spun, and I became light-headed and queasy. The room members, including my parents, the head butler, and Yumi, started visibly worrying.

I looked at the walls for reassurance; I looked at the bookcase in my father’s study and the table in the center of the two couches—anything I could view to ground myself.

My mother started again, “En-”

“No,” I cut her off. “I can do it! All of this time, I was running—not telling anyone. Not letting all of you know. And it ate at me. I made a promise to myself. A promise before I died that I would cherish this life!”

“Before you died? What are you saying, Little Princess?” Yumi asked.

I looked at her, my eyes filling with tears. I was crying again as the words flew out. “I am saying that I am not a Little Princess! All of this time, I was so happy to be loved! But I died once before. Before coming to this world, I died! I didn’t even make it to my twentieth birthday!” I squeezed my eyes shut.

Elise held me tightly against her. I clenched my fists, the tears continuing to flow. She stroked my hair, but no one said anything. No one said anything until I slowly opened my blurry eyes.

Night was kneeling in front of me. He grabbed my fists, looking me in the eyes. “Enala, do you love it here?”

“D-do I love it here?” I asked.

“You just said you were so happy to be loved. Well, do you love it here?”

“Of course, I love it here! I felt lucky to be here. It felt like all of my suffering would end because you are all so caring. I thought I would finally get over everything, and I was so happy to be loved by all of you. I love you all. But—”

“Shhh,” Elise said. “You don’t have to say more.” I looked back at her, and she was smiling. She kissed my forehead. “I can tell you are going through a lot, but everything will be okay.”

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“Why?”

“Because you are my daughter,” Mom said. “You are my precious little En, and guess what?”

“What?” I asked.

She pushed on my forehead with a finger. “I am your mother. Do you remember what I told you before?”

I thought back to everything she said, but I had no idea what she’d be referring to. I had at least stopped crying. Rather, the tears drained out. But she continued once I was stumped.

“I will be with you every step of the way. That was not just for magic. I said that for this situation, too. I am glad you chose to tell us, but nothing you said changes anything. You are still my daughter. You are far too young, even if you were twenty or five years before me,” She paused, considering me. “So, you retained memories of your past life? I cannot begin to know what that is like… I cannot begin to understand that, but I’ve more experience than most. I’ve more experience in this single life than most, and I could always tell you were fighting.”

“You could?”

“Fufu, it’s always been obvious. It became known to me on your first birthday. Your response was different from the usual shyness of babies. Many of your responses told me this, but I didn’t know how to help you. That is why I chose to be here for you. You can always talk to me, dear. I apologize for putting you up against Adelisa like that, but—”

“So you knew?”

“I did,” she said.

“What about all of you?” I looked at the others, and they were nodding.

“We knew not about what afflicted you, Princess,” Roland said, “but we—”

My mother cut him off, “Someone problematic has entered the castle.”

“Even through my security!?”

“You misunderstood Roland. They aren’t an enemy, but it’s a problem.”

I became nervous at their uncertainty. Was there someone they could be afraid of? Not to mention, whoever it was broke off something important.

“He is back?” Father asked.

“It seems so, and he brought company. Why does he always do something crazy? How come the guards don’t stop him?” Mother asked.

“Who are you all talking about?”

I heard laughing coming from the hallway. I listened to their steps approaching the doorway. Before I realized it, the door flew from its hinges. My Father's sword shredded the door into a thousand pieces. “I hope you have the capital to pay for that door,” Father said.

A foot was the first part of the intruders I saw, a large brown boot covered in mud.

“And I hope you won’t make the servants clean up your mess. You know, we were kind of having an important moment here?”

I stared at the man. He had a dirty cloth draped over his mouth. He wore a tattered white cape, but the most striking was his hair. He had the same silver hair as me, the same as my mother’s. However, his eyes were neither red nor purple. His eyes were a royal dark blue. He looked like a bandit. Though, he was imposing. I knew I was looking at something otherworldly. I was not looking at a man but a monster. I barely registered the meek girl behind him as I froze.

“Is that my granddaughter!?”

The man’s eyes met mine. My eyes met his.

And then I fainted.