34 Sharing intel

Aliester was quick on his feet and supported her. "Are you okay?"

"The memories… are too much!" she gasped and somehow the words were in Verbenian language.

Since his twin looked like she was about to pass out, the young duke picked her up and made her sit on a chair.

He then let her drink a glass of warm water to calm her nerves. The rest of the males waited anxiously.

It took a while before color returned to her pallid face. But after she calmed down, she urged them to talk.

"Can you understand and speak to us now?" the mage asked while eyeing the girl.

Aria looked at him and simply nodded.

Her eyes trained on the mage before turning towards the knight, "why do you look a bit familiar?" she asked. "It is kinda weird since I know that I haven't met you before."

The mage answered. "Must be her highness's memories. I used to come over and read books in the library." Conrad smiled a little. "I am one of the few people who would occasionally talk with the princess."

"I am also of the squires who would play with her highness before." Daxton joined in.

Aria suddenly perked up. It was as if she had remembered a good deal of information. "So, you were that apprentice mage and you were that young squire! You look more mature than before."

"It had been two years since we last saw each other in Verbena." The mage said. "But I think it might be a bit different time frame for you. Regardless, we have aged for a bit."

The mage grimaced as he scratched his nape. He looked a bit older than his actually age of twenty-five. It was because his brown hair had grown longer and his beard had become bushier.

On the other hand, the knight also had a few-weeks-old beard. His dark blue locks had reached his shoulders which made him look wild and mature.

"You did not age, your highness." Daxton commented as he checked the girl out. "Some of your features have changed and you looked younger than when you were the princess."

When Aliester noticed that the knight checked his sister out, he playfully shoved the other male and said. "Eyes should be here." Aliester glared.

But Aliester could not help but noted the similarities between the princess and his twin.

For one, Aria is taller and well-endowed. Aria is quite athletic with the right muscles and curves in place. While the princess in his memories was on the dainty side.

"It must be because I was reincarnated, Daxton." She smiled at the knight nonetheless. "I am happy to see my childhood friends, the mage apprentice and the squire after such a long time."

"I am a full-fledged mage now, princess and Daxton served as one of the knight commanders." Conrad said.

"Princess…" Aria's brows creased. "Just call me Aria. I have gotten out of the habit being called princess since I came here."

The girl got up and went to the kitchen as if nothing had happened earlier.

Aliester tried to assist but knowing that his sister likes to be independent, he kept close while not trying to be in the way.

"Your highness, you are cooking?" the knight asked while looking at both the girl and the duke.

The girl nodded.

"Which reminds me, don't you have servants?" asked Conrad. "when did you learn how to cook?"

"We don't have servants. We cannot afford to hire any. I have to learn to do things since everyone in the family are given responsibility." She said as she sautéed the onions and garlic.

"You may start talking. I'll listen. I can multitask." She added.

"Multitask?" The word is foreign for the other guys.

"That is doing a couple of things at the same time." Aliester explained as he handed the ingredients to Aria.

Aria stirred in the meat and continued. "I have picked up a lot of habits from this realm and I can't seem to shake them off. Hopefully, it is okay to you that I listen and cook at the same time."

"It is not much of a bother. Though in our culture, this is somewhat improper." Blaze murmured.

"Where do we start?" Conrad asked.

Aliester volunteered while assisting his twin. "I know that some of you have a lot of questions so I will have to go first."

Aliester started with his story.

"I have been informed that not all of you have knowledge or belief on this one. So, I will have to explain a little. I am not Aliester Alcove. My name is Aris Hausen. I am Aria's twin brother"

The males' eyes widened in disbelief.

The mage said. "So that is the reason why you can understand language from this realm and why you act familiar when it was the first time we came here."

Aliester nodded. "Since you are mage and your mother were from Marjoram, I am sure that you have heard of reincarnation and transmigration."

"The princess had reincarnated into Aria." The mage said. "that was what I had been thinking when you first told us about your plan."

"In my case, I am a transmigrator. The guardian was supposed to summon Aria who used to be princess Innocia back to Lamiales. But I died in her stead." Aliester explained.

Aria looked at him in shock.

"It turned out that the incident from the time was a summoning ritual and I got in the way when I saved you."

Aria simply opened and closed her mouth in astonishment.

"to cut it short, since I died and the guardian needed someone to help, he had made me inhabit Aliester's body, who was killed during an ambush." Aliester continued.

"The real Aliester had died…" the mage trailed off.

"You are quite good, we did not know until we got here in Linden." The knight said.

"I had to take his place so that least I could do will be to become someone as close to the original as possible." Aliester answered.

"so what happens next?" the king asked.

"So instead of summoning the princess, he gave me the task of bringing her back to Lamiales." Aliester replied.

"Why do they need to summon me?" Aria asked.

"Things are not going well in the other realm…" he answered his twin.

"Can you tell me what had happened? Maybe, from the part after the princess died?" the girl asked while covering the simmering dish.

The Verbenians looked at each other and nodded.

"The fragments that had returned to me are some of Innocia's childhood, which are quite horrible." Aria looked as if she swallowed something bitter.

"and it ended with her death, which is muddled by the way. I really could not recall much of all of the details." she explained.

"About that, it will be hard for us to fill you in about Innocia's death. Majority of the Duke Alcove's faction were arrested unjustly and sent to prison." The mage explained. "That includes us."

"Only very few people witnessed the princess's execution, so the news about the her death did not really spread. Some people even said that she was still imprisoned." Daxton chimed in.

"Anyway, after Innocia died, everything went downhill." Conrad quipped. It was as if it when princess Innocia, who prevented the catastrophe, died… all hell broke loose."

"So, what happened?" Aria asked.

"Since most of us were imprisoned, only the Duke of Alcove made a stand and rebelled against the Queen." Daxton said.

"We have been in that dungeon for who knows how long when they threw in some heirs from other countries."

"That is how they got acquainted with me." Blaze incised.

The girl nodded.

"We only got to escape when Aliester came and proposed to take you back to Lamiales." The mage continued.