24 Struggles

It has been exactly a day since the boy came and checked on Anna and she was very grateful for his help. Because of the food he gave her, Anna could bear up with the treatment one more day.

The priest was still here in the same room as her while the rat never showed his face ever since the last failed experiment. Since her father's birthday is coming up, the priest needs to be in the church singing praises to the Emperor. People from all around the churches will attend the ceremony, so he cannot miss the event.

Yet, it was less than a month away and no one came to help the priest.

"Is it that there is no one in the church?" a terrifying thought crept into Anna's mind. The rat must have killed them, or they don't know about this place. It is connected to the church so there would be no reason for not entering…

"Are the church members all in this?"

It must be. Otherwise, someone would have noticed that the priest is missing the majority of the days. So, this means that the Clemente family also knows about this.

'Why?'

Anna could not figure out the answer. She knew too little of this family other than the fact that they lived on an island and they don't interact with the continent besides the few churches they had on the continent. Even those were only branches of the family church and were heavily watched by the kings and Emperors.

If it were not for the traditions, Anna was sure that her father would have annihilated them a long time ago. She did not know why he hated them so much but she was sure that he was the reason why she could not find any books about the Clemente family in the library, beside the ones that only scrape a bit of information about them.

All of a sudden, a dark blue mist covered the room, the one that Anna missed seeing for such a long time. She was not going to admit that she missed him, not when Angus had left her here to die.

The mist stood around for a couple of seconds, but no snake came out. Anna looked around and thought he wanted to play hide and seek.

"How dare you show before me now?" asked Anna ignoring his lack of presence. He knows Anna would have hit him if he was to stay before her.

No answer.

"Where were you when I needed you the most?" Screamed Anna trying not to cry. She went through a lot and the snake did not even help her get out this damned place.

No answer.

"How dare you leave me like this? I could have died! Do you know what happens if I die?" Anna continued her rant not caring for his response. Her eyes teared up thinking that she might have actually called him a friend until recently.

'I thought you were there for me.' Anna screamed inside. She was struggling to hold her tears, she did not want him to see her suffer because of him.

"Princess…" a broken voice came from the mist. Anna stopped in her tracks when she heard the pained voice. He seemed to be more in pain than when Anna was at her lowest low, just yesterday.

"Angus?" Anna quietly asked. She did not know where to look and she stopped breathing out of fear she might not hear Angus.

"What happened Angus? Can you hear me?" she looked at her tattoo and it was intact so there was no problem with the contract between them.

"Ring…" again the same pained voice told Anna broken words.

"Hide…tomorrow." And with that, the mist disappeared leaving Anna to call for him to no avail.

"Wait!" Anna cried out but the last whips of mist disappeared. Anna looked at the old priest who until yesterday treated her like a dog. She was too afraid to approach him, that is why she had not been able to sleep since yesterday.

Anna sat there on the stone floor not moving but contemplating what just took place.

'Why did he sound in pain?' Anna felt bad for blaming him for everything that happened to her.

It is true that if he helped her back then she would not be here, not going through the daily torture where she was barely fed and had to endure all those harsh treatments. She would not be here, and the priest would not experiment on her-

"Oh…oh no!" Anna widened her eyes. She had been stupid. She really had.

"How did I not realise he was the one that took it all upon himself." Anna's tears that she struggled to keep in were now showering her colourless face. The experiment must have hurt a lot, but she did not feel anything. Not a single stab, not a single pinch. He took it all, while she scrutinised him.

She wiped her tears with her dirty hands not carrying about her appearance while she thought about this.

"I have to fix this." Said Anna, calming her unsteady heart. Placing her shaky hand on her chest and closed her eyes pondering on what Angus said. Anna's eyes darted towards the old man sleeping on the floor.

It has been hours and the man showed no signs of waking up, but that did not mean that he won't any time soon. Anna stretched her legs carefully not to make a sound and crawled behind the man. She slowly moved his dirty robe, revealing his right hand where six different rings sat on his wrinkly fingers.

Anna blinked in confusion only to soon feel disappointed.

'Which one is the ring Angus needs?' Anna rubbed her temples trying to remember which one was the ring the senile was fidgeting with months ago. Her memory was hazy, she tried to remember but nothing came to fruition.

'Was it on the right hand? Was it on his left?' Anna shifted uncomfortably and folded her hands. She tried to fold the right on top of the left and then the left on the right.

"Was it folded? Hmm...was it just resting?" Anna kept moving her hands around trying different ways.

'No not this one' said Anna as she abruptly parted her hands and folded them again.

"What are you doing?" whispered someone next to her.

Anna jumped in fright and was about to scream when two hands covered her mouth. She was pushed onto the floor and the boy fell on top of her.

Two curious reddish eyes looked down at her. Flustered Anna shook her eyes avoiding eye contact and the boy quickly realised the position they were in.

"So-sorry." Said Helm looking somewhere else. Anna who was just as awkward sat up and pursed her lips tight smiling slightly.

"What are you doing here?" asked Anna inquisitively. She decided to sort out the problem with the rings later.

"I could ask you the same." replied Anna avoiding the subject. The boy scrunched his eyebrows for a split of a second but then his warm gaze landed on Anna.

"Oh…I want to give you this." Said the boy handing her a small pouch.

"Hm?" Anna eyed the boy but did not open the bag.

"It's food." he replied. Anna looked at the boy worriedly and the boy excused himself: "D-don't worry about me. I already ate some. I stole this from the kitchen."

The boy seemed sincere so Anna started chewing on the small piece of bread, although tasteless and could not even compare to the bread in the palace, at least it filled her stomach. Anna's thought started to run wild, about her life before this, the good satisfying food she got.

'Oh, I miss having tea.' She smiled bitterly only to realise what she was thinking about. No. This is not the time she said to herself and shook her head.

Next to her, Helm sat in silence watching her chew on her bread. He too was smiling, but deep down he felt guilty for lying to Anna. He did not steal this food from the kitchen, he did not eat for the second day in a row, but he was not going to tell Anna about this. She was worried as it is, she did not need to worry about him too.

"Thank you for the food." Said Anna bowing her head.

"Oh no-no don't. Really." He had been where she was, he knew how sick one would get by not eating properly. He was now used to it. She was smaller than him, she deserved better.

Anna raised her head and smiled happily. A genuine smile. Something she had not done since coming in this world. The boy gaze warmed again. It was worth it. She was feeling better than she did yesterday.

"I have to go now, sorry that can't stay longer." The boy snatched the pouch from Anna's hands and hurried to the door.

"Wait!" hushed Anna running towards him.

"What is it?" said the boy.

"I did not tell you my name…" truthfully, she just wanted to talk to him a bit longer. She had been lonely for these past months and besides the insane old man that tortured her, there was no one she could speak with.

The boy looked amused by Anna's need for attention but was not bothered by it in the slightest. Instead, he waited for her to tell him the answer he already knew.

"It's Anna." She said looking back at him. The boy looked surprised and did not reply immediately.

'Hm? Is something wrong with my name?' Anna asked herself. She looked away and sway her hands behind her back.

"Anna…what a unique name." said the boy silently. He grinned hiding his knowing gaze with one of warmth. Whatever her reasons for hiding her true name, it was enough for him that she took the initiative to tell him her name.

Before he left, he turned around smiling and waved goodbye after which he disappeared closing the door. When the door clicked back into place Anna sighed before her eyes widened.

"Don't tell me knows my true name." Anna brought her hands to cover her mouth.

Yes, he did, of course, he did. The number of times the rat referred to her as 'Princess', even Anna got fed up with it.

"Well it is not like my name is not Anna." This body belongs to Princess Selda but Anna could not come to terms with her new name, she preferred the old one.

Associating herself with the body true name meant that Anna had the take responsibility for what happened in the last life. Good or bad it meant that 'she' did it and Anna was not willing to accept someone's burden when she did nothing wrong. She did the bare minimum, excluding herself from her so-called role.

It was not her fault that Selda's family came to ruins in her last life, that her dad died abruptly, caused immense grievances for her family and others around her. Ultimately, she did nothing in this life that would lead to the events that occurred in the last life.

She stood away from the public, in the shadows of the fabricated rumours, did not show her face to anyone unless absolutely required. Avoiding Derick was her top priority and although there were a few visits from the Duke's family, they were only official ones. The duke's successor did not come to visit her more than it needed to be done, Anna pretended to like him and always smiled in his presence, but it was superficial.

She had no intention of getting involved with them in this life. There was no grand plan of getting things right, of getting her revenge or helping people who were dear to her in the past life. Selda had too many enemies, countless problems needed to get rid of. So why bother?

If she were to ignore them now, they would not care. It was Selda's fault getting too emotional, reacting hastily and unthoughtful in the first place. If she would have ignored the rumours and not waste time on fixing them maybe she could have fixed herself.

Having everything and yet nothing. That is the story of a Princess called Selda. Anna did what was the best; not fix things that are already broken but avoiding the situation altogether. If a vase falls on the ground, the painted porcelain will shatter, and pieces would spread everywhere. It doesn't matter how many times one tells himself that they would take care of it, it will eventually happen.

But if one did not buy the vase or avoided it all together then there would be no problem.

This did not mean that Anna was going to sit idly and wait for her downfall. Her sister was making sure it was coming sooner than later. She did train her body to compensate for her lack of magic and Anna did study in order to pursue another career once she left the palace.

"Right then…" Anna tapped her finger on her cheek turning around. She did not have any time to waste. She needed the ring possibly by tomorrow.

Angus did not say much besides mentioning the ring and tomorrow, so Anna's first task is to get the ring.

"Well, here we go." Murmured Anna approaching he old priest. She knew it was going to be a long night ahead.