38 Lake of Truth

The weird dream I saw was suspended when I heard light voices talking outside. The moment I woke up, I saw Aiven concentrating outside, his eyes were locked to Regin who was standing by the door, talking to someone, then he turned to Aiven and said, "How is Miss Amy?"

Aiven sighed and glanced over me, "She's sleeping-- Oh, she's awake." He smiled at me and brushed my hair off my face when he saw my eyes open, "I told you cockroaches don't die easily."

I just rolled my eyes, but the pain on my chest suddenly turned to a piercing ache, as if my heart was being squeezed slowly.

I bit my lip to suppress the pain. I don't want to scream or squirm, because every move I make makes it hurt much more.

Aiven clicked his tongue and said with a grim look on his face, "Hurry up, it's hurting her."

I took a couple of deep breaths, hoping that it'll at least lessen the throb, but it did the opposite, even breathing takes a toll on my life. Every air I take in is like a knife, stabbing my chest, ripping out my heart, and breaking my skull. It hurts even to the edge of my fingertips.

"Oh, she's Amelia? If this isn't karma, I don't know what else to call this," I heard a familiar voice said.

I turned to Aiven and saw Regin, with Prince Marin behind him.

He looked rather pleased to see me, but his light smirk came to a stern expression after he saw my state.

I just remembered that I didn't introduce myself earlier, which is adding to my disrespect to the Prince. Thank goodness, he looked like he will help me.

"Well, I would need you two to go out, I need to be alone with this human to do this," Prince Marin tilted his head to gesture Regin and Aiven to go out of the room.

Regin didn't look like he was against what the Prince said, but Aiven on the other hand, looked as if he was a statue sitting beside me. He doesn't want to leave his post, and he was frozen with a worried look on his face.

"It's.. fine," I struggled to say as it hurts my chest to even speak. I tried to smile, but the movement made me flinch from the pain.

"Don't worry, I'll remove the curse, even though she was exceedingly annoying earlier," Prince Marin said as he moves forward to the bed, then he patted Aiven's shoulder.

I stared at Aiven's face. It's the first time someone worries for me when I feel sick, or for this moment, when I'm in death's bed.

Whenever I was sick before, I had to take care of myself, worry for myself, and cure myself.

But now, there are people who are helping me out.

"Amy, just call if you need me," Aiven forced a smile before leaving the room with Regin.

And now, Prince Marin was staring at me, like I'm some sort of a specimen to study.

"You know what, if you're a human, you should be dead by now. Honestly, I feel like you're not a human. Are you lying to me?" Prince Marin wrinkled his brows with narrowed eyes.

Well, now that he mentioned, I am not a human.

My father's not a human, so that makes me non-human as well.

But I don't think I have to tell him that. He can continue thinking that I am an average being, someone who's not from here until I find out the truth about my identity.

"Is this curse that bad? Maybe the effects are just slow."

I can't trust anyone right now, maybe except for Aiven. I'll have to lie for now and pretend that I know nothing.

I closed my eyes for a while, this pain is making me feel weak. Even though I had a quick nap, I still feel worse than earlier.

"Alright, I'll have to hold your hand, Amelia."

I nodded, then I felt his warm hands holding mine, then a weird sensation came over my body.

Starting from my fingertips, up to my heart, a sense of water flowing through my veins appeared.

The water was cold, and I can even taste it on my tongue -- seawater.

It was salty and frigid. But it is lessening the pain on my chest.

"Alright, three-- no, four. You have four choices on what we can do right now," he said with a quick tone, "One, we wash away the curse and let the caster live; two, wash the curse and kill them," I was shocked to hear the word 'kill' which made me open my eyes, but he had his eyes closed tightly, and he was focusing, "Or three, we wash the curse, find out the reason behind this, and kill them; or four, wash the curse, find the reason behind, or let them live."

I closed my eyes after he laid the choices which only basically composed of two things, let the caster live or kill her.

"What's your choice? Tell me now, time is our enemy here, Amelia. You can die any second now."

I took a deep breath, and I can feel his hand tightening the grip to comfort me, "Uh, four. Don't kill her." I answered.

"If that's your choice, then, I'll have to tell you that whatever pain you were feeling before I held you, will be doubled. And that can kill you. Are you still willing to choose that?"

I wanted to say no, but that is what I need. I have to know why they were trying to take me, and to whom they were planning to take me.

This might even be connected to my father.

"Yes, I have to know why she did this."

"Alright," Prince Marin whispered with a heavy sigh, "Brace yourself, Amelia."

I took a deep breath, then the flow on my veins got fast, the current even felt like it was washing my soul away from my body.

My eyes shut without my permission, then, a vision of a wide lake in the middle of a forest under a blue cloudy sky came to my mind.

"Do you see a lake?" Prince Marin said under his breath, like a storyteller, his soft voice made me visualize the place in a more sharp sense.

"Yes," I said as I look around.

"Dive in the lake, go to the deepest part. But you can stop if it becomes unbearable."

"Unbearable?" I asked.

I wanted to open my eyes, but I can't seem to have control over my body, which sent terror to me. What if I can't go back to my body? What if I won't wake up anymore? What if I get stuck in this lake?

"Pain, stop when the pain gets unbearable for you, Amelia. I told you that can kill you more than the curse."

Prince Marin's hands felt warmer than earlier, and the soft caress that his thumb does to my hand made me feel assured.

He won't kill me just because I know he has a crush on Princess Tellusia, right? He won't leave me here, right?

Even though he was annoyed, I know he's not the type to let someone die just because.

"Alright," I said, then I moved forward to the lake that seemed like a wide mirror of the sky, then I leaned forward.

I saw my reflection, and to my surprise, I don't even look like me.

"Wait, I don't have red hair! I'm strawberry blonde!" I creased my brows in surprise when the shade of my hair changed to the color similar to the sky when the sun is setting, " And my eyes... they're... oh it's the same color," I chuckled, I thought it also changed.

"Well, I told you, you're not human. You may not know it, but the lake of truth is filled with the sea of purity, that means whatever you see in this lake is the real thing. I don't know about you, but red hair is rooted in the alpha kingdom."

I saw my face darkened after hearing Prince Marin's words.

If I am from the Alpha kingdom, then, that supports my dream earlier where I saw my hand with fire.

If father is from the Foxtrot kingdom, then, that means mother came from the Alpha Kingdom.

Both of them are from this world. Both of them aren't human.

But why did they made me believe that I am a human? They even raised me in that world.

Both of them lied to me.

But, why can't I remember my dream? I have a feeling it did happen, but my memory doesn't hold such a scene.

"And, red hair only comes from the royal family... wait! Don't tell me you're some sort of royalty? Do you know how private the Alpha Kingdom is about their royal family? Like, there are no information about them!"

I felt my knees got weak after hearing what Prince Marin said, that I unconciously fell in the lake.

I just can't handle all the things that this Prince is telling me. I know he doesn't have any clue about my identity, but the revelations are getting heavier as long as he talks.

"Oh, right. You're dying," Prince Marin chuckled, "Sorry for the chit-chat, I just can't help it when it comes to secrets."

The moment my body was surrounded with cold water, the bubbles rising to the top, ears muffled with the silence of the water, I saw a light from the deepest part of the lake.

"Go, swim down," Prince Marin told me as I started diving. "We'll both see what's about this curse, so don't worry. If you can't understand something, I'll explain it to you. Oh, you can also breathe underwater, don't worry."

I rolled my eyes, he should've told me that before I even dove. I was trying hard not to breathe since I fell in this lake.

I tried to let out air, and I watched as the air bubble climb to the surface, then I took a deep breath, and he's right, it feels like I was not underwater.

"Can you see that?" I heard Prince Marin hurriedly said the moment a light came from my right side, through the stones, I saw an image.

"Look at it, let's see what it holds."

I swam towards the light, and we saw the three maids sitting on a carriage. They were not with the bride candidates when they arrived. That means, Regin was right, they're not a Gathrin Kingdom's servants.

The lady who cursed me was holding photography of me, it was a taken shot when I went out with my attendants to buy items, right after I came back from Aiven's house.

"Woah, would you look at that, someone's already following you around. And if a B-level knight like Sir Regin can't sense them, that only means, whoever was following you was much powerful than your knight."

The image came to a stop and the light suddenly vanished.

But what Prince Marin caught my attention, "That means whoever was following me was an A-level one?"

"No, not necessarily, it only means he's a higher-powered level B. Go on, swim further. And mind you, right after the third image we get to see, the pain will suddenly come without any sign. So stay strong."

I gathered all my courage and I swam to the next light I saw.

And what we got to see seemed to happen before their travel. That means the image is played backward. The next image we see happened before the previous image.

"See there, they're traveling through the land. This means they came from a place either from the Alpha or Gathring, Amelia."

"How'd you know?" I asked as they traveled backward through a forest.

"If you've seen the world map, you'll know that Alpha, Gathrin, and Delta kingdom are on the same continent. It's a massive land. Alpha sits in the north, Delta in the middle, and the small kingdom of Gathrin's located in the south."

"Then, they can be from the Delta Kingdom too?"

"Maybe, but this long travel only shows that if they're from the Delta Kingdom, they're from the borders. We can't tell now since we can only see land after land, trees after trees."

The next image we saw was rather confusing, the next thing we saw was the maids in a dark place. The only light was a couple of torches hanged on the walls.

The three of them were wearing cloaks with hoods covering their faces, and they're talking to someone.

When the shadow of the person they're talking to came to cover their own shadows, they bowed down.

Then the image stopped.

"We have to know who it is," I said then I hurriedly swam downwards.

"Hey! Don't swim too fast!" Prince Marin exclaimed, then I felt a wave that pulled me to stop, "I just told you, Amelia. The pain will come unexpectedly, and it'll be so painful. I don't want you to be hurrying up to meet your end."

"You said it might kill me, but it will not immediately kill me. So don't worry, I'll stop when I can't handle it anymore."

"Alright," he sighed, "Just don't die, alright?"

I smiled, I don't know if he can see me, but I don't want to kill myself when someone's trying to help me. I don't want to make him feel bad.

And he was right before I can even move a meter away from the spot, it hit me.

My whole body felt as if needles were piercing through me. I can feel my heart being torn apart, and my lungs felt like it's being filed with a suffocating acid.

"Amelia, just focus."

I don't feel like I can even move right now. Moving my limbs even felt like it's being yanked from my body aggressively.

I can feel every muscle on my body in agony and the bones felt like it's being shattered under my skin.

But I can see the next light. Just a few meters away, I'll know who they're talking to.

Just a few meters away, Amy.

Just swim.

"Alright," Prince Marin sighed, he sounds as if he can feel the pain on my body.

I watched the maids bowed, then my photo was given to them.

"Bring her here, she's needed now," said the person they're talking to.

His voice was astounding, it echoes around the room, and it sent chills through my body. The heaviness and low tone of his voice sounded like the voices you hear in horror movies. Even the fire in the torches shook from hearing his words.

"I'm needed for what?" I asked under my breath, even speaking kills me now.

My jaw felt like it's being ripped from my face, and the roots of my teeth shatter.

I saw the smirk on the person's face, and I was about to see his appearance, but the light suddenly darkened.

"No, no, no," I whispered while hitting the stone, "No, no, I have to see him."

I frowned when the light vanished.

The strength on my body was slowly diminishing, even my vision's slowly blurring, and my breathing becomes shallow.

"Amelia, you have to stop now. Your body can't handle the pain anymore," Prince Marin's voice was full of worry, and eagerness to bring me back.

"I have to know why they need me. Who that person is... and I have to know who I am."

"Amelia, it'll be useless if you die. I can't have Prince Forest getting angry with me, Amelia. Come on, he can kill me if he wants to."

Oh yeah, Prince Forest.

I suddenly remembered his cute hair, and smile.

I want to see him now.

I need him now.

But I have to know who I am. And I'm sure it'll be answered if I go on further.

"I have to... go on," I said with my breath being restricted by the pain on my chest.

Then I swam further, and as I move my hands, the veins on my body felt as if it's being ruptured.

My skin burned with the pain similar to having your knee scrapped. It was a sharp pain all over my weak body.

"Amelia, if you continue this, your heart will surrender, Amy. Your brain can handle it, but not your heart."

I tried to block out Prince Marin's voice, I can see the next light, it's near me.

Just a foot away.

Just an inch away.

A little more, I can finally understand who I am, and what is happening.

Finally, I'll see my real identity.

But then I heard Prince Marin's voice, as my whole world came to darkness.

"She's dead."