.

One day, while Lei was folding laundry, A maid approached her. 

Lei stopped twirling the sheets in the barrel of water and turned to the maid, wiping her hands on her maid uniform. 

"What is it?" Lei asked, and the maid scratched her head. 

"Ah, We would like it for you to go into the attic this time…" 

Lei's eyes lit up. Then she paused. "Why can't you do it?"

"Everyone is scared of the monster in the attic." The maid said, and Lei paused. Monster? Better to find out what it was. 

"Sure. I'll go." Lei said, taking the pile of books that the maid was holding. Soon enough she had walked down the stairs that led to the attic, and into the grim foyer that held Alderia's cell. She stopped when she heard voices. 

Familiar voices of her parents.

"What should we do with her…." came a faint murmur. Lei instantly hid behind a wall, putting her ear to the brick. 

"Kill her." came the prompt reply, slightly louder than a whisper. Lei held her breath. Who they were talking about, she didnt even need to guess. Alderia. She was going to be killed. Now, Lei stepped out of the shadows, the books clutched to her chest, and said, "My king and queen? The books are here."

Lei's parents were what she liked to call 'Two-sided snakes'. In front of other people, even if it was just as a way of formality, they had always acted like angels, but to her, they had never given her a moment of attention or validation. 

But now they were smiling at her. 

"What a good maid you are. Please give them to me." Her mother said, eyes folding up in a smile. Both of their hairs had gone grey, but other than that they were exactly how Lei remembered them. Graceful, ancient figures who changed personalities like the wind. Lei almost cried, but she bit her lip and helped the books out. Her mother took them, and Lei quickly hurried out. Alderia didnt even look at her, which was good because if she had betrayed that Lei visited her, it would have been over for both of them. 

Lei dashed away from the attic as fast as she possibly could. 

She wanted to be free from all this grief, sorrow, and struggles. 

But they kept following her.