Chapter one - Am I a child?

"That would be 5 silver coins."

"Be sure to get the *meatiest* one Alex." The prostitute winked at me and gave the 5 silver coins as payment.

"You can count on that Sylvia," I said back and brought my list out. This is the 8th order for this week. The festival for the victory of the first prince will last for a week. Prince's and the prime minister's from other countries were to visit as well the second day. I had been planting and harvesting Crystals for uses such as food, crafting, and mostly medicine. I have been handling the pharmacy for three years since the old man's death. I gathered my tools and went out to harvest the crystals, herbs, and mushrooms. I took my phone out and turned on the flashlight. My phone isn't very useful but it still makes me wonder why the battery never drained.

The crystals are mostly found hundredths of kilometers inside caves. They are very hard to find if you're going to mine them, but since I have found a way to grow them, I didn't have to go hundredths of kilometers below the surface for it. I entered the cold cave that I set up, the "refrigerator". I still remember Mer's reaction when I introduced it to him.

'It has been seven years huh?'

I can still remember the time I appeared here vividly.

...

*Chirp*

"What...the hell?" I found myself in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and shrubs.

'What am I wearing?' I looked down at myself and saw a large torn pink dress covered in blood. The hell have I been up to? Am I on drugs? I haven't been drinking right? Is this a prank? I might be hallucinating. I started asking so many questions to myself. I looked around saw my backpack not too far from me. I tried to stand up when I felt something restricting me from doing so.

'Am I wearing a corset?!' I touched my stomach and instead of feeling my stomach, I felt a hard cage that hugged not only my waist but my whole torso. God, that's why I can't breathe properly! How the hell do you remove this thing? I struggled for I don't know how long and almost ripped my clothes off. I gasped for air after removing the tight-laced binding on my body.

'Now time for this big cage.'

I removed my whole dress and removed the bloody cage that was supporting all the heavy fabric. I was left with bloomers and a top. I looked at my body and there was a huge wound that reopened. I didn't even feel that earlier. It was a wound that started from my right shoulder to my left hip.

'How did I survive?' When my back started to sting and my body ached, that's when I realized that it wasn't a prank at all. Was I kidnapped? Was this some kind of disgusting sadistic fetish? I walked over to my bag and rummaged through my stuff and turned on my phone.

'0:00?' There was no signal so I can't make a call. I looked inside my bag and there were only my reference notebooks and my pen. That's weird. The last thing I remember was me in the library, I'm sure that I fell asleep there. I would've woken up if someone were to move me, much less someone changing my clothes. Why was I covered in blood anyway?

'I sure do hope that It didn't come from a human.' I just pretended that It was cow's or pig's blood. I stood up and looked around. I hear running water but I don't know where it's coming from.

I wandered around towards where the sound was and would you look at that. It paid off. I started washing when I suddenly saw my reflection.

'When did I have long hair?' I looked at my reflection and touched my face. I look the same but... different? I couldn't point out what it was but I felt different. I wasn't the boring looking woman with thick glasses at all. My pale skin doesn't look pale, it resembled glass. My eyes, though still absent of life, were innocent and large.

'I look young.'

I suddenly heard a rustling not far away from me. I didn't react fast enough to hide when someone came out from the bushes.

"๏ђ ๔єคг ﻮ๏๔!" A man exclaimed. I flinched and was ready to run when he started speaking. "ąཞɛ ყơų ąƖཞıɠɧɬ?" I didn't understand him at all. I looked at the old man dumbfounded, I didn't feel any bd intention coming from him, his voice was soothing. It reminded me of my grandmother. He put his basket down and held his hand up as if to show me that he didn't have anything to hurt me. He easily caught on that I didn't understand him so he slowly moved.

"เՇ'ร ๏кคץ ๔єคг, ɭєՇ ๓є ђєɭק ץ๏ย." He held plants and showed them to me. I wanted to run away but who am I kidding? With a huge gash on my back and tired limbs from walking, I might as well be dead by now.

I didn't run away and just sat down. The old man looked at the state of my body and had his eyes furrowed.

"ฬђ๏ ฬ๏ยɭ๔ ๔๏ รยςђ ค ђ๏ггєภ๔๏ยร Շђเภﻮ!" He started babbling angrily as he began mixing some type of green paste.

"Hold on a second! What is that?" I stopped him from even getting that weird mixture near me. One thing I learned in medicine is "never trust DIY's!" They're mostly done by unlicensed and unprofessional people who don't want to spend money.

"๔๏ภ'Շ ฬ๏ггץ, เՇ'ร ๓є๔เςเภє." He gestured at the opened basket and showed me herbs. I recognized plants such as- Calendula, Yarrow, Epheandra, and cleavers. I was familiar with all of the plants. They're mostly medicinal and used for tea. I trusted the guy and let him apply whatever the paste was, to me.

"Շ๏ ค ςђเɭ๔ คร ฬєɭɭ?" He sighed and started mumbling as he was washing my back slowly and applied the paste to my wounds. I started wondering how small I was compared to the old guy. I looked at the river again and stared at my blurry reflection.

'Am I a child?' How could I be? Why was I beaten half to death with wounds? Why was I wearing a dress? Why am I in the middle of nowhere? Who did this? I haven't offended anyone, have I? Unless that hag sold me? Why would she, she already has money to support 10 luxurious lifestyles all at the same time. What I do know is that I'm capital F*CKED. I'm already in my final year in medicine, I was about to graduate.

My head started hurting from getting irritated by the unanswered questions inside my head. I started feeling light-headed and the next moment...I passed out.