Hidden Messages

Three times now, Lela had been put in a tight spot, once during breakfast, once during the ride around town, and the other in the Evening when Henley thought he was quiet for too long. And twice Lela thought she was going to get caught. Surely no one could tell right off the bat that she was different from the Princess because she had the same body, same hair, and same accent. It would be absurd for anyone to suggest that she wasn't the princess because things like these were not common. Hell, it took a while for Lela to believe she had moved to another world to take up an identity that wasn't hers. But they were unto her. Lela could feel it, someone- no, some people, preferably Henley, Cora, and even Fayan, were unto her. For Fayan, she wasn't sure if he noticed something was different about her since they didn't talk much and whenever they did, Lela almost always begged for her life to be spared. Henley and Cora though had been the ones egging some questions about her life before the accident, smirking as though they could see through her and they knew what she was hiding.

Teagan, again, had helped Lela maneuver Cora's unnecessary budding curiosity, telling her to let the princess be, she had been answering questions since morning and she wasn't fully recovered yet. Lela was grateful one more time to the first prince, who she thought she had to start suspecting since he knew the right things to say whenever someone asked her questions like that; it happened at breakfast with the royals and in the carriage, that afternoon three days ago.

"Although we must warn you. You have to be very careful, child" Fate and Order had warned in unison, the first night she met them, the night her soul left her body. Fate and Order, Lela thought, were con women, they knew the right things, they knew how to keep her away from trouble, but they never did anything to help, only leaving her in the dark, and making a fraction of her soul burn with fast-rising anxiety like it had the moment Henley stopped by her room.

Lela had only just returned from a much-needed walk with Kimi earlier. Lela had wanted to go out of the palace again in the morning, but she remembered just how tired and annoyed she was from having gone places she could barely remember the names to with Teagan and Cora. All she took back to her room from the trip that day was that Oswind was a big kingdom, King's Town was a big city, and the people of Owsind had a bias for non- cursed princes. Now exhausted from her walk, Lela lay on her bed, while she waited for Kimi to draw her a bath, when a knock on her door alerted an excited Kimi who had opened the door with a wide smile on her face, only for it to be wiped completely with once glance at Henley. Not that Henley was an ugly man, he had a face that rivaled the Queen's, having been born from the same womb; it was even said that his wife could not hold a torch to him in the beauty department, which Lela thought was true when she saw the woman at breakfast that morning.

"I've been meaning to have a word with you, Princess," Henley side-stepped into the room, that mischievous and sly family face watching Lela closely. Lela gulped. Kimi had helped Lela take off the clothes and the makeup she wore out, and she was in a long rose gold robe, the one she often tied around her body before showering and sometimes after. Being in that flimsy piece of clothing with a grown man lurking around didn't seem right to Lela, so she grabbed the closest thing next to her to cover herself with; her duvet.

"I think it is highly inappropriate for you to be in my room like this, especially at this hour," Lela's voice was a little shaky, but she doubted Henley noticed, he was too absorbed in his world of scaring the Princess to notice anything else.

Henley had smoothed out his shoulder pads and smiled, not once feeling remorseful, then said, " of course princess, I'm sorry," he wasn't sorry at all.

"I wanted to see you earlier but you were away for most of the day and I must relay my message to you right now. Forgive me," Henley bowed. Kimi's face scrunched up in disgust as she watched the corners of his mouth turn up in a mischievous smile as his head hung low. The man was up to something, and whenever Henley was up to something, it was never good.

"What is this important message?" Lela asked, she raised a brow as she adjusted the duvet around her body.

"It's nothing much, but I thought you were struggling and I wanted to help," Lela and Kimi cocked their heads to the side, they found each other's eyes, then they turned their gazes back to the older man.

"I know it has been almost twenty-one moons since you woke up, and you're still trying to understand yourself, and the incident that happened, and you must be scared of the guards right now. So I want to extend my arm to you. If you're having any difficulties, like health issues, especially mental issues, do not hesitate to let me know. I will do anything to help you feel better," Lela paled, the color draining out of her face as she watched the man. Her lower lips trembled, and Lela couldn't tell if it was his lopsided smile that made her tremble or his words that had a double meaning, his words that had a hidden message: I can tell you're hiding something.

Lela forced her brain to work, and she gave a small nod at Henley, who took her lack of verbal response as the end of the conversation then he exited her room.

Now, Lela and Kimi paced around her room, thinking of what Henley knows and how he knows it.

"He knows something," Lela whispered, the duvet long gone away from her body as she stopped just before her tea table, turning to Kimi who had stopped too to make her observation.

"He is suspecting it," Kimi fell to the floor, her hands going through her soft and short brown hair. Lela turned to the door, narrowing her eyes on the inanimate object. For all she knew, Henley could be on the other side of the door, listening in on what they had to say.

"He must know something to suspect it. Don't you think so?" Lela whispered, twirling a loc of her hair. Kimi nodded her head, that made sense. But one thing she knew was that Henley was a logical man, he wouldn't go about blabbing things he was not sure of. He had to have evidence, and this was how he wanted to go about it. Kimi got up from the carpeted floor and walked to Lela's bed.

"His suspicions might be wrong, and that is why he is not saying anything in particular. If he knew what was going on, he would walk up to you and tell you to your face what is wrong with you and how he would use it against you if he ever needs to," Kimi had always been too smart and too logical for her age, Lela thought. She thought things through, and thoroughly before opening her mouth even though she could act and say dumb things sometimes.

"What I know is that Henley wants to scare you, and if you act scared, he would know something is up, and he would come after you until he finds out what it is. I say we give him a show of how unbothered you can be," Kimi finished. Lela clapped her hands and nodded her head, fascinated at Kimi's brain power.

"I just wish you could get your memories back, so he would get off your back forever," Kimi added, folding the duvet that was briefly forgotten.

"I doubt what would ever happen," Lela murmured, thinking back to when she'd told Fate and Order that she'd get into trouble for not having the Princess's memories. Lela wasn't sure Kimi heard her, and if she did, she ignored her.

"Why do people call him the red prince? Or the cursed prince?" Lela changed the topic. Kimi paused to look at the princess. The princess was staring absent-mindlessly at the carpet. No doubt bothered about Henley being on her back.

"I do not know the details, but if the rumors I have been hearing are anything to go by, the second Prince is cursed. People say he has a death curse that makes him kill people mercilessly," Kimi whispered, looking around her like there suddenly were people in the room and she was scared they'd hear her talk.