Chapter 5

Questions

I went back to my room, instantly putting on a blue nightgown. It was the only nightgown Alice ever owned, and the only vivid color out of all of her clothes.

I checked to see if my roses were still intact. It was starting to droop, but the colors of the petals were still rosy red just like they seemed when they were plucked. I detected a note beside the vase.

The note reads, Meet me in the library. -M.

It’s definitely who I believe it is. Taking a peek out of my room, hmm. I haven’t exactly explored inside the palace yet, so I have no clue where the library is, nor would I know if the Rose Palace even has one.

Noticing Thoren holding a silver platter with sweets. My mouth began to drool, but I hastily wiped it before he noticed, “Thoren,” Performing a little wave to attract his attention, “Do you know where the library is?”

“Go down to the west corridor, the fourth door to the left is the library. It’s right next to Vasilios’ room.” He added.

“That’s so far...” I whispered, “Theron, are you taking those sweets to brother?” I asked.

“His highness had finished eating his sweets. These are his leftovers.”

What?! He’s wasting perfectly delicious sweets. They don’t look like they’ve been touched!

“May I take some to bring with me?”

“Take whatever you desire.” He smiles.

…

I hope this is the correct door. I opened the door and saw Michael floating in the air, reading a book before capturing his interest.

“Alice, what's been taking you so long?” He closed the book and placed it right where he had discovered it.

The beam of lights coming out of the windows reflected through his hair, and giving his eyes an enticing silver hue.

He saw me hold a plate full of mountains of sweets, “How kind of you to bring in snacks for me!”

He drifts towards me and snags the plate out of my hand.

“Wow, these are delicious!” He said, with food still in his mouth, “So, what was your question from before?”

..I was actually reserving that for myself. I sighed, right now I need to focus on getting my questions resolved.

“If I interfere with the events, will the story change?” I asked.

“Hmm.. As one would expect.” He retorted, “Ooh, do you want to be the heroine now? Got tired of being a standby?” Michael teased.

“No way!” I abruptly answered, “And Michael, how dare you place me in Alice’s body!”

“What’s wrong with being an Alice, Alice~?” He snickered.

“That’s not what I meant,“ Pouting, “Alice happens to meet her demise by 15! I’ll die right before the game ends!”

“Oh, that’s tough luck. Supposed that’s payback for addressing me as an old man.” (referring to chapter 1).

“Michael! How could you be so calm about this?! I’m daunted of dying in this world, without comprehending what will happen to me back in my original world!” Squeezing the tip of my dress.

Michael stuffs a slice of cake in his mouth, “Quit overreacting, once you die you’ll just go back to your primary body. But you’re not the kind of person to get yourself easily killed.”

“..What?” My eyes widened, “I figured the only way to go back was to end the game..”

Michael smiles, “Yes that’s also a way to go back, but since you were just going to play along, I was expecting you wouldn’t run into trouble in this world..”

Pausing for a moment before proposing another question, “So.. does that mean there are other ways to go back to my world?”

“Yep, but it’s less likely you’d know about them. Even a few are unknown to me.”

“Hey, Michael, Why was Alice living with the Myrilles family? There was nothing written in the game that Alice had lived with a noble family.”

Michael snatched the last bit of sweet from the tray, “I don’t know about the Mayhem Wonderland game myself, but that could perhaps be related to logic.”

“Logic..?” I muttered.

“Listen, Alice, as much as you know this world revolves around Mayhem Wonderland. These people are no longer fictional characters. They're real people that live in this world.” He hovers slightly above me, delivering me back the plate.

“So then-“ A voice interrupted me.

“What are you doing in my library?” The voice spoke out in a rash tone.

Quickly turning around to find Vasilios standing by the opened door.

“Brother!” I looked back at Michael, but he already departed, “I was just um..” Looking around to provide a plausible excuse.

I saw a teddy bear with a red ribbon wrapped around its neck sitting on one of the study tables next to me, “I was telling stories to mister teddy!” Blurting out a lie, pointing at the teddy.

Vasilios’ eyes widened, “That..”

Did I say something wrong? Was my lie too obvious? My palms started to sweat.

“Tsk,” Vasilios glared at me, “You’re being too loud. Take your stupid teddy bear with you. It’s too late for a child like you to be wandering around at this time.”

..Aren’t you also a child as well?!

“Brat...” I said under my breath as I watched him walk out of the room.