The cycle of being bullied by maids and going outside to the capital did not end. From small things, such as name calling and stares, to large things such as kneeling for hours upon hours and being blamed for something she hadn’t done, happened randomly. The beatings that she got after returning from the capital was the only thing Dupli knew would be coming. Stealing her food, continuing to break her basket and them giving her their own work, Dupli just continued to endure.

But, as she endured, she was also growing more and more independence…Even knowing that no one else was there to help her in any kind of way, didn’t make her sad anymore. She became her own best friend, mother and teacher, through sheer will power and determination of getting away from this place that she now calls hell.

In the next year, Dupli had finally learnt basic cooking, sewing and any other basic needs to survive alone.

Making a fire wasn’t as simple as she had thought, and she was now even learning a few things from flashes of memories, to help with Martial Arts or inner force, which she was luckily able to learn more about.

 

Having been punished at one time, she had to go to a remote area without food for a couple of days, Dupli had been able to find a few books that had explained what she had been feeling all this time.

What had surprised her the most, was being able to read it so easily!

Having read all of the books, even some that weren’t about Martial Arts or inner force, Dupli had been quite happy about her punishment.

Inner force had been already opened up for Dupli, as she couldn’t remember doing it after losing her memories. Seeing the procedure to be able to use inner force, Dupli really started to wonder what her life had been like, knowing she probably had accomplished this already. Inner force seemed to be something locked inside of everybody, but to break the seal to use it, requires quite an amount of work…

Dupli couldn’t quite understand much else, she could read the words but that didn’t mean she understood them. All she knew was, it was very hard!

Then, in an old book, she had learnt upon the Purity Priests, which explained what she had done to her shoulder and fever. The Purity Priests had the ability to intake pure air and use their inner force to control it. After being able to control this pure air, then one is able to cleanse and heal.

Dupli really couldn’t believe that she was able to do this!

To take in pure air seemed like a hurdle that she couldn’t think she had already done!

Yet, she can use it…She was…A Pure Priest…

 

***

 

Within this recent year, Dupli’s coldness was now famous amongst the maids, and a few didn’t bully her anymore, due to fear. Having found out a tiny fraction of who she was previously, Dupli had gained a strange sense of self and felt a supreme feeling start to rise within her…And somehow, others began to feel inferior to this little maid…

The glare Dupli could now give, chilled those who see it. It made others think that she contained power within her eyes, making them think twice about what they wanted to do.

Often, Dupli would stay away from each and every one of them, making them have to find her for their entertainment…But, luckily, the beatings didn’t go for as long as they used to, as Dupli would glare at them all and they could not handle it.

Once, because of Dupli’s glare, one had gone far enough as to scratch Dupli’s face. And for the first time, when this news was heard, Dupli had gotten somebody else punished. For a few hours Dupli stayed away from everyone and waited for her new mask. Not having to do work, as she couldn’t be seen with the princess’s face, Dupli could only sigh in knowing that this is something that won’t help her. Time of not working only made other maids mad…But, now, she knew that them attacking her face was something that got them into trouble too…

So…Dupli continued to glare…

 

Occasionally, Dupli would have to help herself get better, before they started talking about feeding her to the dogs. Even if she couldn’t somehow heal herself anymore, Dupli would strive to do as she was told, to survive and continue, knowing that she needed to get better, to change her circumstance. She knew that when it was time to leave this place for good, she had to be as healthy as possible. But, that feat had not been accomplished once since entering the hidden palace. Her health had slowly become worse and worse, as she had gotten feed less and less.

She would always run out of her inner force, because she was just too weak to do many things and had to always use it to help her complete chores.

Even though she would run out many times, she could feel herself grow within this inner force, as she was able to use more of it, which really came in handy.

It really had astonished everyone, how this little girl had lasted so long. It was also a reason they kept going, as they could still see she was up and about. It somewhat become their plan, to tip her over the edge, and it would always stun them to see Dupli stubbornly getting up the next day…A few maids had stopped harming her because of fear, but a few maids also stopped harming her because they couldn’t keep up with it anymore, finding themselves bored and wanting to move on to another person. To a certain decree, Dupli enduring to the best of her ability helped her and harmed her at the same time. It was a sad circle that she couldn’t escape from…

 

 

All her spare time was full of preparation of leaving, whether it was still learning to become independent or trying to find maps or figuring out the best time to disappear…

First, she had thought of leaving from the capital, when she was acting as the Princess. But, after her child mind remembered all the flaws to that plan, she decided to come up with another one. While she would be at the capital, she had guards around her and she was watched very closely. Then she remembered that she would also stand out because of her clothes. So, running while in the capital was not going to be a good option.

Her next choice was to run away on the way to or from the capital…

They wouldn’t have as many guards then, but it still seemed impossible for her body to run away from them all and that idea was too put away.

 

Next, she thought she should find a way out of the hidden palace and had found two places that led outside, and from there, she had to decide on where to go. Will she go to the capital or into the forest?

Either way was scary…

In the forest there were animals and darkness…In the capital there was the certainty of being on the streets…

It was a predicament for Dupli, who couldn’t seem to make up her mind on which way to go.

Finally, though, she realized that there was another way to go, and that was across the land to the east or west of the capital. She could venture out there instead.

After deciding to go to the west of the capital, because she didn’t want to go towards the water to the east, Dupli felt a surge of strength go through her.

Her journey was ready, she just needed to pack her small pack with some more food and water and then wait until the best time in the day for when she could leave.

Being afraid of being alone in the dark, Dupli found herself with no choice but to leave through the day, and the best time to do that would be close to when the sun would rise.

She could do it, just a few more days, and she’ll be gone…

 

And just as Dupli had finalized her plan to run away, another change of events happened…

This change of events seemed to have it so that the Princess was to return to the capital…The reason about this…Well, there were a few.

One was, the war, and another was…The assassination attempts…

 

***

 

A year ago, a strange thing had occurred, that had put the war to a standstill. The ground that the Kingdom of Eden was still on, become mostly pure once again…

It was a miraculous event, easily seen by everyone in the remaining five towns and capital of the Kingdom of Eden…Yet, no one seemed to notice a difference in the hidden palace…

Elsewhere, all the water was pure, all the flowers no longer were wilting and even King Antonio became healthier…

For a whole week afterwards, shock had gone through out the entire planet, even the country of Sondane was in shock, not even being a part of the war…

This news made others think that there was a Pure Priest around, trying to save their Kingdom, or that the land had seen too much viciousness and was fighting back on its own!

The news was that shocking that the war still did not continue after two weeks and both sides were wondering on what to do…It was well known, after all, that the Kingdom of Eden was for whoever won the war...If they couldn't get the Kingdom of Eden...

It was quite obvious to them both that this strange occurrence can be something that might obliterate them. The two countries at war tested the new borders of Eden in several locations and found that the purity went onto the person that was sent into it. Depending on how corrupted that person was, the change could be small to massive, showing that the land was most definitely different now and that they could no longer fight slowly closer towards the capital of Eden. The generations of today had only heard of such a thing happen, yet, they were completely mystified to see it truly happen in front of their eyes. It became so well known in the past, that people would always put it into perspective, but now...

What they hadn’t known, is that the land was purest where they were, as the ‘purity’, as it went inland and into Eden, dwindled the more it ventured out.

 

They were so close to two towns now but could only retreat further away from the obvious line of where the pure land starts. The ‘obvious line’ was the colour of the grass, and any flowers or weeds seen. Even the trees looked healthier in one area, but not far away across some invisible line, the trees looked normal.

The citizens of Eden started to change their minds on surrendering, even if there wasn’t a Pure Priest around, the land having changed, was enough to think that they were safe now!

Both countries, Metrious and Yullahra, distanced themselves further away from each other and after another couple of weeks, the war had been called off.

Within another two weeks, both armies were mostly all safely back within their own lands but found that their lands had not been regenerated back to centuries ago, like the Kingdom of Eden had been.

What else made them slightly upset, was that their spies had also changed who they were within the Kingdom of Eden and were no longer happy being a spy…If the purity of the land in the capital was just as good as the border, the spies would have killed themselves. A failure of a spy and knowing they wouldn’t want to continue their job would have depressed them into this kind of future. Instead, the spies were only slightly depressed and were able to see more, ending up changing their loyalty to the newly purified land, knowing of its advantages.

Other spies had to be sent and during this time the assassination attempts upon the Princess’s life had slowed down as well. There was so much change because of this land becoming pure, that all countries seemed to be on respite and stayed relatively quiet.

Both Kings in the countries of Metrious and Yullahra were quite confused as to why it had happened, and a few ministers tried to say that the planet was changing and that they should wait, thinking they knew more then everyone else, yet, they didn’t.

But someone had to try and continue on!

If they kept questioning things, nothing would ever get done!

 

Luckily, King Antonio was finally seeing that he and his country was now safe, for the time being, and started to make plans. Since his health had come back a short amount, giving him more time…He was more and more willing to remove the title of heir from his daughter, and place it upon his beloved son instead.

Seeing that there was no point in hiding the Princess anymore, the King decided to bring her back.

He, having to survive well to this day, found himself unhappy with the Princess’s conduct and felt he needed to make the best of the situation.

Hiding his son instead, at the hidden palace, he wanted to show the world his daughter as a camouflage. Having reports about her behaviour not becoming better, instead perhaps becoming worse, King Antonio was finding himself more and more fixated on naming his son the heir very soon.

He’d already made a last decree and hidden it, knowing that all he had to do was name a regent and the Prince should be fine. But, he was healthier now, so he kept the decree away, hoping it would never be needed now, as he should be able to make the Prince his heir before death.

But first, he had to think of a way to deal with this Princess of his.

 

Not being close to her, as he had not brought her up, but seeing as she is, he thought the best way would be to marry her off. Or to show the Kingdom of Eden of her personality, so that they would happily want to name the Prince the heir themselves…The last idea, was to have the assassins achieve their goal.

Most of this could only be achieved if she was to return back to the capital, and for the safety of the Prince, he had sent them away while this was all being done.

Bringing his daughter back, was gaining some time for his little son to grow up. The mountains being a last effort to save the royal line will be hard on him, so the longer they can last being closer to this green area below the mountains the better. It will also teach his son some hardship, as well as learn upon Martial Arts and inner force.

The hidden palace would be a lot livelier there with him this time, because the King sent up trainers as well.

Not only did he send the Prince to the hidden palace, he sent his new Queen there as well, knowing that she will be needed to put those people back in order!

Receiving an anonymous letter, directly to him, he found that what the letter held was truth. With no one to give thanks to, to this news, the King, on a few occasions, did wonder who sent this letter to him. Yet, he would never had guessed, in all his years, who it was from…

The maids and people around the hidden palace were quite nasty and the hidden palace had slowly become crude and disgusting!

Sending the Queen there will once again refurnish the hidden palace to bring it back to a respected place for royalty to hide.

King Antonio smiled slightly, he would miss both his new Queen and son, but having something so big happen and not change anything at all, would be stupid on his behave. He had to deal with his daughter and be able to bring his son back to the capital in celebration!

His Prince, was the most important person now to the whole Kingdom of Eden!

 

***

 

Strangely enough, Dupli was relatively surprised when most of the maids had stayed behind at the hidden palace and she was one of the ones able to go to the capital.

Her chance to run away should be better now, right?

Yet, her naïve thoughts were ruined upon entering the royal palace in the capital. Manservants were everywhere, and maids…Then there was the Royal Consort Muriel, who was a regular visitor to the Princess.

Now…There was less chance upon getting away…

 

***

 

The next time that Dupli became the Princess, she finally noticed one of the maids beside her. They looked different and it was quite an astonishing find to see that it was the real Princess! Her maid outfit was clean, her hair was up like a maid, but her face did look different, like Dupli’s did, with that mask on her face. The Princess’s mask didn’t look bad, but it definitely changed the colour to a darker toon and had freckles upon it. Dupli’s mask was more of a sickly nature, and bland, where as the Princess still looked quite stunning, even with the freckles and darker skin…

Had she been there this whole time?

That question really did worm its way through Dupli's thoughts for quite some time, as they paraded around the capital. Wanting to remember the past, Dupli found that she was having troubles…

She really couldn’t remember if this maid had been next to her this entire time or not…Yet, the simple bracelet that was on the Princess’s wrist sparkled and a strange emotion through her.

This bracelet had been seen once before…Where had she seen it?

It was really quite a normal looking bracelet, but for some reason, it looked very familiar to Dupli. But why?

Dupli let out an emotion that her cold face hadn’t shown for a while. Not only was the bracelet a shock, but she was still questioning on how long the Princess had joined her on the trips that they had made to the capital.

Then, suddenly, she remembered. The first time she was able to come out of the carriage, this maid was the reason why. She, having jumped off, had made the carriage stop. And she was very persuasive in making her get out of the carriage after that as well. But, how had she come and how did she leave?

In the carriage it was mostly just her and the nurse. It was really quite questionable…

Now that the pretend maid was noticed by Dupli, she couldn’t help but watch her more closely, and she saw that she would always be so happy…

She was putting her life on the line…For this person.

The happiness on that face made Dupli’s heart grow colder, her life was miserable, and yet, that person was so happy!

 

***

 

The first week in the capital had been fine, Dupli had been able to do her chores without any kinds of problems…

Having to do less work now, because there were maids helping her and doing more work, Dupli found herself having a bit of free time. The first day, she looked around the immediate area, and found that the Princess had her own courtyard and that she was somewhat within a wall that was being guarded.

Dupli was in a better maid’s quarters this time, the beds were softer and even had a quilt, but besides the maid’s quarters and the Princess’s quarters, there wasn’t any other building within this closed off area.

On the second day of her free time, Dupli found a small pond and small tree area. A flower garden was also around the other side of the Princess’s quarters and again, nothing else…

The third day, Dupli hid herself around the corner of one of the rooms inside the Princess’s quarter and found some books, it really was the first curiosity she had felt for such a long time!

Really wanting to find out what those books had in them, Dupli could only look longingly at them before leaving, just in case she was to get into trouble.

Apart from that, she dedicated her free time then to see what she could do about learning anything new or getting something ready for if she decided to leave once again.

Her food was a lot better now too, which meant she was able to gain some weight and felt more strength come back to her body. Able to have more freshly made food was even a bit scary to her at first, because she had only remembered eating otherwise. Fruits and vegetables seemed plentiful to her now, even though she had two bowls twice a day, then one bowl at lunch. But, it was still such a nice surprise to finally be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

But the second week, the Princess had intervened…

The maids were scared at first, as they were told to do something nasty to another. But as the weeks travelled by, the maids grew to be like the others at the hidden palace. Some had been quite vicious beforehand but had changed when the land had been made pure. But now, being put into this forced situation, some went back to the way they were beforehand, happily and easily.

Dupli finally understood why they were like the way they were…All this time…The Princess had been the one to let them do as they pleased.

Perhaps the Princess hadn’t started it, but since the hidden palace, the Princess thought that it was good entertainment and wanted it to continue.

And since Dupli was someone who was still around from the hidden palace, the Princess had tried to get Dupli to become the one to start the bullying herself.

She knew how it worked, why can’t she do it now? She could show all the other maids the tricks they used and names that were called.

But Dupli could not bring herself to make someone feel how she had felt!

No way could she make them feel utterly helpless and alone! She had been beaten to show marks for days, she hadn’t eaten well…How could she do that to somebody else!?

And for that reason, Dupli became the one to be bullied yet again. Her chores took longer, and she was given other chores from other maids as well, giving her less free time.

Even her food started to get tampered with and Dupli found that if it hadn’t been left out all day, then it was mixed with too much of something else, like pepper or chilli. And one bowl was now taken off her, so, there was only one bowl three times a day, making her lose weight once again.

The Princess gave the maids courage to continue and it did calm their thoughts to be outspoken and proud, pompous and loud.

And…Dupli had also defied the Princess’s orders, yet, couldn’t be killed…After all, she was going to save the Princess’s life…So, nothing could be put into action about Dupli’s determination about not following the Princess’s orders…

 

 

And saving the Princess’s life, is what Dupli did yet again.

Seeing the maid so happy beside her, had been really discouraging, and even made her time harder. The maid would suggest places to go and point, even leaving before the Princess, as though she was really the one they were out for…Dupli wanted to laugh and cry, because it was true. If she didn’t follow the orders, she would most likely be punished when she returned back to the palace.

The only thing that could be done, was continuing to pretend to be the one to lead but follow the maid instead.

Not needed to say anything, and her eyes searching for clues on were to stay or hide. Dupli had suddenly been put into a shadow.

“Greetings, Your Highness!”

Dupli found the man in front of her take her hand and gently kiss it. Then, when she looked up, a familiar feeling rushed through her, making her gasp.

He had beautiful, alluring, light blue eyes and brownish, blondish hair. His bangs went on both sides of his face, showing a wave and he had a small amount of stubble growing. His face was one that looked young yet manly, and his clothes showed that he wasn't a slave like her...Far from it. He had clean clothes that showed that he was closer to a noble and wore the colour blue...Dupli automatically thought that he looked really good in blue...

The man released her hand and gently smiled at her, he wanted to ask her so many things, yet, what could he say?

While Dupli was trying to come to terms of these familiar feelings, she had not moved at all, so the maid beside her bowed politely to the man and said, “The Princess is shy, my lord.”