Upon leaving Lord Wiltsing’s estate, Dupli was polite and did not stay longer.

Nathan could only watch her leave, knowing that she was really unhappy. He had tried to coax her for days, but nothing seemed to crack her shell now. Her walls were solid, having forced her heart into some kind of depth that he could only dream about. His thoughts had taken him to a few ideas on why she acted this way but was still unsure if any of those ideas were real.

He could only work on what he did know, and that was, she wasn’t the real Princess, her nanny was nasty to her and that she was carrying a heavy burden. She was unhappy and detached, making him believe that she was used to being bullied. She was also hiding a very beautiful person in amongst all that sorrow, one he very much wanted to dote upon again, to see that genuine smile…Yes, he had thought about this girl to such an extent…

Seeing the nanny be helped up onto the carriage, because of her broken leg and very sore ankles, Nathan sighed as the carriage left.

“What is the matter, my boy?”

Nathan looked at his father, “Nothing.”

“The King will ask for an audience soon…What are we going to tell him?”

Looking back at the carriage, Nathan still barely knew that person…Yet…

“I don’t think she will marry me, father. We can say that the Princess’s stay went well and just leave it at that.”

“You don’t think she’ll marry you? Don’t you want to marry her?” His father personally thought that they had gotten on well together, hadn’t they progressed that far?

“I don’t know.” Nathan sighed and walked into the house.

 

***

 

Dupli waited until the Lord Wiltsing estate was out of sight, then looked at the nanny, who was glaring at her. “Who are you!?”

Dupli stood and hit the nanny around the neck and shoulder areas.

Staring at the nanny who had fainted away, Dupli smiled, “I am someone that is now free!”

Taking off the Princess’s clothes, the stashed maid clothes in them that she stole from Lord Wiltsing’s estate, fell down in the bundle.

Getting dressed again, then redoing her hair and taking off her jewellery, she become a maid once again.

Opening a small purse, that she now takes with her everywhere, she got out the mask and placed it over her face.

Wanting to take the jewellery with her to help, Dupli hesitated.

She hated it!

She hated anything to do with the Princess!

Rushing out of the moving carriage, she rolled heavily along the ground and then quickly hid behind a tree.

In her haste to leave that wretched life, she hadn’t thought about the coachmen stopping the carriage.

Seeing the carriage stop, Dupli hissed and then ran away, trying to hide herself in the small number of bushes and trees, that were on either side of the road.

She did not look back, nor did she stop. She wanted to run to the other side of the world! Never wanting to see the Princess or those maids ever again!

She was even so mad as to think that she didn’t even want to see that man again!

Tears pricked at her eyes and a sad smile slowly formed on her face…For all that she endured, and what she had now, the past and future were now hers. That man…Didn’t belong…With her.

She was now free…She was free! Why be sad, she should be happy!

Putting her arms out and turning around in circles, Dupli started to finally feel like she had accomplished the worst part of her life…

Now, she could finally start to live properly…Do something that counted!

Breathing out deeply, she stopped moving and decided that her real life…Started right now!

 

***

 

Within two years…Many things happened.

Not only did Sebastian force his way in to see King Antonio, he asked for the Princess’s hand in marriage and showed that he was the Pure Priest, by healing the King. These matters didn’t go as quickly as said, but once the King was healed, his mind seemed easily changed to what Sebastian wanted it to be.

Being granted permission to marry the Princess, they were officially engaged.

Dupli, having disappeared, the nanny ended up breathing her last. The Princess did not care at all, that this nanny had been with her since birth, and watched with her own eyes as the nanny had died.

Not only did Dupli know of their secret, of using her as a duplication, but they owned her, and people you own shouldn’t run off!

But, they couldn’t widely search for a maid, as her secret couldn’t be released. So, they never found her…

When Nathan had gone to the capital with his father, they had told the King the visit had been good. That they were thinking of not staying in the capital though and asked to perhaps meet another time.

Their straight forward refusal to stay long, was an obvious answer to the King, that the second son was not interested in his daughter.

But he had a strange, new future son in law that seemed to accept the Princess anyway. So, the King did not show any discord to Lord Wiltsing and his second son at all, even gifting them a small precious item in thanks for taking care of the Princess.

Nathan didn’t leave straight away though, he went to meet the Princess formally and found that he had been right.

The person who had come to their residence, was not the person that he had met in the capital!

 

Upon knowing this, Nathan discretely stayed in the capital a short time, to investigate who the other person was…But never found her.

Having spoken to a maid from the Princess’s courtyard, by getting someone to take her by force, Nathan had questioned her and all she could say was that a maid named ‘Dupli’ had disappeared and that she was probably dead.

Sending the maid back, Nathan was sad to this ‘Dupli’s’ unfortunate life…

But, having thought on it for a day and having her disappear…At the same time that he met the Princess at his residence, Nathan had a bad feeling…

Unfortunate…Never came back…Probably dead…

Leaving the capital, to return home. Nathan could only feel bad for not trying harder to help her. In the depths of his mind though, he desperately hoped that the person he was looking for, was not this unfortunate maid that had apparently died. He would not believe it possible, he could not. For…If it were her…

Nathan felt cold shivers travel through him, as he remembered that first night the ‘Princess’ had been at their home…‘Who are you?’…’..upli.’

The whispered answer…It was so close to Dupli…Please don’t be this Dupli! Please!

 

Sebastian visited the Princess once one night and noticed a change in her straight away.

He had not come at all to advance on her, he just wanted to spend time with her…

She was clingy and excited…And he was not…After all, she had a word that needed to be said, for him to change from being a big brother…

Sebastian ended up leaving, deciding that he won’t see her at night for a while.

One other time, that he was able to see the Princess was while she was out, but he found that, once again, she was not the same and had changed. The only familiar thing about her, was that bracelet on her wrist and her familiar face…Everything else seemed off…Wrong!

Only spending a small amount of time in her presence, Sebastian then found himself annoyed.

Remembering the conversation that they had, when she had been sick at Lord Wiltsing’s residence, Sebastian could only sigh and do what he must, to stay by her side.

Perhaps…It was a test…

But not long after that, the King had respectfully asked him if he could help heal the Queen and if he would become a teacher to Prince Heath.

At this time, Sebastian was thinking that it was probably a good idea and accepted. For some strange reason, he felt that there wasn’t much need to worry about the Princess’s safety and that getting away for a short time, might be exactly what he and his beloved needed…

 

Over the time, Sebastian saw less and less of the Princess and focused on the Prince. He normally didn’t get himself into matters such as this, but the Princess didn’t seem to want to change back. And, he was having trouble accepting this new personality of hers. Once, he had even seen her being cruel to a maid…

It was not what he was used to at all. As far as he was aware the maid hadn’t done anything wrong, and his beloved never liked to harm others unless it was necessary, especially when they had done nothing to her to begin with…

But seeing this being done, had reminded him of the maid ‘Dupli’ and over a couple of months, her face grew more and more in his mind. His heart was faltering once again, and he finally wanted to find out what was going on with the maid that he had not seen since she had been seriously hurt, nearly six months ago.

When he finally decided to find out, his heart had been clenched on pictures in his mind, on how she had been enduring all this time. But he had not expected…To find out that she was dead.

He had been the one to take a maid himself, coming from behind, so that he couldn’t be seen. But when he had heard that ‘Dupli’ had disappeared over five months ago and was assumed dead. He felt himself go weak.

He remembered how weak she was and how she had auburn hair.

Having not seen if she had the mole on her arm, Sebastian suddenly felt like he’d lost his world. Dark, dim and bland.

Had he chosen the wrong one?

But, at the estate…

Not caring that the maid had turned to see his face, he picked himself up and left…

He was supposed to have gone back to the Prince, but he could hardly stand properly at the moment.

If ‘Dupli’ had been Davina…He had totally let her down!

There was not even a chance to see if she had that mole…There was no chance of seeing her at all!

It had been close to six months with no one caring…They didn’t even know what happened to her body, they didn’t know how she officially died. He could hear the indifferent way they had told him, the way they seemed as though they wanted to shrug it off…How could a death mean so little…

She…Was gone…

With this sudden news and his strong feelings towards this maid, Sebastian also mysteriously disappeared…

 

***

 

Dupli had indeed come to an end…As she named herself differently. Kaira was her name now.

She had thought of going back to being Davina, but she had not wanted to think that she was becoming her past. She was different now, having gone through…Well, she had gone through enough that she didn’t want to go back to something that seemed more like a fairy-tale. Not only was that older lady that had seemed to look after her back then, that perhaps saved her life, was no longer with her…But, that man…He was in love with someone else…

Kaira was determined to start fresh, find other things that were special and make sure that she makes the best of her time from now on. All that time of her life, where she had nothing, she wanted to find things to give her life meaning…

Over the last two years, Kaira had slowly remembered who she used to be, before the Royal Consort had found her in the river.

To a certain decree of remembering all of these now unlocked memories, they helped her become stronger.

Her childhood was good, with her big brother and an older woman. They hadn’t been involved particularly in any of the countries and were just by themselves with a little house.

She had been enthusiastic about learning…She wanted to know everything! Yet, that hadn’t seemed to change…

Learning Martial Arts, inner force, learning how to read and write…As much as she wanted it then, she also wanted it now as well!

But the basics was all she was able to learn, as she had no more time before she had been forced to run away.

She loved chimes…Still loves them…And had wanted to have things her way a lot, even finding other ways to get things to go her way…Often, she had done something hard to accomplish and stated she must have a reward for completing it…And then there had been some strange instances that she wanted to use force to change something, like that of the frog and wanting it to walk instead of jump.

She had not understood why people had to sleep lying down, and had tried to sleep on her feet instead, having thought using inner force will make it happen. Another time she had used inner force, was when she had put her own hair up…That hadn’t worked out well either…

She had been addicted to inner force and had always wanted to use it, but she had only been able to use it for a year before she had been chased away…

Kaira could only laugh at her previous, cheeky self. But, slowly, as two years went by, she was becoming herself once again.

And she was just as stubborn as ever!

 

***

 

First, after running away from being ‘Dupli’, she had been living in an abandoned hut, in a forest. Getting her own food and keeping herself relatively clean…She made bow and arrows and tried to use them but wasn’t much good at it. In which she ended up breaking them because she felt terrible about having wasted her time in the first place to make them…

She then started to wonder what she was going to do. She was free now, and all she had done was stay in the forest…Wasn’t she going to be free and do something?

Being such a nobody before, she had gotten used to thinking that she couldn’t go out and do as she pleased. Having taken at least a week to see this, she had become upset that she was still living a little bit like Dupli, the name and person she wanted to break free from in the first place!

Yet, here she was…Still afraid…

She didn’t know what to do to change this, all she knew is that she wanted to change it. She wasn’t Dupli anymore!

She said it out loud, then yelled it to the forest around her!

“I am not Dupli anymore!”

Breathing heavily afterwards…Kaira had felt better!

 

Also, Kaira seemed to have seen the end of her mask…As it started to fall off.

It wasn’t like they lasted for live, but it was just bad timing for her to need a new one.

The hut that supplied her mask in the first place, was…Somewhere…And she wouldn’t know how to do it by herself. So, what could be done, but live without it?

She felt like there was a bad reason to not having her mask, but she had no idea where to go to get another one.

Trying to think of what she was going to do for her new, awaiting future, she remembered the house in her dream…

It had been near water, the big sea of water…

Kaira wondered if she should go there instead. Maybe it will help her remember, or maybe there was something valuable still there that would help her.

But, what was she to do with it, even if she did find something? What if the bad man were still there!?

Never have held money before, she found the situation helpless…

The more and more she thought about what she could do, the more she got confused.

She was alright here, being able to eat and survive, but it’s like she was hiding. Was she going to hide forever?

Kaira really was at a loss now. She didn’t regret leaving her cage, but she still hadn’t learnt enough about the outside world.

As it was, she was still scared of the dark and the howling in the forest…Luckily, she hadn’t been in any bad way when it comes to the animals in the forest. If she needed to protect herself, she used her inner force and waited to be scared until the fight would be over. One time she had killed a big bear and after she had killed it, she had shivered so much that she wasn’t able to skin it properly…

But, all this time in the forest had helped her get better and better at protecting herself…And she must protect herself, that was first!

 

***

 

For the first six months after her escape and gaining her freedom, she stayed in the forest and tried to remember any kind of Martial Arts training and inner force training.

But, she had run out of ideas and believed she finally had to leave this forest.

Gotten a little more mature, as the time had gone by, Kaira was able to handle the howls and darkness now.

She was also growing stronger through not just her Martial Arts but eating a lot more meat as well.

She really hadn’t been ready to run away, when she had first thought about it back at the hidden palace. She wouldn’t have lasted very long at all! Even though she had been treated very poorly, she was glad that she had stayed at the hidden palace all that time ago.

It saddened her though, because she started to realize that she had been different, that the other maids had not gone through what she had. Was it because she was the ‘duplicate’ to the Princess? Was it because she had looked different with the mask?

Thinking back to all the times they had punished and hurt her, Kaira hated that she did still have to stay there and go through all that pain…Knowing now that she would have died if she had run away, but having to go through what she had, it felt like she still lost…Even now, six months later, she didn’t feel safe, she was still afraid…She was still hiding!

Having learnt to skin, sew and cook, she had stayed warm and well feed. The only thing she lacked was more variety of vegetables. She could only find two and after six months…That was boring…

But the best thing, after gaining her freedom, was her thoughts. Her thoughts had slowly changed. She no longer thought of ending her life, in fact, she was thrilled and totally happy with her circumstances. Even though she was by herself and still somewhat afraid of leaving the forest, she knew she was still a lot better then what she had been previously, when she was a maid. Everything was great! Well, compared to what she had before, it was great!

Getting dirty was great! Getting shocked at seeing a spider was great! Doing Martial Arts, cooking for only herself, making crude attire for herself to wear, having turned thirteen!

Her life was hers and…It was great!

 

But…It was time to leave, as even vaguely remembering her dreams, didn’t seem to help improve her inner force and Martial Arts anymore either. Although, some weren’t dreams…They were nightmares…But she had to learn to overcome her fear…What else was she to do? She didn’t want nightmares to ruin her life!

So, when she was awake, she would completely forget her nightmares, which helped her become strong enough to do the last step outside of the forest…To venture out into the unknown…

Leaving the forest, she tried to figure out where she was.

When she had gotten off the carriage and ran, all that time ago, she had run south, away from the capital, but it seemed she still really wasn’t that far away from Gulberg. It was seen in the far distance and Kaira wondered if she should go there.

She needed a sword for more training in Martial Arts, as using a stick didn’t really help her anymore…It would always break when she used it…

Following the forest line, closer towards Gulberg, Kaira was still trying to figure out what to do.

Perhaps walk around a bit, eat a few different things…Wouldn’t she need a library? Read a few books, then maybe go back into the forest again?

The idea didn’t sound too bad, especially when the forest felt safer to her then being anywhere else right now, but the only library she knew of, was at…Lord Wiltsing’s residence…Which apparently wasn’t even a real library…

 

Stopping in her tracks, Kaira wondered if she should go to Lord Wiltsing’s estate but thought against it. If they saw her…What would she do? Or…What would they do? She had been there as a Princess!

Kaira shook her head, no she can’t go there!

She really didn’t want to find any kind of trouble…She wanted to avoid any kind of punishment!

Just because she hadn’t received any kind of punishment in the last six months, didn’t mean she wasn’t scared of it anymore. Kaira was still scared to see anyone that might know of who she had used to be, then…

Deciding to see if there might be another library in Gulberg, she started to head towards the city. Having this one goal in mind, made her feel better. Surely, if she only had one goal, wouldn’t it be easier to accomplish?

Just one thing…One…

 

Gulberg being a pretty well protected area, even though the wall wasn’t really that high, nor was it thick. The guards were only guarding the entrances but not on top of the wall, as the war was long over now.

And Kaira wanted to walk right in, but the guards had stopped her.

“Miss, do you have a pass?”

What’s a pass?

Kaira could only look at them helplessly, “No.”

“Then there is no entrance, you must have a pass!” The guard looked beyond her, even though there was no one there at present.

“How do I get a pass?” Kaira asked.

The guard looked down at her, astonished. She was just a little girl of thirteen at this time. Her innocence seems to soften the guard and he said, “Your mother and father will provide you with a pass, young one.”

Looking down, Kaira put her hands behind her back and got sad. Biting her lip, she determinedly looked up and said, “If I don’t have a mother or father, how do I get a pass?”

The guard looked at the lone girl and suddenly felt for her. Was she alone then?

“Orphans can be let in if they are checked.” The guard said. He nodded to the other guard and he disappeared, then he looked back at the little girl.

Kaira looked up at him, and smiled, “Then can I be checked?”

The guard nodded, “Just wait.”

 

But, she had now waited an hour, even taking refuge near the wall, where there was a small shadow.

Bringing her legs in against her, she looked even tinier and the guard continued to check on her and guard at the same time.

The other guard returned, nodding at the other guard and stood back at his post.

Ten minutes later, a man came out, “Where is the orphan?”

After him was a maid, carrying a box.

Kaira hadn’t moved, she had fallen asleep ten minutes ago because of boredom.

Always working prior to running away, she realized that when she did nothing for a long period of time, she would just fall asleep. She hadn’t thought that she should stay awake, so she let her tiredness take her to sleep, thinking she was relatively safe…It’s not like she totally trusted the guard, but she hadn’t done anything wrong and she was just getting so tired…

“Here young lord. I think she might be sleeping.”

The man looked at the lone girl and looked at the maid, “Start checking her.”

 

As the maid went to the girl, the man went to the guard, “Did she say what family she was from? Where she had come from?”

The guard shook his head. It wouldn’t be the first time an orphan had knocked on the town’s door. Even orphans from other countries had come here on the occasion.

“She did say, young lord, that she did not possess either a father or mother. She seemed to not know that she needed a pass, nor did she know how to obtain one.”

The man nodded, “She mustn’t know much then, I will guide her from here.”

“Yes, young lord.” The guard said.

The man looked at the girl, seeing that she was dirty, and her attire was crude and not of cloth they used in town. How long had she been by herself!?

He saw that she had nothing on her feet and that they had a few scratches, some old, some new.

Sighing, the man hated this part of the town…Abandoned children, and children who had lost their parents through any other means, was sad. It made him feel lucky about his own family and had found out not long after he was sent to organize this part of the town, why his father had sent him there. Not only to learn business and how to organize, but to remember how lucky he was and not to take things for granted…