SEVEN

In a few minutes, the chickens were falling dead on the floor, like they were not just lying all over the place a few seconds ago.

"Just as I suspected. The princess had been very healthy, so for her to suddenly throw up..." Irkal said her sentence trailed off at the end.

"How do I get to tell the Emperor about this without offending him?" Xisuthra said contemplating.

He had also suspected that the princess was killed, but who would dare kill the princess and sabotage the chance of peace in the kingdom?

"We better get back to the palace," Xisuthra said, turning on his feet.

Irkal followed suit. Soon they were all at the palace. Xisuthra waited till the night fell and everywhere was quiet before he moved the princess to the prepared carriage.

The strange woman was yet to wake up. Xisuthra and Irkal successfully moved the dead princess to the secondary palace.

At the secondary palace, the body of the princess was cleaned with a substance that would not allow for decay. It would be taboo to bury the princess without the whole kingdom knowing about it. The body would be kept fresh until the Emperor found a solution to the problems at hand. Both Xisuthra and Irkal were sure the emperor would do something about it soon.

Xisuthra was glad that Irkal turned out to be a valuable person to him at this time. Irkal decided that the best thing to do was to stay beside the strange woman all night to ensure she was there when she woke up.

The Emperor had demanded that he be the first to see the strange woman before anyone else did. The woman who carried the face of his daughter was not from their world; the emperor was sure, but this woman would stand in the gap for them until he could sort out the marriage and restore peace to the land. In worst-case scenarios, she might be forced to get married to this man by all means.

Irkal heard a knock on the door. It was already past sleeping hours in the palace; who would dare do anything as knock on the door of the princess at such a time? Irkal came up with a good cover story before she attended to the person who seemed impatient to enter the room.

The door opened, and Empress Inal, with a full royal train, entered and looked around. Her eyes fell to the body on the bed, and she rushed toward her.

Irkal wondered why she would need a full train at this time of the night.

"I heard that the princess is sick. Why did no one tell me?" Inal asked.

Irkal wondered where she heard such from. She had only made up that story in her head and had yet to discuss it with any other person.

"It was not anything serious. The emperor came over and said that we should keep it quiet as she would soon be up on her feet." Irkal answered head-bowed.

"I am the mother of all the emperor's children. Why should I be kept in the dark about the situation of my children?" Inal asked.

Irkal was tempted to laugh. The princess did not consider this woman a mother.

"Your grace, I suggest you go to bed now. It is late, and you need your sleep. As soon as she awakes, I will come myself to call you," Irkal said.

"Okay, then I will be waiting," Inal said, turning and leaving her royal train behind her. 

Una opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling above her. The ceiling shone with the gold used to line the edges of the calling. There were some intricate drawings on the ceiling.

This was not something she had been to before. The last she knew was of her being transported to the hospital. This was not the hospital. She heard a voice speaking.

The princess? The empress? Where was she now? Had she died and made it to the afterlife? Was she now going to rot in hell for all the killings she did?

'Well, God, I killed the bad guys,' she thought within her. Surely she would not be punished for punishing evil. She heard the door close before she stood up.

The room was vast enough for a two-bedroom apartment in the small corner of town. Her room was big too, but this was outrageous. The small-looking girl was backing her with her head resting on the door. She took a small sigh and turned back, only to be startled by the exact look-alike of the princess finally awake.

Irkal did not know the best way to address her.

"Who are you?" Una said, coming down the steps from the bed. The bed was on a huge platform that had more than ten steps.

"I am Irkal and I serve the presence," Irkal responded, bending her head.

Since she had the same face and build as the present, she could not help but honour her.

"Say what now?" Una asked confused.

"Where is this place? The afterlife?" Una asked.

She was at the edge of life and death; it would not be a surprise if she crossed over. The old men usually said that there is only a thin line between life and death and it seemed like she had successfully crossed over it.

"The afterlife?" Irkal asked confused. She was unaware of what that statement meant.

"Is this not the afterlife?" Una asked.

"I am sorry, but I do not know what you mean by that," Irkal said, tempted to add honour to it, but she did not want to be too hasty.

Only the emperor would decide what to call this woman and what to do with her. However, if anyone walked in now, they would address her as the princess.

"Okay, where am I now?" Una asked. Talking to the tiny girl seemed like talking to a brick wall and it was getting tiring. How can such a young girl not know what they call the afterlife?

"The kingdom of Slosalia," Irkal said with an obvious tone, as if Una was the crazy one for not knowing where it was.

"A set for a movie?" Una asked when she did not understand a word the girl said.

"A movie? What is a movie?" the girl asked.

"Okay, so this is a prank stage? How long have I been asleep?" Una said, moving towards the desk on the ground.

The prank masters were good enough to even make the room this beautiful. The dress that the girl wore could be mistaken for something from the fifteenth century, and the room was good enough to pass as one. They even went ahead to create the fake conversation she overheard earlier.

"You've been asleep for only a day since you got here."