Before Dupli was ten, her memories are only that of distant, unfamiliar flashes in her mind.

The flashes never gave her any kind of information, and she had to learn nearly everything all over again…

The country that she was now in, was called Eden, and King Antonio wasn’t well off. Not only was the Kingdom of Eden the smallest country, but also the one that held the smallest army and had the least amount of gold…Eden was just about ready to fall apart, as was the King’s health.

He, being the King of a country that was hardly protected, had been poisoned since young and had only been able to conceive two children since he became an adult.

One was the Princess Regina, daughter of Royal Consort Muriel, and then finally a boy was born from the new Queen. Yet, King Antonio was already in an unhealthy situation and could only name the Princess as his heir, for the time being.

The Princess Regina was already ten, but Prince Heath was only one. For the safety and future of the royal line, Princess Regina was taken to the hidden palace two years ago, when she was eight. The hidden palace was built within the mountains, north of the capital.

Prince Heath was in a secluded part of the royal palace, already being doted on by his father and was a cute little bundle of joy…Practically the total opposite of his daughter.

The King knew of the ways of his daughter and felt that the Prince would not be safe within the same hidden Palace.

Having sent the Princess away, was for another reason, besides the safety of the royal line…It was because of her personality.

King Antonio had seen the Princess herself become one that was very nasty and seemed to take pleasure in other people’s sufferings.

Unable to further watch his loyal subordinates being bullied by his own daughter, he sent her away, in hope that she will be able to change.

What he didn’t know…Was that the Princess not only didn’t change, but became worse…

Her mother, Royal Consort Muriel, had not minded prior to her leaving the palace, but afterwards, started to think this was done on purpose and really did try to get the Princess to change as well.

Yet, whomever she had sent…

It was becoming more and more obvious that the small, tiny Prince, will be the one to take the throne away from her daughter…

The population of Eden used to go into the tens of thousands, but many people had migrated to other countries, leaving only thousands behind…The small Kingdom of Eden was sadly thought of by many, a country to become nothing…A land that will join another’s country, people who will join another’s people and only leaving behind a history in books.

Over centuries, the land that the country of Eden was on, was known as pure ground. The honoured Purity Priests had come from this Kingdom, making other countries thinking twice to have gone to war with them previously. Yet, it was also the same with other countries in the past, they too had different lands that made it hard for others to declare war. If war was declared, though, there was no complete defeat…

For countless centuries, the most virtuous and uncorrupted Kingdom, was always the Kingdom of Eden.

Sadly, no Purity Priests had been heard of for many years and it seemed the quality of the Kingdom had slowly dwindled…Now losing their ‘virtuous and uncorrupted’ status, it was yet another reason to stow away the Princess in her current state.

But this was the same too, with the other Priests and lands, with other countries…The land that used to prosper in having the best farming land, had started to become a land that became drier as the time had passed. The country known to have been ‘corrupted’ was now working well together, for the most part…The land with desert, had strangely become a land that could instead become one they could grow fruits and vegetables. Everything was noticeably changing…

Now, things had changed to each country, as they no longer seemed to have special lands, because it seemed that the opposite was happening!

Seeing the obvious decline of the Kingdom of Eden and how easily it could be taken, the other countries that had wanted to take the land for themselves ended up fighting over it. When war had come to pass between the other countries, they had made the small country of Eden their trophy for whoever wins!

There were four countries called, Sondane, Metrious, Eden and Yullahra. All of the countries possessed a certain great material, such as silk, jewellery or some type of ore. Then there were the usual general trading items, such as rice, animals and knowledge. With the changing of the lands, the change of a greater material happened as well. A certain country would have to change their silk farms to that of mining. And a mining country would have to suddenly grow silkworms…It became confusing times for every country and their Kings, bringing less war, they had tended to their own countries for a quite some time.

With the exception of Eden, the countries also possessed a large army. Most armies included archers, footman and knights, but then there were the elites that could use inner force, which doubled one’s strength and stamina. If one is able to apply their inner force, they are able to jump further and higher, which in turn, made battles more intense.

Some battles were fought differently, having elites spread out, or, they would band together to blitz an entire area, and for this reason, there could be quite a number of retreats to change strategies and save lives.

These people who are able to use inner force are also used as spies, to infiltrate other countries. And one of these ‘elites’, had been capable of poisoning the King of Eden, quite some years ago.

The spy who had poisoned the King, had come from a country that were thinking of a long-term plan about the Kingdom of Eden. Yet, another spy who had gone deeper within the palace, to try and kill the King instead, hadn’t made it back out…

The population of the other countries was far from the thousands in Eden, as the others would reach into the millions.

For ten long years, two countries had fought. They were the country of Metrious, to the west, and the country of Yullahra, to the south. They fought in one land, for a short time and then in the other. Over rivers, and through hills, making people have to run away from their homes and go elsewhere, to get away from the horrors of war, for the safety of their families.

It had been in the last year, that the armies of the two fighting countries, had come closer to the lands of Eden…And blocked the country off.

Having mountains, and then beyond that tundra and ice, to block one part of the country already to the north. Then a large sea on another side to the east, the two countries gave the country of Eden no way to venture out…If anything, their kingdom was becoming smaller and smaller, only leaving seven small towns and the capital left, that hadn’t been overrun…

They hadn’t done this in haste, as they were still unsure if they could easily go onto the pure land, while fighting a war. Since nothing had happened to them so far, they had not retreated back and slowly took in the land. Of course, with this becoming known to all, things were changing, yet again, on this planet known as Zephro…

The mountains would be the last chance of survival, for the people of Eden, yet, most of the people would prefer to accept fate and surrender to the other countries instead. Having the spies send out rumours of other countries living better than this Kingdom of Eden, really did make many of them start to think that this place they call home…Could be changed to something better. These rumours were also a part of a long-term plan that a country had thought of to weaken the Kingdom of Eden, from quite some years ago.

The sea to the east does come to an end, to show the country of Sondane, on the other side. And, out of the sea, two relatively large rivers fork out, one into the south of Sondane and the other into Eden.

It was on their way along this river, that travelled into Eden, that Dupli was found unconscious…

She had been found by Royal Consort Muriel, who had been on her way to see her daughter, Princess Regina. The river was called, ‘Water River’, named a very long time ago, back then it was to signify its purity. It was on the way to the hidden Palace, that Princess Regina resided in now.

The little girl was told, by a doctor traveling with the Royal Consort, that she was ten and that she was even poisoned…

It wasn’t anything shocking in this day, as the water had been poisoned from war, luckily there was cliff spring water in the mountains and for most people in Eden there were wells, so water wasn’t a problem. Yet, if this had been done many years ago, a catastrophe would have happened throughout the Kingdom of Eden…The pure lands becoming poisoned…

The little girl had bloodshot eyes and her hands were red. Her clothes tattered, and both of her feet were without any kind of covering. She was quite a sad sight to see, hungry and poisoned and hanging onto life by a thread.

Seeing that her hands and feet held callouses, they were positive that she was a slave, yet, was she from upstream or downstream…

It really was quite an interesting thing to have found, as the river entrance was quite a distance away and they were sure that she had been in the water for some time. The river went towards the west, from the north of Eden, branching out several times…But, if she had come from that direction, she would have travelled against the current. Yet…If she had come from the opposite direction, the river had rapids, as it slowly fell down stream to where she was now. It was…

Then the doctor stated that the girl was able to use her inner force, totally stunning them all. She was only ten!

Having her survival ability so high and her talent to use inner force, was already something the Royal Consort was quite happy about.

Upon her awakening, and able to speak, the Royal Consort and doctor were quite astonished to hear that she was unable to remember anything at all. They had thought to use her and keep her mouth shut somehow through fear, as she was just a small child after all. Yet, they felt a strange relief when this little girl had no idea where she had come from, as she already had nowhere to run too.

What was even stranger to the situation…Was that this young child, now a little less pale and eyes opened, showed an extreme likeness to their very own Princess!

It really was such an interesting find after all! Not only was she the same age and height, but the same looks! The hair colour could be changed, to see an exact replica, they were sure of it!

Then this little girl was able to use inner force as well…Giving the Royal Consort such a grand idea!

Dupli had not understood their faces, as her mind was a complete blank. One seemed bewildered and held a strange smile, and the other was stunned into silence.

Having still been in a bad situation, Dupli had fallen asleep straight after, still exhausted, but didn’t even know why she was exhausted. There were questions, yet, she had no answers to the blankness in her mind…

Her limbs were hard to move, and she desperately wanted to try and remember, but found herself falling asleep before being able to think it through.

“Her name will be Duplicate…Dupli for short. She won’t need a last name.” Said the Royal Consort.

“Your Highness?” The doctor said.

Turning away from the little girl and nodding her head, Royal Consort Muriel continued, “Save her, tell the nurse to look after her.”

“I will, Your Highness.” The doctor replied.

Upon waking once again, she had moved places and had something strange over her face. The nurse, that was now looking after her, had told her sharply that it couldn’t be removed, leaving Dupli conceding and she left it there.

Over the next couple of days of laying down, feelings started to overwhelm Dupli, and she would often cover herself in the covers of the bed or the small pillow.

Not knowing anything and no one looking familiar was scary…And so was the fact that they didn’t know her. She wanted a mother figure to run up to her, crying…Or a father or brother, or sister…

Somebody!

Even to look upon a familiar place or familiar object, but there was nothing!

Nothing…Looked…Familiar!

She had asked the nurse a few times about who she was and where she was, but never got an answer. After the fourth time, the nurse had sneered at her and stated that she had no troubles hurting her in places that aren’t seen, to get her to shut up!

Scared, Dupli had no choice but to attain silence and could only question herself silently in her own mind, knowing that she had no answers…

Two months went by, when she was finally able to get out of bed, which was in the maid quarters of the small hidden palace.

All this time, maids had watched her lying there, as they went about with their work.

All up, there was about twenty maids, and they had to do all of the Princess’s laundry, cooking and cleaning. The Royal Consort Muriel didn’t stay all the time, so they had less work when the mother of the Princess wasn’t here. But, seeing a maid stay in her bed for two months, already made them mad. Having an extra hand to help, would have been nice…And what is with that face covering, was she that ugly?

Their ages deferred and most of the younger maids already disliked the new little maid, who still seemed fresh from a mother’s bosom.

Yet, it was made clear, that this young maid was picked up from the Royal Consort and her face was not to be touched.

Many maids hadn’t thought of the chance that the face would be why the Royal Consort wanted to keep the little child, instead, they thought the Royal Consort was favouring her because her face was ugly…

And the little girl got more and more worried, seeing this with her own eyes, as time went on, becoming very quiet and only saying thank you at meal time.

The maids had continued to stare and sneer, and Dupli had no idea how to handle such a thing.

What has she done wrong? Why do they look at her like that? Did they not like her?

Being a little girl, she really wanted to be pretty instead, thinking as well, that she was ugly. Was this thing on my face going to help me look prettier?

Dupli did not know what she looked like with this mask on, but it was quite crudely made and made it hard for her to see everything through the eye holes. Beyond that, it was also quite uncomfortable, but the nurse had a keen eye on her and would constantly badger her over keeping it on and threatening to hurt her if she were to do something wrong.

Dupli wasn’t happy, but still let it go…

The poison that had nearly taken her life, had slowly been dispelled from her body, leaving her to slowly be able to move her limbs properly once again.

Over this time, the maids continued to be jealous, not just because this new person did nothing, but because she seemed to have the attention of Royal Consort Muriel for some unknown reason…

Being here in a hidden palace and having no one to give them entertainment, besides themselves, the maids were quite bored, until this little one arrived. That, and with an ego of being older and wanting to ‘teach’ this little girl, they lost interest in another young maid, who they had been bullying instead.

Their tricks didn’t seem to be big enough for anyone else to get involved, or...If anyone got involved, it wasn’t to discourage them. One maid in particular, was the personal maid of the Princess, and she was the one that seemed to rally them up whenever she had come back from being with the Princess.

The maids would mostly use words to intimidate, but if they really didn’t like someone, they would set them up to get them in trouble or beat them. Three maids had gone through them doing this and they had been all innocent, but this was still entertainment…Even how they had gone…Was also entertainment.

Yet, they were in a hidden area, with only two others and then the Princess as their superior. There was minimal guards and they were bored.

To them all, even the one getting bullied prior to the little girl’s arrival, this was normal. This, was how they had lived for over a year.

With the Princess being heir to the throne, what couldn’t they get away with? Plus, they were only maids, who was going to care enough to punish them all?

The last time something big happened, the Princess ended up throwing a gathering for them, where they could eat a decent meal and drink wine merrily. The Princess herself had laughed heartily at their tricks and had made sure to invite a maid to see her once a week to speak of their bullying personally. She would also tend to get her personal maid to send over some small things that the maids could use to liven things up more.

Luckily though, Dupli was suddenly taken away from the stares and insidious thoughts…But, was it really luck?

Having been summoned, to see the head nurse, another nurse took Dupli into a close by forest, leaving Dupli scared yet again. She’d only just started to get used to the new area she had been in, now, they were leaving the whole hidden palace, to go into the hilly, dark forest, that looked really scary…

Being only ten and now not remembering anything, she found herself only able to follow the orders given to her. Her clenched hands were the only thing that showed that she was scared, but she found herself repeating a phrase inside her head.

‘The living possesses the ability to change…Flaws could be truth, absence could develop…Yet, truth could be flaws and one can develop an absence.’

Not sure why this phrase went through her head, Dupli felt it calming her. The voice behind it was like that of a celestial being and was the only thing that felt familiar to her.

But, through being calmed, she felt in imminent sense of loss, that even if she didn’t belong here…It didn’t matter where she went. She felt like where she had originally belonged…Was now gone.

Not knowing why she felt this way, it did help her accept the situation a little easier. She might feel quite alone right now, not knowing anybody, but that also felt like it was normal…Yet, why was it normal? Why did she not feel like she belonged here amongst these people…Why did she feel loss?

There were no answers to her questions and she really wanted to cry, as her innocent child like mind felt she was in the wrong place!

Since waking up to find her memories gone, it seemed Dupli became observant and stayed silent. Dupli hadn’t spoken a word back when she left the maids quarters but had watched as the two nurses silently nodded to one another before they had left. But, even though she saw this, she had no idea what that meant…

They walked for at least an hour through the scary forest, then stopped at a run down wooden house, surrounded by trees. For at least ten minutes, Dupli had been able to remember the path, but, as time went on, she wasn’t able to remember beyond that. When she started to worry about how much darker it was and animals hiding anywhere around where they were, she had lost her concentration.

The inside was dusty and small, only giving space for a table and a sleeping area. The roof wasn’t very high and there were lined holes in the walls and roof, showing a light from the outside.

This ten-year-old child didn’t think much into it upon arrival, but after it rained, she really hated this place. She hated to get wet, it was…Like a nightmare.

When it rained while she was here, she would have nightmares about being caught in water…The water would threaten to take her life, and she would fight to hold her head up above it. Thrown around, splashing and unable to find something to hold onto, unable to see anything, unable to hear anything beyond the water…

After stepping close to the table, as ordered, the nanny went to a wooden box to the side, that was already in the small wooden house, and opened it.

Inside, there were quite a few materials that seemed to have a bit of dust on them. Dupli had no idea what they were for at all, as the nurse got two things out of it and came to sit in front of her.

Watching, as the nurse made her stand there and measured her, especially her face, Dupli wondered if she were even pretty, now that the mask had been taken off...

There was a strange material that the nurse made and put on Dupli’s skin, that made her flinch, but she held everything in and didn’t move.

She wasn’t able to smile or laugh, as this strange, goo type substance was on her face. Straight after the goo was placed on her face, she had to turn away from the nanny and kneel down.

After bringing up two more items, and putting the other two items away, the nanny pulled and moved her head like it was food or a soft toy.

Dupli let out a few yelps, being surprised at first, at the feeling of pain of the nurse moving her so harshly.

Her hair became strangely filled with goo as well and the nanny put it up into a bun when she had finished.

Then, the nanny put some cloth around her as well, making Dupli scared once again, as she was unable to see much at all.

This clothe was to prevent dust to go into the goo, not that the nanny cared if some went into it, as they didn’t move to a cleaner place. But during this time, Dupli could only stay kneeling on the floor, making her knees hurt and wanting to either stand up or sit down all the way. The nanny saw Dupli attempt to move and yelled for her stay still…Dupli was sure she had never kneeled this long in her entire life, even though she can’t remember her past.

Unable to even eat for six hours, Dupli was unhappy to only have a small amount of rice to feed her empty stomach…But didn’t say anything, as she was already sore and exhausted from kneeling for so long. To have been given food and the cloth being removed, was something that she was grateful for.

After she ate, the mask was put back on again and Dupli could sleep, while it was still on her face.

Being a ten-year-old, she fell asleep easily.

On this night it had not rained, and it was the best sleep she had, while in this wooden house.

The next morning, the strange goo had gone into a very soft but flexible material that felt a lot more comfortable to Dupli. It had also used to be thick, but now was thin and Dupli found herself really curious about it.

The nanny didn’t speak to her at all about what she was doing…Yet, she was the one with food and Dupli knew nothing of anyone else or where she was…At this moment, she felt like everything was ok, for now. This wasn’t hard…

After a day of this strange behaviour, the nurse started to teach Dupli on how to become a maid.

Dupli had to show the way she walked, luckily that didn’t have much trouble. Strangely, she seemed to have a pretty good posture…But, as she showed her curtsies, the nurse would hit her until she did it right. It would have been ok if there was only one curtsy to learn, but there were two!

Obviously, there were different people with different positions. Only a slight bow is needed for people who are servants like her but have a higher status, then for the Lord’s and Lady’s, the curtsy is then used. The last curtsy is for royalty, and being a maid that worked under the Princess, she had no other option but to learn this one as well.

The nanny tested her after she got the curtsies right and would randomly pick one and Dupli had to remember on which one to use.

Not having much room in the wooden house, Dupli had not understood how some things came to them after learning how to curtsy. A tea set, and clothes, would be waiting just outside the next morning…Then the morning after, something else.

She wondered why they had to stay here in this scary place as well, but she had no idea that the mask that she had to use will not be ready straight away. The nurse needed to make sure that Dupli wouldn’t be needed in the future, so any other masks that may be needed, can be directly just be given to her without her having to come back here anymore.

Learning to pour tea, was harder for Dupli to understand. It wasn’t just pouring tea, it was putting the tea cups down onto saucers and putting them down right. The cup had to be a particular way, the tea shouldn’t be placed too close…Pouring tea required much more concentration and Dupli would often forget one or two things, before she finally would get it all right in about the fiftieth try.

Then there was learning to clean up particular things, such as refolding clothes and how they are folded. How to sit in waiting for commands, how to massage, cleaning clothes and dishes. Her job would be filled with so many things, so there was quite an amount to learn, considering that she didn’t know much of these chores at all…

If she had remembered who she was, she would understand the reason why, but as it was, her memory had still not returned…

A whole week went by, leaving Dupli with red marks all over her. It was hard to sleep and hard to do as she was told, because she was so sore! She had learnt quickly, that the nurse did not care about her pain…She had not cared at all!

Upon getting hit the first time, Dupli had been really sad and upset, but when she had started to cry…She would only get hit again!

It really had stunned her so much, that she had gotten hit afterwards, because she had been blankly staring at the nurse.

The whole world changed suddenly for Dupli and she silently cried herself to sleep every night, not understanding why the nanny never liked her. Why was she being so nasty to her?

Hugging her very small pillow, for wanting a warm person’s arm around her, she closed her eyes tightly and focused upon the phrase in her head.

‘The living possesses the ability to change…Flaws could be truth, absence could develop…Yet, truth could be flaws and one can develop an absence.’

This phrase, over the next few days, became louder and louder, as Dupli tried not to think about how she was being treated and the pain from being hit.

Dupli was sure…That this kind of pain…She had never felt before. Even though her memories were gone, this all felt very new!

But…Dupli stayed silent and endured, thinking that she could find some place to run away too.

Having this phrase grow so loud in her mind, she could only try to think about what it meant. And through thinking of what it means, she thought, ‘possess the ability to change’, was what helped her think of running away…

The strange phrase and voice in her head, was able to continue to keep her calm and think of this idea. She was not happy here, she did not want to stay!

Change, she wanted to change this, but first, she had to figure out how…

After another week, Dupli was told that she was now ready to be tested on serving and cleaning in the hidden palace.

Dupli had been surprised, she had just been able to look around the area and now they were leaving?

She hadn’t found somewhere to run to yet, she had even gotten lost once and got scared of hearing animals howl in the far distance.

It had been so scary that Dupli had been ok with getting hit for a day.

But now…It was too late!

When she thought of the phrase in her head, she found herself breathing in and thinking that she might go somewhere better. Hope filled her as she packed up a small number of things.

Before they left the forest though, the nanny placed the strange material over Dupli’s face…It didn’t feel natural, but fit pretty well, it seemed to stick from the sides, but also merged into her skin where there were holes for her nose, eyes and mouth. Having the nanny put a finger around her mouth, eyes, and into her nose, was to stick it to her more, so it was finally staying firmly upon her real face underneath. If looked upon, it would look very normal now, like this was her real face…

The new face she had on, was now a little darker than her original face, it had a few mole looking dots and freckles on it as well. If they had been in a cleaner environment, this new face would have looked a lot better, but they hadn’t cared for it at all…

When Dupli went to have a look into the mirror, the nanny came behind her and said, “You must wear this at all times, never remove it unless us elders say you can! I will provide a new mask for you once every few months, so keep it clean and safe from harm! Your name is Dupli and you are an orphan that Royal Consort Muriel placed into the Princess’s maid’s quarters. You will also be working at the Royal Consorts quarters from time to time. You must stay quiet and not tell a sole anything about yourself, do you understand!?”

Dupli nodded, not wanting to be hit. She will not tell anybody. Whatever they did, she won’t tell anybody!

She was very honest with her thoughts about this, but there was also another thought, and that was of change. ‘Possessing the ability to change’, stayed focused in her mind…

The new type of mask on her face, was a lot better then what she had come to the forest with. It was a lot more comfortable and Dupli even lightly touched it, not wanting to wreck it.

Did she look prettier now? Is that why they looked at me funny before, because I had looked ugly?

As they walked the hour back to the hidden palace, Dupli had noticed that the wooden box was still staying behind in the wooden house, and she still didn’t understand.

Even smiling now, to leaving such a dirty place and not getting hit, Dupli felt like she was lucky. Perhaps she didn’t have to run away when she starts in this new place.

Remembering the looks from the maids, Dupli shuddered.

Upon thinking of change once again, the innocent mind of Dupli hoped that nothing bad would happen, and that everyone will like her and be nice to her…

When she returned back to the hidden palace, they went to the head nurse first and Dupli lost her innocent smile to what they had said.

“Duplicate is ready, head nurse, I will take my leave and come back for the Princess in a month.”

The head nurse frowned, but looked at Dupli and nodded, “Nothing alike, very good. A month and then return.”

Not understanding, Dupli bowed her head, feeling her presence getting smaller and smaller. She was sure she knew the meaning of duplicate…Are they not very good with names?

“Dupli, come here!”

As she watched the other nanny walk away, Dupli slowly walked forward, once again scared…Will this person hit me as well?

“Faster, little wench!”

Widening her eyes and feeling the meaning of from the voice and words thrown at her, Dupli raced up to be in front of the head nurse.

“You must show that you are capable, otherwise…We will feed you to the dogs!”

The head nurse took the child by the arm and walked her quickly through two rooms and then outside.

Dogs growled and barked, walking and pacing close to the fence that was closest to her, Dupli took a deep breath in and remembered the words the head nurse said.

Bowing deeply, from what she had learnt, Dupli stammered, “I…I will…I will work hard!”

“Very good! Donna, get her into the maid’s quarters and working like the others. And remember…Not a scratch to the face!”

Dupli found another lady come in and take her arm, without a word, and forced her to follow her.

Tripping, Dupli quickly tried to keep up, especially when ‘Donna’ looked at her with disgust.

I don’t like it here!

But Dupli was unable to start crying, due to fearing being hurt.

Holding in her tears, the phrase came into her mind and she had to endure a few hours of hard labour, before she could eat and then lay down to sleep.

I don’t like it here!

A week went past, and Dupli had started to toughen up…Having no other choice.

She had been found crying earlier in the week and was called names, then the next time she had been found crying, she had been hit several times with a hard punishment stick!

To stop herself from crying, little Dupli would bite the side of her thumb instead and try to focus upon the phrase and voice in her mind, that still seemed to calm her down.

Working hard had made her hands hurt and turn red. Sometimes, towards the end of the working hours, her hands may even start to slightly bleed, yet, all she could do was clean the blood herself with her own shaking hands.

The food was very little and not often, as Dupli was already losing weight from when she had been in bed recovering, so more weight was lost. And then, there were the strange stares again from the other maids.

They had only bullied her twice so far, other than being called names, and Dupli was unsure on what to do, as they seemed to slowly become worse and worse over time.

She found no one to turn to, and she felt so tiny in their presence…

The first time she had been bullied, was two days after she had returned from the forest.

Doing laundry at that time, she had a certain amount of time to clean the dirty clothes and then hang them up…But, after she had been on her last cloth to clean, her basket of clean clothes had suddenly become empty.

Dupli was sure that she had put the clean clothes there and could only stare at the empty basket, not sure on what to do next.

“You might want to take a detour around the garden, little wench. Haha!”

Looking up at the voice, she saw another maid smirking at her.

Dipping her head down, Dupli clenched her little hands in the last remaining clothes, that she had just finished cleaning, and took a few deep breaths.

Putting the clean clothes into the empty basket, Dupli then picked it up and went towards the garden. Yet, before she could go far, she had been tripped, and being unable to see her feet, she fell forward. Not only had the clean clothes tumbled onto the dirty ground, but she had broken the basket as well…

The maid just laughed and walked away.

It had been nightfall, when Dupli had finally finished her chore, and she was still punished by Donna for being late.

From this point, Dupli was sure that this was only the beginning…

The second time that she had been bullied, was when she had to clean dirty dishes in the kitchen.

Before she could even start her chore, she had scolded her hands upon wanting to use the water.

Looking at her hands, Dupli saw them shake and rapidly turn red. They were hurting so bad, that tears formed and slid down her cheeks unknowingly. It was abnormal to have washed dishes with such hot water, as it would be wasteful, yet, such lengths were taken to give other maids, who were looking from around a wall, a chance to chuckle and snicker at somebody else’s misfortune.

“Stop crying, little wench, and work!” Donna yelled, hitting Dupli’s back with a stick.

Having been shocked to the hit on her back, Dupli had fallen forward, and her hands went into the scalding, hot water once again.

Yelling out in pain, Dupli pulled her hands back out in a rush and looked at them again.

“Come here!” Donna said, picking Dupli up by her collar. She knew that others were watching, but didn’t shoo them away, instead, she wondered how to make the show even more interesting for them. For a normal head maid, she should scold the other maids and either wait for the water to cool down or change it, yet, she wasn’t a normal head maid…

Not too far away, was a well, and Donna let Dupli go and pushed her, making her fall to the ground, “Get some cold water! Hurry it up!”

Dupli’s shaking hands picked up the bucket and dropped it into the well, biting her lips to the pain of using the rope to lift the bucket back up from the well.

Putting down the bucket, Dupli went to put her hands into the bucket, hoping to relief herself of the scolding heat and pain from the hot water, but…

“Ah! That isn’t for you! Put it into that sink and continue with those dirty dishes. Hurry it up!”

Shaking and swallowing, Dupli looked up at Donna unbelievably and just then realized, that she had never intended to help her…That…She will never get any help here…

Feeling a strange emotion go through her, Dupli was able to calm down. Picking up the bucket, she emptied it into another, and picked that up without another word.

It was then, that she realized that she had a strange extra strength inside of her, and this extra strength, without her knowing herself, was called inner force.

Having found this strange strength inside of her, Dupli had noticed that she could use it to last longer and pick up heavier things. It didn’t work all the time, and it took her a week to figure out that when she was pushed into a corner, with no way out, a strange feeling overwhelmed her, and she was able to apply this inner force that was inside of her.

Dupli could not say how she obtained this extra help, but she found herself starting to rely on it, as the time went by.

The Princess had personally invited Dupli to her quarters, to pour her tea, during the second week.

Yet, it all ended up in punishment for breaking the teapot.

Dupli was sure that she hadn’t broken it, she had come in and everything was already arranged, all she had to do was pour the tea…But, that was their agenda, their prerogative.

Having fallen to the ground and tried to claim that she was innocent, had never worked, and Dupli was still punished.

The Princess watched all of this, unfeelingly.

She knew that this servant in front of her was going to act out as a Princess, in an attempt to save her life. Having gone through quite a few assassination attempts, she wanted this servant to endure as she has had too. She wanted her to know what pain she had suffered…

But, when everyone wasn’t around, the Princess would loss her arrogant and cruel face, to one that showed sadness.

Her life had been a struggle and it was hard to get any kind of retribution for it all. She would never show anyone this side of her, where she felt lonely and hopeless…

As morning comes, she would become the same Princess that everyone knew…The one that enjoyed seeing others getting hurt. Yet, they never knew that she just wanted others to know what she had felt…

Surviving a fire, poison and other kinds of attempts at her life, had thoroughly destroyed her heart, and all she could remember was the bad things that had happened to her. Running her little legs as fast as she could…In bed and coughing up blood…

To others, she would be nasty and cruel, but to her, she felt nothing when others were inflicted in pain. This was just how she was able to let out her frustrations, how she had chosen to survive with being who she was…

Touching a scar under her collar bone, made from a dagger from two years ago, the Princess decided that the duplicate of herself should endure this as well…

Upon the third week of coming back from the wooden house in the forest, Dupli indeed went through another visit of the Princess. A cut had been formed upon Dupli’s skin, close to the way it was on the Princess’s skin. This scar was made when the assassin had been killed but still had the Princess as a hostage. The knife had still hurt the Princess, as the assassin had fallen to the ground. It wasn’t straight, as it went down to the side of her waist but it wasn’t as deep as near her collar bone. The assassin, already knew his life was coming to an end, had still tried to kill the Princess upon his death, but her clothes had helped prevent the scar being bigger…

Dupli now had this same kind of injury, making the Princess smile in satisfaction.

Having thrown Dupli out of the Princess’s chambers, to make her own way back to the maid’s quarters on her own, Dupli had to use the new, extra strength inside of her, to make it there by herself. Two people had seen her, and the blood that came from this new injury, but seeing as she was coming from the Princess’s quarters, they did not help her.

Dupli had fallen onto her bed in exhaustion. Having worked the entire day, to having been harmed by the Princess afterwards, she couldn’t even keep her eyes opened a moment longer, leaving one foot still hanging off the small, crude bed…

Upon the fourth week after returning back from the forest, something strange had happened and Dupli was pleasantly surprised to find herself travelling in a grand carriage somewhere.

Earlier in the week, they had gotten her to go to someone else, and persisted on many things.

They had said something about visiting another person a few weeks prior, Dupli guessing that this was it…Except the other person didn’t seem to be here.

She had forgotten the name of Royal Consort Muriel, but this was her quarters, for when she stayed here in the hidden palace.

Upon entering, they still treated her harshly and didn’t tell her one word about what was going on…She just had to do as she was told, mainly by a new madam that didn’t look familiar…

When her hair went through the same process, as what happened at the wooden house in the forest, they finally stated one thing. And that was that she was to act like a Princess and not do anything wrong or she’d be fed to the dogs…

Dupli nodded, she had been told this that many times now, it was somewhat natural to nod her answer in return. But, she started to wonder if they really would do it? Are they…Trying to scare her?

She was not to speak, and if she was to speak, then she was to say very little. The proper words of a lady were installed into her exhausted mind and she would have to repeat it all back to the madam, to show that she understood. She was to be graceful with her body, so she had to learn how to lift her hand and softly land her feet upon walking. Having to sit or stand straight, all the time, and to not fidget with her hands, instead, she had a certain way she had place them.

Upon being forced to enter a big barrel full of water, Dupli had been scared out of her wits…She had stopped and didn’t want to walk any closer towards it but there were four others there that nearly picked her whole body up, not taking her scared look into any kind of consideration.

After she had entered this barrel she had then finally noticed that they had even taken her clothes off in her frightened state, and now they were scratching at her skin, making her groan to the pain.

Trembling to fear and pain, Dupli was stiff and still, while flashes of bad memories flowed through her…

Closing her eyes tightly, she listened to the phrase in her mind over and over again, trying not to think about the water…

Clothes were fitted and even jewellery was used, changing her look completely from a dirty maid and into a Princess. Then, lastly, her mask was taken off, and some cosmetics was applied to her face.

Then, before she had set out in this carriage, she had met the Princess in this form.

“She looks exactly like me! Amazing!” The Princess said.

Dupli blinked, as she was still feeling the aftermath from the water and was scared of what this Princess will do to her.

…Was it true…Did I look like the pretty Princess?

“Yes, she will help keep your life! Her name is Duplicate, but you can call her Dupli.”

Dupli frowned, as she had already met the Princess…

The other little girl walked up to Dupli and she folded her arms in front of her, “Don’t you dare ruin me! I won’t just feed you to the dogs, I’ll ruin your face and split you into pieces! I’m a Princess! Never forget who I am!”

Dupli stared dumbly at the other girl, wondering if perhaps she had things wrong. Why would she ruin her?

“Princess Regina is right. You can never forget how to act when you are in this attire! Don’t ruin the Princess!”

Nodding, because she was sad and scared, Dupli looked at both the madam and the Princess, then she curtsied, trying to show her sincerity.

But, why were they saying not to ruin her? What would I do to do something like that!? Can they tell me how not to ruin anything? Please?

Dupli still didn’t quite understand…

Now, travelling in this carriage, her innocent self had been able to get over the scary idea of being split into pieces and the water barrel.

The nanny inside the carriage with her, had told her that she couldn’t look outside, but she really wanted to! Can’t she just have a tiny look?

It wasn’t a small trip, taking two hours to get to the capital from the hidden palace. So, for two hours, Dupli had to find a way to stop her curiosity from doing her harm. It was strange to her how strongly she wanted to oppose this nanny and look out…

But what she hadn’t been able to figure out, was the fact that before becoming ‘Dupli’, she had been doted upon extremely well and was hardly ever stopped from doing whatever she had wanted to do. That kind of feeling was slightly felt, as it would be hard to change it after so many years…

Only really been within the hidden palace before now, Dupli had no idea what the outside world will look like. Having been found and woken at the river, she hadn’t seen much and then she had already been within the maid’s quarters at the hidden palace. Then, all she had seen, was half of the hidden palace, as she had done her chores…And a bit of the scary, dark forest…

The curiosity of a child of wanting to know more, made her want to forget about the pain that might be inflicted upon her if she were to disobey orders…

Dupli really had to suppress herself, and sighed, what is going to happen?

Even the nanny was something she was not used too, giving her another reason to worry. This nanny was the personal nanny that had brought up the Princess since birth and it would only help declare this fake princess in being the real princess, if she were by her side. But, Dupli had not thought of this and could only sigh to not knowing what this nanny will do if she were to disobey her…

Unable to totally understand that she was acting as the Princess as a look alike, Dupli took on the idea of wearing good clothes and not having to work as a great thing!

This was very good, she really preferred doing this, other than working!

Yet…She finally thought again of the previous weeks and knowing that she was alone. Throughout the whole time she had been bullied, she had wanted to run to someone’s side and cry, yet, there was no one like that!

A bad feeling spread through her, but she didn’t understand what it was.

As she ventured as the Princess, she was able to sit and do nothing, eat delicious foods and was treated a little better. It was so nice, that her most favourite day of what she could remember, became this day of leaving the hidden palace! Her smile was genuine, and she was relatively happy!

Even though she could see a small amount of what she was missing in her life, it was still such a grand day, that she didn’t want it to stop!

But the bad feeling she had felt earlier…It had finally made sense…

It was because she had to return…She was only dressed up and at the capital for a couple of hours, and then she had to return…

Through this, everything got worse!

Upon her return to the hidden palace, from the capital, Dupli felt the world shift beneath her once again.

Within the week, she was beaten by maids, and had to recuperate in bed.

Nightmares about them calling her names and then tripping her, went deeper into them cornering her and then using a wet towel to hit her on her back…

Sweat would be covering herself and her small, crude bed, when she harshly woke up, making things even harder for her to recuperate, as she gained a small fever as well.

The only thing that kept her from crying, was the phrase in her mind. The words were on repeat, yet, she had to hear them over and over again to feel okay. It wasn’t just the words, but the voice, that continued to soothe her and give her the smallest upon the smallest of hopes that she will not die and forever be here, but a future away from this hell.

She focused upon it so hard that she was able to forget the lingering pain from having been hit with the wet towel.

As time started to go by, she started to ask why…Why me? Why are they doing this? Had I done something so terrible? Why can’t they like me?

Yet, there was no one to release this frustration, nor ask these questions too…And Dupli found that since she had to endure, she found herself becoming even more quiet and detached. She didn’t cry or bite her thumb anymore. She didn’t complain or yell out her sufferings…What was the point? It was easy to understand…That if she didn’t cry, she wouldn’t be teased or hit…

As Dupli found herself accepting that she was in a bad place, she wasn’t even surprised when Donna came, purposely sitting on top of her leg. Having been so sick that she couldn’t go on with her chores for a whole day, news of this had gotten out!

Donna only laughed at Dupli’s indifferent face, dragging her out of the bed and making her work, even before she had completely healed. Through Donna doing this, Dupli suddenly thought that this was how they acted, this is what they did. They wanted to give her a tough upbringing, but she didn’t understand why.

Seeing all this, Dupli started to lose her innocent childlike thoughts and started to see how much she was nothing.

She was a shadow, used to ‘look and act’ like the Princess and she shouldn’t have any thoughts, because she was a slave. She had no rights to ask for anything, she had no right to act out her innocence. She felt like she was in some kind of place she couldn’t get out of, trapped…

She was like a play toy, a doll. If she felt, she felt too much. So, she tried to stop feeling…Her thoughts of this were relatively simple, but she felt like it was all wrong! How could this be normal? Surely, not every child felt like this! Yet, she found no other way, she didn’t want to feel all of this, but this was her way of coping…

Through having to work longer, because of being a step too late to stop someone from making things hard for her, Dupli found herself sicker and sicker as time moved on.

And then a day came by, that she fainted away while cleaning dishes. The scalding hot water, making her hands tremble uncontrollably, seemed like the last thing that she could have handled at that time.

Through sleep, she felt a strange glimpse of a dream overflow through her.

It felt real, like it really happened. The place, the smell, the feel of it…She saw herself gracefully moving and smiling. It looked like a dance, and in her dream, she felt free and happy. A familiar music was playing in the background and upon the end of her dream, she opened her eyes to see a blurry glimpse of someone.

Then, everything was gone, to feel and see someone slapping her face.

“Get up!” Donna yelled.

Without delay, Donna pulled Dupli out of bed and pushed her towards the door, “Here.”

Dupli was still quite sick, only seeing a blurry vision at present. She lifted her head, to try and understand what was going on, but dizziness overwhelmed her once again.

“Feed her to the dogs!”

That voice frightened Dupli so much that she couldn’t help but want to be able to at least open her eyes or shake her head.

“Yes, head nurse.”

Dupli breathed out quickly and felt herself being dragged along the ground. The dog’s growls were heard as they went outside of the building and Dupli tried to hide her terror…

She could feel how desperate this situation was, she had to try and get better, she had to overcome this!

The phrase and a strange emotion went through her head and suddenly something clicked inside her.

Change…

She had to change!

Strangely, for a ten-year-old, this made sense. Her problem, of what she thought, was being unwell. So, she had to become better…

Relaxing her body, Dupli closed her eyes and felt familiarity run through her as a strange force was felt inside of her body. But, there was also a feeling of something coming towards her body as well…

It could shock anyone to the core on how easy it was to accomplish this ‘change’, as she felt herself become a lot more better now. She felt scared, yet, very thankful.

The growling dogs making her unable to think to much into her astonishment of what she could do, so she could only think more of what is happening right now, later…

After a few seconds, Dupli opened her focused eyes and pulled away from Donna, “I am fine, send me back to work.”

They were right next to the fence, that would enter into the dog pen, and all the dogs were looking at her like she was a meal. They had started to growl and show how hungry they were through drool coming out of their mouths. Dupli started to breath rapidly, hoping that they could let her off, they had too! She was not going to die today!

A familiar feeling of being stubborn entered her feelings and she became more determined to not enter that pen!

Donna had been literally startled. This little girl…Had she been…

“Too late! You should know that acting is just as bad.” She tried to pull at Dupli’s collar again, but Dupli sidestepped.

A strange familiarity went through Dupli once again, “I will go back on my own.”

Dupli walked back and went straight to finding a chore to do, leaving Donna staring at her back.

Narrowing her eyes, Donna went straight to report this to the head nurse.

“So, she went back to work?” The head nurse asked.

Donna nodded, “Do you want me to still feed her to the dogs?”

The head nurse let out a chuckle, “No, if she is working, that’s fine. But there’s no second chances.”

“Very well.”

Donna left, thinking that it won’t be long now before the little maid will be on her way…

***

Dupli grew colder and colder as time went by.

Name calling, stares and laughing, she handled now with no problem. With the laundry becoming dirtied and the basket breaking, Dupli now protected it to the best of her ability, even hurting other maids in the process…

A wrist was broken, due to some kind of move she didn’t know that she could do. But afterwards, she was beaten with a stick fifteen times for punishment.

While her hands being forcefully put into scalding water, to wash the dishes, she found the sense of force that helped her hand overcome the heat and pain. Through this, though, she’d also realized that there was a limit to how often she could do whatever it was that she was doing. She felt like whatever it was, ran out, and that she had to wait a near full day for it to recover. It was obvious to her now, that it seemed to be some kind of healing ability, as her fever had completely gone and even the scar on her body, that the Princess had made, had completely vanished…

Dupli could not come up with any realistic description about what was happening and even though her young childlike mind wanted to imagine some awesome things, she was unable to think too much into it, as she would be pushed, shoved or yelled at and snapped her out of her thoughts.

But there were no longer any howls of pain or complaining. Dupli had decided to stay as quiet as possible, as to stay out of more trouble then she was already in…

The worst times that she got hurt, were times after she had left the hidden palace and then returned.

She would become something that the other maids would lash out on, for at least three of them. Guiding her to a neglected corner of the hidden palace to severely beat out their jealous thoughts and wants on this little girl. They wanted her to bring back something as compensation, but Dupli never had brought back anything. They wanted to take all her special treasures, then got mad because she hadn’t gotten any. To them, she had seen the Royal Consort and was treated very well, but no words had been told on what they had missed out on, this was just their own assumptions…

Dupli fell more into a strange, cold place, waiting patiently for them to stop beating her.

If she were to fight back, she was only going to get beating anyway, so why bother? She wasn’t strong enough yet to take on three older maids at a time anyway, she could only wait until they were finished and left her there, crawled into a ball…

Three times, she had gone out to the capital. And every time she had left, she got more and more indifferent and cold. No smiles were seen upon this face anymore. No light in her eyes, as she looked for more ways, or ideas, to get away. It was strange how her life felt like it didn’t count at the moment, that once she got away, that was when her life would finally start…

She saw nothing, besides places she could possibly run too.

Knowing the route of the journey in the carriage now, Dupli wanted to get a better understanding of the capital. She had seen the abandoned children, like herself, dirty and sitting on the side of the road…

Did they have better lives than hers?

If she were to run away and change her predicament…

Seeing that the other children’s predicament might even be better than her own, Dupli started to disregard a little more on thinking she could find some family and decided that she will have to become independent. This idea, was because she had no one to run to anyway, because no one was familiar, so she would obviously become like the other children anyway.

Hope seemed to totally evaporate from her thoughts…Hope for love, hope for family, hope to find something familiar…All she wanted was to get away, to change her situation…Of course, to that, she needed more time. Not only to find the best place to run from, and the best time…But beforehand, she will try and remember some of the ways of cooking. Perhaps she could try and find some bow and arrow and learn how to use it. Then she could cook her own food.

Yes, her mind was made up for some time now, she wasn’t going to stay. She probably could only get fleeing right once, otherwise her life might as well be forfeit. She had to do things right the first time!

Dupli breathed out slowly, thinking that she will have to endure a little more…

***

It had become somewhat law, that knowledge of her being a duplicate was not to be told to anybody. At first, it was understandable, as it was for the safety of the Princess…But, it did make Dupli wonder that if she had said this secret to others, would the other maids still bully her…

What made matters worse, on the fifth time of leaving in a carriage, taking on the appearance of the Princess once again, Dupli nearly didn’t make it back…

In the capital, Dupli had been able to get off the carriage, as she had become more and more obedient.

Her silent and cold face had told them that her obedience had become very good, yet, she wasn’t like this to show obedience, it’s just how she was for now…For her to endure everything, she found this way to be the best solution to finding a way out. She knew crying wouldn’t help her, so she had stopped. She knew the maids wouldn’t stop bullying her, so she had to become stronger…And, her complete and utter stubbornness of showing others that she wasn’t scared or affected, was part of her personality, whether she remembered that part of herself or not…

This time at the capital, upon walking on her own and trying very much upon being a lovely Princess of the Kingdom of Eden, Dupli had become in danger.

Normally, she had showed no interest in anything. Her child like curiosity had nearly completely vanished.

Yet, this time, she saw from a few metres away, some chimes…

A flash came to her mind then, that same voice sounding out to her, ‘A chime only makes music when it is moving…’

Slowly walking over, to where she saw a few chimes, Dupli had walked away from a few people who were there to protect her.

Strangely, only two noticed that she’d walked away and followed, whereas others did not.

Stopping in front of the chimes, Dupli felt familiarity washing through her. Yet, she didn’t understand why the loss was so overwhelming to her, that she wanted to cry.

Putting out a hand, to touch the bottom of the chime, she moved it and it started to make random music.

The voice sounded in her head again, ‘You will forever be my endlessly moving chime.’

A strange sense of happiness flew through her and Dupli smiled. It had been so long that she felt any kind of happiness, that Dupli felt a tear flow down her cheek.

Wiping the tear away, Dupli took a deep breath in, feeling satisfied at having at least a dream of someone that felt she was worthy. That someone cared about her…That she was indeed someone special to one person in this world!

…Pain suddenly came out of nowhere then, and Dupli looked at her shoulder, to see an arrow imbedded there…

“Protect the Princess!”

Guards surrounded Dupli and slowly brought her back to the carriage, and before Dupli was out of sight, one person found themselves hoping and wishing that they had finally found who they had been looking for. This person desperately chased after the assassins, making sure that they don’t touch the first person he’d seen, that resembled the person he couldn’t believe he lost!

To have her suddenly disappear like that, the world had shattered! Then to see this person smile, while looking at the chime, he couldn’t help but think that it had to be her!

The tear that had fallen down her cheek had hurt him, making him sure upon this person…She has to be the one! She had loved chimes so much that she preferred to watch and touch them, instead of most other instruments…Sometimes he would play the flute for her, but she would interrupt his music by touching the chime right in the middle of his tune. But, he could never get angry, as he knew how much she loved chimes. Where they had lived, most times he would always have chimes and she would always touch them, when walking past…He had even made steps for the higher ones, when she was small, so that she could touch them too…

Upon seeing her getting attacked by an arrow, he hadn’t thought, but went into action straight away!

For so many weeks, this person had been isolated from the world, not seeing anyone or anything else, just searching…Searching for someone precious!

No more problems were found, as they rushed out of there. Dupli wasn’t muchly attended too, instead, she crudely attended to herself.

Pulling out the arrow, she had made things worse, yet the nanny sighed and just sat there, slightly rocking along with the moving carriage. After all, Dupli’s job was to take all of these attacks anyway, so that the real Princess wasn’t harmed…

Dupli put her hand to her shoulder and found herself slightly dizzy. Blood slowly crept out from the wound, going onto her hand and onto the pretty clothes that she was wearing.

I can’t die! I can’t faint! Fix it!

Clenching her other hand, Dupli took a deep breath and found that she was doing something strange again.

Having done this a couple of times now, she was able to try and comprehend what was going on…She was taking something in, and then using that and something else inside her, to mend herself…She felt that it was the usage of two things. Yet, when she had broken the maid’s wrist, she had only used one. There was a difference between the two things that she can do, and Dupli was still unsure on how to understand what was going on.

What is it? What was she doing?

Dupli sighed, feeling herself sweat and become weak.

Her injury had somehow healed by half, but Dupli could no longer continue and put her head against the carriage, fainting to losing too much blood from her weak body.

One watched the carriage and found the direction it was heading in. It was quite a shock, to find that she had become the Princess…The biggest shock in quite a number of years…

Sighing, this person watched the carriage, until it was protectively inside the hidden palace, and wondered what he was going to do.

Was she hiding from him now? Did she totally forget about him?

Remembering everything about her, he could not help but be upset if she had forgotten about him once again. But, what about the chimes? It looked like she did remember…

Desperately wanting to talk to her, he held himself back. They had time…If she wanted to do this, he will of course protect her and hope that she will talk to him once again soon.

He knew that he had left her for a short time, and that he had promised her he’d protect her…He’d let her down…

Having stood there for quite some time, he came to a decision. He was sure of who she was, but since the kingdom was getting close to being overrun by the war, his first thoughts were to stop the war from advancing further into the country. If he did that, he’d have more time to be able to understand what she wants…She should be safe inside this palace for now…

Not wanting to leave, but knowing he needed more time to attain her forgiveness, he turned and started to take in pure air around him. For what he was going to do, was going to take quite awhile to recover from, but he was sure that she should be safe from harm, being the Princess and hidden away like this…

***

When Dupli opened her eyes, she found herself in a cell. It was really small, and the door held one small part with bars, that was the only way to see into this small room. There was no window, there was no table or pillow. It smelled, and Dupli saw the bucket in the corner for her to do her business in. It seemed that it hadn’t been cleaned…

Her face showed no discontent, if anything, it was like this was expected. This was where they thought she belonged wasn’t it…

One small blanket was laid out and a small amount of hay lay under her, there was nothing else...

What’s going on now? She asked herself.

Feeling herself hot and dizzy, upon trying to sit up, Dupli frowned.

She had the Princess clothes still on, and they were bloody from her shoulder. The jewellery had been taken off and now her hair was in a mess.

Feeling the strange mask on her face once again, Dupli was sure that she had returned back to the hidden palace once again, yet…

Leaning her head against the close by wall, Dupli put her hand up to her shoulder and gasped. It was still painful and had not been treated to at all.

Did any of them have a shred of care?

Hissing to the pain, she believed now that she had woken up because of it. But she couldn’t cry, she couldn’t even bite the side of her thumb…Clenching her fist and her eyes shut, Dupli endured through it quietly. What else was she to do?

After half an hour of trying to calm herself down and to think properly, even though she was sure she was getting sick again, a noise was heard…

The cell door opened, and the head nurse came in, seeing Dupli awake, “Ah! And here I thought you were going to die within the day.”

Food was dropped by her feet, spilling half of it’s contents. Not that it mattered too much, as it looked like scraps and already been half eaten…

Dupli weakly looked up at the head nurse, who looked back at her in a sigh, “The Royal Consort stated that since you have helped keep the Princess alive, we aren’t to kill you.”

Dupli thought about this for a moment and wanted to laugh, but didn’t, instead she found her heart growing colder. Disappointment ran through her as she found that she had wanted a thank you and perhaps eatable food…Instead, this is what she got…

“All is well if you get better, you can come back and work and even become the Princess again. If you don’t…”

“Fed to the dogs.” Dupli said, no emotions in her voice or face.

“Yes, you are correct. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

That was it, the head nurse disappeared through the door and Dupli was locked inside once again.

Was it like this to survive with everyone else? Why is it so hard for me?

Dupli was angry and hurt, sad and reconciled.

With no other choice, once again, and feeling that strange feeling flowing through her, she found herself feeling better in a couple of seconds.

Dropping her hand from her shoulder, she wondered if how they treated her would stop if she grows older.

The other maids, they were older, perhaps they survived this kind of lifestyle and now didn’t get treated like this.

Cuddling herself, Dupli could only wait until they come back, so she could leave the cell…So, she could continue to find a way out…So, she could get away from these people!

***

Dupli had wanted to be grateful to the person that had saved her life, but when she went through several punishments, that she was innocent of, and the attempted assassination of the Princess, when she had taken her place…Dupli had stopped being grateful!

Instead of feeling gratification, she felt angry and even desperate. How could she be happy being saved!?

Either way, her life was in a bad situation. At this point, she was just surviving in another way…Her life wasn’t even hers and she was being constantly bullied…If she hadn’t been found by the Royal Consort, at the river, would she in a better position now? Or, if it was in a worse condition, would she trade it for this one? Perhaps she would have even died…But, was there really any point in thinking this way?

Seeing that there was no use in thinking more about it, as this was her life at present, that was why she still wanted to leave…

Dupli knew that she was in a rough and terrible predicament. Unable to even speak her grievances, because the one who had saved her was a Consort of the King! After the Royal Consort had nursed her back to full health, Dupli had not really seen her since, but it was absolutely made clear to her, that she was somewhat a replacement for her daughter now…

With her innocence scattered, Dupli hardly thought the Royal Consort would give her freedom. That the only thing she would obtain by asking that of the Royal Consort would be a punishment…

Not only was she being used, she was abused, and Dupli was starting to understand a lot more of what was going on.

Her mind was maturing a little faster, because of what she was going through, and she found that she was able to figure these things out now…

She felt it, that prior to not remembering, her life had been a lot better!

A certain suspicion inside of her felt like she was treated very well and had felt very special beforehand. And comparing that feeling, to the way she felt now, it was astronomical…

Who had she been? Who had made her feel special?

Even being here for quite a number of weeks now, making her eleven, she wanted to give up…But, that phrase calmed her down…

Anyway, what would she receive if she gave up? What was beyond death? Wasn’t death the end?

No, Dupli thought, clenching her fists, I just have to do the best I can with what I have. Then when I get away from here, I’ll find the person that has the same voice. I’ll then ask them why did they let me go!?

Closing her eyes, the phrase went through her, and she fell asleep to the sound of the voice.