Lydia
"Young lady, are you alright?" she asked, which made me come back to my senses.
"Yes, I am," I said and smiled awkwardly. "It's just that you looked familiar," I added and she just nodded.
"Come over."
Hearing her words, I walked in front of her desk and gently dropped my bag on the ground.
"Your obryn uniform, here..." she said, pointing at the woven basket, and I put the uniform inside.
"Here, read this," she said, handing me a paper.
I carefully read it and nodded in understanding. It talked about the rules of the royal house, the do's and don'ts.
After that, she took hold of my hand, brought out a needle from a box, and pricked my finger, which made me flinch. She asked me to place my bloodied finger on the paper she had given me, and I did. It was like a contract where I had to use my fingerprint to sign, but with my blood.
More like a blood oath.
"Lydia, I hope you keep to the rules and regulations of the royal house. If you disobey any of them, you won't go scot free," she instructed and I nodded in understanding.
"Good, you can go now," she said and I thanked her before walking outside.
Now I need to go back, but when coming here, Alisha and I passed many roads leading in different directions... I hope I don't get lost.
Walking back, I took the road that led here and walked quietly, scanning the environment. There was no one in sight, but one thing was certain. I felt uneasy, like something was watching me from the shadows.
Shaking off that fearful feeling, I hastened my steps and suddenly I heard a cat's meow out of nowhere, which made goosebumps spread across my body.
It sounded so eerie.
Ignoring it, I walked ahead until I saw something run in front of me, which almost made me jump in fright.
"What the heck?" I murmured under my breath.
It was the same black cat with dark orange eyes that scared the hell out of me back in the obryn camp.
"What is it doing here?" I muttered, still staring at it.
It stared back and began taking lazy steps towards me, its tail slowly swaying in the air.
"Stop! Don't come close," I said, trying hard to hide my fear, but it kept walking towards me.
I gritted my teeth, thinking of possible ways to get it out of my sight before I heard a soft call.
"Lolly!"
The cat immediately looked toward the voice and ran to it. Looking up, I saw a very beautiful girl with a calm expression. From her appearance, you could tell she was a noble.
She then looked at me and smiled.
"Sorry, she likes wandering off," the girl said as she walked towards me, the cat now in her arms.
"I'm Leia. Nice to meet you," she said still smiling.
"Lydia," I replied and she nodded, taking a closer look at me before speaking.
"Your uniform looks new, and I've never seen you here before."
"I'm new here."
"Oh, that's good. Welcome to the royal house," she said, still smiling. I wondered why she was so friendly toward a servant.
"Umm... Since you're new here, you might feel bored sometimes, so... over there is the library," she said, pointing to the left. I noticed a medium-sized building there.
"Oh, thank you for that, but I don't think I would be allowed to use the library," I spoke politely and her smile deepened.
"Ah, don't worry about that. Just tell them you want to see Leia and they'll let you in. I spend most of my time there," she said and I nodded.
"Noted," I replied, then my eyes landed on the cat, who seemed to have been staring at me ever since I met it.
"Is it your cat?" I asked and she quickly shook her head.
"No, she belongs to the Alpha, but recently she's become restless and keeps wandering off," she replied and my jaw tightened.
The Alpha's cat? Why was it approaching me? I remembered one night in the obryn camp when it appeared before me. This is not an ordinary cat. The Alpha is already on my bad side, and now his cat is appearing before me?
It seems the Alpha wants me to kill this cat of his, I murmured under my breath, staring back at it.
The cat jumped down from Leia's arms and walked toward me. This time I stiffened.
"Don't come close..." I spoke and took a step back.
"It's just a cat," I heard Delia's voice inside my head and I forced a smile, but deep down I still didn't like the cat.
"Don't worry, she won't hurt you," Leia said, casting an interested gaze at me. "I'm surprised she approached you. She doesn't usually allow people to get this close to her. It took her months to finally let me get close to her," Leia said and I nodded.
The cat didn't look adorable at all! It looked like it came straight from hell, and the weird thing was that it had no ears!
"I don't like cats," I said when it got too close to me, and the cat looked at me, its eyes suddenly sad.
Leia laughed and stepped forward, gently picking the cat up.
"It's okay. I don't expect everyone to like cats," she said with a smile.
"See you around," she added and left with the cat, making me sigh in relief.
Taking two deep breaths, I continued walking back when I suddenly saw a spy doll floating in the air. I glanced at it and walked past it.
Then I came to a road that split into two paths. Closing my eyes, I remembered that Alisha and I had come through the first one, so I turned and followed that path back.
But one thing was strange.
It seemed I was following the same path over and over again, which made me exhausted. I'm sure by now it's almost been thirty minutes and I'm still on the way.
"Follow me."
I heard a strange voice which I believed belonged to something other than a human. Turning around, I saw Lolly the cat looking at me, which made my scalp tingle.