"Azari!" someone called.
"Yes?" I replied. "Raya, why do you keep calling my name with such urgency?"
"Aunt Viv instructed me to prepare you for tonight's dinner," she answered with dismay.
"Oh no. Where?" I asked.
"Somewhere I do not know," she replied, rolling her eyes. "She only told me to prepare you."
"Alright," I said.
...
Raya had dressed me and painted my face. I walked through the corridors with measured elegance, lifting the hem of my brown gown. Their gazes lingered upon me unsettling and inescapable, yet I could do nothing but continue forward.
Then I saw Aunt Viv, moving rhythmically to the music...
"Your Highness..."
The old physician's voice broke through the memory.
"Your Highness..."
The old physician's voice brought me back.
I blinked several times, staring at the
physician before realizing that I was still standing in the corridor.
"What happened?" he asked.
I looked at him quietly.
"I remembered something."
His expression immediately changed.
"You did?"
I nodded slowly
.
"There was a girl. Her name was Raya. She was preparing me for a dinner."
The physician listened carefully.
"Do you remember where the dinner was?"
I shook my head.
"No. I only remember walking through the corridors. Everyone was staring at me."
"Do you remember anyone else?"
"Aunt Viv," I answered. "I remember seeing her dancing to the music."
The physician seemed to think for a moment.
Before he could say anything, footsteps approached from behind.
I turned.
Tristan was walking toward us, with the guard following a few steps behind.
His eyes settled on me.
"Azari," he said.
There was something different in his voice this time.
Interest.
"What happened?"
The physician looked at him.
"Her Highness has remembered something."
Tristan's expression changed slightly.
He stepped closer.
"What did you remember?"
I told Tristan everything I remembered as he listened with curiosity.
When I finished, he looked rather disappointed. It was not evident to everyone else, but I could see it. He had expected me to remember something else.
"There's nothing to be frightened about. Your memory returning in this manner is perfectly normal. Rest assured, you are doing well"