Walking down the elaborate hallways, Niklaus had the chance to ask Layla more about Cecilia, trying to get a better idea of what kind of person she was. The answer he'd received was… interesting to say the least.
As it turned out, Cecilia was a spoiled brat born with a golden spoon in her mouth. She loved nothing more than shopping and dressing in cute outfits. Or like Layla explained, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "My lady enjoys fashion very much," she said as they walked through a long corridor lined with large portraits and landscape pictures on the walls. "More than most things, if I am to be honest."
Niklaus blinked. "More than… most things?"
Layla nodded. "You enjoy visiting the boutiques in the Street of Silk whenever Her Grace allows it. Sometimes twice in the same week, even. You say that you like choosing the fabrics and designs personally."
Niklaus blinked. "You mean like picking what my clothes are made of?" He asked, making sure to act like it was him that was being talked about, and not someone else. He needed to be careful and act like he was the princess to avoid making anyone suspicious, A mantra he'd been repeating in his head ever since they'd left the room.
"Yes," the brown-haired maid replied. "Colours, patterns, embroidery. You say that if you are going to wear something, it should be perfect."
Niklaus stared ahead, the beginnings of a headache starting to form the longer he let Layla speak.
Layla nodded. "Dresses, jewelry, perfumes, shoes, they are all in your interest. When the royal tailors bring new fabrics, you can spend hours selecting colours and designs."
"Hours?" Niklaus asked in disbelief. How can someone spend that much time just looking at clothes?
"Yes, and you are quite fond of jewelry," she continued, deftly ignoring the look on his face. "Not overly large pieces, though. You once told a jeweller that wearing jewels that were too big made a lady look desperate for attention."
Niklaus glanced sideways at her. "…I said that?"
"And the jeweller agreed with you."
Niklaus hummed under his breath as he stared right ahead with a blank expression on his face. So the original Cecilia spent her time shopping and trying on dresses.
Fantastic.
Truly, the perfect skillset needed to survive a Nightmare Trial.
"You also like accessories," She added, snapping her fingers as if she had just remembered that fact. "Ribbons, brooches, necklaces, bracelets, if something is elegant or cute, it will almost certainly catch your interest."
Niklaus glanced down at the white and gold dress he was wearing and had to admit, it was of a ridiculously high quality. He could feel the softness of the fabric against his skin, and it was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. The embroidery along the sleeves looked like something that must have taken dozens of hours to make. "…I can see that," he muttered.
Layla smiled faintly. "My lady has always taken pride in presenting herself beautifully. Her Grace once said that a noble lady represents the dignity of her family through her appearance."
Niklaus snorted quietly. "Sounds like an excuse to spend a lot of money."
The maid pretended not to hear that and continued. "Once you made the royal tailors redo an entire gown because the embroidery along the sleeve did not match the pattern near the collar."
Niklaus looked down at the intricate golden stitching on his own sleeves and couldn't even imagine how long it had taken to be made. And this girl made them redo the entire thing?! "That sounds expensive." He ended up saying.
"You said that if the details were wrong, the entire dress would feel wrong," she said.
Niklaus sighed.
So Cecilia loved pretty things.
That was pretty obvious by now.
He just didn't know how it was going to help him in the trial.
"You also enjoy the palace gardens," she added after a few moments of quiet and peaceful silence. Silence that Niklaus took full advantage of to digest all the information he was being provided. "Especially the roses. You once spent half an afternoon deciding where the gardeners should plant a new flower bed."
Niklaus blinked. "You let a princess redesign the gardens?"
Layla gave him a small, amused look. "My lady did not redesign them. You simply suggested moving the flowers so the colours would look better near the fountain."
"…And they listened?"
"Yes."
Niklaus scratched the side of his head and ignored the disapproving look Layla shot him. Apparently, the girl, Cecilia, had opinions about everything from dresses to landscaping. Very princess-like opinions, but opinions nonetheless.
Guess that made sense, given the aspect, he thought as he peeked at his runes for the nth time since waking up.
Aspect: Princess.
Niklaus couldn't help grimacing slightly.
At first, he had thought the Aspect was mocking him.
Now, though…
It felt more like it had chosen someone who had spent her entire life surrounded by luxury and refinement, someone who knew exactly how to live in that world. And had thrown an outskirts rat into her, someone who would shank another person for a little synthpaste. Niklaus couldn't help but remember a saying he'd once heard before: The Nightmares are Trials, not Executions, and couldn't help but wonder how that applied to him right now.
Because he felt pretty in the gallows, he had to admit. Unless the Nightmare Trial involved judging embroidery, none of this was going to help him survive. None of this sounded even remotely useful if someone decided to stick a knife in him.
Layla slowed her pace as they approached the end of the corridor. "We have reached, my lady," she said softly, and Niklaus had to suppress the shudder that threatened to come out at the easy acceptance he felt about the title 'My Lady'.
He looked up – having been staring at the marble floor as he walked, partially in thought and partially to make sure he didn't trip over the dress he was wearing, with its hem coming between his feet – to see that they had arrived at a large pair of double doors, made out of the same kind of wood, and had the same design as the door of his room.
Layla stepped forward and grasped the ornate brass handles set into the double doors. With a steady push, she opened them just wide enough to pass through, the heavy wood moving smoothly on well-oiled hinges. Stepping aside immediately afterward, she lowered her head in a respectful bow and gestured silently for Niklaus to enter first.
Suppressing the nervous tension coiling in his chest, Niklaus gathered the front of his dress slightly so he wouldn't trip and stepped through the doorway. Layla followed a pace behind him, her posture composed and professional. As soon as they were both inside, the heavy doors swung shut behind them with a soft, muted thud, sealing the corridor away.
Niklaus slowed slightly after stepping inside, his eyes sweeping across the hall as he tried to take in his surroundings without looking too obvious about it. The room was big, far bigger than the room he'd woken up in, and was decorated in such a way that Niklaus felt he was too poor to even stand in here. The floors were marble, and there were pillars along the sides of the chamber. The walls had intricate carvings in languages he couldn't even understand, and there were large tapestries hanging that depicted scenes he couldn't quite make sense of.
There was expensive and classy-looking furniture and long tables evenly arranged throughout the area. Everything about this hall spoke of money, the kind of money the Legacy Clans had, and Niklaus couldn't help but feel like he didn't belong in here.
Well, of course, he didn't belong in here! He was from the outskirts, and this place was richer than any Legacy Clan back home!
Then his eyes landed on the Lady sitting on the throne, the mother of the girl whose body he was in and the queen of this place, and his breath hitched, stuck in his throat.
She was beautiful
No, beautiful was too ugly a word to describe the sheer PERFECTION sitting on that suddenly unworthy-looking throne.
Niklaus had seen beautiful people before. In the outskirts, beauty usually meant someone who had managed to stay clean, whose face had not yet been carved apart by hunger, sickness, or violence. Among the Legacy clans, beauty meant polished manners, expensive clothes, and the kind of confidence that came from never having to fear for the next meal.
This was neither of those things.
The woman sitting upon the throne was something else entirely.
Her golden hair flowed like liquid sunlight, falling over her shoulders in perfect waves. Her face was flawless and delicate, with high cheekbones, perfectly smooth skin, and lips curved up in a faint, composed smile. But it was her eyes that had Niklaus stunned. A pair of clear gem-like green eyes, gentle and calm and impossibly sharp, like nothing in the world could escape her notice. She was wearing a gown of white and gold, kind of like the dress he himself was in, but it fit her and looked much better on her body. It was embroidered with intricate patterns that shimmered softly in the light from the chandelier hanging above. It was elegant rather than being overly loud and obnoxious, but still, it showed who the boss here was.
She smiled, and Niklaus felt his heart pound so hard in his chest that he was afraid that it'd rip its way out. "Good Morning, my dear," she said with a sweet smile on her face. "You were missed at breakfast this morning."
When Niklaus didn't respond, still awestruck by her appearance, she turned her gaze towards Layla and raised a delicate eyebrow. The maid took a step forward and explained, "Your Grace, beg forgiveness, but the curse has acted up and claimed my lady's memories yet again," she said. "It seems particularly intense this time, as she didn't even remember her name."
"Truly," The mother asked, looking surprised at the news, "Oh dear." Her gaze returned to him, sharper now, assessing rather than merely warm. "Are you feeling well, dear?" she asked softly.
Niklaus felt the weight of those green eyes press against him, like she could peel him apart layer by layer and find the truth hidden beneath his borrowed skin. He forced himself to bow his head, just enough. Not too much. Not too little.
"I… apologize, Mother," he said carefully. The word tasted strange. He'd never had a mother before, but calling this woman that… just felt right for some reason.
Silence lingered for a breath too long. Then she smiled again, her eyes once again becoming the gentle and warm green they were at the start. "You have no need to apologize, my daughter," she said. She then turned to Layla, her gaze once again sharp. "You should have sent for me sooner." She said, a hint of power in her voice that made the maid break into a cold sweat and bow repeatedly, murmuring a thousand apologies. She ignored Layla's apologies and once more settled her gaze on him. "Come here, dear."
Niklaus obeyed, almost without thinking.
Her hand came up and rested against his cheek, her thumb resting just below his temple. "There is no need to struggle like this," she murmured. "I will help you remember."
Niklaus stiffened slightly. "…You can do that?"
A small, reassuring smile appeared on her face. "Of course. I may be the Omnipotent and the Omniscient, but my core has always been of the Spectator." She said like it was something obvious, and not something as baffling as fucking omnipotence.
She used both her hands to cup his cheeks and brought her face closer. "Calm, Cecilia, relax," she murmured. "And don't be afraid."
Niklaus hesitated, but before he could say anything, her lips touched his forehead.
Then it happened.
The memories came all at once.
Not slowly. Not in pieces.
Everything rushed in together, fast and overwhelming. Thoughts, feelings, instincts, habits - things he didn't understand but somehow recognized. It was like something missing had suddenly been forced back into place, whether it fit or not.
Niklaus staggered, his breath catching as his head spun, but the torrent of memories and information didn't stop, infact it kept increasing by the passing second, and he was starting to feel like he would drown in it. There were no clear images, no single memory he could focus on. It just passed by too fast for him to grab hold of anything.
It was information.
Just information.
Too much information
It was just… too much.
Then it stopped.
Just like that.
The memories settled into place, like they were always meant to be there.
Cecilia Xio Hall sucked in a sharp breath, swaying slightly as everything settled. Her head was pounding with pain, like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. It was, unfortunately, a familiar enough feeling that she knew exactly what had happened.
The blonde girl picked herself off the ground where she'd fallen and turned towards her mother, pulling the skirt of her dress lightly as she bowed in a curtsy. "Mother," she smiled the same sweet smile she'd inherited from the older woman. "Did the curse activate again?"
"Yes, it did," Mother confirmed with a nod, and Cecilia cursed inside her mind. She'd been taught better than to let such foul language out of her thoughts. She absolutely hated this damned curse; she always had so much catching up to do once mother restores her memories from the previous snapshot.
She turned a despairing look towards the other woman, "What's the date today?"
"Hmmm…" She hummed, stalling as a tiny grin crept up on her face at the impatience she could read in her daughter's expression. "I believe it is the twenty-third of May, 742nd year of the Ninth Epoch." She genuinely couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her at the crushed expression on her daughter's face. She knew that she should not be laughing, but her daughter was just so cute!~
"Mother!" Cecilia whined, her Sequence 5 ears having heard the tiny giggle. She couldn't believe the last snapshot her mother had of her memories was more than a month ago. She bit down another groan of annoyance, and just let a frown appear on her face – there was going to be so much self-study she'd have to do to catch up with the rest of the class.
"And that reminds me," Her mother continued, ignoring Cecilia's rightful protests. "I believe you have a lecture to get to. And seeing as you are already a lot behind on your studies, you'd best hurry up, dear."
"I do?" Cecilia blinked in surprise, then looked down on the elegant white and gold Old intis style dress gown she was wearing. "Then why am I dressed in a gown instead of the uniform?"
The question was pointed towards Layla, who was standing near the doors of the Great Hall, "You personally requested that you be dressed in this specific gown my lady," the maid replied.
"Huh," the princess cocked her head to the side, "wonder what I was thinking," she said, more to herself than anyone else, before she just shrugged. "Eh whatever. Layla, get my uniform to the side chambers and have someone take by study bag to the lecture hall. And get me a schedule of what Lectures I have and what assignments there are." She ordered.
As Layla bowed and went to do the assigned tasks, Cecilia leaped forward and landed a kiss on her mother's cheek. "Goodbye mother, see you in the evening!" she said as she darted to one of the side chambers connected to the Great Hall.
Audrey Hall smiled.