Side Story: Anastasia (13)

It was pitch black—I couldn’t see a thing.

I had long since lost my sense of time; I had no idea how many hours or days had passed since I was brought here. I traced the ring Allen had given me, then moved my fingers to the hair ornament I’d received from the Queen. I tried to steady my heart by clinging to the belief that we would meet again.

But whenever bread and water were occasionally slid into the cell, the words that accompanied them gouged at my soul.

"Your father is dead," the voice would say. "Apparently, the Royal Family sold you out, and when he protested, his entire clan was executed as rebels."

It’s a lie, I told myself. They could never do something like that.

"Because you refused the marriage proposal, it turned into a full-scale war. If you’d just fulfilled your duty as a noble, the commoners and the soldiers wouldn't have had to die. Bruseni is already almost entirely under the Empire’s control."

They’re just using me as a convenient excuse, I thought. But the people... what if the people really are...

"Oh, by the way, I heard the man you love died in battle. Took a spear to the gut. Quite the pathetic way to go, really."

My breath hitched.

No! That’s a lie! There’s no way that could happen to Allen.

"If it weren't for someone like you, that man wouldn't have had to die. Oh well. How very pitiful."

It’s a lie! It’s a lie! It’s a lie!

"It’s all your fault, really. If only you didn’t exist, he’d still be alive and living happily right now."

Allen? It’s... it’s a lie, isn't it? Allen?

"Oh, well."

Allen...

After that, the man stopped speaking to me altogether.

Allen...

・

・

・

I wondered how much time had passed by then.

It was the same eternal darkness as before, yet I suddenly felt as if someone was there with me.

Was that... Allen?

"Allen?" I whispered.

I thought I saw his face materialize in the gloom, but it vanished an instant later.

"Wait... Allen? Don't go. Hey, aren't you going to protect me? Allen?"

But my voice only echoed back from the void.

That’s right. There’s no way Allen could be here, in the very heart of the enemy capital. It’s just a hallucination.

I touched the precious ring on my left ring finger, trying to conjure his memory.

"Allen... please."

No one answered. Nothing moved.

I’m... all alone...

・

・

・

Clatter.

It seemed more bread and water had been delivered. I fumbled in the dark, reaching for the usual spot. However, my fingers didn't brush against the familiar bread or a cup. Instead, I felt something hard, like a rod.

"What... is this?"

The moment I touched it, something began to flow into me.

Startled, I tried to jerk my hand away, but my right palm was stuck fast to the object. I couldn't pull free.

In the next heartbeat, I was overwhelmed. It was cold and lonely. A crushing certainty welled up inside me that I was no longer needed by anyone in the world.

No! I have a family! And more than anything, I have Allen!

But at my weakest moment, the poison they had whispered to me surged back to life.

My father, my mother, and my older brother—all executed. Allen, run through with a spear, dying in the dirt.

The scenes flickered through my mind with a terrifying, vivid clarity. I fought desperately to deny them, but the visions poured into me one after another. The darkness in my mind swelled, expanding until it threatened to consume my very self.

Am I... already... unwanted by everyone...?

"Ah... n-no... I..."

I reached up with my free left hand to touch my hair ornament. I poured a prayer into my precious ring, trying to reject the nightmare.

But my desperate resistance was futile. Bit by bit, my consciousness was eroded, painted over by a creeping, suffocating fear.

No... stop...

"Alle...n... help... me..."