[WARNING: This chapter contains violence and blood which may be disturbing for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.]
The feast continued for several more hours, however, by the time it nearly became midnight, Dunha slowly became drowsy.
She continued to yawn as she watched Blue and her father's squire, Nero, arm wrestle each other. It did not even last 3 seconds for Blue to dominate Nero's arm and make him fall off his chair. Dunha laughed when she saw Nero fall.
"Erg... Is it difficult for you to go a little easy on me?" a drunken Nero asked as he rubbed his head after banging it on the floor.
"Ha! When you go into battle, your enemies won't go easy on you." Blue laughed.
"He's right. Rather than whine about being weak, train harder! You're still young so you'll surely surpass all of the Great Generals someday," said Charles, who was still a little groggy from his drinking contest with Clover earlier. "Probably."
"Probably?" Nero asked. "You'd have a higher chance of seeing the sky turn green than seeing me beat any of the 7 Great Generals in a fair duel," he chuckled.
"Fair enough," Charles laughed.
Meanwhile, Dunha began to rub her eyes after yawning once more. Her mother noticed Dunha's yawn and realized that she was sleepy.
"Dunha, it's time for bed," said Seo-Yeon.
Although Dunha wanted to stay awake a little longer, it was still difficult for Dunha's five-year-old body to stay up for too long, so she simply nodded.
"Ok..." said Dunha.
Seo-Yeon then carried Dunha on her back.
"You're highness," said a sobered guard as he stood up to escort her.
"Seo-Yeon," said Henry as he was about to get up.
"No, no, Henry. You stay here. I'll come back once I tuck Dunha in," said Seo-Yeon.
"Alright," said Henry.
He then signaled some guards to follow Seo-Yeon.
As Dunha was carried away, the last thing she saw was Blue about to arm wrestle another soldier as the others cheered.
As she exited the dining halls, her eyes were getting more and more blurry before she closed her eyes completely.
🔸🔸🔸
When Dunha opened her eyes, she found herself in her adult body. However, unlike before, she was not wearing her armor and was wearing a straw-colored and pinkish dress instead while her entire surroundings were pitch black.
"Where am I?" she wondered.
When she tried to walk, she felt heavy with each step she took. She then looked at her feet and saw dozens of dark arms grabbing onto her legs. They were attempting to drag Dunha under the ground.
"Not again!" she shouted.
Dunha attempted to kick her legs to shake off the hands that were grabbing her, she then started to hear voices.
"You're a failure as a queen, as a commander, and as a person," said a voice.
"You truly are a hero who didn't save anyone," said another voice.
Forgetting about the arms, Dunha began to cover her ears and angrily shout at the voices.
"It's not my fault! How could I have known that they would betray me?" she shouted. "I did not ask to become the queen! Although I did not want to be queen, I still did everything I could for the people and the kingdom!"
"Oh, really?" a girl's voice asked.
"!" (Dunha)
Dunha's anger quickly changed to shock when she heard the girl's voice.
"M-Mellia?" said Dunha.
When Dunha turned to her side, she saw a girl with long black hair in full silver-colored armor standing in front of her with an expressionless stare.
"Where were you during our capture? Mellia asked. "It's your fault... IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" she shouted.
"Mellia..." Dunha murmured.
She then attempted to walk towards Mellia, however, once she reached her, Dunha was horrified.
"!" (Dunha)
Mellia's armor disappeared and was replaced with old rags that barely covered her body. Dunha was horrified by Mellia's current condition.
Mellia had lacerations, bruises, and burn marks all over her body while her long silky hair was cut short. Her arms and legs were missing with rags wrapped around the stumps. The upper part of her face was horribly burned with her eyes also being burned shut.
"M-Mellia..." Dunha mumbled.
Witnessing Mellia's state caused Dunha to be lost for words.
"8 months... We waited for you for 8 months... Do you know what they did to us during that time?" Mellia asked as she gritted what was left of her teeth. "They tortured us... Mutilated us... These monsters... They even... They..." Mellia stopped talking and began to tremble.
Dunha realized that tears were slowly dripping down her face.
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..." Dunha cried.
Dunha was too horrified to look at Mellia so she covered her face with her hands as she began to feel sick.
"DUnHa..." a male voice gurgled.
"!" (Dunha)
Dunha also recognized this voice and looked up with a hopeful smile on her face.
"A-Adam?" said Dunha.
Her smile quickly disappeared.
"!" (Dunha)
In front of her was a man in full silver-colored plate armor with short dark hair and blue eyes. His armor was all worn out. Numerous arrows were stuck in the gaps of his armor with another 3 broken spears pierced deeply into his body with one of them piercing his throat. His entire eyes were also bloodshot red.
"Ummmbb!" Dunha gagged.
Their appearances forced Dunha to remember all of the horrible moments in her life and nearly caused her to vomit out of stress and shock. However, she was able to calm herself down before she vomited.
"DuN... Ha..." Adam mumbled.
Unlike Mellia who glared at Dunha in anger, Adam looked at Dunha with pity as he attempted to reach out to her.
"Adam... Are you oka--" said Dunha before being interrupted.
Just before their hands touched each other, an axe appeared out of nowhere and decapitated Adam with a single swing.
"Eh?" said Dunga.
Just as Adam's headless body collapsed, the man responsible for the swing, walked past the body and slowly approached Dunha. The tall figure was wearing a cloak with a hood hiding his face. The man was extraordinarily tall and heavily built.
"..." (???)
He was slowly approaching Dunha who was currently in a state of shock after witnessing Adam's death once more.
"Adam..." Dunha mumbled as she stared blankly at Adam's corpse.
The mysterious dark arms grabbed onto Dunha even harder and attempted to drag her underground while she was still in shock.
However, before she could sink underground completely, the man with the axe stood in front of Dunha and proceeded to raise his axe. The tall man's large shadow made Dunha snap out of her shock and raise her head. She was barely able to see the man's face and noticed that he had a full black beard with an eye patch covering his left eye.
Although his face was hard to see, Dunha knew that he was completely emotionless.
Assuming that he was about to decapitate her as he did to Adam, Dunha calmly closed her eyes and raised her neck.
"It's just a nightmare..." she mumbled to herself. "Everything will be okay..."
She then flinched at the sound of loud squishy noises. Then a few seconds passed, then a full minute. At this point, Dunha realized that her neck was still attached to her shoulders.
"?" (Dunha)
Wondering what was going on, she opened her eyes and saw the large man standing in front of her with black stains all over his cloak.
"My legs feel lighter..." Dunha noticed.
She then looked down and realized that all of the arms that were grabbing onto her, disappeared.
"Did you just save me?" she asked.
The man did not respond.
"What kind of game are you playing?" she asked. "You just killed my friend and saved me? Why?"
The man did not respond. Instead, he pointed at Adam's body.
When she turned around to see her headless friend, her eyes opened wide.
"W-What is that?!" said Dunha.
Adam's body started to make a bubbling noise as his skin started to melt into blackish goo. A few seconds later, his silver armor was the only thing that was left.
"What is the meaning of... This?" said Dunha as she was in a state of confusion.
When she turned back, the man was gone, however, before disappearing, the man left a badge behind.
Dunha was able to slowly stand up after the mysterious arms disappeared. She then approached the badge to pick it up. The badge had a symbol of a small dead tree under a golden star.
"This is my father's badge!" said Dunha. "My father would often wear it during ceremonies or meetings. It disappeared around the time when my father died in my first life..."
Dunha was not able to understand the meaning behind this.
"What is this supposed to mean?" she wondered.
She was then interrupted by the sounds of a crying baby.
"Waaaah!!!" a baby cried.
"Where is this noise coming from?" (Dunha)
She looked around to see where the sound was coming from and suddenly, her dark surroundings flashed a bright light and briefly blinded her. When she opened her eyes again, she realized that she was in one of the rooms in her castle.
"Mellia?" said Dunha.
Dunha saw Mellia sitting in a wheelchair with bandages wrapped around her eyes while the rags she was wearing were replaced with a white dress. She was currently staring out the balcony that had a broken balustrade.
Mellia turned her head around. Dunha noticed that Mellia had a crying baby wrapped in a blanket on her lap.
"Dunha..." said Mellia.
Unlike before, her voice was no longer filled with anger and sounded like she was tired, instead.
"I'm sorry," Mellia sighed. "This is the end for me."
An unknown man then entered the room with a rifle in his hands. He then pointed the gun towards the back of Mellia's head.
"Wait! Daniel, stop!" Dunha shouted at the man.
She then ran towards the man to tackle him, however, as she ran towards them, she was getting farther away from them.
"..." (Mellia)
Mellia turned around once more and smiled at Dunha which revealed that most of her front teeth were gone.
"No, don't!" Dunha shouted.
Dunha continued to run towards Mellia and just as she nearly reached her friend, Mellia whispered "Goodbye".
"It's time to wake up," said Mellia.
A large flash appeared once more and blinded Dunha. A second later, she heard the sounds of a rifle firing. She then suddenly opened her eyes as she gasped for air.
Dunha has woken up from her nightmare.
Covered in sweat, she looked around and realized that she was still in her room. She then got off the bed and ran towards the mirror.
"Ha..." Dunha sighed.
She then sighed in relief when she found out that she was still in her 5-years-old body and fell on the floor.
"I'm glad that it was only a dream..." she sighed.
(To Be Continued)
2020/05/09