ELLIZA felt her consciousness slowly awoken her.
"Wash the Princess properly" she heard a woman order.
"Yes ma'am" another person answered.
She felt her body being scrubbed and felt hands all over her skin. Elliza slowly opened her drowsy eyes, when she has fully conscious, she roamed her eyes at the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Princess, you're finally awake. The King has ordered me to inform you that you are currently at the Palace of Linuxe, his Highness will meet you after you are attended to answer your questions, for now, please cooperate as we serve you," she explained, and even though confused Elliza understood what the woman said.
Elliza observed her surroundings and saw she is currently sitting in a tub while naked. She was shocked, but she stayed silent. Three maids attended to her, while one who seemed older than the rest is standing in front of her, ordering the others. Elliza assumed they are maids based on their uniforms. She had once read it in a book thus she is aware of what a maid is.
Elliza's stomach suddenly growled, making her blush in embarrassment. The head maid heard it and turned to Elliza.
"Faster, the Princess needs to eat. Wash the Princess now so she can change."
The maids finished their job immediately and dressed her up.
Everything felt confusing for Elliza, nothing is making sense but she decided to stay as calm as she can and tried to observe her surroundings but she's just in complete shock and at the peak of confusion.
All she knew was she's meeting the King according to the maid which she think is ludicrous. How can she, a small village girl meet the King who rules a nation and leads a million lives. So Elliza thought that what the maid referred as King might be just a term they use for their leader.
However, Elliza now isn't sure seeing how glamorous every corner of the place she is in. She felt as if she is in the world she used to read in books. The intricate painting in the ceiling of the room, the carpeted floor that cover every corner, the decorations and sculpture that looks like it would move in any moment, the gold fillings they used to design small details of furnitures.
Elliza is naive but not stupid. She has read hundreds of books and knew that this place might be owned by someone with authority and money.
After changing her into a beautiful pink dress that Elliza struggled to move into because of the heaviness from the layers of clothing, they guided her to which Elliza assumed as the dining room.
She thought the place was already beautiful but after seeing more areas of it, she can't help but feel unreal.
Elliza's thoughts were interrupted after hearing a series of footsteps approaching. Her eyes followed the sound and she saw a man.
He wore a small smile looking at her, his expression looks delighted but worried and nervous. He doesn't look old but Elliza can tell he's had experienced life for a long time.
"Elliza…" he nervously called and after a pause he said: "my daughter…"
Elliza doesn't know how to react at the person claiming to be his father.
Seeing Elliza not speaking, the man which is actually the actual King himself was nervous.
Elliza finally woke up from her surprise when she realized that he is waiting for her to react.
"That…I think you got the wrong person" she finally said.
After processing the series of events, Elliza assumed that the man took her mistakenly for his daughter. As for her knowledge, his father has been dead when she was a baby according to her mother, that's it.
The man didn't speak for a while.
"Elliza" a familiar voice called her and she instinctively followed the voice, only to see the person she has been worried all this time.
Elliza's mouth hung in shock and she finally called "Mother!" and ran towards her.
The mother and daughter duo hugged each other longingly with tears flowing from both eyes. Elliza felt relieved after seeing her mother alive and well, she has assumed that she must have been taken by the people who broke into their house.
They hugged and cried for sometime that Elliza's eyes were puffy red, they finally let each other go and Elliza finally realized how her mother was dressed. She wore a very beautiful gown that looked intricately made, Elliza knew her mother never owned a dress even a bit similar to this so she looked at her mother in confusion.
Her mother understood her expression and smiled slightly with an worried expression which Elliza didn't understand.
Finally, she spoke "It's true, he is your father Elliza"
Elliza was again stunned and left speechless.