Adelheid opened her eyes. She had blacked out when Boris slashed her neck with a sword. She looked around, she was in a room…an empty white room. The walls around seemed endless and she couldn't see the roof of the room,
"What is this place?" She wondered, standing up from the floor where she was seated, walking around and touching everywhere
"Adelheid," A woman suddenly spoke from behind her, "Is that you?"
Adelheid turned to look at the female who talked, she wasn't just any female. She was a goddess. Adelheid opened her mouth in awe, forgetting what the woman had asked earlier.
"What are you doing here?" The female continued after receiving no answer from Adelheid.
"I-I'm not sure…who are you even? And how do you know me? I'm sure we haven't met before" Adelheid said.
The woman smiled and responded, "Pardon my manners, I'm Magda Lene your spirit guide and protector…"
"My what?"
"You're in the spiritual realm…" The woman said to avoid further questioning. Adelheid gave an 'Oh now I understand' look
"You didn't answer my question earlier, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I died…"
"You died! You weren't supposed to die till you were twenty,"
"Wait a minute, the curse was real?" Adelheid asked. Her stepmother had told her more that once that she was cursed to die at twenty, she never believed it for a second.
"Yes, it was real,"
"Why was I cursed?" Adelheid asked a thoughtful question
"That, I'm not sure of but what I can tell you is that circumstances surrounding your birth led to the curse," Magda was now searching from something in a drawer that had appeared from nowhere.
"Aha! Found it" She brought out the file from the drawer and the drawer disappeared.
"What's that?" Adelheid asked
"Your file"
"My file?"
Magda didn't give her an answer, she just kept flipping the papers, clicking her tongue and shaking her head. When she finished she gave Adelheid a disapproved look.
"I didn't live a good life, did I?"
"You killed innocent souls…for a man!"
"I was young and naïve then"
"That's no excuse," Magda continued, looking worried "What are we going to do now?"
"Is there a problem?"
"If you go on to the next realm, you'd be given eternal punishment instead of reward…you lived a bad life!"
Silence.
While Magda was lost in thought, pacing around, Adelheid also had a thought of her own. She didn't want punishment after being disgraced and beheaded by Boris.
"I've got it!" Magda said after some time.
"A solution?"
"Yeah a solution. You still have a few days to live, naturally," Magda said and she was right, Adelheid's twentieth birthday was to come up in three days if she had not been killed.
"So?"
"So, I still have power over your life and can take you back to when you started making all of your mistakes and bad doings in life" Magda began walking and Adelheid followed behind "You'd have a second chance to live, and live a good life"
Adelheid thought about what Magda just said. She started making mistakes in life while married to Boris. 'Live a good life while married to Boris?' she snorted within her, 'she'll try'
"We're here," Adelheid snapped back to reality. They were in another room. It looked like a swimming pool place, only the platform they stood on could be seen, water filled everywhere.
"Drive in Adelheid and you'd be transported back to earth"
She gave a Magda a nod and was about to enter in when Magda gave another instruction.
"Adelheid don't kill innocents, don't oppress the poor and don't side with evil. Always remember when fighting, not every opponent is your enemy and not every enemy is your opponent" Magda pushed Adelheid into the water. "What does that even m…"Adelheid was pushed into the water before she could continue her sentence. It was a good thing she knew how to swim.
---
Meanwhile in Krevia,
Boris walked into the room where Adelheid body lay. He locked the door behind him and closed the windows, he didn't want anyone to know he was there.
He looked at her, and sighed "Even in death she still looks beautiful". A huge part of him regretted everything that happened today, sure he looked happy and evil but he felt nothing like that. Especially when Adelheid gown sleeves were ripped off, her jewelleries removed and hair scattered. He felt guiltier than ever.
He was her husband, seeing his wife being humiliated publicly sparked something in him.
He remembered their last conversation, wishing the clock would revise back so he could really tell her how he felt. In all their two years of marriage, he had never opened his mouth to say "I love you!". Did he really love her? He was the one that planned all these. He was the one that made the agreement with her stepmother.
He didn't do love. It was a very foolish and confusing emotion. It had been his way till Adelheid arrived into his life. She was brave, a skilled fighter, a loving partner, a scholar in politics and had good etiquette. Why did he do this to her? He had the answer, he didn't want to show everyone that he had become a foot mat for his wife because of love, that emotion rendered many men useless he didn't want to have a weakness! He didn't want his enemies to kill her, so he did it himself.
She didn't deserve a man like me," Boris sniffled but quickly cleaned his tears and looked around. Hope no one saw that.
He stood, took the blood in the jar and put Adelheid's head in a box. He had killed her, she was now dead and gone, there was nothing that could be done. He might as well continue with the plan.
He put down the jar to put the head in the box and once collected it again to go, he stiffened. He literally stiffened he couldn't move any part of his body, only his eyes. The box in his hands fell and Adelheid's head rolled out, it was as though it was grinning wickedly at him.
'What is happening?' Boris wondered, 'Was Adelheid really a witch?'
Boris paused in his struggle once he heard voices. 'Anyone out there, by the order of the emperor I demand you free me from this bondage!' Boris screamed in his head. 'Maybe whoever was there would be able to hear his thoughts.'
The voices grew louder and it was then that Boris realised that the voices weren't from outside, 'they were in the room with him!'
Boris could feel cold sweat running down his face. 'What kind of mess had he got himself into this time'. He listened to the voices hoping that he might be able to find a way out of there. The voices were whispering chants in another language…then he heard a voice speaking his local language.
A familiar voice…Adelheid's
"BORIS!!!" She roared. Boris eyes subconsciously went towards her head lying on the floor. "How dare you!" She continued.
Boris was pale now. What was he seeing? Surely his eyes were tricking him. How could a dead persons head be talking…how?
"I will make you pay for all of this. Mark. My. Words!!"
With that, the jar slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground. Boris staggered back, he could now move. It took a while for his soul to return back, it had flown away when he saw the talking head, but once it did he scurried out of there. What kind of madness had he just witnessed!
Boris reached for the door knob and was about to make his getaway when he felt a wave push him against the door, knocking him unconscious.
When he opened his eyes, he looked around. 'Where was he?' He touched himself 'He was alive!'
He heard footsteps and looked forward, it was his esquire running towards him. "My Prince," Pavel breathed. "Why did I just exclaim I was alive just now?" Boris blinked and asked himself totally ignoring the bowing esquire. He could feel it, something big had happened. It was just at the tip of his fingers yet he could not remember.
"The artist awaits you in the courtyard…"
Boris gave him a weird look.
"You have to send your portrait to your wife to be. The princess of Koldunova…" Pavel reminded him.
Boris remembered instantly. There was this princess he was to marry in a fortnight. What was that her name again…Adelheid! A sorcerer told him that she was the solution to all his problems and the key to the throne. That's why he wanted to marry her, no feelings attached. Though she looked fair (beautiful) he doubted he would ever love her.
'Love?' He scoffed 'He didn't do love'
Boris gave Pavel a nod and stood. Then he looked at where he had been 'sleeping'. The stables! What was a prince like him doing at the stables. Had he slept there all night? It was still very early in the morning, so he assumed.
"What a weird day," He acknowledged and followed Pavel, turning back at intervals. He still had this feeling- something very important had just happened and he couldn't remember what.
Boris shook off these thoughts, he just had to focus on becoming Emperor. That's another reason why he wants to get married. Marriage was one of the requirements needed to become an Emperor.
He knew his father, the current Emperor, too well. He had to act fast or the position would be given to that 'son of a maid!'