Lilly's emotions were all over the place.
She was not like this back at home... in her world. There, she had always been composed, careful with her words and actions, someone who preferred silence over confrontation. She used to think before she spoke, weigh every reaction, and hold herself back even when she wanted to say more. But here, something inside her felt unrestrained, almost wild, as if the very part of her that once enforced control had been stripped away.
Her thoughts raced faster than she could keep up with, colliding and overlapping without order. Her reactions followed just as quickly, sharp and immediate, as though hesitation no longer existed within her. It was not just unfamiliar - it was wrong.
It unsettled her.
There was an edge to her now - an aggression she didn't recognize, a confidence that didn't feel earned but rather forced into her veins. It did not feel like growth. It felt like an intrusion, like something had taken root inside her and was quietly reshaping her into someone else.
It wasn't natural.
It didn't belong to the person she remembered being.
Or at least… the person she thought she was.
Sitting alone in the dim prison cell, Lilly pressed her back against the cold stone wall, grounding herself in its harsh reality. The chill seeped through her clothes and into her skin, but she welcomed it, using it to anchor herself as her thoughts threatened to spiral further out of control.
The air was heavy, thick with a silence that seemed to press in from all sides. It was not peaceful silence, but something suffocating, something that lingered too long and listened too closely. Even the faintest movement felt loud against it, as though the space itself resisted disruption.
Yet despite the stillness, her mind refused to quiet.
One question kept returning, over and over, refusing to let her rest.
Why was she here?
It didn't feel random. Nothing about this place felt accidental. Every moment, every detail, carried an unsettling sense of intention, as though she had been placed here deliberately rather than brought here by chance.
But by whom?
And for what?
Her fingers curled slightly against the rough floor as another thought crept in, colder than the rest, settling deep within her chest.
What's my purpose here?
The idea made her chest tighten.
She didn't want there to be a purpose. She didn't want to believe that her presence in this brutal, suffocating place meant something more than simple misfortune. Because if it did, then this was not an accident.
Then someone had chosen this for her.
And that led to the final question, the one that lingered like a shadow at the edge of her thoughts, refusing to fade no matter how much she tried to ignore it.
Who brought her here?
Lilly squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing uneven as she tried to steady herself. Her mind drifted back to her world, clinging desperately to the fragments of memory that still felt real, as if holding onto them could prevent her from losing herself entirely.
She could almost see it, the familiar streets, the quiet comfort of ordinary life, the people who had once surrounded her. The warmth of it all felt distant now, like something slipping further away with every passing moment.
Had she died there?
The thought came suddenly, sharp enough to make her breath catch.
Or had she simply… vanished?
Her stomach twisted painfully at the idea. If she had disappeared, what would they have thought? Would anyone have searched for her? Would anyone have noticed her absence, or would her life have quietly continued without her, as though she had never been there at all?
Her chest ached as one name surfaced above all the rest.
Mira.
Lilly's eyes opened slowly, her gaze unfocused as the memory of her friend lingered in her mind. Mira's voice, her presence, the familiarity of her existence... it all felt fragile now, like something that could disappear completely if she held onto it too tightly.
Was she safe?
Or was she here too?
"No…" Lilly whispered under her breath, shaking her head as if she could reject the possibility entirely. The idea of Mira being trapped in a place like this was unbearable, something she refused to even consider fully.
She lowered her gaze, lost in her thoughts, and didn't notice the soft sound of footsteps approaching.
They were quiet, measured, almost careful, as if whoever was walking knew exactly how much noise they could afford to make.
The presence only became real when a voice broke through the silence.
"You killed someone…"
The words were spoken gently, almost cautiously, as though the speaker feared disturbing something fragile rather than confronting something dangerous.
Lilly's head snapped up.
A girl stood just beyond the bars of her cell.
She wore a simple gray gown, loose and unremarkable, with a white headband covering her hair. There was nothing threatening about her appearance nothing harsh or imposing like the guards who had brought Lilly here. Instead, there was a softness to her, a quiet presence that set her apart from everything else in this place.
For a brief moment, Lilly's heart clenched.
She reminded her of Mira.
Not exactly the same but close enough to stir something deep and painful, something Lilly had been trying not to feel.
Lilly pushed herself up slowly, her eyes fixed on the girl. Questions flooded her mind, overlapping and tangling together until they became impossible to separate. In the end, only one managed to escape.
"What's your name?"
Her voice came out rougher than she intended, carrying tension she could no longer fully suppress.
The girl looked at her calmly, unshaken, as if Lilly's tone had no effect on her at all. It was her eyes that drew Lilly's attention first.
Grey.
Not dull or lifeless, but soft like a quiet sky before a storm. There was something strangely soothing about them, something that did not belong in a place like this.
"I'm Elin," the girl replied softly.
The name lingered in Lilly's mind for a moment.
"Elin…" she repeated, as if grounding herself in something real, something stable amidst everything else that felt uncertain.
Elin studied her quietly, her gaze observant but not judgmental. It was the kind of look that made Lilly feel seen in a way she didn't entirely understand, as though Elin was not just looking at her, but through her.
"How old are you?" Lilly asked, her voice softer now.
Elin tilted her head slightly, her attention briefly shifting toward the corridor behind her. Her eyes flickered toward the shadows, scanning them with quiet caution before returning to Lilly.
"I am ten and six," she replied.
Before Lilly could respond, Elin continued, her curiosity surfacing more openly this time.
"How… did you kill someone? Didn't you feel fear?"
The question was not accusatory.
It was genuine.
Lilly smiled faintly, though there was little warmth in it.
"Honestly, I don't remember much," she said. "One moment I was talking to the Duke, and the next, I was killing those two guards."
She spoke plainly, without embellishment, as though stating something simple rather than something horrifying.
Tilting her head slightly, she studied Elin in return.
"Why do you want to know?"
Elin's fingers tightened slightly against the fabric of her gown, though her expression remained calm.
"So many of us have suffered at the hands of men," she said quietly. "Yet none of us dares to do something so audacious."
Her gaze lifted, meeting Lilly's fully.
"But you did."
A brief pause followed before she continued.
"I tried asking about you. No one knows where you are from, and no one even knows your name."
There was something different in her voice now, something more deliberate.
"So tell me, brave girl…"
The air seemed to grow heavier again, the silence tightening around them.
"What's your name?"
Lilly did not answer immediately.
The question lingered between them, stretching the silence rather than breaking it. For a moment, she simply stood there, her fingers curling slightly at her sides as if grasping for something she could not quite reach.
Her name felt distant.
Uncertain.
Like something that belonged to a version of her that no longer fully existed.
She studied Elin instead.
Up close, the girl seemed even more out of place. There was no fear in her posture, no hesitation in the way she held Lilly's gaze, yet there was something undeniably cautious about her. It revealed itself only in small details, the brief flicker of her eyes toward the shadows, the subtle tension in her shoulders, the way she stood just far enough from the bars to retreat if necessary.
As though she expected something to emerge from the darkness.
Or someone.
Lilly exhaled slowly.
Then, finally "Lilly."
The name felt strange on her tongue, yet grounding at the same time, as if she had just reclaimed something that had been slipping away.
"Lilly…" Elin repeated softly, as though testing the weight of it. Her expression shifted ever so slightly, curiosity giving way to something more thoughtful. "How old are you?"
"Ten and seven," Lilly replied.
For a brief moment, Elin simply stared at her, her eyes widening just enough to betray her surprise. Her brows lifted slowly, disbelief flickering across her otherwise composed expression.
"You are almost of my age," she said, her voice quieter now, "and yet you have so much courage."
Lilly did not respond.
The word courage did not sit well with her. It felt misplaced, almost ironic, considering how little control she had over what had happened. Whatever she had done, it had not come from bravery. If anything, it had come from something far more unsettling, something she still did not understand.
Choosing to ignore the comment entirely, Lilly shifted the conversation.
"What do you think they are going to do to me now?" she asked, her tone more direct than before. "Will they kill me… or keep me here?"
Elin shook her head slowly.
"You will be presented before the king," she said. "It is he who will decide your punishment."
There was a quiet certainty in her voice, as if this was not speculation but fact, something she had seen happen before.
Lilly's gaze narrowed slightly.
"And what kind of punishment does he usually decide?" she pressed.
Elin hesitated this time.
"Death," she said eventually, though her tone remained calm. "Or service. Sometimes both, in different ways."
A faint chill crept down Lilly's spine, though she did not let it show.
Elin continued, as if sensing the unspoken tension.
"However… you are not without choice."
Lilly's attention sharpened immediately.
"Choice?" she repeated.
"You can challenge the ruling," Elin explained. "If you refuse the king's judgment, you may demand a duel."
"A duel?" Lilly interrupted, her brows drawing together.
Elin nodded.
"A trial by combat," she clarified. "The king will choose your opponent, and the outcome of the duel will determine your fate. If you win, your sentence may be overturned… or altered."
"And if I lose?"
Elin held her gaze.
"Then the king's judgment stands," she said. "And you will not be given another chance."
The words settled heavily between them.
Lilly considered it carefully, her mind already turning over possibilities. The idea of placing her fate in a fight especially one where she had no control over her opponent—should have terrified her.
Instead, something else stirred.
Something sharp.
Something almost… eager.
She frowned slightly, unsettled by her own reaction.
"Has anyone ever demanded a trial by combat?" she asked.
Elin was quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting briefly toward the corridor again before returning to Lilly.
"Yes," she said.
"And?"
A pause followed.
"They died."
The answer was simple, but not careless. There was weight behind it, something that suggested more than just a single failed attempt.
Lilly watched her closely.
"All of them?"
Elin hesitated, not long, but enough to be noticeable.
"…No," she admitted.
That caught Lilly's attention.
Her eyes sharpened slightly.
"No?"
"There was one," Elin said quietly. "A long time ago."
Something in her tone shifted, becoming more distant, more cautious.
"They won."
The silence that followed felt different this time heavier, charged with something unspoken.
Lilly took a small step closer to the bars.
"And what happened to them?" Lilly asked.
Elin's gaze lingered on her for a moment before she answered.
"They were never seen again."
The response settled between them, heavier than it should have been. It wasn't just the meaning of the words that unsettled Lilly, but the way Elin said them calm, certain, as though she wasn't repeating a story but recalling something real.
Lilly's fingers brushed lightly against the iron bars, tracing the cold surface absentmindedly.
"That doesn't sound like freedom," she said.
Elin tilted her head slightly.
"Freedom rarely looks the way people expect it to."
Lilly let out a faint breath, something between a scoff and a quiet acknowledgment.
"And you?" she asked after a moment. "If you had the chance… would you choose a duel?"
Elin didn't answer immediately.
Her gaze drifted again, briefly scanning the dim corridor behind her, as though measuring how much time she had left. When she looked back at Lilly, her expression had shifted—still calm, but more guarded now.
"No," she said.
The answer was simple, but firm.
"Why not?"
"Because I understand the cost," Elin replied. "And I know I would not win."
There was no self-pity in her voice, no bitterness only quiet certainty.
Lilly studied her, trying to understand how someone so young could sound so… resigned.
"You don't seem afraid of dying," Lilly said.
Elin's lips curved slightly, though it wasn't quite a smile.
"Everyone is afraid," she said. "Some of us are just more familiar with it than others."
The words lingered.
Lilly frowned faintly, something about them settling uneasily in her mind.
Before she could respond, Elin spoke again.
"You are thinking about it," she said.
It wasn't a question.
Lilly's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Thinking about what?"
"The duel."
There was no hesitation in Elin's tone this time, no uncertainty. She said it as if she could already see the decision forming, long before Lilly herself had fully acknowledged it.
Lilly didn't deny it.
Instead, she leaned a little closer to the bars, her gaze sharpening.
"If I do choose it," she said slowly, "what kind of opponent would the king give me?"
Elin held her gaze, and for the first time, something flickered in her expression something that almost resembled concern.
"Not one you can predict," she said. "And not one chosen fairly."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"It does," Elin replied quietly. "Just not in the way you want."
Lilly fell silent for a moment, absorbing that.
Then, more quietly, she asked, "Have you seen it happen?"
Elin nodded once.
"What was it like?"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"It was not a fight," Elin said at last. "It was a demonstration."
Lilly's brows furrowed.
"A demonstration of what?"
Elin's gaze didn't waver.
"Power."
The word settled heavily between them, carrying more weight than anything she had said so far.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Lilly let out a slow breath, her grip tightening slightly against the bars before she forced herself to relax.
"Then why tell me about it at all?" she asked. "If it's nothing more than a death sentence."
Elin watched her carefully.
"Because it is still a choice," she said. "And choices matter here… even when they lead to the same end."
Lilly considered that, though she didn't respond.
The silence stretched again, but this time it felt different... less suffocating, more deliberate, as if both of them were aware that the conversation was nearing its end.
Elin stepped back slightly.
The movement was small, but noticeable.
Lilly caught it immediately.
"You're leaving," she said.
Elin gave a faint nod.
"I am not supposed to be here," she admitted. "If they find me, the consequences will not be light."
Lilly's gaze sharpened.
"Then why come at all?"
For the first time since she had appeared, Elin hesitated.
It was brief.
Subtle.
But real.
"I was curious," she said.
Lilly didn't believe that was the full truth.
It was too simple.
Too incomplete.
But before she could press further, Elin took another step back, already retreating into the dimness of the corridor.
"Wait," Lilly said.
Elin paused.
"If I see you again," Lilly continued, "will you actually answer my questions?"
There was a quiet shift in Elin's expression, something unreadable passing through her eyes.
Then she said, "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you are still the same person."
The answer lingered longer than it should have.
Before Lilly could respond, Elin turned.
Her footsteps were as soft as when she had arrived, fading gradually into the silence of the prison until there was nothing left but the echo of her presence.
Lilly stood there for a moment, unmoving, her gaze fixed on the empty corridor.
The silence returned.
But it no longer felt the same.
Now, it felt like it was waiting.