When she woke up, she thought she was reliving her childhood memories.
She was lying on a hard, sultry floor with no light in the surroundings. The cloth covering an iron cage created a dark space. She took a moment to confirm that she was not in a dream and soon recalled what had happened to her at the banquet. She got up immediately, her four limbs touching the floor and her waist bowing as she listened cautiously to the sounds that surrounded her. She noticed the smell of blood on her body despite having no wounds. The only discomfort she felt was fatigue, as if she had just recovered from a deep slumber.
“Diana, are you up?”
A being outside seemed to have sensed her movements. To be able to judge her condition from such a subtle noise, they had to be a lizard demihuman with keen senses. She became vigilant.
“Who are you?”
“The person who kidnapped you,” said the lizard demihuman outside the curtain, laughing.
“That is all? A person who kidnapped me?”
“Yes, of course, you are the Juan family candidate for the throne. It seems like your body has started to function but your mind has not.”
This meant that no one else was killed. More importantly, it meant that her cover had not been blown.
She was slightly relieved but did not relax. She decided to continue to play the role of Diana.
“We were heavily guarded. How were you able to take me away? You must have hurt my parents too!”
“No, you were the only one… We told them that the Haliph family head had died, and that to not cause them any trouble, we had to rush him and his badly injured courtiers to a car and take them away. We took you along with them during this time. By wrapping you in a blood-stained sheet, your mercenaries never thought to check what was underneath it.”
The girl took a deep breath; she now understood where the bloody smell came from.
She also now knew who she was talking to.
“So you deliberately injured the Haliph family head at lunch?” she said, trembling.
The curtain was forced open. Unexpectedly, there was no dazzling sunlight. She was in a strange, small room—more precisely, a mobile tent. The round “room” had only simple furnishings and oil lamps. It was only a head higher than a lizard demihuman. A lizard demihuman squatted in front of her, calm, unruffled, and smiling in the midst of it all.
“No, I simply wanted to beat someone up. Who would imagine that you would go visit him! But thanks to your surprise visit and my subordinates’ ability to improvise, I was able to seize the opportunity and kidnap you.” The head of the Suha family squatted in front of her, patting the cage gently. “Ah, why are we talk about this disgusting topic? Good morning, Diana. What would you like for breakfast?”
