Shenanigans and discovery.

Despite knowing the details of the novel the young woman was still taken back by the grand interior that made up the princess’ chamber; However, this had the downside of the crippling anxiety of leaving the room. Not knowing who she could trust, the room she knew she would die in felt like the safest place in the world, the irony wasn’t lost on her.

From time to time she mustered whatever courage she had and like a timid animal opened the door and poked out behind it. Every time she was greeted by the smiling face of the maid from before who sadly got the door slammed closed before she could ask if the princess wanted anything.

This continued for an hour, each time the door opened the maid’s smile becoming more and more nervous. Once the maid got so **** to be of use she attempted to keep the door open before the princess could close it by holding onto the opposite door handle, sadly failing to her princess’ superior strength.

‘Alexandra the Conqueror frightened by her maid, this is ridiculous!’ Eventually, she gave up trying to leave the room.

Too scared to leave but too worried to stay idle, she walked around the apartment-sized bedroom. In the novel the room was only used to provide a location for sex scenes and one action/**** scene, so she was curious what else she’d find in a villainess bedroom.

It didn’t take her long to find the wardrobe.

“Holy shit!” Was a pretty suitable response to the vast number of dresses and gowns that were on display in the walk-in wardrobe. A single one of these dresses looked like two years worth of rent, each handcrafted to fit Alexandra perfectly.

Passing down the collection she brushed her hand across each dress, and each felt more extravagant than the last.

She hesitated once at the end of one row of clothing and discovered an object in the corner with a sheet covering it just begging to be revealed. She knelt down, pulling back the sheet and found a painting of Alexandra as a child.

(This bundle of adorableness is going to try to take over the world someday.)

Since the only information of this world was from a novel that followed the story of main heroine Mina almost religiously, she was surprised to find anything that depicted Alexandra other than the insane villainess, this was brand new.

‘She looks happy.’ She lingered on the painting for a second as she saw the character in a new light. For, brief as it was, she remembered why Alexandra was her favourite character for the first time since coming to the world.

Reading the label attached to the painting, it read ‘Congratulations on your twelfth birthday my dear Alexandra.’ The dust from the label stuck to her thumb as she traced it along the small piece of paper. ‘I wish good fortune for you in the future. Yours sincerely, Duke Cobalt. P.S When it comes to your next sparring match please be patient with that son of mine. He is truly hopeless but when he sets his mind to something he never gives up.’

The message got a chuckle from her. ‘Richard’s father Duke Cobalt? I didn’t know both he and Alexandra knew each other, let alone were on such friendly terms. But why was this hidden away back here?’

She pondered for a while until she noticed a pair of wooden training swords, both with their own separate stories to tell by the amount of damage each took, but they still remained intact.

Picking up one of them she discovered Alexandra’s initials carved into the handle, and on inspection, the other had Richard’s. From the message and the swords, she understood that these had sentimental value to Alexandra even after she went crazy.