Chapter 42 – Unspoken Accident

Alexandra lowered her head slightly with her eyes still wide opened and said, “You don’t drink coffee?”

“Huh? No… not that often. Why do you ask? That, uh… I like black tea more.”

“Liar,” the princess said in a stern voice.

“No… I’m not lying.” Tiana wanted to refute Alexandra’s claim but she couldn’t find the words.

Unconvinced, Alexandra looked at Tiana and the teacup containing black tea, back and forth several times, until she finally bit her lip.

‘Did the old Tiana like coffee? Not black tea?’

After the accident, she had been served nothing but black tea that it never crossed her mind to drink or even request for coffee. If Alexandra gave black tea as a gift, she must have enjoyed drinking it herself. Seeing her bizarre reaction though, Tiana concluded that the princess preferred coffee. At least she learned new knowledge about the old Tiana: she enjoyed drinking coffee.

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

As the steamy tea cooled down, Tiana looked down at the teacup pitifully until Alexandra, when their eyes met, suddenly blurted out:

“Do you feel okay when you wake up?”

“What? I just feel normal when I do…”

“Which do you like better: sandwiches or bagels?”

“I like them both…?”

“Do you often take walks?”

“Once in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening…”

“How many sugar cubes do you put in your tea!”

“Just one…”

Tiana felt like she was being interrogated profusely with the twenty questions that were being thrown her way rapidly. The more she answered, the more Alexandra’s eyes became watery and red as if she was about to cry, until she finally burst into tears and said, “So heartless… to me… I said I wanted an iced americano… even if I freeze to death…”

‘Um… what?’

“I know I’m talking strangely, but I’ve waited so long. Why just now… Why did you come back so late?”

Tiana stared blankly at Alexandra who was now sobbing, torn between the sorrow that she could hear in the princess’ cry and the part when she heard or misheard her say, iced americano and freezing to death.

In this world, which is far from being similar to modern times, there are cold drinks or coffee with ice, but there is no such thing as ‘iced americano’. What’s more peculiar is the princess’ knowledge of such drink that only modern people know about?

Wait, did the old Tiana use that word?

Tiana had her suspicions but didn’t really know if there was a possibility that maybe she was not the only one possessed in this story. What if she was the one who didn’t know the original story? She couldn’t believe Alexandra had exposed modern knowledge so carelessly. Even those who didn’t know anything would have suspicions that they were different from modern times, but could they have acted so recklessly? What kind of person would do that?

Tiana’s heart raced; she needed more information. If Alexandra was the one who could give her answers, she would not miss this chance. She has doubts, and with that, she must act with caution but she is sure to seize the opportunity.

Tiana began to speak in a comforting voice. She must make sure that Alexandra calms down before she continues with the conversation. Also, it was disheartening to watch the princess in so much tears.

“Her Royal Highness…”

As the princess seemed to be inconsolable, Tiana got up from her seat and approached her carefully. She then pulled out a handkerchief, took a seat next to Alexandra, and wiped her tears away.

“I… Was I too harsh?”

“Yes…”

“In what way?”

“Just the way you spoke and… It was strange.”

Alexandra was grateful for having her tears wiped away but this made her even cry harder. Tiana wanted to get closer and even reach out to Alexandra to give her a comforting hug but she couldn’t. All the princess could do was cry. Still, she was determined to continue the conversation as she wiped Alexandra’s tears away.

“What was it that I said?”

The princess was touched by Tiana’s concern; she liked that Tiana seemed to be genuinely perturbed about her.

“You’re the same… You told me to get out of here and you said you couldn’t understand why I was here…”

“…And?”

“I sat here… drinking the black tea…. and you said you’ve never drunk black tea before, and…”

“Oh.”

“You told me you were dead…”

Her eyes grew wide. Preposterous! Did the previous Tiana really say such things? It only meant she knew this place was in a novel. In such situation, who could retain their own sanity? Tiana understood that she may have wanted to deny the reality she was caught in, but how could she act so severe towards the characters in the novel?

As a myriad of thoughts spiraled in her head, she took a deep breath. The fact that Tiana had been possessed by another person may have been true, but whoever that was, was already gone. Nonetheless, the damage has been done and now she didn’t know what to do to fix the mess it left behind.

However, she was left with no choice but to understand, carry the burdens. But at this point, she was starting to get a little scared of meeting new people… What if she behaved the same way to others besides Alexandra? Thinking of such possibility, she felt a headache coming, but her trail of thoughts were interrupted by a sniffle. She returned to her senses and looked at the princess.

“Don’t cry. I guess my mind was wandering off for a bit.”

“I heard… that you had knocked your head… And I understood that, but…”

“My head?”

“Two years ago, your carriage rolled over and you hit your head… That’s what happened.”

An accident two years ago?