After a whole morning of lolling around and doing nothing, I decided to explore.

"Right, where shall I start first?" I mumbled to myself as I walked softly around the corridor.

To my right were 7 rooms in total, the 3rd being mine and the last of the seven being Sven's. Slowly, I turned the knob of the first room and pushed the door open, not surprised that dust was there to greet me. I kept in the irritated cough that was about to escape me and moved on to the next door. Same old: Dust, a bed, a nightstand and a rug greyed with dirt. I closed the door and walked past my room to the 4th one. Nothing special, everything coupled the other rooms.

Mama hadn't been lying when she said that all the rooms were the same.

A little bored now, I moved my hand from the 4th doorknob to the 5th one and was confounded that it didn't open when I gave it a twist.

"What the heck..."

I twisted it once again and pushed in with my shoulder but nope, it did not give way. How strange was it that only one of the 7 rooms was locked, and not even because of caducity or gathered dust, it was really locked. With a key. I knew because when I pushed, a little gap appeared in the door overhead.

My fingers traced the little keyhole under the knob and I wondered if I could get it open with the wire trick Reynard was trying on in the West-wing palace that day. But since he had failed, I doubt I'd succeed even if I tried. I was staring at the keyhole for a long time, wondering what was concealed inside for having Mama Ruth to resort to locking the door altogether.

When I saw my shadow on the door get taller... and taller… and taller, I turned around with a jolt and saw Svan bearing over me.

"What are you doing?" he said angrily, his eyebrows snapped together.

It was as if I had been caught in the act, doing something unheard of. But I hadn't been doing anything at all, so I stuck my chin up and stared straight into his eyes which narrowed when I didn't answer.

Eventually, he sighed and stood back. "Don't be nosy," he said gruffly and then walked back to his room.

I stood rooted to my spot till he disappeared through the doorway and I let out a long breath which I had been keeping in. Good God, the boy's a monster with that height….

I turned around to the door and stared at it for another few seconds before scoffing and skipping back downstairs.

"Mama Ruth…?" I asked quietly as I opened the door to her room. She was fast asleep in her armchair with Whisker in her lap. I paused at the door, watching both of them if they had woken up by my voice but Mama Ruth continued to snore and believe it or not, so did Whisker.

Quietly, I stepped in and closed the door behind me. Looking around, I was able to notice a lot more about the fantastical room now that there was a bit more light. The whole floor had been covered with an old-fashioned carpet, the kind which would produce static if you rub your feet on it for a while.

With soft steps, I tip-toed over all of Mama Ruth's belongings which, I noticed, included some of the following: little finger dolls, many crystal-like stones, carved wooden figurines, ornaments like the ones people hang on Christmas trees, jewelry, a scruffy, torn piece of tie-dye fabric and so, so much more which I didn't bother mentioning.

I looked around from the tapestries and unnecessary flower branches displayed on the emerald green walls, looking if there was a set of keys somewhere. But there were so many trinkets here, a set of keys would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Every now and then, I remembered to glance at Mama Ruth and her pet rat but both were indulged in their morning nap. Like owner, like pet, no?

I stifled a chuckle but smiled as I observed a painting on the wall next to me. It was a picture like those old Victorian oil paintings I often saw in antique stores or the kind Jieum told me about from her visit to the museum. A painting of a girl sitting on a stool wearing a pinafore over a puffy white blouse and a large pink fascinator over her elaborate baby-pink bonnet. Her whole head was embellished with roses and ribbons. She looked quite lovely with her rosy, pink cheeks and her small, button nose but her large, brown eyes did creep me out. It was like the Mona Lisa: wherever you went, from whichever angle you saw, the painting seemed to stare straight at you. The girl had her feet crossed, the tip of her shoe touched the border of the unframed painting.

I traced the edge where her shoe touched and noticed that the paint was scraped, as if someone had been touching at it for a very long time. I stood back, my eyes sweeping over the painting once. Something was definitely out of place.

I was afraid if I touched the painting, it would fall. I looked over my shoulder at Mama and Whisker once again before I attempted something. Fortunately, they were still asleep.

"Ho-okay..." I wriggled a finger behind the painting at the very point the paint had been scrapped, and noticed that there was just enough finger-space behind there to wedge a finger.

When I had successfully gripped the border of the painting, I pulled it and the painting parted from the wall from one side. It was a secret door!

Oh my God, it was a secret door. No way...!

I pulled again and the painting swung completely open, revealing a small wooden door in the middle of the wall behind. The wooden door was just big enough for someone to fit their head in it. I pulled the door open, expecting to find a stack of coins or some property papers or something else equally valuable. But what do you know, as I slowly pulled open the tiny door, I found...nothing.

"That's strange..." I mumbled as I squinted to look in. Why had Mama Ruth had built such a hidden encasement for there to be nothing in it at all? I felt with my hands on the floor of the little cabinet, wondering if there was something I had missed. I touched wood and small dust balls but as I felt the back of the cabinet, I felt something solid. Metal, this was. I pulled out the object and studied it. As I realized what it was, my eyes widened and my mouth curled up in a large grin.

A key!

I had found the key to the locked room!

For a moment, I contemplated putting it back and chastised myself for being so nosy, but then I thought, 'Meh, what's the worst Mama Ruth could do to me?' It's not like the room had anything dangerous worth concealing, anyway. It was probably just a storage room or something.

Slowly, I closed the door and pushed the painting back in place. I twisted the key around in my hands and turned around to leave and when I did, Mama Ruth's eyes were open.

I stopped right there in my tracks, my eyes widening as I realized what I may have done and Mama would have caught all of it. My lips trembled open and I whimpered like a little puppy caught in the act, but even though her eyes were open, Mama kept snoring and I sighed.

Maybe she was just one of those people who slept with their eyes open.

Silently, I exited the room.

✿

[That Morning at the Palace]

"Your Majesty!" the cry bounced off the glass walls.

His Majesty, the Emperor was taking a walk in his private conservatory, surveying the many plants and flowers, when he heard a guard run his way.

"Your Majesty, we've got awful news," the guard said as he hastily bowed and didn't even wait for the Emperor to allow him to rise. "T-the Princess! She- We found… Er.."

"Calm down," the Emperor said, appearing quite tranquil and collected himself as he stuck his nose in a rose he had plucked from the many around him. "So she's been found, you say…?"

The guard wiped the sweat off his forehead and avoided the Emperor's gaze. "Er… No, Your Majesty."

The Emperor cocked an eyebrow, seeming not too troubled by the news.

"Then what is it that you've come to relay to me after causing such a ruckus in the halls?" he said, side-eyeing the guard as he touched the petals of a rare camellia.

"Er… Do not be frightened by the news, Your Majesty, but we found a letter left by Her Highness's kidnappers. He wrote some rather morbid insults about her, may God damn him, and left quite a long explanation as to why he did what he...did."

"And what is it that the kidnapper may have done? Have you the letter on you?" the Emperor asked airily as he outstretched a hand towards the guard. The guard hesitated and wiped off his forehead once again as he pulled out a thick parchment from his pocket and presented it to the Emperor.

The Emperor took it and didn't even flinch at the fact that there were blood droplets on the outer surface of the parchment. It was a cheap sort of paper, the one you could purchase easily in the Markets, no big deal.

The Emperor dropped the rose he held in his hand and stepped on it with his feet and pressed. The guard lowered his gaze and visibly gulped at the vile act, but didn't comment. The Emperor smirked with the side of his lips not in the line of sight of the guard and with the clearing of his throat, he started to read….