Belca ... ? That sounds about right ....
A laugh bubbled out from the back of her throat.
Am I alright?
No, I'm not bloody alright. Apparently I'm living in a book. What kind of weird person dreams of such a messed up world anyway? Especially if its a world from a children's book.
And I can't seem to wake up.... well, I can't wait to finally see the 'friends' and 'family' whom I can't really remember right now and laugh with them about this strange dream. At least that's something, right? I can always laugh about it later on.
If Belca had to explain the edge of desperation in her thoughts, she would have put it up to another thing that couldn't be explained and didn't need an explanation because all this was a dream. But somewhere deep inside, she was smart enough to know that it was because something seemed off. Something told her she might not wake up from this dream, and she needed to convince herself otherwise.
She choked back her laughter - which was starting to border on the edges of sobs - and hysteria, instead blinking up at the Duchess and scowling to hide a startled smile.
"What do you mean protect? I can protect myself very well, thank you very much. I bet I could kick that Jabberwocky's ass to the moon and back." she muttered grumpily, trying to will back her grateful blush.
She wasn't very used to being protected, it would seem.
A little bit frustrated she had to find out things about herself through experience, she attacked the rest of the teacakes with gusto, even though she didn't really have much appetite. It was a way to stop looking awkward, something to occupy her mouth and hands.
"How do you like the name Francesco?" she grumbled between bites at the boy, avoiding the issue of the Jabberwocky, trying to lighten the mood - she didn't like how tense the atmosphere had gotten, and she could always scout for more information later on, without this whole oppressive feeling of impending doom hanging over them like a particularly annoying, stifling blanket - though the question was directed more at the Duchess. He didn't seem to be the talking type. At all.
⤠The Queen of Hearts â¤
Alde yawned daintily, feeling rather tired. Besides, all the Contractors had been paired, so she didn't really see why she should stick around anymore.
"We will be retiring to our room now. That is to be all, Kuro." she got up from her chair lazily, disappearing in a flurry of indigo butterflies. It was more trouble than worth it trying to traverse the Palace of Hearts on foot. The place was huge, and even Alde herself didn't know everything that was in the palace.
Maybe she would remedy that someday.
For now, she was tired.
She reappeared some distance away from the tea garden. in her own room.
People might think that, true to her personality, her room would be a large, Gothic Victorian one. And they wouldn't be too far from the truth.
Alde's room was filled with dark red and trims of beige, off-setting each other, and the giant, king-sized dark red four poster in the middle took up more than half of the room.
Not even bothering to undress or even take off her shoes, she threw herself on it. She hadn't felt this satisfied and tired in a long time, if ever.