Chapter 5

Alexis couldn't help but stare mesmerised by the angelic being in front of her. The being in turn, just smiled in return as if she was very used to people staring as dreamily as Alexis did.

Her silvery hair framed her pale skin and her green eyes fluttered open surrounded by long silver lashes. Her clothes consisted of a long foot-length white dress, it was simple yet, somehow, it looked amazing on her. She was breath-taking and very tall as well, like a woman out of Greek mythology. Alexis couldn't help but think she was very similar to the emperor in that aspect.

The only feature about her that made Alexis sure of what she was, were the pointy ears on each side of her head. Had it not been for them, Alexis would have thought she was an angel.

"Your an elf, aren't you?" The woman chuckled at Alexis' triumphed face. Her laughter sounded sweet and silky.

"His highness did inform me about your lack of familiarity with other verbally intellectual creatures, but you seem to know our names and features?" She tilted her head while questioning.

"Oh, we have books and plenty of stories about mythical creatures, I think most, if not all of it exist here." Alexis nodded as she spoke, she was fairly confident her brain conjured up all these creatures to distract her from her impending death. As depressing as it was, Alexis hadn't felt the slight bit affected by the thought because she was thoroughly distracted.

"Like history books?" The woman asked looking slightly suspicious of Alexis. 

Though Alexis noticed she thought nothing of it.

"No, no fictional books. Like romances and stuff." She knew the word fantasy probably didn't exist here. "Enough of that anyway. Your my mana tutor, right?" Her voice was slightly giddy at the idea of marking things float. A scene from Harry Potter flashing through her head.

'This is kind of cool!'

To her dismay, however, the elf lady frowned and conjured up a bunch of books which fell on the coffee table before them.

"You won't understand anything I say about magic until you've gone through all of those. So I'll start teaching you in a week which should be enough time to go through them."

Alexis' eyes bulged at the huge stack of books, each thicker than her hands, with shock. Reading that would take years.

"P-please make it two weeks" she stammered out. "I don't have to read them right? Just skim through them, right?" Her eyes went from the books to the elf lady and back again.

"No, you must carefully read through all of them and then I shall begin your lessons in two weeks, it seems." The lady smiled a blinding smile taking Alexis mind away from the books and back to her.

“But, now that I think about it. I don’t think I can read the language”. 

The woman chuckled at her as if she knew something Alexis didn’t, “your mana should’ve fixed that by now, since it seems stronger than when Tairy bought you here”, Alexis smirked at the nickname the king possessed. It was cute.

‘If what she says is true, then this is one very convenient dream’.

"I don't think I caught your name." She said rather dazzled.

"I said it when I introduced myself, but please allow me to once again introduce myself. My name is Emilia Green, and you are?" She held a hand towards Alexis, gesturing for her to speak.

"A-Alexis. I'm so sorry. Your just so beautiful I forgot you said your name and even forgot to introduce myself." Her face flushed a deep shade of red.

"Don't be, child. Elves have these bewitching appearance, but there are plenty of elves so hideous one can't stand the sight of them. Do you know what we call them?" When Alexis shook her head, she continued, "Strays, they succumbed to their perfect looks and used them for evil and soon their outside matched their insides. That is why being an Elf is a double edged sword one can never take a hold of." She spoke with an air of melancholy around her, as if she recalled a distant memory.

Alexis blinked at the explanation in a surprised manner. Now she was unsure if this really was a dream or not. She couldn't have thoughts like this somewhere in her head, could she?

'No, there's no way it's real though' she shook off her thoughts and spoke.

"So an elves exterior is just a representation of their interior?" If that was true then Emilia must have been a lovely person.

"Yes but we are easily influenced by our desires so my best word of advice is never to trust an Elf. Even the most beautiful elf can be twisted into the most horrific being you could encounter" this time her voice dropped low. She was so serious and Alexis learned she should most likely tread carefully.

"My lady," one the dwarf maids who had followed Alexis to her room spoke, after signing the cursed contract she saw a few of them following her while Agathus escorted her to her room, which wasn't shabby and was actually pretty decent and they were introduced as her maids, much to her horror. 

The maid had been standing there this whole time as if she was waiting for something,"might I be of some help by fetching you ladies some tea?" She seemed to be pleading to Alexis who looked very uncomfortable.

'I don't need any maids... but.' She glanced at the desperate face and broke.

"If you don't mind." She said and instantly the dwarf and all the other dwarf maids faces brightened up and they left to get some tea.

'Did they find it that uncomfortable?'

"You shouldn't neglect your servants like that" The tone in Emilias voice was akin to a mother scolding her child. "I know you’re not familiar with the ways here but dwarf enjoy servitude-"

"How could they enjoy servitude?" Alexis said in disbelief. 

'There was no way!' She thought.

"They don't like being trampled on, but they are wired very differently compared to humans. It's not scientifically explained yet, but for some reason when they're left to themselves they act irrationally. Deranged is what people call it, but the truth is they can't think for themselves." 

Alexis frowned, unable to comprehend this new information so she changed the subject to her real goal here in this new world. 

'Right. Let's figure out what Emilia and the dwarfs think of his highness. I can work off that!'

"Emilia? What are your thoughts on his highness?" Alexis asked changing the strange subject to something she could understand more.

'She'll say he's a tyrant! A cruel person beyond humane feelings!-'

"He's a kind ruler, competent and is probably the only royal with any right to sit on the throne" her words contrasted Alexis' thoughts, causing her to be taken aback.

"What?- but?" Alexis didn't have a chance to properly refute as Emilia spoke again.

"But he thinks he's better than he is-"

'That’s more like it!'

"-to protect himself..."

'Or not...'

"What does that mean?" Alexis mused.

"You'll probably realise sooner or later that the cold man who sits on the throne is quite..." she paused as if conflicted with what she was about to say.

'Is quite?' Alexis sat on the edge of her seat waiting expectantly for the insult to come, but the door opened and dwarfs swarmed in with tea pots and delicious smelling cakes and sweets.

Alexis frowned.

'Now I'll never know... what an inconvenient dream' she pouted.

Emilia chatted about many subjects after that, from the fashion which was very Victorian and medieval styled to the types of cuisine and she also filled Alexis on the type of currency in this Empire, which Alexis was very thankful for, but the more she heard of such unfamiliar terms and ideas the more she felt like this might not just be a dream.