Say My Name

"Olivia Carter?" Adarian asked, confused.

Olivia made a weird noise in her throat. Then she turned to start to run.

"Olivia!' Adarian called out, he had put the book back on its pedestal quickly. The glass case lowered itself to protect the book behind him as he quickly caught up to Olivia.

"It's ok," He said gently holding onto her. "It's ok." he thought she was having soldier's heart sickness again. He kept comforting her, he was hugging her, patting her back softly and using a gentle tone on her. She was trembling in his arms. "There, there...It's ok"

Then he felt the wetness on his shirt. Was she crying?

Olivia was definitely crying. She had been secretly freaking out this entire time. The only physical acknowledgement of her existence had come from her own handwriting in a diary, that had disappeared the very next day.

Now her name, her real name, was in a book. It had hit her so hard emotionally that she didn't know what to do other than cry. At first she thought she was in a dream, but the dream lasted too long, so she thought she may have been in a coma. But everything felt so real. She began to wonder if she was Olivia Praxis this whole time and was simply having delusions of a girl named Olivia Carter. Delusions of a diary that changed

Olivia already didn't have a strong sense of self in this body. She was so used to being tired all the time, in pain, and anemic. Did she remember all of that wrongly?

She hadn't actually had a conversation with Graciella since being Olivia Carter, so how could she be sure Graciella was as evil as she was written. But then Graciella threatened to find her again if she went to the convent.

Before she realized this may just be reality, all of these people were just words on a screen.

This was another thing that helped her to believe this place was real. She had needs. Sleep, food, Number one and Number two. The toilet here was disgusting. When she had medieval princess fantasies she never pictured the toilets. The bath was fine, It had a form of running water by using the magic stones. Why couldn't they apply that to the toilets!? It was basically an indoor porta-potty. So gross.

This world felt so real. No one knew her as Olivia Carter. They only knew her as Olivia Praxis.

But this god of Love that the king spoke about, knew her real name. It appeared in the magic book. She cried until her eyes wore out. At some point while she was crying, Adarian sat on the steps and held her in his lap. He stayed comforting her, allowing her to feel safe, for just a short while in this world. Her nerves had been frazzled. She cried herself to sleep. As she slept, he felt something hard against his leg, cutting off circulation.

…

…

Adarian watched this girl cry herself to sleep in his arms. She had run away when she saw her name. He knew she was adopted by Marquis Praxis. Was her original name Olivia Carter? Carter.

What a strange last name. He didn't think that a profession could also be used as a last name. There was a type of merchant who set up a cart at the end of Merchant avenue. These people didn't have enough means or products to run a store, or a shop. Because they ran their business out of a cart, and took it home with them everyday, they were called carters.

Was that what her parents did? Were they carter's? But then that still wouldn't be their last name. This girl kept surprising him at every turn. It was too bad he had to live a horrible life first just to be able to appreciate her.

Olivia woke about an hour later. Adarian's legs had fallen asleep, but he did not dare disturb her. She woke, and felt arms around her. She sat up startled, causing electric tingles to go down Adarian's legs. He hissed at the sudden feeling.

She bolted off his legs when she heard him. "Your majesty!" She cried out. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I-"

"-Really need to change the way you address me." He interrupted as he tried rubbing feeling back into his legs.

She gave him that look again. She was always so confused when she spoke to him. "Say my name," he demanded.

"Your highness, the honorable King Adarian Caliban," Olivia stated.

"No," he said, beginning to stand on his still tingling legs. "My name."

"King Adarian?" She said unsure.

"No. My name," he repeated.

"...Ad-Adarian," she said barely audible. She didn't want to get in trouble stating the king's name on its own like that.

"Louder," He demanded while he began to walk on his sleeping limbs.

"Adarian," She said. She looked down at the ground like she had done something wrong. He smiled at her.

"Olivia Carter," he said. Her head snapped up quickly to look at him. His eyes met hers. "I have to tell you a story," He said. "Can you listen to me until the end?"

Olivia looked at him curiously. So far this man had done nothing to harm her, he even comforted her. He made her feel safe for the first time in days. Even when she was under house arrest she was still scared. Scared she might be harmed or poisoned. Scared she might be found out as an imposter. That feeling of safety really affected her. The very least she could do was listen to him tell her a story. "I can listen," She said.

"No interruptions," he said and patted the top of her head.

"No interruptions," she agreed and nodded. She was beginning to feel more comfortable around him.

"I should probably start by telling you this is not the first time I have lived this life. I've traversed through time to be here. I was married twice in my last life. My first wife was picked out originally by my parents before my mother died when I was small. When my Father died I married her to inherit the crown. We did not love each other and only followed formalities. She was just in the marriage for the crown. She was raised to be the queen. She was always so prideful and reserved with me. So I didn't know how to talk to her. Back then, in spite of the numerous attempts to drive a wedge between us, I trusted Oscar. I asked him to be a friend to my wife. Then perhaps we could ease into a better relationship. I did not realize that after meeting my cousin, my wife would fall in love with his easy going attitude. They cheated on me behind my back. Her personal guard kept it a secret from me and helped her hide her rendezvous with Oscar."

Adarian smiled a lonely smile. "Fredricka Lowenheim's deceased husband was my wife's personal guard. She found out about the rendezvous, and she sent a letter to notify him to come back immediately and explain to me, or she was telling me herself. They rushed to get back in the rain, and they died in a carriage accident. Fredricka blamed herself for their deaths, and she vowed to help me find my next wife." He saw her look like she wanted to ask a question. He could guess what it was. He knew the nobility thought there was an ambiguous relationship between himself and Fredricka. "Fredricka Lowenheim is my cousin from my mother's side. There are no romantic feelings between us, nor could there ever be." He continued on with his story, telling how he saw Olivia at the party and knew who she was. He wanted revenge on Oscar.

"This isn't an excuse. There is no excuse for what I did. I'm so sorry I used you like that. I never thought of what the consequences could be like for you." He reached out to hold her hand. She didn't reject him, so he continued once more.

He said how Olivia married Oscar, so he had assumed everything was okay between them, because Olivia looked so happy. Then Marquis Praxis came for him. Adarian had no heirs, He had to remarry. He didn't have very many options to choose from, and his actions against Oscar had come back to bite him in the form of an arranged marriage to Graciella. He skipped over the part where he had Olivia and Oscar executed. That was a conversation for another day. He mentioned that Olivia had died. Then he had found Olivia's diary, and investigated Graciella.

In Olivia's diary he found out Graciella, like his first wife, cheated on him with Oscar. He found out the way Olivia had been treated by Graciella, her family, and Oscar for her whole life. He apologized again, this time for not knowing that she was treated badly.

When he had said these things Olivia had tears welling in her eyes. She had thought that if the other Olivia had lasted just a little bit longer, she could have held on to see this day. The day that someone acknowledged that she was not the bad one. The day that someone acknowledged her pain. The day that someone accepted her. He still held her hand on one of his own, and wiped her single tear that just wouldn't stay held back. She sucked in her breath, and said, "Please continue."

Then he explained that he had not married Graciella out of love. Graciella wasn't what he thought a queen should be. Then he said something else to shock Olivia, Graciella was pregnant twice, neither time was the child his. He spoke about what happened after Lady Lowenheim was arrested in the book from his perspective. It turns out, Lady Lowenheim had never been arrested at all. He had taken her away to get her treated. He told Olivia how after Lady Lowenheim had told him everything. He had also found some letters from a foreign prince to Graciella. They were plotting against him, and his throne, so he confronted Graciella. "When I confronted her, we were in the throne room. My personal guard stabbed me in the back while Graciella laughed." His voice was neutral. Olivia could tell he was disassociating. It must have been very traumatic. He didn't tell her that Graciella pulled put the sword and stabbed him a few more times. As he made his dying wish, he heard her say, "You were a fun toy for a while, but now I have a toy castle. I don't need you anymore."

Adarian pulled a blackened ring that looked like it had been burned out of his pocket. "It's a magic ring, but it can only do one thing, and once that thing has been done, it burns.

This magic ring turns back time for its bearer and one object. The object I chose to bring back with me... was a diary."

"Your diary," he explained to Olivia. "...Except when I looked in my desk," he looked into her eyes, "it wasn't there anymore."

Olivia was silent.

"You are the only other thing that changed. You didn't marry Oscar. Did you also travel back in time Olivia? "