Terrified of Poisons

When Olivia was taken out of the hospital, that was the first time she responded. She finally blinked and looked around for the first time. The social service worker who had to take Olivia to her foster home was overworked, tired, and didn't notice that Olivia had become responsive. Even though she had begun to interact by looking at her surroundings. She still didn't speak.

When she was taken to the foster family, she overheard the woman from child protective services explaining why Olivia didn't speak. She explained that they would be able to get Olivia into therapy in about six to eight weeks.

Something happened to Olivia's paperwork in the system. The overworked social worker didn't fill it out completely. It had never been pushed through all the way. Olivia was forgotten at the foster home where she was mistreated, and malnourished. Because she refused to speak, and because she couldn't do her chores, Olivia would be locked in the dark basement sometimes she would be locked in there overnight. Some of the bigger kids wanted to make her cry so they would make spooky noises to try and scare her. It worked. She did cry. But she didn't make a sound while she cried.

Her mother wasn't coming back for her. She had betrayed her mother by going to the doctor's. Her mother didn't love her anymore, and her father was never coming to get her.

Later due to legal reasons, Olivia was moved to the Orphanage. She finally had a steady homelife, coupled with child therapy Olivia finally started speaking again when she was almost nine years old.

When Olivia turned twelve, she found out that her mother had been found guilty and was found to be insane. At this point Olivia had already been living at the orphanage for six years. Olivia had developed the strange habit of watching people make her food. She was terrified of being poisoned and having her stomach pumped again. If she didn't watch it being made, then she wouldn't eat it.

…

…

Olivia had told the story in her own words, and she had dissociated when she spoke. She told the story like it had happened to someone else. Someone not her. She didn't remember half of what happened anyway.

But what Adarian and Fredericka witnessed was a gift from the god of truth. He allowed them to see the truth through her words. Everything they saw was foreign to them. They had never heard such a strange noise like the beeping of the heart monitor. There was so much about it they didn't understand. But at the end of it Fredericka had been crying her eyes out.

Adarian looked at this girl who had been through far too much. He went to her and held her tightly in his arms.

She tried desperately to shake him off. She was worried that if he didn't let go she would start to cry. It took everything in her to tell that story without crying. She didn't want him to hold her right now.

He refused to let go of her. He finally understood why she was terrified of poisons. She was much too young to have had to deal with all of that. He decided then and there that he would try to always protect her.

Adarian was crying. No more. No more would she have to face danger alone. He would always be there to face the danger either for her or with her.

Olivia felt his tears wet her shoulder. She hugged him back. She was fine now anyway. She knew he wouldn't poison her. He even gave her that dish set to use and an anti-poison necklace too.

"It's fine," She comforted him. "You've already made me so safe. See, she made him look at her. I'm fine."

He wished he could say that she was already safe in his arms, and in his castle. Unfortunately he knew better. He knew there was a terrible and complex plot to remove him from the throne. He also knew that unless he dealt with Graciella and the Marquis, things would likely not turn out well for him.

He had begun intercepting Graciella's correspondence. He decided to have it copied word for word and then have it resealed and sent. He had cracked the code they used in the letters in his last life. He already had a head start on that at least.

Olivia Carter might not be safe yet. He would make sure she was safe in the future, no matter what. He would also spoil her rotten. There was nothing in this world she couldn't have.

…

…

Olivia felt awkward that both Adarian and Freddie cried about her story. She didn't think that the way she told it could move anyone to tears. She knew she told the story pretty emotionlessly. There was no reason to make her story messy by adding in too much emotion. She didn't need them to feel sorry for her.

But they cried anyway. Should she have cried too? Probably not. Her fake crying would probably get her an award for the worst actress in existence.

She didn't want to cheapen their emotions for her by doing something like that.

She decided it would be best if she would just remain strong for them. She hadn't realized that her trying to be strong made them hurt for her even more.

She wondered if she should crack a joke to lighten the mood. But Olivia knew it was too soon to make any jokes. Their emotions were still raw and they had only just finished crying. Plus she didn't know if any of them would be considered funny here. Most of the jokes she knew referenced fandoms, or were just plain nerdy. She knew dad jokes too though, one of her old co-workers was obsessed with telling dad jokes. She suddenly couldn't think of any. Nothing she had to say would make any sense whatsoever.

She really needed to learn pop culture!

Adarian watched her as her facial expressions kept changing, finally settling on frustration. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him and said poutingly, "I need to learn faster. I wanted to say a joke to cheer you guys up, but I couldn't think of anything you would relate to at all! Every single joke I know has references tied to very specific things in my own world."

Fredericka who was still stuck in all the strange images she saw in her vision was suddenly pulled back to attention when she listened to Olivia complaining. Olivia was really from a different world, wasn't she. Fredericka had been taking the lessons a little slowly because she didn't fully believe Olivia was not the same Olivia that had always been there. A small part of her still thought she could possibly be lying as a part of some bigger plot. But now she realized that Olivia was truthful.

Olivia really knew very little, and so far the things she had gotten right were because she was paying so much attention, trying to learn and emulate everything. This girl had been through so much, and now she had been tossed into a completely unfamiliar world, full of things she didn't know or understand.

Fredericka looked at this girl in a new light. If it had been her, she would never be able to handle it. She would probably cry and complain everyday about wanting to go home. But from what she saw in her vision… Olivia hadn't had a home in a very long time.

Was that why she was so strong? Olivia needed to learn quickly. There were several things she would need to know before the wedding and the coronation. Lady Lowenheim really needed to fettle her plans for Olivia's education. She needed more details! "Have the two of you discussed a date for the wedding?"