Chp.18: The truth is older...

The night was growing darker, but Janice had her mind set on few things. And one of them was to find why Noah Robbins came to this world chasing her? And what made the small seed of hatred he had in his mind in the past, grow into this big forest of only hatred towards her?

"All I can say is, I was never the one who did wrong." She thought to herself as she sipped on the wine.

"Initially I wanted to clear all his misunderstandings so that he doesn't blame but why did he have to turn into such a bitter person?" a thought suddenly came to her mind and a tear fell down from her eyes.

"Why am I even feeling wronged from a bastard like that in the first place?" she clenched her fist.

"I deserve better and for that, I need to find my accomplice so that I can put an end to everything that is happening here." She decided.

The tears that rolled down her eyes weren't one of heartbreak and thoughts of nostalgic sad past but of current anger and frustration.

She dozed off like that with the half-full wine bottle and an unfinished wine in the sparkling wine glass. Soon the pure and golden rays of the sun feel on her cheeks.

"Hmm?" she groaned as the sun rays tickled her cheeks slightly.

"I have to get up now." She said with a sleepy voice as she yawned.

And there in front of her, she saw the page where she made a few calculations about the things that she witnessed the night before. She stared at the paper for quite a long time and then suddenly snickered.

"So he wants revenge, huh?" she mumbled in a soft voice.

"Janice's memory said that the soul in duke's body is a foreign soul and now I am sure that it definitely is Noah Robbins. But who was the man that was pouring poison in his ears? That I need to find out." She cheered herself on.

"And my biggest mission is to make the duke fall in love." She thought to herself. And suddenly got dispirited.

"Why do I even have to this?" she again laid her head back on the table and the lack of motivation reflected on her face.

"Earlier it felt a bit possible but now it is Noah Robbins and I know it too. This has obstructed all my chances to even have a try. Should I give?" a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. And she started reasoning those thoughts.

"I mean I should best way give up because he hates me to the core, I am not even slightly interested in that loser coward and I clearly don't stand a chance because he clear will like that Wendy girl. She is just his type." She came up with all sorts of rubbish.

And suddenly her expression went from lazy and bored to a serious one, when she remembered something.

"If I remember correctly that man was Rupert and also he said that if Noah succeeds in his revenge against me, he will go back to living as a CEO. Isn't that the same proposal that was offered to me if I complete my mission?" she suddenly thought.

A silence of few seconds was felt by every corner of that room until it was broken by her words,

"That means I should stop myself from getting killed by him and also complete my mission first. Because if I complete my mission first, and make him fall in love with me before he kills me and gets his revenge, I can go back first." She suddenly had this mind-blowing idea.

She seemed cheerful for the rest of the morning as she continued with her breakfast, finding new servants and doing everything in the hope of returning back to her own world if she makes Noah fall in love with her.

But how could she make a man fall in love with her who didn't love himself first? A man who was neither fixed on his love and nor on his hate?

Soon it was again evening time and the newly recruited servants started to work right away. After a couple of hours of orientation on how everything should be handled in the mansion for the new maids and servants, she was relaxing in her room.

"So how am I going to make him fall in love with me?" she asked herself and drooped her shoulders.

"Wow, Noah Robbins is clearly a depressing topic." She sarcastically shrugged her shoulder.

Sitting on the couch in her room, her eyes suddenly got focused on the evening sky she could see from her room's big windows.

It was the evening sky that calmly merged with the color of the night. There were also stars that were directly visible. The yellow and warm orange turned slightly to lonely blue before it turned into complete darkness.

"What kind of feeling is this? And why is my heart paining so much?" she just asked to herself with a bitter smile on her face.

"It's not like I had a great life or something before coming here. But do I miss home?" she questioned herself when suddenly a lot of scenes started to flash in front of her eyes and lots of voices filled her head.

"Yes, this is our home, Janice. Let's never let go of our hands, ok?" suddenly a young man with no blurred face got highlighted from all the scenes.

"What is happening to me, aah, my head, It's paining!" she suddenly grabbed her head and started to scream.

The nearby servants heard the screams coming from her room and knocked on the room. But Janice couldn't hear any of them. She was falling deep in the pit of those pictorial and blurred scenes. And suddenly it stopped.

She felt a sudden breeze. Someone held her hand as she found both of them sitting on the hill watching that calm sunset in front of them.

"Where am I?" she felt sudden blankness in her mind. She also heard someone talking to her.

"Who is this man? Why is he talking to me?" she couldn't see his face but could only hear her voice.

"Let's get married once I came back from the battlefield." He said.

She could sense the hope in his voice.

"My body is rejecting this. Or is it Janice's body?" she could only feel the turmoil of thoughts inside her.

And suddenly the scene changed. Everything went from a calm sunset on the hilltop with a village view to darkness in the back of some rundown alley.

"How dare you go back on your words Janice?" she could sense the malice from that man's voice.

There was a sword resting on her neck as she was helplessly sitting down with her gown almost ragged and ankle that was sore.

"Even is this is a memory, this is too real. I can totally feel my ankle soar as if I tripped down." She thought as she glanced through her surroundings. "But still who is this man from Janice's memory?" she was questioning herself without even an ounce of fear in her eyes.

Everything was going on and on around her and she was just like a puppet who was thrown into that situation at that moment in time.

"What? Are you that fearless now, that you found your childhood lover?" said the man as suddenly his face became clear.

"Crown prince?" she was shocked by what she saw in front of her.

And then suddenly she came back to reality.

Heavily panting as though she ran up to the top of a mountain.

"Huh? What was that? Didn't the crown prince come back on the day of the wedding in the past? And what was it about Janice and Duke Noah being childhood lovers?" she again had a lot of things suddenly messed up in her mind.

Knock, knock. The servants were still knocking and having a panic attack outside the room.

"Did they hear me scream?" Janice got up and opened the door.

"Your highness, are you alright?" asked a maid named Joy with worried eyes. There were also other maids who gathered there, all worried.

"I am fine. Just prepare the dinner early, I'll have an early dinner by myself in my room." She said calmly with a smile.

The maids nodded and got scattered to go back to their works.

"Your highness, are you and duke having any problems?" Joy asked with a snicker as she stood behind Janice's back.

Janice sensed her feelings and said," I see Joy you are possessed and controlled by some other witch. And I know exactly who she is." Saying so Janice walked inside the room and closed the door behind her back.

"How did she know?" thought Joy.

And inside the room, "How did I know? It suddenly came from inside of me." She said as she touched her guts.

"I could feel the hate from within. Who is the witch? I hate her." She thought.

"Because you are a witch too, Janice." Suddenly words came out of her mouth and she fainted and fell down.