The voice in her head

'Pffffttt'

Arabella didn't even realize that she had stopped breathing and her whole body has gone rigid hearing someone snicker.

'PfffttttHAHAHAHA'

Arabella's face ashened and she fell off the bed in sheer horror.

Did she hear it right?

She rubbed her ears, her face pale with fright. There was no way that she heard herself wrong. She tapped her ear and the tried to poke her pinkie inside in case, there was a mini microphone hidden in her ear but to no avail. She couldn't feel anything.

'Stop panicking like a scared bitch.'

Yeah. She heard right. A disgruntled sigh escapes her lips because her horrid nightmare had come true. She was a lab rat and now they must have done some experiment to her brain resulting in her hearing that voice.

'You really are stupid. Pffft…you think you are some lab rat?!' the voice screeches with high pitch laughter making her wince.

"What is this? What are you..?" She demanded while eyeballing the room for some secret camera monitoring her.

'It doesn't matter who I am since I will be living with you now.'

"What do you mean? I ought to know what the voice in my head is!"

'You Dumbo! You shouldn't be so surprised by me when you are somehow occupying someone…else body. And no you aren't a lab rat. Only we both know about us.'

That made sense. After hearing that, she began to relax a bit. At least, there was someone who knew about the insane situation she was stuck in and it seemed like this thing in her head was no human and some supernatural thing similar to her. So maybe it was much safer to converse with 'the thing' then any human out there who had smack her first then and call her a nutcase.

"Why are you in my head? Can you hear my thoughts? She asked.

'nah. I can't really hear your thoughts–ouch! That fucking neuron!–but I can feel your emotions which are so pathetically annoying.'

"Huh?" Arabella scoffs in disbelief.

'You should be grateful to me. I can be very useful for your survival and no one knows this place better than me.' The voice gloated

"If you are that useful then why don't you help me escape here? I will believe you then." Arabella challenges but it seemed like the lady luck wasn't on her side.

The voice doesn't answer her for a few minutes prompting her to think that maybe it was gone.

'A few things me must discuss first and I hope you engrave them in you stupid head. Don't you ever dare tell me what to do and no! You can't try to cross me!' the voice screeched again like a banshee and for a second Arabella expression turns somber thinking if the thing in her head was even healthy for her.

"Or what?" she gritted.

"You really wanna know? Damn...Am really close to your brain and I can easily pull your veins apart or dig holes into your brain hehe.' The voice sounded devious and she gulped. She must change the topic or she was going to throw up.

"…can I escape this place?"

"You can't. This place is like a maze–heavily guarded with hundreds of armed and trained guards. The grounds are patrolled by skilled mercenaries and every corner of this estate is monitored twenty four by seven. Even a bird can fly over this place without permission. And if you are stupid enough to try then there will be countless booby traps to take good care of you.'

"What?! Is this fucking white house or what?" now it was Arabella's turn to screech. What in the ever loving fuck was this?

'Scoff. The white house is nothing compared to this estate. You might want to call it a devils den.' The voice sounded annoyed.

"…who owns this place? And why is with this ridiculous security?"

'His Royal Highness, the first Prince of Ramoni–Azazel Ramoni Khitrov–Your husband dearest.'

Hearing that name, Arabella stands up at the speed of lightening. Her eyes were wide in horror and sheer disbelief. Her heart lurching out in fear.

Azazel Ramoni Khitrov.

As in the first Prince of Ramoni Kingdom...?

what in the ever loving hell?

'There we go again. Quit with those baffled feeling. Am growing really itchy and I feel sneeze your fucking brains out!'

"..I–I can't stay here…I must leave here immediately." Arabella pulled at her hair as she mumbled in a daze. If he found out that his wife was missing and someone else was living within her, he would probably ship her out of this world with no return ticket.

'He will never know about the secret. His wife is dead.'

Dead? She could be in her body somewhere for all she knew!

'I know how these things work. That woman died and you were given a chance to live again so quit acting like such an ungrateful bitch.' The voice chided her harshly making her flinch in shame.

"He will find out eventually. Everyone will who knew her…!" she tried to reason the obvious. Knowing this, she didn't want to step out of this room and face anyone. She had rather die now.

'I will teach you everything that you need to know. If you want to save your ass, you better forget about your previous identity and start calling yourself Raina Khitrov. You are her now until the end. Princess Raina Khitrov of Ramoni first' the voice growled in warning. 'If you mess up everything am going to throw you off of a cliff!'

Princess Raina Khitrov of Ramoni first…

The name itself told who she belonged to.

Should she address this situation as rise or fall from grace? She scoffed internally.

"Am going out of this room." Raina declared. If she wanted to get rid of this overflowing anxiety and fear, she must go out in the open and see for herself how grave her situation was or how deep her grave was already dug up waiting for her to royally fuck up.

'…No! You can't. I am going to rest for a while because a whinny bitch like you consumed almost all of my power and I don't want you going out without me.' But that voice was already a careless whisper and Raina wrenched open the door to her room and gingerly stepped out.

'I said stop!'

Raina flinched and almost shut the door in panic when two guards stepped in front of her. Their faces were devoid of any expression but they didn't try to stop her.

"Ah...I–I want fresh air…" she mumbled stupidity. Her eyes did a quick scan of her potential opponents in case they grabbed her and threw her back into the room.

They were armed. Fuck.

"As you wish, your highness." They slightly bowed and uttered in unison. The men looked anywhere but her. Almost nervously. She wondered why.

Her hands were trembling and coated with sweat, prompting her to rub them again and again against her silk gown as she ambled through the wide hallways. As she walked further and further, her lips slightly parted in awe and incredulity.

The walls were as high as a three portion building alone. The floors were carved out of the finest marble. Thick rugs were laid on the floor in an arranged setting. The huge windows were draped with dark silken curtains. The walls were adorned with huge frames of paintings of various sizes. Her eyes skimmed over the portraits of men and women alike dressed in royal attires and fancy gowns. Some were wearing a tiara on top of their heads and some were wearing beautiful crowns. Their chins were raised in the air almost arrogantly and their faces were frozen in a stiff expression. There ancient eyes seemed to follow her as she passed by them.

Raina was awestruck as she took in everything before her. The noblest of the noblest looking monarchs that went down in history were in front of her. Huge chandeliers were hanging from the carved ceiling and it was almost too ritzy and bright.

Raina was sure she wasn't standing in a simple mansion but a palace. Her knees were about to give in because it was all too much for her and her plain and commoner self. Huh.

She skidded to halt when she reached a large wooden staircase. It was wide. Blood red carpet was laid over it and candles were lit in the ivory stands that protruded out of the wall.

It was magnificent. Something straight out of a dark fantasy. It was so intimidating that it was beginning to weigh over her thrashing heart.

Some movement caught her off-guard in her peripheral vision and she was knocked out of her reverie.

Her head tilted and she glanced over the wooden banister. She sucked in a breath. Someone was brazen enough to stand in this noble palace in a pair of grey jogger pants with no shirt whatsoever. His hard and well sculpted chest was bare for the greedy eyes to take a lick off.

His hair were damp and he was carrying a small toddler against his chest with one large hand on the baby's butt and the other holding a spoon against his pouting lips.

The toddler had his rosy cheek pressed against the man's chest with eyes full of unshed tears. Several attendants stood at standby with helpless expressions as they watch the man cooing at the baby who stubbornly refused to part his lips and eat. Suddenly the toddler's eyes met hers and he started throwing a fit. His soft cries pierced the hearts of everyone present.

Her's included.

And it shattered when the man holding the baby raised his head and Raina was met with a pair of green eyes. The intensity of the unfathomableness swirling through them had her taking a step back.

The man eyes flickered over her body and his face darkened. His lips curled into a snarl as he yelled, "Maribelle!"