1617

"What do we know about the 1600s Killian?" The Princess gulped, sitting on her bed solemnly. 

  "No documents were ever discovered regarding the 1600s, my lady. It was so long ago that no one cared." Killian answered. 

"Are we really… in the past?" The Princess asked, looking at the ceiling of the unusual mansion. 

  "Maybe this place does not include the apocalypse years into their calendar system." Killian proposed a logical reason. 

"Even so, 1617?" The Princess argued. "Only 70 years have passed since the apocalypse. The previous documents tell us that we live in the year 3002. Even if this is the land of Ignis, dating back to 1617 does not make any sense." 

"Maybe they only confiscated the wrong documents. Since it was all chaos, they can get their hands on old documents. As I said, Miraculum does not have papers that date back to the 1600s." Killian explained. 

"After the apocalypse, people unanimously tried to understand the situation through artifacts and documents of the world before the apocalypse. Before these Kingdoms came into being, people understood that this earth used to follow a calendar. We all had the same calendar because we only found one." The Princess argued. "The mountains… They sucked us into the past." 

"That does not make any sense." Killian failed to believe her. 

"Let us ask someone if they know about the apocalypse then." 

The suggestion was good and secure to find out if they had traveled to the past or if this was just another Kingdom taking on a different calendar system. The Princess and Killian walked out of their room to see Kaspar. He was the most trustworthy person in the mansion so far. As they were walking down the stairs, they saw a big circle with Roman numerals written on it. 

It had two arms and both its arms had struck 10. 

"What is that?" The Princess asked Killian as they walked towards the hall. 

"I do not know, my lady," Killian replied. 

"You do not know about clocks?" Kaspar spotted them from afar. 

"Clocks?" The Princess asked, looking at the big circle again, "What would that be?" 

"The thing you are looking at!" Kaspar exclaimed. "It tells us the time. Have you not seen it before? Noble households should have it though." 

"We have an hourglass for that…" The Princess replied. 

"That is quite old-fashioned." Kaspar chuckled, "Either way, it is 10 pm. You both should go to bed already." 

Coming to think of it, there were different servants in the hall. Maybe the ones from the morning had gone to rest. 

"We were here to ask you about time." The Princess replied confidently. 

"Time?" Kaspar asked confusedly. Then he pointed at the clock. "That is the time." 

"The year. The calendar." The Princess specified. 

Kaspar smiled, "How about you tell me first? What calendar do you use?" 

"It is called the Gregorian calendar." The Princess said. 

"What a coincidence. We too, use Gregorian calendars." Kaspar replied. He felt like he was talking to children. 

Killian frowned, "What year is this?" 

"1617?" Kaspar shrugged. 

"That is your Gregorian calendar?" The Princess asked. 

"Why?" Kaspar asked, intrigued by their child-like presence. "What does your Gregorian calendar say?" 

"3002." The Princess confessed fearlessly. 

Kaspar narrowed his eyes, "3002? Your calendar is broken." 

Before the Princess could reply, the servants by the main gate of the hall opened it and bowed down exactly 45°. 

"Bow." Kaspar reminded them. "And keep quiet. It is the Great Father." 

Killian quickly bowed. Seeing him, the Princess followed. She kept her eyes on the ground. Footsteps proceeded to walk towards her; very clear and calm footsteps. Two people were entering. The two of them walked past all the bowing servants, towards the main stairs. As the Princess felt them walk past her, she vigorously raised herself, putting Kaspar in shock. 

"Heinrich!" The Princess shouted, looking at the man's back. 

It looked just like him. Just like the man with the quill. The other person with Heinrich looked back at the Princess with anger. He was the other man from her visions! She gulped and stood still. Killian held her arm, signaling her to bow back. However, she wasn't ready to bow again. 

Heinrich turned around and looked at her with a neutral expression before turning to look at Kaspar. 

"Bring this woman to my room." He said with a grave voice. "Only her." He added as if he knew Killian would follow. 

The Princess gulped and looked at Kaspar while the two men walked upstairs. Kaspar quickly left his desk and walked towards the Princess sternly. 

"Who told you his name?" Kaspar asked her sternly. 

The Princess didn't reply to the question and scoffed instead, "Did he not ask you to take me to his room?" 

Kaspar sighed, "Have you any idea what that even means?" 

The Princess and Killian both looked at him cluelessly. 

"It is your first day here and you are already getting punished!" 

—

Killian was asked to see Kaspar's desk for a while since Kaspar was given another task. He walked the Princess to the Great Father's room which was on the topmost floor; the 10th floor. He knocked at his door and stepped aside. 

"Come in." A voice from inside the room emerged. 

It wasn't Heinrich. It was probably the other man. Kaspar signaled the Princess to go inside. He wasn't going to go with her. The Princess gulped, opened the door, and walked inside to face the two men. 

"Master, what shall I do with her?" The man was on his knees as the Princess walked and the Great Father on his big, comfortable chair. 

"Why do you trouble yourself?" Heinrich replied politely. "I will see to it. Go rest for the night." 

"Yes, Master." The man stood up and bowed before turning around to walk away. 

As he walked past the Princess, Heinrich called him, "Aldrich," 

"Yes, Master?" The man - Aldrich - turned around. 

"Show the little Hoovers some love from me." Heinrich smiled. 

Aldrich smiled back, bowed, then turned around to leave, closing the door shut behind him. The Princess wasn't even bowing. She just stood there and stared at Heinrich fearlessly. 

Heinrich sighed and stood up from his chair to walk towards the Princess. He stretched his hand out in front of her. She looked at his face, then at his hand. Was he asking for her hand or what? She took the hint and put her hand in his. 

Heinrich held onto it swiftly, before she could decide to pull away. Holding her hand with one hand, he brought the other close to the red string on her wrist. He stuck his finger between her wrist and the thread before snapping it away from her wrist. 

She looked at him and frowned. With the thread in his hand, he walked back and sat comfortably. 

"I suppose this is from your lover who was standing in farting crackers. Am I right?" Heinrich swung the thread around in the air. 

"He is not my lover." The Princess frowned. 

"So, is this not important to you?" Heinrich asked, "Well and good." He stood up from his chair and walked to the window. 

He opened it and tried to throw the thread. 

"Wait!" The Princess shouted. 

Heinrich looked back at her, his hand out the window but the thread still in his grip, thankfully. He smiled. 

"Humans are peculiar. You say that he is not your lover yet you panic over the sight of losing this little thread." Heinrich murmured, pulling his hand back from the window. 

He slipped the thread into a small cupboard by his desk. 

"You might have followed me here, Princess. But know that now you no longer belong to your old world." Heinrich casually addressed her as the Princess. "You followed me here. I did not ask you to. Therefore, abide by the rules if you wish to live." 

"You know I am the Prin-" 

"I know. But I do not care." 

The Princess was shocked, "B-But… Where am I?" 

"In my house. In my room. In the prestigious Capital of Bavaria." Heinrich explained. "Your world, Princess Sofia, does not exist in this timeline."