Expedition pt3

***

Latrice Evans

"Really?" she asked me.

I stared at her sighing.

"Really." I answered.

"Lattie, are you sure?" She asked me again.

"I'm one hundred percent sure." I respond to her.

"Your eyes twitched when I told you my sister's child could possibly be his." she stated.

"Your tone changed subtly, enough for people not to notice and you are chipping off the tip of your fingernails with your fingernails." she added looking at my nails.

I looked at my hands and realized I was really chipping my nails. I stopped and sighed. I really tried my best to make sure that no one noticed me but it seems to have been in vain.

"It's not because of him." I lied to her.

"I am just a bit stressed out." I tell her.

"I really want you to get married to the Crown Prince." I added.

"If you were stressed you would have been pesky and galled up. You would have been arguing with everyone on this ship about now." She tells me.

"Look, I'm really not upset and I really don't love him." I explained to her.

"You are lying Lattie." she informs me as she sighs.

"You are upset and you like him." She adds.

This conversation was frustrating to me a lot. I'm trying to end this conversation and she's trying to bring it back.

"Marissa, you are a very weird person." I let out.

"I am?" she asked amused and sarcastically.

"You act brave in front of me but cower when it's other people showing you respect. You cower away because you don't want to ' disappoint' the people around you which honestly speaking is frustrating. Instead of trying to pry into my emotions, I would advise you to focus on your self-pity and your insecurities." I let out calmly but in a harsh tone.

Rissa stared at me shocked before walking away. I sighed and looked at her as she went to the directions of the rooms.

I felt awful. I only said all that because I wanted her to stop bringing the topic up.

Yes...I was upset that Orisis's mistress could potentially be the one woman I hated the most, but I WAS NOT IN LOVE with Orisis. I am going to die because of his greed for power. His greed killed the real Latrice and I cannot let it happen to me.

"Duchess Latrice." Jack called, bringing my attention to him.

"I know." I let out as I buried my face in my hands.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Honestly... I'm not." I told him hesitantly.

"Do.."

"I'm going to my room. Please let me know when we arrive in the Kingdom of Eros." I interrupted him as I walked to my bedroom.

I felt very awful for snapping at Rissa. I was going to talk to her about how she acts and explain to her that she doesn't have to act that way. I wanted to give her confidence so that she would not act the way she does... But I told it to her in a mean way.

I opened the door of my room and plopped down on my bed when I entered.

Why is this happening?

***

Marissa Braun

I walked to my room feeling hurt by what she had said. She could have told me that she did not want to talk about it and I would have dropped it.

I arrived at my room and I threw myself on the bed.

"ARGH!!!!" I screamed out in frustration.

Thomas barged in flustered and alerted. He had his

"What is wrong?! Who us here?!" He ordered as he searched the room with his sword.

Once he was sure that there were no dangers he rushed over to me.

"Lady Marissa, are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked ms as he observed me looking for injuries.

"I am fine." I assured him.

"But you screamed," he states.

"I screamed out in frustration." I explained.

He sighed a sigh of relief as he put his sword away.

"I thought something happened but I'm relieved that you are okay." he let out.

"I am sorry." I told him.

"It is okay... But are you okay?" he inquired.

I sighed as I tried to figure out what I would tell him...

"Thomas... Do you think I'm a self-pitying and insecure person?" I asked him straightforwardly.

He started at me shocked and surprised that I had asked such a question. I sighed as I saw his shocked face.

The truth was just as Lattie had said. I was a self-pitying person. I was an insecure person. I was not a courageous person nor was I confident...

"Can you leave me alone please?" I asked Thomas.

He hesitated to speak before leaving me alone in my room.

***

Five years ago...

I sat in the garden maze that was hundreds of metres away from the house. It was unused and had been abandoned. The grass were long and the flowers were withered. The tree branches were bare and covered with thorns. It was like a scary graveyard that could not be entered. I came here because nobody would come here my parents avoided this place because it had bad memories that they had wished to forget. No one knew what it was until today.

"Look. I told you she would be here."

I looked up and it was Isabelle and Ivan. They were standing in front of me with smirks on their faces.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"This is our PARENTS' land and property. We could go anywhere we wanted to go." Ivan stated emphasizing the word Parents.

"But You can't be here." Isabelle spoke up when she saw my confused face.

"You see... Mother and Father...Our parents are not YOUR parents." She added in a mocking tone.

"What?" I whispered out confused.

"Yeah. Your parents are actually dead and you see this place. This graveyard of a place was where they had died." Ivan answered as stared around with discontent.

"Oh, poor Marissa." Isabelle let out as she crouched down to be at face level with me.

"If you don't believe us. You can simply ask OUR parents." she added emphasizing the word our.

Her ' Our' did not include me and you could hear it from her tone.

"You are an outsider who has to be grateful that you get to live like a noble, and you should never forget that." Ivan let out as he grabbed my face roughly.

I remember rushing to our parents and asking them if I was their biological child. That day... I lost my confidence... I lost my confidence and I started feeling as though I owed the Braun family everything. They treated me so well and I could not be picky...I could not act out because I was not their child...

***

The door burst open and Lattie entered. I flinched out of my thoughts when the door opened.

"Rissa, Can we talk?" She asked me.

Her voice sounded desperate and sad. I stared at her before nodding my head... I could not be mad at her forever and she did not tell a lie...

"Rissa, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I had said a while back today." She spoke.

"I really never intended to use the tone I used today and I'm really sorry because you were right." she added sighing.

"I was upset that Isabelle could potentially be Orisis' mistress." she let out.

"I should have just been honest about it because you are my best friend and you would listen to how I feel." she added more.

"La..."

"No. Let me finish." she interrupted me.

"I don't want us to fight like this because it hurts and I love you, my best friend. The things I had said about you self-pitying... I meant those words but I did not mean to use the tone I did. I wanted to talk about that to you when we were done with this because I believe that you are someone who deserves to be treated with respect and love without you feeling like you didn't deserve it. I wanted to tell you that you would and will be a great empress... Someone no one would forget." She added.

"I am very sorry. I really did not mean to behave the way I did." she finished of her apology sounding decently upset.

"I'm sorry too." I let out.

"You were right about all the stuff you had said." I added.

"I was trying to help you be aware of how you felt when I wasn't even aware how I behaved." I told her.

"I should not have kept insisting that you were jealous and stuff and I should have been someone who would comfort you." I added.

"I also really don't like it when we fight because I feel like we loose each other... Your my best friend who I never wanted to lose." I informed her.

Lattie pulling me in for a hug and hugged me.