"Mimi?"

"Oh, I'm sorry dear. Did you say something?" Mimi pauses as she noticed me staring at her through the mirror. She had been brushing my hair for the past ten minutes even though it was no longer tangled.

"A-are you okay?"

"I was a bit distracted." Mimi smiles as she puts a bow in my hair before patting my head. "Your such a sweet child to be worried about me."

"Princess?" Dr. Strom's voice came from the other side of the door. "It is time for your checkup."

"C-come in." I slip off the stool, the new dress that Papa sent made me feel more confident.

Dr. Strom opens the door, bowing a little as Papa appears before following behind him.

"Papa!"

"Hello Soraya." He pats my head with a smile. "I see that your wearing the dress I sent you. How do you like it?"

"I r-really like it."

Papa sits down next to me on the couch. Dr. Strom starts his usual routine as Papa watched until he gives me a candy once more and closes his bag.

"Now Princess." Dr. Strom kneels in front of me, meeting my eyes. "I have a few questions for you; I am aware that you don't know when your date of birth is, but do you happen to know how long you where at Bellesea Fort?"

He pauses, seeming to read the confusion in my face.

"The place with the mine."

"Oh. I th-hink that I was t-there for two years."

"Do you remember where you were before?"

"It was v-very different." I felt Papa's hand slip into mine, reassuring me as I started to talk about the room with the dogs.

The room shook as I talked, Papa's magic filling it up to the ceiling. I focused on Papa's hand as I talked about the pain I felt, trying hard not to completely remember everything.

I finally noticed that I was shaking when Papa pulls me into his lap.

"You are safe." His hands were warm as they smoothed down my back. "I will never allow anything to happen to you under my care."

Papa's words calmed me as the adults made eye contact with each other.

"Your Majesty." Dr. Strom follows behind me as we left Soraya's room. "We-"

I held up a hand, silencing him.

"Abaddon."

"Yes your Majesty?" A red orb appears with his disembodied voice.

"Meet me in my office now."

"Of course." The orb disappears as the hallway shifts, twisting into my office.

I sit down at the desk, still attempting to keep my magic in check.

Abaddon materializes into the room, quickly bowing towards me; noticing the agitation that I was attempting to control.

Dr. Strom wisely stood off to the side as silence covered the room as both men waited for me to speak.

I waved my hand, using the magic to show Abaddon our discussion with Soraya from a few minutes ago.

Soon, the same look that I was sure is on my face also appeared on Abaddon's.

"How could someone do that to a child?" The remnants of the Destroyer was still clear in the old man's face as his magic crackled in his beard.

"You have documents from Bellesea correct?" I rub my face and leaned back into the chair.

"I will take a look your Majesty." Abaddon snaps his fingers. A few seconds later, papers and books come flying into the room. "We might find out where they got Soraya."

Abaddon and I seemed to have the same idea of hunting down those individuals.

"I might have an idea of how old princess Soraya is." Dr. Strom coughs a little, what was left of his human face was paler than his bones.

"How?"

I contained my magic at his words, watching the color return in his face.

"As you know from my appearance- I am half dead, half-lich. This allows me to see the souls of beings though it may not be an exact estimate. There is also the fact that there is a strange stability to her soul which I have never seen before-"

"Strange stability?" Abaddon pauses in his search.

"What do you mean?" I stood up, placing my hands on the desk and lean forward.

"I don't know how to explain it, your Majesty." Dr. Strom sighed as he shook his head. "It is like her soul is 'here' but not here."

"Here' but not here..." I repeated his words; it felt like there was something I was missing but I could not tell what it was.

"Anyway." He continued, adjusting his monocle. "From what I observed, the princess must be around seven or eight years old."

"Seven or eight?" I was shocked. I thought that she would of been five or six considering her size, but seven; even children in the demon kingdom were bigger than her at the age of four.

"She has improved immensely since coming here." Dr. Strom quickly adds. "Though it will take some more time for her to catch up in development."

"I see." I sit back down, still thinking about all the information I had learned within the hour.

"Your Majesty." Abaddon's magic places the papers and books down onto the table as he addresses me. "There was no information on the princess... although."

"What?"

"In this ledger-" The book in question floated up before me, its pages flipping through itself before stopping suddenly. "There is a sentence here that states the sudden 'appearance' of a unconscious child at the gate of Bellesea."

I frowned at his words.

"What do you mean?"

"There is no record anywhere of the child's past before she came to Bellesea. It seems that they did the bare minimum of investigation before sending her to the mines."

"Are you sure that it is Soraya?"

"I have reason to believe so, since there is no other mention of children other than a 'shipment' carrying children had arrived the year before and after."

"Then it must be her." Abaddon and I lock eyes. "I will send out the Blackgarde out to investigate."

The Blackgarde is the demon kingdom's elite intelligence group, that specialize in gathering intelligence, assassinations, and more. If anyone could find out more information on Soraya, it would be them.

"As you wish, your Majesty." Abaddon bows.

Hey everyone! Long time no see! You all might be surprised that there was a chapter today but again- I did say that I had a goal of getting to chapter 20 before the new year so I've been trying to make it (two more to go!)😅

But wow! Its been an entire year since I've posted the first and second chapters and with 60.1 k views as of right now (though I have no doubt it will grow more once I've posted this and the next two chapters) is my first fastest growing story ever!☺️

Please look forward to more posts before January 1st! 😊