It hadn't been long since Alice's arrival at the Palace of Roses. Alice witnessed Hong's abuse for several days after she stayed in the palace with Mary-Ann. The queen took notice of Alice and warned her several times to keep away from "the foul beast of a child".

"Your mom..." Alice started to say, "Is she your step-mom?"

Hong shook her head, "She is, in fact, my blood mother. I just think she hates me for other reasons."

Alice wanted to ask, What other reasons? but was stopped by Mary-Ann who pinched her slightly on her arm. The maidservant quietly apologized after harming the guest of the princess. During Alice's stay at the palace, she learned that the queen took out her anger on her oldest daughter whenever they met. The younger sister, on the other hand, was well received by the queen and often showered with tiny presents.

Sometimes Alice would happen to see Hong chat with her father about military tactics as they were in the beginnings of a war, though the battle had not yet been fought. After the war tactic meeting between father and daughter, the Rose King would summon Alice to discuss what to do in the future. Hong was not allowed to listen because sometimes her mother would step in and interrupt their conversation.

Whenever they had the chance to, the two sisters would meet up and play briefly before Princess Hong had to succumb to her mother's violence. Most of the time, their mother would witness them together and would often cry while holding Shiro in her arms not to play with Hong.

"Your sister is not your sister! She is a demon!" She would cry.

Alice did not like hearing her mother spout such nonsense and tried to confront her once, "She is no demon. YOU ARE!"

Shiro was taken away and the queen turned around and aggressively slapped Alice. Instead, Hong took the brunt force of the slap and pushed Alice away. Hong glared at her mother, displeased at how she treated Shiro's friend. The queen flinched and realized that she had touched Hong. She immediately ran towards a nearby washroom and doused her hands in water. Most of the servants had heard of the queen's unusual habit of harming the first princess and running towards the washroom to cleanse herself.

"Its not my fault, it's not my fault," she would repeat herself with a scary grin.

Mary-Ann went to the kitchen to retrieve some ice and paced her walk fast enough, but not in a run, towards Princess Hong. Alice was apologizing and they moved to sit near the Rose Garden's fountain.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!" Alice tried not to sob.

Mary-Ann placed the ice in a towel and pressed it against Hong's injury. Hong flinched and held the ice in place. She tried to calm Alice and decided to tell her the truth.

"The queen thinks Mary-Ann is my mother," She sighed. "I don't know when my mom started to act that way, but I do remember that she would abuse me whenever she saw me since I was four."

"Four?!" Alice hissed, "How old are you now?"

The eldest princess raised up nine fingers, "I'm almost nine now."

Five years! She has endured parental abuse for five years! Alice was astonished. Though in her world, it wasn't unheard of for parents to abuse their children, this was the first time she had ever witnessed someone openly attacking their daughter. Probably because everyone back at home is nice to me...

"Ever since the queen gave birth to Shiro, the backlash became worse," Hong continued. "She said it was because I am a demon's child. Her over-protectiveness nearly killed Shiro a couple of times."

"How so?"

"When we got caught playing together, the queen yanked Shiro away and dislocated her arm. I tried to stop her when she kept pulling on Shiro," Hong clenched her hand into a fist, "But she wouldn't listen. Eventually, Shiro succumbed to a high fever and nearly died after being bedridden for weeks."

Hong continued to describe other moments where the Rose Queen would whip Hong with her father's belt after Shiro had a high fever, stating that touching a demon caused her to be in that state. Princess Hong was smart and knew that babies were often weak as a child. It was easier for them to succumb to fevers and injure themselves by accident, but since Hong was never in her mother's care, it was likely that the queen did not realize this.

The King of Roses was very tired and often had to deal with his wife's irrational behavior. He had somehow caught wind of his daughter's abuse from a servant when he asked about the first princess while they were in the battlefield. Every time he came home to check up on his children, he would see more scars and bruises on Princess Hong compared to Princess Shiro, who was living quite well. He argued with the queen constantly and spoke with Mary-Ann to keep his daughter in safe hands and away from his wife whenever possible. Though he did teach Hong how to wield a weapon at such a young age, he knew that she would not raise sword against her birth mother.

"You should run away when you see your mother," Hong remembered her father crying while hugging her.

Though it was her first time seeing him cry, she immediately froze up because she was not used to seeing her royal father react in such a way. After an hour or two, Alice listened with open ears and asked occasional questions, yet mostly kept silent from shock. She looked at the sky and noticed Mary-Ann's familiar hanging above them. He had eavesdropped in their conversation and placed his index finger on his lips to shush her. They finished listening to Hong's story and went quiet.

"May I?" Alice held her arms out and asked for permission to embrace the first princess.

Princess Hong was a bit surprised but allowed the stranger from a different world to hug her. She let out a shaky breath and tried to calm herself. I can't cry now that there are some people here I want to protect. Alice patter her on the back and stroked the back of her lustrous, red hair.

"I'm not sure why your mother thinks you are a demon with red hair. In fact, your hair looks cool! Like fire dancing in the wind whenever you are practicing with the sword."

It was the first time Hong had heard such a thing and smiled. A teardrop escaped from her and flowed down quickly. The princess hoped Alice hadn't noticed...

---------------------------------------

"Why were you eavesdropping?" Alice spoke in the middle of the forest she came in.

Ducere's face appeared near one of the treetops and purred a little, "It was not my intention, my core-less friend."

He threw something in her direction, "I made something that might help you return to your world."

Alice caught the item and held it up. It was a vial containing some kind of liquid. The color of the liquid seemed to change every time, which made Alice a bit skeptical.

"So I drink this and I'll return to my world?"

Ducere smiled widely, "That is your wish, is it not?"

Alice clenched the vial in her fist, "What about...?"

"Don't worry about them. Their future is in their own hands. The outcome you wish for them will not happen," he looked a bit solemn.

"The war will still happen then?"

Ducere didn't respond. Alice turned to look at the castle. It had been fun staying and learning about this world, but she was still worried about the Rose Kingdom's affairs. Especially Hong...

She looked at the vial and opened it, Ducere's ears perked and he watched her as she was about to place the vial on her lips.

Alice stopped and looked up, "If fate allows, I will return when I can..."

"Your promise has been noted."

She drunk the vial, though it tasted a bit strange like candy and soda. At first nothing really happened until her hands and feet slowly disappeared.

"Farewell, Alice of the Knowledge..."

End of Chapter 18......................................................................................................

*Author's note: this will be on hiatus due to the low numbers of viewers and I am planning to continue this when I have more free time...