Eliza was the last one out of the dungeon. She hardly wanted to move, but Mistress told her she had to go… It wasn’t her fault she was dumb! Learning was hard…

She’d always struggled with it… Why did she have to be royalty? If she was a peasant, she would barely have to know math. But they wanted her to know economics, and war, and diplomacy, and how to eat properly… And how… And… She couldn’t even remember all the things she had to learn!

Her life before joining the harem was torture. From the moment she woke in the morning til she finally got to bed she went from one tutor to the next… All of them condescending… All of them mocking her for her inability to grasp what they were trying to teach her…

But she just couldn’t help it! It was so much… She felt like her brain might burst at times…

Joining the harem was the best thing that had happened in her life. Sure… She was a slave now. But… No more lessons. No more studying… No more… Judgment. Until now…

Everyone else was so smart… What was the point of her? She was right there, vulnerable and alone and ready for enslavement and Samantha went for Olivia and Anne instead?

She felt completely undesirable now. She wasn’t smart enough to help, she wasn’t cute enough to enslave, she was… Worthless…

She found herself walking into a restroom in the barracks, looking at herself in the mirror. “What is wrong with me…” She said softly, looking at herself in her reflection.

Her reflection giggled, “Did you forget already?”

She blinked. Her reflection hadn’t moved or spoken to her in… A really long time…

“You don’t need to be smart!” her reflection said, her tone somewhere between cheerful and smug “You’re happier as a dumb horny slave, aren’t you?”

“But that’s not what I’m supposed to be right now, Azile!” Eliza protested. “I’m supposed to be an investigator! I’m supposed to solve things!”

“Just like you were supposed to be a queen?” Azile teased “Who cares what you’re supposed to be? You’re just you.”

She sighed and slumped down on the sink. “That’s easy for you to say…” She mumbled “You’re the smart one… You’re the opposite of me in every way…”

“That’s right!” Azile replied with a wicked giggle, “So don’t you want my help?”

“Wh… Why would you help me now?” Eliza asked, feeling defeated. Once upon a time, Azile wanted to swap places with her. The only reason she stopped trying was because she had been summoned to this world. Now that whichever of them was in the real world had to be a slave, Azile was content to remain in the mirror world…

“Oh, but Eliza… I’ve always looked after your best interests.” Azile said, her tone thick with fake concern, “We’ve just disagreed about what those interests were in the past. But now… Its so simple isn’t it? Our goal is to win whatever this little game of yours is. Right?”

“I… I guess so…” Eliza said softly.

“Very good. Now repeat after me. Eliza is the dumb one, and Azile is the smart one.”

Eliza let out a sigh. “Eliza is the dumb one, and Azile is the smart one…” She said softly.

“Very good girl. Now I want to stay the smart one, so you need to stay the dumb one.” Azile explained, “So, I’ll help you with this little game of yours, and in exchange you won’t change a thing about yourself. Understand?”

“Yes, Azile…” Eliza said softly. Well… That wouldn’t be too bad right? She could still be the dumb happy slave she wanted to be, and Azile could take care of all the hard stuff…

“Now… I was able to overhear some of what was going on.” Azile said.

“Wait… How?” Eliza said curiously “I thought you couldn’t be anywhere there wasn’t a mirror.”

“True.” Azile said, “But one of your companions carries a pocket mirror with her. I couldn’t see anything through it with it being closed, but I could hear the most important details.”

“You are all searching for something, yes? Take this mirror downstairs and I may be able to take a look myself.”

Eliza reached up, pulling at the mirror until it popped free from the wall. She… Might have bent a few metal things along the edges but the glass was intact, and that was the important part. It was a bit heavy, and big… But she could handle it… She could do something useful…

Slowly, she walked out of the bathroom, hugging the mirror against her body as she walked. She had made it through the bedrooms and partway down the stairs before she heard a voice behind her. “Oh Eliza dear…”

Suddenly, Raven was standing in front of her. Looking up at her with those… Glowing… Strong… Eyes…

“I needed someone to do a little physical labor myself…” The vampire said smugly “If that’s the one thing you are good at, why don’t you come with me instead of finishing whatever this little… Project of yours is?”

“Y-Yes… Mistress…” Eliza said vacantly. Her hands slowly began to loosen their grip on the mirror. She… She didn’t need it… Mistress had… Other work for her.

“RAVEN. STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!” Dominya’s voice bellowed suddenly. In an instant, Raven was gone.

Eliza had no idea what had happened. She felt disoriented, dizzy… Weak… She started to tip forward on the stairs…

“ELIZA! WAKE UP!!!” Her own voice shouted, suddenly Eliza came to her senses. She had just gone over the point of no return… She could feel herself starting to fall…

Quickly, she stepped forward, it was the only thing she could do, she thrust her legs forward, catching the stairs one after another. Sometimes skipping two or even three steps at a time as she half tumbled down. She couldn’t stop her momentum but… She couldn’t let herself fall… She might break Azile!

Finally, she reached the bottom of the stairs. She had built up so much speed she couldn’t even stop at the flat landing. All she could do was spin herself and… She felt herself slam back first into the far wall of the hallway. She let out a harsh gasp before sliding down to the floor.

Weakly, she lifted the mirror, looking at Azile inside. She looked motion sick but… She seemed to be okay…

“I hate stairs…” Azile said after a few moments. “Could you please be more careful next time…”

“I… I’m sorry…” Eliza sputtered “I had no idea Raven would be there… Its… A good thing Dominya was there to…”

“I was there to what?” Dominya’s voice said from down the hall. She was marching towards Eliza from the far end of the hallways, having witnessed the princess flying out of the stairwell. “Did something happen? IS SOMEONE IMITATING ME?!”

Eliza quickly lowered the mirror and looked up at Dominya as she approached. “S-Sorry… I was going down the stairs and Raven… Kinda wanted to… Make me her slave…”

Dominya stopped for a moment. She seemed to almost vibrate in place for several moments before she turned and threw a fist straight into the wall, shattering the stone her hand happened to hit and punching straight through into the darkness on the other side.

“Can that vampiric imbecile go ONE DAY without nearly killing one of the Leader’s harem members?” She shouted before running towards the stairwell. “RAVEN! CONSIDER YOUR FREE WILL PRIVILEGES REVOKED!” she shouted as she ran up the stairs.

Eliza sat there for some time after that. She wasn’t even sure if she could stand… Much less if she should… She may have even sat there for the rest of the night if not for the urging of her own voice from the mirror.

“Eliza!” Azile shouted again “We need to move! We need to get this done before bed time.”

Slowly, Eliza nodded and slowly lifted herself from the ground. She was so sore… Maybe she could ask Silvia for a heal later…

Once she had managed to get onto her feet, she reached down and picked up the mirror and began to walk down the hall. She… Could have taken the stairs on her side of the hall but… She wanted a moment to walk before she tried stairs again…

She looked to her left as she passed the hole Dominya punched in the wall. It was utterly black on the other side. Not… Dark… It was as though nothing existed on the other side of the wall. No… That wasn’t quite right.

Eliza stepped a little closer to the hole. There was something in there. It was small but… It was getting bigger.

“Eliza. We don’t have all day.” Azile scolded, but Eliza couldn’t look away. What was it…?

She couldn’t distinguish much about it. It was white and… Roundish…? And… Wait… It was getting really big now. It…

Suddenly she felt an intense chill as the white thing filled her vision completely. She stumbled backwards a few steps and then…

“I’m ba-ack~” A chipper and annoyingly familiar voice cried out. “I’m back I’m back I’m back I’m ba-ack!”

Eliza spun around to see Misty for just a moment before she left her vision again… Then back in… Then out…

She felt dizzy just thinking about how fast Misty was flying circles around her.

“Where have you BEEN?!” Eliza cried out, stumbling slightly as she felt herself growing more disoriented by the moment…

“I was out there but now I’m in here! I’m back! Yay I’m back!” Misty called out cheerfully.

“Excuse me.” Azile said “But if you could explain what you mean by that clearly?”

“Oh. Sorry!” Misty said, slowing to stop and looking towards Eliza. “So… I was told to check outside the castle to see what it looked like. And I kiinda got lost.”

“You got lost?” Azile asked.

“How’re you doin that?” Misty replied, “Did you become a ventriloquist? Why don’t your lips move when you talk?”

“Nevermind that.” Azile replied, “Now about this getting lost? What happened?”

“Oh! Oh right, yeah. So I went outside and there’s nothing out there! Literally nothing anywhere!”

“Nothing…? Nothing at all?” Azile asked, concern growing in her voice.

“Not a thing!” Misty replied cheerfully, “So I tried looking around the castle and found some neat purple stones I can actually touch! But… Then I get scared and flew away…”

“Scared? What does a ghost have to fear?” Azile asked.

“Yeah that was the weird thing. I don’t have to be afraid of anything. I’m already dead!” Misty said, “But by the time I remembered that… I couldn’t see the castle anywhere!”

“I…” Misty’s tone slipped for a moment. She… Actually sounded sad… “I didn’t think I’d ever find my way back…”

“Uh. Uh but… Then I saw a light! And I flew to it and now I’m back!” She began to bounce in place, flapping her arms excitedly. “I’m back I’m back I’m back!!!”

“I don’t like this…” Azile said quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Eliza said, looking down at her reflection.

“It sounds like she was traumatized by that…”

“Really? She sounds happy to me.”

“Happy to be back… Too happy. What… What’s out there that could bother a ghost like that…” Azile said softly… “I’m not sure we’re actually safe here…”