Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Nora's POV

I had to admit I had never been rushed into doing something quickly as much as I was being rushed right now. I was pretty much chucked into the car after the alpha confirmed that I was wearing something presentable, and the rest was a blur of buildings and streets as the drive was so short and also so fast. Personally, I thought that there should be a speed limit on these roads and that the speed he was going at, well, it was illegal. However, he didn't seem to care at all, and none of the others seemed to care either.

There was another car for the non-dignitaries, another couple of cars making a convoy for soldiers that would defend us against any form of aggression. But that didn't really affect my thoughts as I looked at the alpha before me and tried my best to focus on what was really important to me at this moment. There was actually only one thing that I thought mattered right now. That one thing was once again ruminating over the information I had gotten from Jake and digesting it thoroughly so that I would be able to use it if the time came.

Most of the information was about the palace and my own people here. I didn't get many updates on different other people in history, but as it happened, I didn't really need to. I already had a lot on my plate to work with, and somehow the knowledge of the previous Nora didn't seem to be cropping up at all to help me. It was almost as if that aspect of my memories was completely locked off away from my reach and in such a way that I couldn't find it no matter how much I tried and how many triggers I had with me.

To the extent that it felt like I was learning again, thinking about what I was about to do now, how I was about to enter into a meeting, I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive of how it would go. Something told me that it was going to be absolutely terrible, and I couldn't blame it either. Most likely it was because I didn't have some kind of method of knowing the people I was about to meet—people that Nora, in this sense, was supposed to be very familiar with.

I took in a deep breath as I made up my mind that I would do my best. I needed the knowledge of the previous Nora to work with them, but if it wasn't forthcoming, I would need to find some sort of alternative one way or another. I took in a couple of breaths to calm myself as our car screeched to a halt. It was so sudden that I almost lurched forward. If this happened to me again, then I was pretty much going to lose all the food in my stomach, just the way this was happening right now with all the movements and stress I was being put through.

I just wished Alexander would know that I'm not the true Nora and that he would treat me a little gentler for this change, I thought to myself as I closed my eyes and waited for things to work out. Anyhow, it was going to work out.

A couple of minutes later, and we were in a large hall with lights everywhere. I had to admit it was so much cooler than it had been in my day. This party was absolutely awesome, and the atmosphere was so cool that I wondered if they used technology for this too. Some people told me that they did, and a couple of fragments of my memory came back. Air conditioners, I thought to myself. But soon enough, the distracting thoughts couldn't keep me away from what I needed to do anymore.

What I was faced with was absolutely impossible for me to deal with without feeling stressed out inside me—apprehension at the various ladies around and also various men, all of whom I was supposed to recognize, but I knew not one of them. What kind of a transition is this if I don't even have knowledge to work with and if I'm going to have to start relearning right from the very beginning again? I thought to myself, tired, as I felt sad about my fate. I thought about what the priestess had told me.

Whether or not she had ulterior motives in mind, I couldn't help but think about her proposal again and wonder whether it wasn't exactly what I needed right now. I needed all those memories back. I needed them so that I could act normally and so that I would be able to socialize now. It wasn't that I didn't know what my job was. Alexander had to remind me—I knew even before he came over and looked at me with that expression that suggested that he was about to eat me all up if I didn't do exactly what he needed me to do right here and now.

I couldn't really help myself by not doing it. As I stared at him, a little shocked, he had to remind me just in case I could get out of this, but apparently, I couldn't get out of this situation, and things were going to have to start any time from now. I closed my eyes as I started trying to figure out the person that would be easiest for me to go over to talk with. Now that I thought about it, there was absolutely no one that came to mind.

I couldn't write it off now, could I? There was a pretty good chance that sooner or later I would need to talk with someone concerning this, and so I decided to look around myself, trying to figure out exactly who I could start off with. I had a couple of criteria for the person that I would start socializing with in the way he requested me to. First of all, that person needed to be young, royal, rich, and stunning—absolutely someone that I could somehow remember a couple of things about.

I tried to get my memory jolting from just the look of one of them, but nothing happened. No amount of looking could get me where I wanted to go, and soon enough, I was hyper-frustrated. Okay, I will really need to take her deal, I thought to myself, making up my mind that it was the best thing I could do right now because nothing else seemed to be working for me at all.

However, before I made my move, I first went up to meet someone that didn't seem like she was too important to talk with, so as to get the valuable practice that I needed. The conversation was not that short, but at the same time, it wasn't something I would say I really benefited from. As I talked with her and tried to get a couple of important things about her from just the conversation I was having at the moment, I somehow felt like it wasn't forthcoming, but I pushed with it, deciding that it didn't have to be that giving and that maybe if I was simply good enough at talking, I would succeed in my little mission.

She was a nice person, I had to say, and soon enough we were laughing like we were friends. It was funny how somehow I wasn't cold towards her like I expected to be, and somehow the conversation was simply flowing without me needing to say much in order to get us to understand each other the way we should. We talked about how thrilled she was to be granted freedom to some parts of the estate.

A couple of minutes passed, and I knew that it was time for me to leave. I didn't want to, not at all—if I had the power, I would just stay here talking with this lady, but I knew just how angry the alpha would be if he caught onto the little tactic I was trying to use. And so I decided to do what he wanted me to do, even if it was only going to be for a short while.

I made my way over to another lady that didn't seem like she was quite important and started having the conversation with her that was required. We started laughing and having some fun, but I knew that I couldn't stay with her for too long. So I got ready for another person, and then at this stage, I made sure that with everything and whomever I spoke with, I didn't really engage deeply with the person. I simply said a couple of words—kind words and also just greeting words—before going to meet another person because I couldn't afford to display my ignorance of who they actually were. Therefore, I did my best to not let the conversation last too long.