Once I had finished tying up the assassins that were trying to kill me, I began dragging their unconscious bodies to the main reception.
They were all slowly waking up, and once I got there, I just sat on a bench nearby and waited for them to fully wake up.
This didn't take long, as the main receptionist immediately saw me sitting down and went right over to me.
"Uh... your highness... you're awake... I'm sorry for the delay. We'll contact the King and Queen immediately." She gave a bow, and I got up from the chair and pointed at the unconscious Goetia.
She looked toward the direction I was pointing and immediately called the now-awakened guards. They carried them somewhere — I didn't really care where.
"I'm sorry, your highness... but could you explain what happened?"
Opening my mouth, I began to speak.
"I think they were trying to kidnap me and use me as leverage to get something from my parents. They should be interrogated so we can learn more," I said, closing my mouth once more.
...
And she just stood there. I waved my hand in her face, and she just stood there frozen. I poked her, and she immediately fell to the floor, her eyes still open and clearly in shock.
The surrounding nurses immediately heard the loud thump and saw that one of their coworkers was on the floor. They carried her off to one of the rooms and told me a messenger was sent immediately to the King and Queen and should be arriving shortly.
I nodded at them and walked right back to my bench... It was weird — I keep coming back to benches whenever I come too close to them... It's probably nothing.
Well, since I wasn't doing anything right now, I might as well catch up on some spell training.
Using my hand, I reached for my eye and slowly pulled out the book the White Lady gave me and began reading.
There were so many different spells I could learn. They were mostly focused on combat and healing, but I found a rather interesting spell.
It was a polymorph spell. It would allow the user to change the form of anything, including the user's own.
It was difficult to understand how the spell worked, since most of the words here were basically gibberish to me, but reading more, I found out that to successfully change one's form, they need only to imagine what form they want to take.
The only difficult part of the spell is the soul energy needed to cast it, but thanks to the soul of the Pale King, I basically have an infinite supply of souls.
So, reading the book more, I began channeling soul energy into my body and started reshaping my very being.
I had the perfect form in mind — a worm. They were rather easy to imagine and looked quite simple, so after I had finished channeling, and after a bright flash which temporarily blinded the demons in the room, I opened my eyes and saw I was now on the floor.
I didn't feel my legs, arms, or any other limbs, but I felt comfortable moving. I began... slithering? around the room and looked up at the window.
I still had my head, which was weird for a worm, but most of my body was worm-like, so I would say that as a complete succ—
The doors to the hospital were slammed open, revealing my rather distressed mom.
"Where's my baby!?" Mom said, scanning around the room.
When her eyes landed on me, her expression became crestfallen, and she quickly walked over and picked me up.
"Oh, my sweet baby... I'm sorry," she said, hugging me tightly, even having some tears fall from her eyes.
Once the hug had ended, she simply opened a portal back home and carried me through.
---
Once we passed through the portal, I was back inside my pale white room. It even had some flowers growing from my garden, entering through the windows.
Mom then placed me on my bed and sat next to me.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner, but your father and I had some... business to attend to. I came right away as soon as I heard you were finally awake, though I was immediately miffed the moment I found out some teenage Goetia was trying to kidnap you." She then summoned a blanket and began tucking me into bed.
"Now don't you worry, my dear. Once I deal with them, I'll have them undo the curse they placed upon you, and you'll be back to your adorable self," she said before giving me a kiss on the forehead.
"But they—" As I tried to tell her I wasn't cursed, she simply placed a finger to my lips and shushed me.
"Don't worry, my son... Mother knows best," she said with a smile before leaving my room.
And I was left all alone in my room.
I quickly got the blanket off me and began to undo the spell. I was back to my original form.
Walking outside my room, there were guards stationed at my door.
"My lord, you should not be outside. The Queen has instructed us to keep you safe while she is away," the rather large bull demon said.
I began to open my mouth, but not too wide, as to hide my teeth.
"I'm fine. I just wanted to ask if anyone entered my room recently, since the flowers were getting inside," I said to the bull demon.
"Yes, my lord, there were several maids who were supposed to clean and trim, but unfortunately they seemed to have..." The demon stopped before saying the last part.
"Seemed to have?" I asked, curious why he didn't finish.
"Well, it's much easier to show you, but I can't allow you to leave, your highness," he said, looking a little nervous.
"It's fine. Just take me wherever they're being held, and the guards can just follow me."
They looked at each other, and in silent agreement, they began to show me the path.
We walked for a few minutes in silence until we arrived at the maids' quarters.
They opened the door, and there I saw a singular maid sitting by the window.
I couldn't quite see her face, but as I got closer, I noticed that her red skin was slowly turning white.
"Um... ma'am," I said, trying to get her attention.
She turned her head toward me with an almost creepy yet warm smile.
"Yes, your highness?" she said in a voice almost devoid of emotion.
"Are you okay? You seem to be..." I gestured toward her entire body.
"I'm fine, your highness. In fact, I feel nothing. I don't even feel bad anymore, even when they harassed me for acting weird," she said, still smiling.
Okay, this was weird.
I looked at her for a few more seconds before I left and headed back to my room, the guards still tailing me from behind.
Once I reached my room, I made sure to lock my door and sat down on my bed.
What happened to her?
She's been exposed to the delicate flower.
I heard the White Lady's voice.
Are you there?
Yes. I'm sorry I didn't announce myself before speaking, young one.
That's fine, but what do you mean she's been exposed?
The delicate flower has the power to quell the void and allow you to properly control it, though I have not a clue what its effects are on the denizens of this realm.
But Mom has been entering and leaving this room, and she's fine. I even gave a few flowers to the staff whenever I could, and they seemed fine.
Yes, but the maid was exposed to hundreds of them, and most likely she wasn't as powerful as your new mother.
So as long as I don't let anyone get exposed to the flower who isn't as powerful as Mom, they should be fine, right?
Yes, that should be fine. For now, I must study how this affects the demons and any changes this may cause.
Thank you for your help, White Lady.
Please, call me Mother.
Ok... Mother.
...
Hello?
Yup, she's gone.
Guess I'll just wait here for Mom to come back... or—