Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Life on the sea didn't get any easier. If anything, it got rougher. Sleeping at night was difficult because of the rocking of the boat and the fact that Abby was sharing a tiny room with four other women and children.

They didn't even have proper beds. All of them slept either on the floor on a primitive futon or in hammocks hanging from the ceiling.

They maximized on space that way but it made getting out of bed in the morning very difficult. Usually you managed to bump multiple people in the process. There wasn't really any room for luggage either. That was stored elsewhere on the ship and could only be accessed at certain times of day.

When it got particularly stormy and the boat was tossed to and fro Abby felt a bit seasick too. It was even more difficult to sleep on those nights because she was in a hammock and the stupid thing would swing back and forth like a pendulum due to the force of the waves.

"I think I may die before we reach Annalaias," she said with a groan on day after weeks at sea. "How far away are we?"

Blaise raised an eyebrow at her. "How would I know? I have never traveled this way before either. If you truly wish to know, I can speak with the captain."

That wouldn't help. She would be like the annoying little kid on road trips constantly asking the parents "are we there yet?" until everyone's ears bled. Provoking the captain would not be a wise move.

"It's fine," Abby sighed.

It wasn't though. She was sick to death of the rations and the toilet bucket and the constant rocking of the ship. Her roommates' snores didn't help matters either.

"I thought you said you liked to travel," Blaise said lightly.

Was he teasing her? How novel. He had never done that before. She wouldn't have thought he had it in him.

"Traveling in my country is nothing like this," she said crossly.

Abby was willing to bet that it would take less than ten hours to travel to Annalaias by plane if they existed here. In her world even traveling by ship didn't take this long. And they had comfortable cabins, almost no interference from the water, and real bathrooms. Oh, and buffets. Cruises always had buffets.

"Tell me more about traveling in your world then," he requested. "I am quite curious what the differences are."

She couldn't explain things like technology…but perhaps she could pretend it was magic? Magic did technically exist in this world even though it wasn't common. So she told him about trains, planes, cars, and cruise ships as best she could using terms he could understand.

Blaise seemed quite intrigued. He asked plenty of questions and listened even more intently than usual to her answers. contemporary romance

Abby suddenly got the feeling that he would truly enjoy living in her world. He wouldn't have to sign up to be a Warrior to see new things. All he would have to do is take a vacation. The concept of vacations didn't seem to exist here.

Probably because houses, businesses, and farms couldn't hold up on their own if people left them for more than a day. It wasn't like there were proper locks on the doors here either. Some of the businesses in town used drop bars to keep their doors locked at night but that was only possible because the owners lived on top of the shops.

The concept of using a key to open something didn't seem to have made it as far as Shibatsu yet. She wondered if they had anything like that in Annalaias or if they used drop bars too.

Abby was lost in thought about the mechanics of locks and keys when Blaise suddenly cried out. She didn't realize what was wrong until she saw a gigantic wave headed their way that was about to crash onto the deck.

Everyone else had already fled below deck where it was safer but the two of them were still exposed. A wave that large could easily sweep them out to sea.

He frantically gestured for her to hurry as he held the hatch open but she wasn't fast enough. The wave got her when she was less than three feet away from it and the sheer force of that much water knocked her off of her feet and right over the edge of the ship.

Abby was a fairly strong swimmer but she was also wearing a dress, stockings, and all of the other frilly layers that women were required to wear here. It wasn't as simple as underwear and outerwear in this world.

She briefly wondered how much Katie had hated it—she was a sweatpants and oversized tee shirts kind of person all the way—before remembering that she had commissioned giant sweaters to be comfortable during the winter. Why was she bothered to think about something like this when she was going to die?

The surface of the ocean wasn't even visible anymore. She was sinking no matter how desperately she kicked and propelled her arms. This dress was too heavy.

Is this how she was going to die? In the same world as Katie without her being any the wiser? She would think Abby was still safely at home and would never know what happened. No! She had to live!

Her will to fight surged despite her lack of oxygen. She was going to pass out even faster at this rate…

Abby was vaguely aware of something being ripped off of her by a pair of large hands and being pulled toward the surface. When she could finally breathe again, she gasped and sputtered trying to get all the water out of her lungs.

She was inside the hole of what appeared to be some sort of life preserver and Blaise was hanging onto the outer edge of it and propelling them forward as someone on the ship helped reel them in.

He…jumped overboard to save her. What kind of crazy person would dive into the freaking ocean to save a virtual stranger?!

When they pulled her up a woman wrapped her in a blanket and whisked her off to get changed. It was then she realized that Blaise had ripped the heaviest parts of her clothes and let them sink so she could make it back to the surface.

Abby wasn't even embarrassed. If she could wear a swimsuit to the public pool she could wear wet bloomers. But she was very confused why her sort-of-bodyguard had done something so reckless for her sake.

Was he simply taking his role as a Warrior seriously? That seemed like something he might do. He was a very upright person. She shouldn't be overthinking this.

done.co