Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
I opened my eyes to the warm breeze that surrounded me.
The strange and familiar scent of lavender and the cosy texture of the blanket. This is my room without a doubt.
As I peeked through the blankets, I saw my bare limbs, without any wounds.
This incredible phenomenon remained remarkably unchanged for a week.
Now, I'm finally resolved to admit that I was back in the past.
"Miss, are you going to be lying down again today? The doctor assured me there's absolutely no cause for you to feel ill, but I have no idea what's wrong with you all of a sudden. Could you please tell it to me at least?"
she is my personal maid, Anna, who just walked through the door.
she has been looking very worried for a while because of me, who had been laying in bed for a week, eating a small portion of the food.
I remembered my last image of her, her face full of tears.
Two days after Angela collapsed due to her own poisonous tea, the imperial knights under the Crown Prince's orders forced their way into the Bellechateur House and dragged me out of my room.
They showed me no proper courtesy as a lady, even before I was condemned at that time.
'Don't be rude to Lady Jayna!'
'It is His Highness, the Crown Prince's command. Move this instant or I shall slit your throat.'
Blocking the sword, Anna stood in front of me and faced the knights.
The mansion was in turmoil already. Then, in this mayhem, a knight charged towards me, his eyes burning with rage.
'Just die! How dare you lay your hands against Miss Angela?'
He lunged at me, swinging his sword.
It all happened in an instant.
It was an unexpected turn of events. And unfortunately, he was the strongest of the dispatched knights. Therefore, no one could stop him.
I didn't want to die. At that moment, I drew back, trying to protect myself.
She was stabbed instead of me and died on the spot.
The knight in question was known to be one of Angela's fanatical supporters. That reason alone explained his behaviour.
Other knights stopped him too late, after all, nothing could reverse Anna's death.
"...Anna, thank you."
"Miss? Why are you saying this so suddenly? Is there something bugging you?"
I pulled Anna closer to me and hugged her. Anna didn't recoil from me as I silently kept clinging to her body.
When I first met Anna on a deserted forest road on the outskirts of the capital, I was ten years old and Anna was twelve.
Anna had been born in the slums and raised as an assassin. I brought her, who was heavily injured from a failed mission, back.
If I had done everything for Angela, Anna would have done anything for me.
I wanted to thank her one day. It wasn't until I saw Anna's head drop dead that I knew it was too late.
"Has anyone been bothering you? No, there's no way anyone would unless they were insane."
"It's not like that. And I'll get back on my schedule from today, so I'll be back after doing a small thing!"
I left the room after that and bolted out.
Behind me, Anna shouted at me to at least change from my nightgown, but I kept running as if not to hear her.
It was the first time I had run around the mansion since I had taken the etiquette class. The employees of the mansion were stunned when they saw me pass but I didn't stop.
I soon reached my destination. A secret storage room in the basement of the Bellechateur mansion.
There was a magic cast here so that only the direct descendants from the Bellechateur lineage are allowed to go in and out.
When I was little, I used to hide in this secret room often while playing hide-and-seek.
Only me and my father can access this place. It wasn't until my father left for the place that the hide-and-seek game ended, and I was severely reprimanded by the adults.
I stepped inside carefully, remembering the past.
The Marquis' most valuable treasure is kept
The glass box, located in the centre of the treasure room, houses the Marquis' most important possession. It was enchanted with dual-spaced magic that even I dare not touch it.
"Furthermore."
As expected.
I could see a necklace inside the glass box. The necklace I had received from my father when I was locked up in the underground prison of the imperial palace.
Originally, this necklace was supposed to have a golden gemstone, but now the precious stone has lost its glow and is cracked in half.
There is an ancient story that exists in our family, about a legend that comes from our ancestors.
Long ago, when the territory of Bellechateur was a kingdom.
The first king of the kingdom rescued a dragon in danger, who gave him a shred of his heart in gratitude.
- Calleth upon me at which hour thee 'r thy descendants art in ado. I shall grant thee one wish.
The golden stone, also called the Dragon's Heart, was passed down to Bellechateur descendants for a long period of time.
No one in the family believed this tale to be true anymore.
Many of the emerging nobles hired writers to create 'real' stories about their families. So I came to believe that the same was true for the story of Bellechateur's historic king.
A dragon, that makes sense at this point.
The necklace was just a symbol of the family passed down to the household head.
But did it really happen?
I was lost in thought when I saw the grey stone cracked in two.
I certainly heard someone's voice and my wish came true, and the proof was that I, who had been beheaded on the guillotine, was still alive and roaming around the mansion.
Humans can do no such thing as rewinding back time. If I had to choose, 'The Dragon, who was helped by Bellechateur, honoured his promise' is more realistic.
"Thank you for sending me back in time."
I bowed my head down to the necklace. If anyone saw me, they would laugh at what I was doing, but I was serious.
***
"Honestly, I'm so glad you're feeling better now but where did you head to while still wearing a nightgown? I have been looking for you for a long time in fear that you might faint!"
When I returned to my room, Anna was waiting for me with a terrifying aura.
Knowing my wrongdoings, I stood in front of the mirror, avoiding her gaze.
Blue eyes met their match in the jewel-adorned mirror.
It was a face I had always seen before, but it felt unfamiliar.
The white skin glowed, and the long black hair shone.
"Anna, how old am I this year?"
"You are 18 years old. I don't think you will explain to me why you asked that so I won't interrogate you anymore."
If I was eighteen, that would be the age I first met Angela.
Then, is she currently in the mansion?
A part of me sank when I thought about Angela.
My life had fallen into hell and after the Marquis of Bellechateur was destroyed, my life had never been the same.
I remembered my days in the dungeon.
If I face her, could I retain a calm facade?
To be honest, I don't really feel confident. I need some time to sort my mind out.
"Ah! Come to think of it, a letter from His Excellency the Lord has arrived. Would you like me to bring it to you now?"
When I nodded and Anna stopped tidying up the laundry and brought a letter. On it was familiar handwriting.
There are many things I would like to express to my father.
At the age of 10, I lost my mother, and my father was always cold.
As my father and I were not good at expressing our emotions, our relationship wasn't very good.
Was it always like that? Every time I had a conflict with Angela, I would see my father holding her hand so I thought that he didn't love me.
I was a fool. if I had ever thought about it from my father's point of view, I wouldn't have such misunderstood.
I hadn't realised that until it was too late.
So when Angela's case of poisoning occurred, I thought he would be standing on her side who entered a coma.
'My daughter is not the kind of person who would do such a thing! It's a trap someone has set up to frame Jayna!'
However, after Angela woke up. the situation was so bad that it couldn't be mended, and even after being wrongly accused of treason, my father tried every possible means to save me.
What's more, just before he was executed, the shape of my father's mouth I had seen from afar was saying this.
'Jayna, I love you.'
And just before he was executed, my father's mouth, which I had seen from afar, said:
I rushed to read the letter as I felt like crying at the thought of that moment.
My father, who was serving in the imperial army, often stayed away from the capital due to border inspections or military negotiations issues.
My father would write me a letter each time.
<Dear Jayna, I am sending you a letter from my friend's house in Southvalley.>
What?
In a moment of surprise, I forgot to breathe.
With this sentence alone, I could tell what was written on the back.
I'm not a genius. I don't remember all the letters my father sent me.
However, this letter contained something more important to me than anything else, so I couldn't forget it even if I tried to.
<...He wishes for me to take his daughter to our mansion in the capital. It seems that we will be arriving in five days.>
That's what the letter says, but it won't be five days. Father will arrive at the mansion exactly one week later.
<Jayna, I hope you welcome Angela well.>
Angela, with him.
I folded the letter and put it down on the dressing table without uttering a word.
I think I laughed without knowing it.
Did that existence that brought me back into the past know everything? I don't know why I had been back to this particular point. Probably never will.
But one thing I am sure of is that there is no better time than this.
Angela had told me in that cold prison.
'I wanted you to be unhappy.'
'I wanted to ruin your whole life. I loathed you from the very beginning.'
This time I will be the one to destroy your life. Looking at myself in the mirror, I showed a terrifying expression I had never seen before.