Chapter 2: CHAPTER ONE
There were many happenings that occurred in the dreams that frequented her nights. But out of everything, there were three of them who stood out to Leila the most.
One of them was the birth of the Holy Saintess.
"Congratulations, Duchess!" The midwife happily exclaimed, holding the newborn infant bundled with a cloth. "It's a girl!"
Even amidst the extreme exhaustion, the currently weak-bodied Duchess smiled beautifully. She took the child in her arms and caressed her soft, slightly damp, cheek, "My baby."
The door slammed open, revealing the anxious duke and her younger dream self, whose eyes trembled with excitement.
The duke approached the bed and brushed the duchess's hair from her face gently, "How are you doing, my wife?"
"I'm perfectly fine. Look, we have a new stranger in our family!"
The duke and their daughter, the young Leila, took one look at the baby and swooned. Leila patted the baby's small hand, "Hi baby, I'm your older sister, nice to meet you"
The baby let out a small 'yaa' as a reply, and the simple reaction just made her even lovelier. The duchess smiled at her husband and Leila's expressions, "My, how loved she is."
The duchess observed her newborn's features. She was sweet, gentle, and had the demeanor of a doll-like angel. It was very much like raindrops on a pure white lily after a storm. "I know, your name will be Lieselotte, it means 'loved by God'. '"
The infant opened her small fragile lids, displaying eyes of pink carnations, and giggled. The sweet sound echoed deep within their hearts.
"Mother, what's that?" Leila asked, pointing at the faintly glowing symbol on the infant's neck.
The room was dimly lit, so how she noticed such a thing was utterly puzzling. However, the thought was greatly dampened when the ducal couple realized what the symbol was.
How they dreaded the fact that their second daughter would be facing such predicaments in the future, all because of that symbol engraved in her.
Next was the public condemnation of the villainess character.
"Lady Vanessa Ivonne Raquiel," The Crown Prince's voice boomed through the banquet hall. It was the celebration of the two kingdoms with a deep history of rivalry finally agreeing to a peace treaty and enjoy lasting unity.
It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, yet Lady Vanessa of House Raquiel crossed the line and was exposed by the male interests of her schemes.
In every story of the same genre, one could obviously tell she was the villainess. The spoiled and domineering lady born to a powerful and rich family, who is engaged to the Crown Prince since childhood, and was bound to harass the heroine through malicious deeds.
The Crown Prince's face formed into a frown, his gaze was cold and lit up with fury as he protected Lieselotte's small, slender body behind him. "Not only did you schemed against the innocent Lady Liese but also framed your servants for everything you've done. You did not hesitate to kill people for your selfish needs and you even went so far as to hire assassins to murder Lady Liese.
Your hateful obsession of coveting the queen's throne had caused lives of innocent people. Your selfishness has brought downfall to you and your family, thus made you unworthy of staying by my side. I now announce our engagement to be annulled! Guards, please escort the lady and her family to the dungeons."
"Y-your H-highness!" Lady Vanessa shrieked, fighting off the knights who had grabbed her arms. She trembled furiously, her tears flowing nonstop. "I-I was f-framed! It wasn't m-me! I d-didn't do it! P-please, y-you have to b-believe me!"
"Lady Raquiel." The prince sternly said, warning clear in his tone. "Please surrender peacefully if you do not wish to get hurt."
But as usual, her dream self-had claimed the role as one of the onlookers that stood by the sides, watching indifferently at the occurrences.
It was not because she was forced to but was because she wanted to. All her life, her dream-self had immersed herself in the company of isolation and books and stayed far away from all the noisy drama that seems to follow her sister everywhere.
Though she was a very beautiful, talented, and intelligent person with grace and demure of a blooming red rose in cold winter. Her dream self never got jealous of the attention and the love her sister would frequently receive.
Part of it was probably because the younger sister of her dream self looked strangely like Leila's sister in real life. You can say, she was one of those who pushed her younger sister, to be the heroine of the story.
But unlike the main characters, there was one thing Leila had that they don't...
The fact that she was a mob character.
In other words, a minor character idling by the sidelines.
That was the advantage of being an onlooker, who sees everything in every angle that was very much like an author but only slightly involved.
Such, though Leila didn't mean to, she would always end up witnessing all sorts of situations. Whether the sweet moments with male interests or the hurdles with female rivals that her sister would face, not once did Leila miss anything.
However, there was one scene in her dreams she had written off as a nightmare.
Smoke. Screams. The foul stench of corpses.
Leila ran through the roaring inferno of the once majestic white castle of the kingdom, covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief.
She jumped against the falling pillars, using her sword to fight off the debris that hindered her way as she ran towards the familiar hallways. The routes that led to her sister's room.
She coughed against the smoke and ash in her lungs and mouth as she burst into the room. "Liese!"
The room was completely enveloped with thick, black smoke. She blinked and squeezed her eyes against the ashes and felt her surroundings blindly until her hand grasped a small wooden table.
She coughed, her strength draining from inhaling too much smoke and without hesitation, threw the table towards the direction of the large glass door of the balcony.
There was a loud crash, followed by the immediate scattering of the smoke like it was being vacuumed out. Leila coughed once again, keeping her nose and face firmly covered, and squinted at the room that was now slightly clear, with the majority of the smoke out.
On the floor beside the bed, lies the collapsed form of her sister. Head to toe, she was covered with soot and ashes from the fire. Leila felt her blood chilled, Liese was not breathing at all.
Despite her extreme exhaustion from fighting off enemies, both soldiers and the common folk, and fire on her way to the castle, Leila didn't hesitate to lift her sister's body off the floor and ran towards the balcony.
She took one look at the distance of the room and the ground. It was high enough to break bones if one didn't jump properly.
Despite the risks, Leila summoned all the courage she could muster and jumped off the railing. Thankfully, she landed on the soft grass without breaking a bone or spraining her ankle.
She took Liese's body further through the garden maze and settled her body on the ground. She then immediately took out several healing potions from her pocket, uncorked them, and placed the edge of the vial unto Liese's lips.
She had emptied all the potions she had brought with her and there were still no sounds of breathing. Though Leila looked composed, deep inside she was desperately praying for a miracle to happen. And to her demise, nothing happened.
She choked on her sobs and covered her mouth with shaking hands. Everyone she knew was dead, and she was the only one left alive.
Despite the blurred sight caused by tears, Leila noticed blood caked on the bodice of Liese's gown. It was splattered around the collar on the left side of the fabric.
Leila fumbled with trembling hands and her eyes widened at what she saw. The symbol on her sister's neck was ruthlessly carved out. The whole chunk of it was gone.
"W-who...?" The words escaped from her lips. She felt her entire being tremble with molten anger, she growled. "Who on earth would do this?"
Blinded by her rage, Leila failed to notice that her surroundings have gone quiet. A shadow loomed behind her; the sharp edges of the blade glinted against the inferno.
As she felt her consciousness fade away, the last thing she saw was a titled ground and a figure who kneeled before her, whispering. "Pitiful being. Blame your god, for he has forsaken you all.
And the darkness finally swallowed her whole.
At that point, Leila would jolt awake, sobbing and shaking desperately. It was strange dreams that didn't seem like one.
The images, the feeling---everything was so vivid that it terrified her inside. She had been dreaming the same thing over and over again that it came to the point that she could react every scene perfectly.
And like clockwork, she would shake the horrible thoughts out of her head and begin her day with a very, very cold shower.
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