章 1: Death's Play
"You have been granted the opportunity to request for a last wish."
She parted her chapped lips, answering with a cracked voice, "Ah, I see." Lily gazed at the knight, who threw a stale bread at her.
"Eat to your fill and decide on your wish as today will be your last, 'princess'." He made no effort in hiding the scornful look on his face as he hummed happily, turning away from the woman whom he once bowed his head to. The thrill of spitting at royalty made him leap for joy.
Lily halfheartedly watched the man walk away with light footsteps, her eyes dropped as she no longer found a reason to act strong. After all, her sister and mother had long betrayed her and the people closest to her had been killed off by her adopted brother and his cohorts, the men from the neighbouring kingdom.
Her eyes lingered on the little fancy bottle containing a small amount of sparkling purple liquid in her hand, she had snatched it from her room before she was imprisoned.
The disgusting smell of mold, blood and rotten flesh permeated the air but she had long gotten used to it after spending an entire month in the dark dungeon. She twirled the bottle in her hand and sighed in exasperation. She knew that they had purposely left her alive for so long so as to break her spirit before finally finishing her off.
It was fine though, this was far better than being beheaded on a podium, right in front of the entire kingdom she once loved.
"Ha!" Her hands trembled as the cold bottle touched her lower lip. The few happy memories she had spent with her so-called family flashed in the moment of death. Her little half-brother, Lorain, who relied on her, even his life was not spared.
How cruel.
The liquid trickled down her throat as she relentlessly emptied the entire bottle. The cold liquid turned warm as it flowed smoothly down her throat, gradually rising in temperature as it flowed downwards.
"Ack." She groaned, stifling a scream.
The mother that never looked at her, the sister that acted nicely but always hated her, the adopted brother that she willingly gave up the right of succession for, and the father who gladly watched his children kill each other.
Lorain never deserved this and neither did she.
They never did anything wrong, all she had ever wished for was to be loved and to love, why was that so hard?
"Ugh." Biting her lips, she slowly fell into darkness.
-
"...Lily, Princess Lily!" A loud voice pierced through her eardrums, forcing her out of the still darkness.
"What!" She jerked up at the familiar voice, turning her head in fright. However, there was no pain nor stench. This familiar space was her room in the rose palace, where she ones resided before it was burnt to the ground by a sudden fire.
"Mary?"
"Oh my God, Princess. Are you alright?" Mary knelt by her side with worry in her eyes.
"Mary?" Lily called out again, her lips were not chapped and her voice was not hoarse, it was rather small and faint.
She moved to come down from the bed but fell when her legs failed to reach the ground.
"My princess!" Mary rushed up to her and picked her up, "Are you still upset that the Queen rejected your wish to see her?"
Wish? Was my last wish to see my mother? And why was it rejected?
Right, the Queen hated her first daughter because she was born of the king, a man she despised the most. Hence, she called her daughter, Lily. Not the lily of the valley, or the beautiful lilies that adorned the kingdom's flag or the plains of the southern region, however, it was a lily that grew in the place she was born, a red spider lily that grew in the eastern region of the Florain kingdom. A poisonous lily and a flower much despised by all.
Why would her last wish be to meet that same woman who treated her like a dreadful flower? It meant that this was a dream, a stupid dream that death had bestowed to her to give her warmth, however this was not warm at all.
Seeing, Mary who died at the beginning of the revolt and this palace that was burnt to the ground on her thirteenth birthday.
"Your Highness, are you still sleepy? I understand that you're sad but you need to come out and-"
Lily placed her hand on her young nanny's face and let out a smile. The hand on Mary's fair cheek was small, so small it could break if it was clenched in an adult fist.
"Your Highness?" Mary blinked calmly.
"Who do I have to meet, Mary?" Lily glanced at Mary.
"Y-you're speaking so eloquently now, Your Highness." Mary teared up, forgetting the question that she was asked, "You cried yourself to sleep last night but now you're acting all grown up. However, you really should come out and greet your new younger brother." Mary added, causing Lily's eyes to widen.
Younger brother? The only younger brother she acknowledge now was Lorain, and he died in the hands of that scoundrel.
"Ha." She scoffed, "What year is it, Mary?"
"It's the 456th year of Kingdom Florania, Your Highness, under the rule of the 16th sun of Florania."
"Haha." Lily chuckled underneath her breath.
How dare death bring her back to a time like this? No! It couldn't be. All of this were too real to be a fleeting memory in the face of death. The air that perfectly filled her lungs, even the late Mary who was holding her in her arms and loyally answering to all her questions, her ankle that ached from falling off the bed earlier. All of these was to vivid to be called a memory or flashes of life past your eyes. She really might have returned to this wrecked family.
However, the look on her face wasn't despair or fear. Her lips curled into a vicious smile while her eyes widened with various thoughts. However, one thought that had gone through her mind at her moment of death; How differently would she have ended if she had become the Queen of Florania? What would her fate be if she ruled over the kingdom of flowers? Was life determined by power? Then if it was, she would thrive to earn power.
"Let me down, Mary." She ordered in a calm voice.
"Pardon?"
"I should get ready to meet my little brother, shouldn't I?" She smiled.
It didn't matter why or how she returned but one thing was sure, she definitely would not die this time. Even though Lorain hadn't been born by this time, she'll gather enough power to protect him when he's finally born.
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