บท 13: 13 — Her Vision

This chapter is in the first point of view however, the remaining story is in the third pov. It's Cynthia's perspective.

***

Cynthia climbed the stairs, guided by her brother towards the dark-haired young man who stood at the wedding aisle.

A small smile formed on her lips.

Finally, we meet again!

***

When I was ten, I had a dream; perhaps it was a sign from the gods.

In that dream, my beloved family, who cherished me above all else, crumbled in a single day, the day I turned ten—that was when my nightmare began.

My parents, Caylan De Luminas and Irina De Luminas De Ramsel, King and Queen of Eldoria, passed away in a tragic carriage accident, in which my second elder brother, Prince Vincent De Luminas, was also present.

Soon after, my eldest brother, Prince Alistair, was crowned King of Eldoria—King Alistair.

That year, His Majesty King Alistair turned twenty, while I, Princess Cynthia De Luminas, turned ten.

He had to abruptly leave for war. Without any notice, my brother departed.

The Jade Palace, once warm, became cold as if a snowstorm had swept through, freezing everything in its path.

The maids began to neglect me for reasons my younger self couldn't understand. Those who once complimented me now spoke harsh words I couldn't comprehend, but I assumed they were insults due to their tone.

As time passed, I understood the reason. They believed I was abandoned by the king, who never contacted me after leaving for war.

In a world where magic matters most, I couldn't manifest it at all either, making me a useless princess in the kingdom.

Years passed, and after a decade, my brother returned from the battlefield.

The war hadn't ended, however.

The king of the enemy kingdom, King Valerian of Selvarys, proposed a marriage between the two kingdoms to end the conflict.

No matter how much I opposed it, my brother was deaf to my pleas. Speaking to him felt like hitting one's head against a wall. I couldn't understand what had happened to the brother who had cherished me so much before we were separated for a decade.

A painful thought struck my mind.

"Is it because we don't share the same mother?"

Although I brought up a forbidden topic, my brother's cold expression didn't change that day. He merely ordered me to return to my quarters and wait for the wedding to take place.

Before I knew it, I stood at the wedding aisle, looking at the man who was to be my husband, Prince Lucian, Grand Duke of Erion, Lucian Von Gwyndor.

Through my thin, white, transparent veil, I could faintly make out his features: dark hair, a pair of emerald eyes, and a white suit that matched my dress, contrasting sharply with his hair.

His gaze fell on me; however, all I could sense from his gaze was contempt, the same look the servants gave me.

But why?

I was loved. I was cherished.

Where did it go wrong?

The wedding ended within a week, and I was sent off to the enemy kingdom as the wife of the grand duke, Grand Duchess of Erion, without any guards from Eldoria to protect me, nor any maids willing to accompany me in case anything went wrong.

On our wedding night, my husband, Grand Duke Lucian, entered the bedchamber.

He did not speak a word and sat on the couch.

I waited for him to speak, perhaps to come my way and touch me as I was told a husband should, but the grand duke did none of it.

He didn't speak to me, lay a finger on me, or glance my way. It was as if I were invisible. This might be outrageous to nobles, but I was relieved.

The thought of being touched by a man I didn't know frightened me more than sleeping in my room, where assassins could appear and I could barely escape alive.

I often wondered if my brother was the one sending them. Was he tired of me? Did he want to get rid of me? But why? We only had each other in this world.

After the wedding night, the grand duke never came to my bedchamber. We lived as if the other didn't exist. At parties, we would often dance, but we never looked into each other's eyes lovingly as other couples did.

Strangely, I wasn't envious of them. I was content with my life. I had nothing more to ask for.

Until the night when monsters appeared in the castle.

When I looked through my window, the whole land of Erion was burning, with monsters chasing humans, trying to devour them.

Magicians tried their best to stop them, but it was in vain. Their lives were taken away gradually due to a lack of mana.

"If only they had the magic stones," I thought as I watched the horrible scene. I was frightened, yet I thought dying wouldn't be so bad now. I had lived longer than I expected.

As those thoughts crossed my mind, a silhouette appeared behind me. I turned around and saw my husband's face once again.

Covered in blood, he gripped my wrist firmly for the first time. I looked at him, puzzled.

Before I could hear his words, a gigantic black shadow loomed over Grand Duke Lucian. Unable to comprehend, I pushed him to the ground, facing the monster.

It struck its large, blade-like claws into my chest. The pain was excruciating, and I could hardly breathe the next second. I panted and groaned as a pool of blood formed around me. The monster had a human shape, strangely. I tried to look, but my vision gradually turned fuzzy.

I looked behind me, Lucian was staring at me, his emerald eyes widened.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is it so shocking for a wife to save her husband?"

I wished to say, but the words clung to my throat.

The discomfort in my chest grew, and gradually my mind turned blank.

Then everything faded to black.

When I opened my eyes again, I gasped for air as if I had been underwater for too long. I glanced around, disoriented, and found myself in a room that felt both familiar and foreign.

Fancy toys, pastel blue-coloured walls, and bed sheets—it resembled my bedchamber in the Jade Palace. I scoffed, wondering if the gods were playing a cruel joke on me.

"Your Highness, did you wake up?" A voice I couldn't forget spoke.

I turned to see my maid from my childhood in the palace, Ami, standing before me. I looked down at my hands and realized they had regressed to half their original size.

"What's wrong, Your Highness? You have tears in your eyes."

"What year is it?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"I believe we are in the year 300 of the lunar calendar. And precisely the 19th of February, your tenth birthday."

In the dream I had, everything turned upside down from that day. It felt so long and never-ending… almost as if it were real. It was then, that I realized, I had lived through everything that kept happening.

It was then that I pledged to myself that I would never let those events repeat— my past life. And yet… I now stood before the man I vowed to never meet again!