[Nine years ago]
Empress Lillian Rafael de Andromed, the bright star of the empire, was a woman who radiated from her presence kindness and prestige, with golden eyes like the sun at sunrise, fiery hair burning with mysterious beauty, and a pale face decorated with a warm smile that is not absent.
A queen with fair, and a mother with incomparable love.
Although everyone's hearts were beating for her, one heart... The heart that she wanted to beat in her name remained silent.
Peace didn't last long. The tragedy came with the birth of the little princess.
— "Mom!.. Mom! Ahhh!"
The voice of Lucio, the few-year-old boy, broke the silence of the hall. The maids had taken the child, while he kept screaming and crying madly. The doctor bent down, his face pale, and sadness scattered from his features.
— "l... Lucio... Will you worry me even after I die?"
Her tired voice was whispering as if every word was snatched from her soul. She was lying down, her body weak and hot, exhausted from birth.
"Mom, don't say that..."
I held on to her cold hand, my hand is shaking. I tried not to act like a child... But I was.
— "Fifi... Take care of your brother... I want you to be proud, and remember that I... I loved you. Juliana needs love... told her that her mother loved her, too..."
Her hand began to slowly relax. Her golden eyes went out as a candlink goes out in the wind. Her breathing scooled... Until it was absent.
— "My God!!"
The maids' screams filled the hall. The doctor knelt, the servants cried, Lucio jumped towards her, clinging to her frozen body, and I... I was a stone.
Even at the last moment... My father didn't show up.
The funeral lasted seven days. Great sadness for the entire Andromed Empire. Elderly and children , everyone shed tears on her... Except for one man. The man she waited for love that was never came.
I hid my tears in the shadows, in front of people, in front of my brothers, and even in front of myself.
— "So, you're here after all this."
I stood behind Lucio, smiling tiredly, briliantly fake. I found Lucio hiding in the glass shed, which was our mother's favorite.
"What do you want, sister?"
His voice was charged with distress, he turned away from me.
— "This is what the future crown prince behaves?"
I mocked lightly. He blushed, and he jumped.
"I'm not a kid! And you're not really that old !"
His mischieve brought back a painful warmth to my heart. I reached out my hand to play with his hair, and he laughed distressedly.
I saw him... His fire hair is like my mother. Juliana's golden eyes... Just like her.
And me? My hair is white. My eyes are red. A mirror photo of my father... The man I hated. I wish I had inherited anything from her.
— "Huh, ma'am!"
Rosie came in, her pare before her.
— "Duchess Valentine came to the main palace!"
My mouth opened, and Lucio's mouth opened as well. We knew the story... Our mother's close friend, who turns love between them into a long disagreement. We didn't think she would appear at the funeral. We never thought she would come.
But she didn't come to say goodbye to our mother.
Behind the door of the meeting room was noisy, and when we sneaked to see what was happening, we found the emperor, sitting as usual, with his cold prestige, and sharp looks. Duchess Valentine was standing in front of him, holding a child's hand.
— "He is your son, Your Majesty."
My body is shaking.
That child... His white hair, his red eyes... It's like I'm looking in a mirror.
"How old is he?"
— " eleventh."
A year older than me. So... The relationship between the duchess and my father preceded his marriage to my mother?
The emperor laughed, for the first time since the death of my mother.
"So, it looks like my child... He will be the crown prince."
The ground collapsed from under my feet.
He never laughed like that with us.
Two weeks, and the emperor's marriage to the Duchess was arranged. The story unfolded: she was pregnant, but he married my mother. She hid the child, and her late husband.
Why did she appear now?
In another room, we met the two children of the Duchess from her marriage with the late duke, Beryl, with the features of a doll inlaid with gold, and Vinias, that boy with golden hair and blue eyes. His smile didn't enter my heart. His looks... It was not reassured.
"Be good brothers to one another."
What a hollow wish...
⸻
Present time
— "Philly?"
That sound... Rough, cold. When I hear it, I feel like my shadow is pulling out of my body.
Vinias.
He stood in front of me, folding my arms, with apparent annoyance.
— "What are you doing here?"
I smiled as usual when I met him... With a bitter smile, soulless.
He suddenly approached, as if he hadn't been there for a moment. He grabbed my wrist tightly.
— "Is what I heard true?"
— "If you mean my wedding, it's for peace."
— "I won't allow that."
He pulled me to him, his chest turn, enclosing my body as if I were... His belonging. As if I'm something that no one else is entitled to.
I hated that touch. I hated being here.
— "It's a form. His Majesty... He hates women, you know."
I walked away from him lightly, with a fake smile. Marriage may not really be done... And it may be done. Maybe with the emperor, or his brother. No difference.
But Vinias... He didn't accept this fact.
"I'll get you out of this hell."
He said it with a deep refraction, as he kissed my hand as if I were the queen of his heart.
But my heart didn't have it.
⸻
At the last dinner...
"Are you going forever?"
Juliana asked, the little one with a pure heart, while Lucio looked at me in silence tainted with anger.
"If my husband is merciful, we will meet."
I was trying to smile. Just, I feed myself to the last values of the memory.
— "But... His Majesty didn't want to get married."
Lucio's voice was serious, like a sword.
— "Maybe I won't marry him, maybe his brother."
"Are you a doll?!"
He hit the table, his voice shakes the place. I was seeing him... My little brother, I can't believe how old he is now.
— "It's all for the empire."
A sentence that has even reduced its impact. And reduced my anxiety.
But my real fear... It was on them.
Will the new empress hurt them? Will what happened to me happen again?
I swallowed my breath, shaking. Seeing them made me collapse from the inside.
— "Don't worry, I'm fine."
A little lie... My soul is going to collapse.
And when they surprised me with the gift... A music box, playing my mother's lullaby... I almost collapsed.
I cried from inside. I embraced them with all my might, as if I was saying goodbye to the world.
— "You are the most precious thing I have..."
My lips said it before shaking.
But when I heard the sound of the door... I realized something.
Someone was watching.
⸻
At night, while I was getting ready for tomorrow... Knock on the door.
Slowly.
Not Rosie's ways.
No one knocks like that.
My heart speeds up.
— "Who?"
— "I."
His voice was...
Crown Prince Cassier.
To be continued
By: Mave