Sera jolted when there was suddenly a light after a long time of darkness. She slowly opened her eyes and she saw a familiar figure walking towards her after she parted the curtains.
"Young lady, are you alright?" Mary walked towards Sera with a worried look on her face.
"Young lady?" Sera mumbled.
She touched her neck and looked around. The white walls, the shabby bed, and pillows, the pungent smell of old books stacked on the shelf in the corner. Indeed, she was in her room.
"Why am I here?" she asked when she turned to see Mary watching her with a concerned look.
"Though you came from a servant mother, my lady is still the daughter of Duke Fiore. It might not be as luxurious as the others, but this place is my lady's home now." Mary's warm and gentle voice was reassuring but Sera's mind was still a mess.
What was she doing inside her room? The last thing she remembered was her brother chopping her head off. Did she go to the afterlife? Did Mary follow her here?
She tried to get off the bed but she stopped when her feet couldn't reach the floor. Her face turned pale when she looked at the pair of small hands in front of her.
"Mary, can you hand me the mirror?"
Mary's brows furrowed at the sudden request but she moved to take the hand mirror at the vanity table near the bathroom.
"Is there something wrong with your body, my lady?" she asked as she handed the item.
Sera's eyes grew wide when she saw her reflection. Her silver-gray hair was back to shoulder length and her clear gray eyes that shined gold under the sun were in her childhood face. Her hands trembled as she put down the mirror and she couldn't hide her surprise when she asked her maid.
"Mary, how old am I?"
"You just celebrated your tenth birthday last month, my lady."
Sera's mind was in a blur. How did she go back to the time when she was ten? What happened after the execution? Did she need to go through every lonely experience that she had once again?
"Mary, please slap me,” she said with a determined voice.
Her servant took a few steps backward with a confused expression. "How could I dare lift my hand against my lady?"
She giggled. "It's fine. No one sees me as a child of this house, anyway." She slammed her body onto the bed and sigh. "Why am I here again?"
Mary sat beside her. "My lady, are you sure that you are fine?"
"Of course, I'm alive and I'm still well. There's no reason not to be fine." She smiled though it didn't reach her eyes.
"I'll prepare your breakfast then."
She couldn't point out what the swirling feeling inside her was. Was it rage? Disappointment? Fear? Relief?
She couldn't understand anything at the moment. Of all the possible timelines, why did she have to go back to the year when she was in the Fiore Family?
She jumped off the bed and walked towards the curtain-covered windows. She peeked through the gaps in the curtains and she saw her favorite view— the flower garden at the back of the annex.
Was it a dream? No, it felt too real to be one. She could still feel the frightening sensation when Andric yelled at her and she could vividly remember their piercing glares and the coldness of Xander’s blade.
She held her neck once again. Would she die at that time? Would they accuse her again of killing a woman whom she never met before?
Sera let out a sigh as she walked to the bed. It was the same as before. Though it wasn’t as luxurious as the main house, it wasn't that bad compared to when he was with her mother. The annex had been her home since then and it seemed like it would be her home once more.
She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. Was she still dreaming? If she was in a dream, she’d rather wake up fast than watch that tragedy slowly unfold once again.
But what if it was the reality? What if she truly traveled back to the past? In her mind, there was only one way to know.
Sera looked outside the window and saw that there was a bush below. If she was in a dream, she’d wake up from it after falling from that height. If she truly went back to the past and that was her current reality, she’d end up with a few broken bones at most.
She laughed softly when she realized what she was about to do. Maybe she lost her mind after dying once that jumping from a window didn’t scare her anymore.
She looked around, hoping that there was no witness to what she was about to do. After making sure that she was alone, she pushed a chair towards the window and climbed.
“I must be crazy, right now,” she mumbled as she stood at the open window and heaved a sigh. Her heart was beating fast, but she knew it was out of excitement.
She closed her eyes and braced herself on the fall. She could feel as if her soul was left up there as her body dropped. She closed her eyes tighter as she prepared herself for the pain.
She felt that her body stopped dropping but she didn’t feel any pain. Was she dreaming? She somehow felt disappointed that she wasn’t given a second chance in life but she was relieved that she wouldn’t have to re-live her life.
“How long are you going to stay in my arms?”
Sera opened her eyes when she heard an unfamiliar voice. Her eyes grew wide when she saw a beautiful-looking boy in front of her.
“Should I drop you now?”
His question snapped her back to reality. She was back!
“Please put me down,” she mumbled. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she ran immediately and never looked back until she reached the entrance of the annex.
What did just happen? Why is she back to her ten-year-old self?
What happened? Who was that just now? That situation wasn’t a part of Sera’s memories in her past life. She walked backed and forth around her room as she tried to organize her thoughts.When she felt tired, she sat at her study desk and pulled a paper and a pen from the drawer, and started writing things down. First, she wasn’t in a dream. Second, she truly went back to the past and that was her reality now.What should she do?It was the biggest question in that situation. Of course, her goal was to survive, but how exactly would she try to survive? Did she have to relive that life again?She clenched her fists as she remembered the days when she couldn’t do the things that she wanted because she promised to live quietly. Would something change if she tried something that she liked?She put a big question mark on the paper filled with her scribbles. What should she do in order to survive? If only she could leave…
“Hey, kid.” The Crown Prince looked at her and lend his hand. “Leave this place and come with me, I’ll treat you better.”With the innocent yet determined face that he showed, Sera was almost persuaded. Wouldn’t it be better to leave the manor with him? However, it was the first time that she had a chance to encounter him. What if he was way more frightening than the Fiores? What if just like her family, he would just be using her to get what he wanted?A silence ensued as everyone was waiting for her answer. She slowly shook her head and hid behind her father. She had no choice but to rely on the duke at the moment.“I’m sorry but I want to stay with my father, your imperial highness,” she said and looked away. She couldn’t look at the eye of the person she rejected after he offered her his kindness.“It looked like you had your daughter wrapped around your fingers, Duke.” The Crown
“Tsk. Why do I need to serve a bastard daughter of the duke?” The maid mumbled as she entered Sera’s room. “If she didn’t arrive, I wouldn’t be assigned here in the annex!”Sera pretended not to hear her rants. It had been a week since the duke’s weird way of treating her and after he left, he didn’t visit again. She knew it just happened on a whim but she still felt disappointed about being unnoticed once more.But that would be okay! That would be better than dying earlier than expected.She tried to console herself so she wanted to distance herself from any negative remarks. Ignoring them would be better for her rather than overthinking and drowning herself in misery just like what she did before.“Hey, Miss. Eat this.” The maid forcefully put the meal on the table in her room.Though she heard what the maid said, she didn’t feel like eating so she just ignored her.&
“Young lady, the duke has called for you to his office,” Mary said after talking with the knights outside the annex.“In his office? Am I even allowed to go to the main house?” Sera asked since such a scene didn’t happen in her past life. The only time she set foot on the main house was when she first met the duke and the last time was when she was killed eight years after.She never had a good experience in the main house so she was somewhat anxious. She didn’t want to leave her annex especially since there was still a possibility of her being killed by her own brother.“Yes, my lady. We need to prepare and make sure that you look your best.” Mary was excited. She hoped that the duke would finally realize his daughter’s worth and would start to treat her preciously.However, Sera’s interpretation of the situation was different. Rather than an opportunity, she found the duke’s sudden attent
Sera couldn’t understand the duke’s actions so she was pondering about it after she arrived back to the annex. Just why would the duke bestow her a name that was only given to children who should bring honor and glory to the Duchy? He didn’t do that in her past life no matter how hard she tried to be acknowledge by him, and yet he did that when she literally did nothing to get his attention.“My lady, you should’ve eaten your lunch with the duke,” Mary said while preparing the table for her meal.It took her a lot of courage just to decline a meal with him. Since she had been filled with doubts and confusion, she couldn’t take any more than that. She felt like she would explode if she stayed there for a little longer. That was just how uncomfortable it was for her to be with him.“My lady, you have a visitor.”Sera looked at Mary with a questioning look but the latter just shrugged. They weren’t
Though Sera accepted Ric’s invitation, the prince knew it was because she couldn’t refuse someone from the imperial bloodline. Despite knowing, he was amused instead of feeling guilty for forcing her to agree with his proposition. It was a mystery for him as he tried to understand what was going on in her head and the more she tried to create a gap between him and her, the more he wanted to mess with her.“Shall we go on a walk?” He chuckled when the lady discreetly rolled her eyes before nodding her head. Just how cute could she be when she tries to suppress her annoyance?Ric offered his hand for the lady to hold but Sera smiled awkwardly.“I don’t think I could just touch your imperial highness so casually.” Instead, she stood behind him and gestured for him to take the lead.“Don’t get smart with me.” Ric chuckled as he pulled her hand and wrap it on his arm. “Now let’s walk.&rdqu
“You went to the Fiore Manor again?” William, the second prince, asked his brother as soon as the crown prince arrived in his palace.He had been waiting for him to arrive because he had something to discuss with him but he ended up being curious as to why his brother spent a long time in there when he kept on babbling that he wanted to cut a bit of the Fiore House’s influence. Did he change his mind after a few encounters with the duke and his heir?“What’s the problem if I spend time on places that I wanted?” Ric said as he dropped his body on the couch.He went directly to the receiving room when his attendant informed him that William was waiting for him and it had been a few hours since he arrived. He didn’t want him to wait longer because he thought that he had something important to report but it turned out that he was just curious about his personal affairs.“You don’t easily change your mind,
“My lady, you received a letter from the palace,” Mary informed her as soon as a knight delivered the mail to the annex.“From the palace?” Her face turned to a grimace when she realized that there was a certain someone from the palace who would dare send her a letter.“I guess you already knew who it was from,” Mary said with a teasing tone. She smiled sweetly as she handed her the letter.“Just thinking about the possible content of this letter already gives me a lot of headaches.” Sera sighed as he sat on the couch and opened the letter with the imperial seal.The rarest flower in the Duke’s AnnexSera laughed when she saw the name to whom the letter was addressed. Was it because no one knew about her existence yet? She thought that he was acting impulsively when he sent her a letter but it seemed to be not the case.To the most beautiful flower that I’ve