fate, destiny, & love

25 | da capo

25

da capo (d.c.) [it.] — from the beginning

｡°˖✧˖°｡

after qiyue left to buy groceries, quqi headed straight to her room to get her clothes to shower. however, the sudden thought of asakura kimiko popped up in her head again, and suddenly showering immediately did not seem so important.

she threw her fresh clothes on her bed and pulled her phone out of her pocket, heading straight to google "king akihiko and asakura kimiko japan". because, she thought and rationalised, there's no way there's another king akihiko and kimiko, right?

immediately, pictures of that man she had seen in her visions as well as the woman she saw in her vision earlier appeared as part of the search results. she tapped on the first article that popped up under the search results, which read "understanding king akihiko's and asakura kimiko's relationship".

she sat down on her swivel chair and her eyes began to read the article: asakura kimiko, the sole daughter of asakura yuuya, the minister of finance, was childhood friends with king akihiko. in their early childhood years, they attended many classes together, such as archery and horseback riding. based on this, as well as the fact that she was part of a noble clan, many expected asakura kimiko to be the next crown princess.

it's no wonder kimiko would feel that way towards "me", quqi paused as she looked at a portrait of a young asakura kimiko, "i" basically stole her rich husband away. who wouldn't be pissed?

the article did not stop there, so she continued reading: the records say that asakura kimiko did genuinely love the king and did not 'covet' him just for a royal title as what most people would assume. however, she went to extreme measures and committed treason to gain his affection.

quqi's blood ran cold, do they mean...

she went on to the next line: she had plotted to assassinate his wife, queen misato (so "my" japanese name was misato, quqi noted), and his firstborn daughter, princess misaki. however, princess misaki managed to survive the assassination attempt, and only queen misato was killed.

suddenly, as though those few sentences triggered something, quqi's head throbbed like it had earlier when she was having lunch, and it almost caused her to drop her phone. she winced and raised her free hand to clutch her head.

before she opened her eyes, she heard the sounds of people screaming and the clang of metal against metal. she opened her eyes was immediately greeted by the sight of a baby in her hands. she gasped and nearly dropped the baby, why is there a baby in my arms?! whose baby is this?!

instinctively, she turned around and she found herself facing a woman dressed in a forest-green kimono with simple floral patterns on the hem of her sleeves. she had silky raven hair that was twisted into a bun with a silver pin embedded with small gems that was inserted through her bun. presently, she had tears in her dark eyes and her bottom lip was quivering. now that quqi had a better look at her, she realised that this woman bore a striking resemblance to remi.

quqi thrusted the baby towards the woman and the woman was forced to cradle the baby, and said with resolution, "please keep misaki safe."

"your majesty, please," the woman said between sobs, tears rolling down her eyes, "you have to escape! please don't stay and fight..."