I witnessed my mother coughing blood while lying helpless, too feeble to rise or sit. She gazed at me tenderly, her bony hand caressing my cheek, as Duke Alpheus knelt beside me, engaged in a conversation with her.
Exiled from their private conversation, I pondered the complex relationship between my mother and the Duke, dubbed my uncle. Despite her insistence that he resembled a brother to her, I doubted she viewed him like that during her teenage years.
Standing near the door, I crumbled onto the unyielding wooden floor. Tears streamed down my face, my facade of strength shattered. My mother, seemingly robust the day before, now languished in illness. I grappled with the impending loss, clinging to a futile hope for a miraculous recovery.
Near the door, I strained to hear my mother's voice. Amidst mumbles, she whispered to the Duke, "Take care of her, Ijekiel, take care of my little girl." As my tears subsided, I retreated to my room, weeping myself to sleep.
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
My lashes fluttered with the wind, a blurry vision revealing the Duke holding a needle. "Forgive me, Amadora, but this is all for your sake." That marked the final memory of my life as only Amadora.
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
"Your name is now Amadora Margarita, and you'll reside in the Alpheus manor as the Duke's ward," my Aunt, the Duke's wife, declared coldly. She spared me no glance, expecting me to bring glory to the house or face punishment. "Do you understand, child?"the
"Yes, aun-...lady Evelyn," I responded, met with her displeasure. Left to the maids' care, her children cast mocking glances my way.
The nightmare commenced.
Forced into a role as the perfect tool for the house, I struggled with no recollection of life before. Yet, the torment from my cousins overshadowed all.
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
Having adjusted to my new life, my aunt began 'educating' me for my role as the new lady of the house. Surprisingly, she revealed my royal lineage, my mother having hidden my jewel eyes.
It was my right.
Entitled to the throne as the grandchild of the previous Emperor, the older brother of Emperor Claude, I vowed to rise to power. Despite my achievements, I remained in Princess Amarantha's shadow, my aunt relentless in pushing me to surpass her. To do better. To be better.
"You useless child!" echoed a shout, accompanied by a stinging slap. I stood in silence as accusations of failure and shame were hurled at me. "I will retake the test, lady Evelyn, and this time I will pass," I declared, head lowered. The click of her tongue was preferable to another slap.
'I wonder if my life before this was better'—a futile thought. No, nothing surpassed being the Empress and claiming the right that my mother relinquished. I would become the ruler of this Empire, no one but me.
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
Authors note:
◈Learning to improve my vocabulary ◈This was kinda short but that's okay ◈I have to be honest, I made this chapter right after I published chapter 3 but I edited it today ◈Sneak peek of the next chapter:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
◈Kinda the same as this one but it's longer i guess ◈I also do not want to hear shit about my hand writing in cursive.
