ᴡᴍᴍᴀᴘ: ᴏɴᴇꜱʜᴏᴛꜱ

Switched.

Jennette de Alger Obelia, named god's gracious gift in a cruel twist of fate.

If only Penelope Judith hadn't threatened the Emperor of Obelia. If only she had kept her mouth shut until she died. If only she hadn't stood in front of him with a cruel smile upon her lips, her green eyes were malicious, as one who was greedy for power, she would not stop until she sat upon that coveted throne next to him.

But Claude does not give in. He sends her away to the desolate Ruby Palace where he looks over her, swollen with the child that might be his, even though he knows he hadn't slept with her. 

And one day, when Penelope gives birth to the child, a girl- Claude gazes down upon the wailing baby and slices off Penelope Judith's head.

She had only proved him right. She should have died before giving birth. He leaves the child there, alone, and wonders if she'll die without the proper care. He doesn't expect that Penelope's favored maid would take the child in and name her after such a ridiculous thing. Insolent, he thinks.

Jennette grows up amidst the maids in the Ruby Palace, not knowing that there is another palace for the rightful princesses that were of the bloodline, and she's a cheerful, sweet child. 

Lovable beyond compare, but when she reads a book on the history of Obelia, she stops at the page where it says : The names that mean immortality are reserved for the heir to the throne.

Jennette tilts her head, looking up at the maids that stiffened as she looks at them imploringly, her gem eyes wide and they unknowingly flinch as she opens her mouth to ask the dreaded question. 

"What does my name mean?" 

The maid who named her steps forward, shielding the rest, and smiles at Jennette. "It means God's gracious gift, your highness. It is truly, a wonderful name to be blessed with."

Jennette brightens up, her smile lighting up her entire face as she giggles, closing the book to the relief of everyone in the room. They don't ask the questions that lingers there, long after the sun had set. Why didn't her highness have a name that meant immortal, when she was the only heir to the Imperial throne?

Penelope's maid, now Jennette's nanny, makes sure to tell Jennette of how loved she is in the Empire, how wonderful it was to have her as their only princess, the future sun of the Empire. Jennette, none the wiser, doesn't question her name. 

Her father, the one who had usurped the tyrant must have named her because she was his greatest gift in life. She sleeps well that night, and for the endless nights after, her imagination as always, a lovely vision.

In a mansion not too far away, Lady Diana of Siodonna with her beautiful hair and eyes, gives birth to a daughter with gem eyes. Claude who had let her flee from the palace, Penelope who had, to her dying breath, insulted her, aggrieved her, and Claude who could not watch any longer, sees the last of his love in the distance, for the last time alive.

Lilian York had given her lady a way out, her connections throughout nobility weren't anything to scoff at, her status able to help Diana gain safety in a house of great rank within the Empire. 

But when Diana dies after giving birth to her child, "Athanasia", Claude's mana wrecks his palace. Lilian given permission to take his child away and dark mana swirls around his hand before he forgets it all. He chooses to. 

He had to.

But when Lilian uses her connections, in all the crossfade, of course it comes to the ears of one Duke Alpheus. The way an unmarried noble lady was purchasing clothes for a baby, how her house wasn't part of it, how he squashes the rumors before it gets to the palace.