Elise Does What She Wants!

prologue

No. Please.

She glanced up through a cloud of tears to see them, standing tall and proud from a balcony overlooking the execution ground. 

No, please!

She should have been standing there. She belonged with them. She was supposed to be the one looking down, admonishing the criminal kneeling on the ground. 

Every bone in her body hurt, ached, but she yearned to reach up and grab ahold of that sight. The gazes of her brothers were cold. Edwin stood towards the front, in his striking white shirt and trousers with a short, jewel blue cape. Her older brother, Daniel glared down at her, donning a regal purple cape with a gold clasp. And in the middle, her father the emperor, sitting on his golden throne, expression bored. His cape was blood red. At his side was a young girl, with silver gray hair, face as lovely and as refreshing as a rose. 

Elise's face contracted in anger. That was her position, by her father's side. That was her title, as the kingdom's most virtuous princess. Those were her brothers, her family. 

And that fake had stolen it all. 

Even on the brink of death, Elise mustered a murderous glare, enough to make the silver-haired girl shiver and turn away. 

"Elise!" Daniel shouted, drawing his sword. "Even on your deathbed, you're too much!" He spat, grimacing. 

Her father raised his hand, effectively silencing Daniel. 

"Elise Adeline von Soria," he said, voice calm but loud enough to echo through the execution grounds. "On the basis of harming this kindgom's princess," he put his hand on the silver haired girl's head, "and denouncing the crown through your shameless actions, I, the Emperor of Soria, sentence you to death."

Elise's eyes widened, and the pounding in her ears grew louder. "No!" She screamed. "No, father, please, I'm sorry!" She writhed against her chains without avail. "Please, no! I am the princess of this country! Its first princess!" She sobbed, screaming. "Father! Brothers!"

They stared down upon her with cold eyes, without a shred of remorse. 

"Please!" She cried out. "I promise I'll be better! All - all my life, I've been working hard to be good enough for all of you! Can you really throw that all away?"

The emperor waved the executioner forwards. "She's being noisy," he muttered. 

Elise felt her heart crack. 

"Did my years of suffering mean nothing to you?" She screamed. Countless hours, tears, sleepless nights trying to be a worthy princess meant nothing to them. 

"Please, Edwin. Daniel." Her body went limp, exhausted. "Please!"

"Stop it, Elise! We all know what you did!" Edwin shouted. "You can't turn back time, can't take back your heinous acts! As if a little screaming will do you any good now!"

The silver-haired girl subconsciously rubbed a long, red scar that ran down the length of her forearm. 

"You... you won't even listen to me?" Elise breathed. "After all our years as siblings, you won't even give me one chance?!"

"Give it up, Elise!" Edwin yelled. 

"Hurry it up," the emperor said again. The executioner nodded, making his way over to the fallen princess. A large, sharpened axe scraped the ground behind him, shooting sparks. 

Elise tried to crawl away, but her legs had given out. 

"Father! Edwin! Daniel!"

It was almost as if she were invisible. 

No. Being invisible would still be better than this, where they stared down at her with enough hatred to make her angry front crack. 

"Please," she called out softly. "Please... you... this can't be happening..."

The executioner roughly grabbed her by her thick, dirtied white gold hair. The slab of stone was cold against her neck.

"Please!" She cried, tears streaming down her face. She was turned away from her family now, but the image of them glaring down imprinted itself onto the back of her eyelids. No matter how much she tried to shake it away, the image wouldn't leave.  

"Please," she whispered one last time, just as the executioner swung the axe down.