Prologue

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The king and the queen had already left. The nobles were leaving one after the others, some laughing behind their fans, for others, their scorns, and rejections were evident for all to see, while a certain number kept their thoughts to themselves. The Knights had already left with the royalties, the only ones still present were the prince's personal knight standing by his side and two others who were at either side of the two kneeling, who were some meters away from the two steps separating the royal seats and the rest of the room.

Both of them, a teenage girl and a young adult man, slowly stood up from their bowing position, their clothes speaking of nobility. The man had a mix expression of anger and despair on his face while the teenager was quite expressionless. However, as her eyes caught the sight of a young man who was making his ways up the stairs and going to the prince, she couldn't help but call to him,

"Cousin…wait… please,”

The soft voice made Rehan’s footsteps halted.

“I… I…”

Her expression collapsed and she was quite flustered now, words failing her. As she made a movement towards him, the knight by her side directly used his sword to block her path. She clenched her hand on her dress, willing herself to calm down a bit to form a comprehensible sentence.

For as long as Rehan could remember, this was the first time that he heard this person stuttered. Her voice had never been so soft, never been so pleading. Not toward him anyway. No, he could still hear her laughers, her mockeries and could still remember the humiliations his young self-suffered at her hands. With a sneer on his lips, he turned around to face her. There was maybe too much aggressivity in that gesture, for she took a step back as her eyes widened, the fury on his face blocking the words in her throat. Then his cold voice rang in the royal court hall,

“Is miss Ried finding the sentence too light? Coincidently, I too, share that sentiment. Should I help increase it?”

Michaels gasped and immediately stepped forward, glaring briefly at his little sister before smiling fawningly at his distant cousin,

“We don’t dare be dissatisfied duke Rovelsbert. Living the rest of our lives as commoners, is, I assure you, more than enough already. Please spare us, no more.” As he talked, his fists were tightened and his anger wasn't correctly hidden at all. To think that mere years ago this teenager in front of him was as a slave in their house now he regained his status as duke? It was just too hateful and they were so close to success too! Makes him wants to gnash his teeth.

Talking until here, Michaels hastily turned around and harshly tugged his sister’s hand to let them go before their situation worsened. Lest would it do if they were exiled. The knights opposed no reaction to his gestures.

Kimberly struggled, for the first time opposing her brother pubicly to properly look at Rehan,

“You never understood me. Either my words or their meaning and much less my actions.” She winced as her brother dug his nails in her hand but still, refused to move, “but, believe it or not, I am happy for you now.” Kimberly smiled gently at him, her eyes curving.

Her right hand still confined in her brother’s hands, she was unable to take it back and in the end, she used just the left one to pick her dress then dipped into a low curtsy, her blue eyes meeting his dark one as silence floated for a moment in the hall room. A dropped pin could be heard. 

The teenage girl with wavy chocolate hair at Rehan’s side gasped as she came closer to him, disbelief in her eyes. However, that girl wasn’t the one Kimberly was looking at right this moment and idem, Rehan’s gaze never left hers, his face never softening; actually, it hardened some more.

“I sincerely pray for your happiness.” She finally said and Rehan smiled mockingly at that,

“Who would have thought that you of all people would degrade yourself and bow to me?” Then he turned to Michaels saying harshly, “take your sister away and disappear from my sight.”

“Yes, yes of course,” scrambled Michaels, and this time he tugged Kimberly even more fiercely. She lost her footing and fell, twisting her ankle. Her brother didn’t care and tugged her and practically dragged her limping form out of the room. There was, looking at them at this moment, no more grandeur these people were always showing.

That day marked the end of the short lives of the Rieds as a ducal family. The parents were imprisoned sentenced for killing the previous Duke and the children were reduced to commoners.

Rehan Rovelsbert could finally sigh and bury the demons in his heart. His father could now rest in peace and he himself could use some as well. The girl at his side softly tugged his arm and meeting her forest green eyes, his dark ones turned gentle and he smiled softly at her, his face a completely different one from what he showed until now. Only she could see that expression. He took her hand in his and softly kissed it, “thank you” he whispered and Amelia smiled.

Thank you for being by my side, thank you for your presence in my darkest day, thank you for having liberated me. Someone cleared his throat and Rehan remembered the three other men of her life. The prince still had his fist in front of his mouth, his gaze piercing as he looked at him. Rehan's smile dropped a little before it returned saying to himself that it was alright too if she was just using him, so long as she kept on making him feel loved.

Rehan really thought that from now on, his life could only turn for the better. He never understood how he died, could only remember the faint smell of flowers and musk before opening his eyes to his young self. He was eight years again, those monsters were controlling his house and that tyrannical princess of theirs just slapped him, her icy blue eyes glaring at him as though he was but an object in his own residence!

It was a reflex to touch his cheek, the stinging sensation very much real as well as the taste of blood in his mouth.

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