On a gloomy afternoon where the sun was covered by dark grey clouds, baby cries echoed through the quiet halls. A fair woman with messy tangled hair stared at the baby silently, watching it cry helplessly.
She sighed before carrying the baby into her arms, rocking them in her arms ever so carefully. Big bright celeste blue eyes stared at the woman that carried them.
"Hera...my sweet baby.." she muttered quietly, relief washed over her face as she noticed her baby had stopped crying.
"Please forgive mother.." she whispered into the quiet room where no eyes laid on them.
The woman had tears welled up in her eyes as she lovingly stroked her baby's chubby cheeks.
"I shouldn't have done that.. I shouldn't have listened… I shouldn't have been blinded by money… by everything.." the woman cried out, her arms holding her baby tightly.
"If I haven't, you wouldn't need to suffer.."
"I shouldn't have listened to those demons."
The woman suddenly smiled as she placed her baby back into the crib. She wiped her tears away and laughed.
"Hera, mother is sorry. Please forgive your stupid mother, she will listen to those demons once more."
Her baby didn't understand her mother's words and instead reached out towards her, babbling nonsense. The woman broke into tears once more, watching her daughter trying to reach out to her.
"Please forgive your mother." the woman repeated as she grabbed hold of a knife inside her pocket.
"Ah~?" the baby called out, looking over at the woman who was kneeling on the ground, the knife in her hands.
The woman turned to her baby, extending her arms up to the air and with a smile the knife came down, blood splattering everywhere on the floor and on the baby.
The baby watched with wide eyes, flinching as they heard a disgusting sound before seeing blood flow onto the carpets, staining it red.
"Ah?" the baby called out but received no response.
"Ah? Ah!" the baby kept repeating the same word they only were able to say but still received a response from the woman who was her mother.
Realising that they would never get a response, the baby, Hera began to cry. Big tears rolled down her cheeks as she cried, hoping that woman would respond to her like she always used to do.
But even if she cried loudly, the woman was long dead, bleeding out on the carpet.
Years flew by and Hera grew up. She was now four years old living in the main palace ever since that incident. The one who had found her was her own father.
When he found her, crying her heart out inside the crib with a dead body beside it, he only stared at it soullessly before ordering the servants to take care of her.
"You are lucky that woman killed herself or else you would have died alongside with her." he said before leaving the room, never turning back.
Hera used to ask her nanny who had taken care of her all this while, where her mother was. At a young age, she already knew her very own mother was not the empress. She could sense hostility from her every time they saw each other.
Her nanny who gave her love and taught her everything she knew, looked at her with a sad smile. The only thing her nanny could respond to was that her mother was somewhere far away.
Hera soon understood the meaning behind those words and finally stopped asking her nanny about her mother.
"Hera!!" she heard a familiar voice calling her name in front of her room entrance.
Her eyes shone brightly as she quickly got up, running over to the person, engulfing them in a hug.
"Big brother!!" she happily exclaimed, rubbing her cheek against the soft fabric of his clothes.
Judas laughed, carrying his sister up, twirling her around before putting her back down on the ground.
"Sorry I haven't been able to see you, father ordered more tutors to teach me." he apologised, stroking the top of her head.
Hera shook her head, giggling, "It's okay big brother!"
Judas smiled with relief before holding onto her hand, "I'm free today so shall we head to the garden and play?"
"Yes!!!"
Her days were happy and peaceful thanks to Judas, her half brother who loved her even when they were only half siblings. Aside from her nanny, Judas cared and showered her with love. She was content with her life, wishing for it to never end.
Of course, her wish never came true. Her nanny was suddenly fired when she was six years old.
"Nanny! Don't go!!" Hera cried out, holding onto the hem of the clothes, hoping her nanny wouldn't leave her side.
Her nanny could only cry, hugging Hera one last time, "I'm sorry Hera… I love you.."
"Nanny!!" Hera tried to chase after her but was stopped by the maids who only looked at her with disgust.
"Stop crying already! Your nanny isn't dead, she's just leaving." one of the maid said, scowling.
"Why?" she questioned, her tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Are you that stupid? Because of his majesty's orders."
"Don't say the obvious, Luna."
"So what? This child needs to know she's stupid at least."
Hera ignored their words, running off to look for her father. Upon reaching the throne, her father stared at her, a scornful look on his face.
"What are you doing here? Didn't the servants ever tell you to never come here?"
"Father, why did you make nanny leave!" Hera asked, her eyes red from crying.
Her father scoffed, "Because she is not needed any longer."
"But I needed her."
"I don't care. Leave now. I don't ever want to see your face here again."
Without another word, Hera was kicked out. She stared at the floor before dragging her feet back to her room. Her eyes dull and lifeless.
As she walked through the long hallways, she could hear snickers and whispers that surrounded her.
"I can't believe his majesty allowed a dirty child to live."
"Did you know? The princess' mother was a maid and her mother pounced on his majesty at night, conceiving a child with his blood."
"Her mother has no shame."
"I bet she will turn out like her mother."
"I heard she secretly drugged him to bear his child!"
"She forced herself onto his majesty."
"No wonder his majesty and the empress despises her existence."
"Not only that, her mother even killed herself! All because of her existence."
Hera's eyes widened in horror as she listened to all those words which were directed at her. She closed her ears, trying her best to block out all the whispers but it was ineffective as she continued hearing them even as she reached her room which was all the way at the end.
"My own mother killed herself…because of me..?" Hera questioned herself.
Her hands flew up to her head, gripping them tightly as she trembled. "No! No no no no no, it's not my fault! It's not my fault!"
She kept repeating those words as if she was trying to brainwash herself into thinking none of this was her fault.
"Hera? What are you doing?" Judas asked as he came into her room, finding her sitting in the corner of her room, muttering inaudible words.
She turned to Judas with red eyes, "Brother...it's not my fault right?"
Judas didn't understand what she meant but he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "Nothing is your fault, Hera."
Hearing those words gave her comfort she needed. Her eyes fluttered shut, hugging her brother back.
"You won't leave me as well right brother?"
"Of course Hera. Brother will never leave you."
Hera smiled at his words. Yes, even if her nanny left her, her brother wouldn't. After all, they were family.
She never thought her own family would leave her. When she turned seven, she was suddenly brought to another building.
"From now on you are staying here. I had enough of you." her father coldly said.
Hera nodded, "I understand. Your majesty."
"Good and stop spending time with Judas. He is the crown prince and he must fulfill his duties and studies. You are pulling him down."
"..."
Her father didn't waste any more time and left, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Hera laughed, shaking her head.
"Brother will come for me no matter what." she confidently told herself and waited inside the new building she now lived in.
She continued waiting and waiting but he didn't come. She shook her head, deciding to think positively, assuming he was busy today.
"Tomorrow! Tomorrow he will come!!"
The next day, she waited until night fell yet he didn't come. She continued waiting for him for weeks straight until it finally hit her.
He wasn't coming. He had abandoned her just like everyone else.
Although it hit her, no tears fell. Her eyes were devoid of tears and she just accepted it.
Everyday, the servants and maids began talking louder and louder, repeating the same words she had first heard when she was walking back from seeing her father.
Everyday, her eyes slowly grew lifeless until she became a living doll who only lived for the sake of living. Her mind grew distraught and the voices in her head continued taunting her with the same words the servants and maids spoke.
When she turned ten, it was the first time she ever saw the head maid hitting other servants. She watched in the shadows, the head maid hitting the servants with something in her hand that looked like a long tail.
For the first time in years, Hera felt something spark inside of her. When the head maid left the whip on the table, she sneakily stole it, keeping it with her. She returned back to her room and stared at the whip. Her eyes sparkled as she held it.
This was also the time she had her first victim. He was one of the servant's son who helped out once in a while. She had innocently brought him somewhere where nobody was and used the whip for the first time, recalling the way the head maid had handled it.
When she heard him cry out and begged her to stop, adrenaline pumped into her system as she realised how much power she had at that moment. For once, someone was under her, lower than her and begging for mercy from her.
A wide grin was plastered on her face as she continued using the whip nonstop, ignoring his pleas and cries until suddenly she heard nothing.
She looked down at the boy who had bloody marks everywhere on his body. She bent down, putting her finger close to his nose. No warm air blew out. She took a step back as she realised what she had done.
She had killed a person.
The adrenaline disappeared from her system, dread filling up instead. She covered her mouth, dropping the whip onto the ground before running away, pretending she had done and seen nothing.
When the people found the servant's son, they noticed the whip which laid not far away from the body. Finding out it was the head maid's whip, she was then fired and kicked out from the land.
Hera kept quiet, never revealing the truth about what had happened. She didn't feel remorse or sympathy towards that head maid or the servant's son. All she could think about was how she finally felt alive once more.
She finally felt how it feels to have power. To have control over something or somebody. But she knew she had to thread with caution or else someone will find out and everything will once again be taken away from her. She couldn't have that.
Hera used her own money she had received as compensation from his majesty every month to buy the things she wanted and even stumbled upon a slavery trading. She tortured every servant in her place, forcing them to swear to her that they would never tell a soul about what she was doing.
Without letting anyone know, her money was used to buy the slaves, keeping them in her place, forcing them to give her love and attention in order for them to live.
Hera felt alive once more, loving every second of her life now. The adrenaline she felt for the first time since she killed her first victim, kept pumping inside of her as she tortured and played with her victims.
Slowly, she had brainwashed herself into thinking she was everything. The one who stayed at the top, looking down at everyone as she was the special one. The one that had the most authority. Everything she wants, she will and must get.
With that thinking, she continued living that way until the very end.