MARINA of the tale -
Aquaris was a small kingdom lead by a faceless queen who was said to govern her people while keeping their best interest first ahead of hers. She was also declared as a saint, moving along the commoners in disguise and mingling with them to help both in equal and raised footing.
But the story I knew didn't actually revolve around the queen of Aquaris. It was centered on Marina Asturias, the daughter of a well-known water mage and a local noble.
We have the same name. But that doesn't mean I am her!
Now though, I guess I am her.
Earlier today, a girl and a middle aged man and woman came into my room when I woke up. If I aligned my retained knowledge from that book, those people might have been Marina's parents. Or in this case, my parents. The girl must have been a maid.
I racked my head up for anything that might help me in this situation. I recalled every last bit of that novel. So far, what I got was a background of the current Asturias family and the prior events that had lead me to my illness.
That frost bite.
Orwell Asturias, the father of Marina was the trusted mage of the crown. He was part of her Royal Highness Agua's advisers and was also a scholar and professor at the small academy for mages at the kingdom. Like all mages in the Asturias bloodline, he was given a name bearing the symbol of the family. Water.
Marina as well had the opportunity to bear that kind of name.
Her mother on the other hand, Helena Asturias, was not gifted as most nobles were. She had the financial power and status being from the noble family Leos, but had no magical affinity.
That being said, Marina had both mage and noble blood. She could, well I on this matter, hold a title apart from being a possible archmage!
"But I still haven't awaken my magic yet at this part of the timeline," I murmured to myself.
The frost bite was supposed to be the poison Marina had ingested in an assassination attempt from a distant enemy of her family. That would be a week before her coming of age ceremony and magical awakening!
Now... What am I going to do?
I figured as much that I might've reincarnated. But how? Why?
Aside from my name and the way I died, I couldn't remember anything else from my past life. And this story, why do I know this story again?
That's right. It was written by someone special to me... It was...
"Dad?"
I shook my head.
There's no time thinking about my past life yet. I still need to recall what happens next after Marina's magical awakening. I know there's something important that I need to prepare for after that.
But before anything else, I need to make sure not to mess up the story before I could reach that chapter.
"It's time to do some damage control!" I exclaimed.
Okay, should I ran with tears in my eyes or act weak and faint when I meet them? Should I just wait for them to visit me again?
I needed a plan. Something natural enough for the story to progress smoothly. I didn't have the full copy of the novel and so I wasn't sure what Marina actually did during this scene. I'm not even sure if I actually messed up or not.
I looked back at the mirror and prepared my face so that it would look authentic.
"Think of something extremely sad, Marina! You could do it," I urged myself.
Somehow, I found it easy for me to control the tears like acting was an innate talent I used to have. I wondered about it for a second, but then brushed it off as I focused on the prior problem at hand.
Rushing outside, quite peculiarly as I awoke from death, I instantly knew where each hallway would lead and which door was for my parents' bed chambers. There were no maids or butlers that roamed the corridors even as the place looked lavish enough to pass as a noble's house.
Perhaps it's understandable. Despite being the family of great mages, the Asturias were no more than commoners before the current queen's rule after all.
I broke in to a room without much of a second thought and saw the same man with his worried gaze and the woman with her tearful eyes. My own tears were pooling over my cheeks as I looked at them that even I would've thought there were real. It felt so, but they weren't.
"Mother. Father!" I called.
The two, stunned by my sudden appearance, didn't react that quickly as this time, I was the one who draped my arms around them in a hug and sobbed. I copied the way the lady of house poured her emotions all over me from before, hinting the tinge of innocence and childishness in my mannerism.
"I'm sorry Mother. I have said such horrible things to you. It's alright, I remember now. So Mother, you don't have to cry," I cried as I buried my face on her lap.
The room was silent as I sniffled. My heart thumped loudly against my chest, the fear of being caught lurching to my throat.
What if they find out I'm just acting? What if they learn that I'm not really their daughter, just an imposter who didn't know any better? What would they do to me? Would they punish me?
But it turns out that I had nothing to worry.
Marina, pure and innocent Marina, was dearly loved by her parents that they would've turned a blind eye to any sort of selfishness. They would've even preferred for her to be selfish.
It was that Marina was once naive, gullible and weak that her parents feared they would lose her just as they could have with the assassination attempt.
Later that night, I was left alone in my chambers as I insisted. I excused myself to feeling a little lightheaded with the effects of both the medicine and the poison still lingering.
It was both true and not. I was feeling lightheaded, but the poison wasn't at fault anymore. I just other things in mind.
I tried sleeping countless of times, closing my eyes in the feat of getting engulf by the darkness. But everytime I did, the same creepy lady with her scary knife called for me. It would only take a moment before I wake up again, panting and out of breath.
I didn't sleep for the rest of the night. I kept thinking and planning what I should do as I try to remember my past life in the process. But it was useless.
I didn't even know why I wanted to die! What happened back then that made do such a thing to myself? And that woman, I have no idea who she is.
It's strange. If I took my own life, then what's the reason of being here today? I thought about it and even asked myself, 'Should I do the same thing? Again?'
The question was pointless. Without a concrete reason, I had no courage to stab myself with a knife.
Perhaps this is punishment. People did say that suicide is an unforgivable sin. Maybe I'm cursed to live another life just so I could fail it again.
"But I haven't failed yet," I murmured before finally getting my sleep as the sun rose and shined by my window.
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[ FINISHING THE STORY - blue ]