She couldn't process anything for a moment.
What did he say?
"What... what do you mean brother?" her voice sounded hoarse. That couldn't be... he was going to be the emperor!
But a blind man cannot rule an empire.
Her head reeled. If she was seventeen currently that meant Sebastian- their eldest sibling was the current crown prince. He was a few years older than both of them. He had died in the battlefield when he was just twenty four and the next in line Vivien was crowned Empress. But her reign didn't last long for she was wasting away the empire's resources and hence dethroned. The next in line was her other brother... but by then everyone already had enough of the royal family.
The people of the empire rebelled against the royal family with the support of the nobles and then finally Alastair stepped in, cutting them all down mercilessly. The women in the family had to form marriage alliances to keep the nobles at bay. Even then everyone married for love... except for Azora.
Nobody wanted damaged goods anyway.
Alastair killed the entirety of the royal family cold bloodedly except for children and women. Azora still didn't know his reasons for doing so but she couldn't have been happier. Everything was going to go great only if Lain hadn't proposed to her.
"Sister," he tapped her shoulder. "You've stopped speaking."
If he was blind in this life that meant he couldn't be the emperor anymore. And if he wasn't going to be the emperor that meant that the entire royal family would die when Vivien became the empress.
"I'm sorry..." a tear rolled down her cheek. He leaned in, getting dangerously close to her. He couldn't see her but he could feel the pain in her voice.
"Don't cry, sister."
He wrapped his arm around her once again and her heart skipped a beat. The comfort of his warmth was too much. Why didn't he show her this love in her last life?
She was crying and begging for help but nobody ever came.
But maybe it wasn't his fault. Just maybe... he was never aware of my circumstances like Shers.
Ah Shers... my little brother. He was the only person besides her personal knight in this palace who cared about her. She wanted to see him so much.
"Today's Vivien's birthday banquet. I'll give you time to prepare," he smiled and let me go.
Vivien's birthday banquet?
Azora's face ashened. She remembered this banquet vividly. The first turning point in her life.
The first time she'd seen Duke Lain, the villain of her life.
Her fingertips froze over in panic. Her heart started beating so fast that she thought she would have a panic attack. Her body started shivering uncontrollably.
"Sister!" Alastair's hands wrapped around hers and he hugged her tight. "Everything will be okay. I will be by your side. I know you hate crowds it's okay, I will stay with you."
That sure was a very comforting proposition. Alastair always had a way of calming her down. But in her past life during the ball when Lain had appeared he had...
"It's fine, I will be fine."
She pushed him away a little and he let her go. All she had to do tonight was not catch Duke Lain's eye. Because this was where it all began. After marrying him she had thought so many times only if he hadn't found her at the ball maybe nothing would have ever happened. Now that she had a second chance there was no way she would repeat the same fate.
Alastair left the room and the maids entered. The one at front, the one she'd fired in my past life was called Nina. She was a cheat, a fraud, someone who spread nasty rumours about the royal family and Azora didn't really care much until she tried to harass Shers. Later, she always regretted her decision to just fire her in order to not create a scandal but in this life she wouldn't tolerate that.
Azora sat down in the warm water as Nina washed her hair and another scrubbed her arms.
"Was I happy to be back? Definitely not," she thought.
I don't want to go through this once more. But I did have too many regrets in my past life. If I am finally here, given a second chance by God, wouldn't it be better to just utilize it?
She leaned back against the wall of the small pool she bathed in and sighed. They would all die in the rebellion. Alastair was blind in this life, she didn't know how that happened but she didn't have time to dig into that right now.
"Leave me alone."
She stepped deeper into the pool, scattering the rose petals on it away with her arms before diving deep inside.
My head hurt.
My body hurt.
My heart hurt.
The thought of living this life all over again terrified her. She obviously wanted to make her life better but as she had already learned from her past life there was nobody who would step forward to help her. She had to do it all on her own.
What if I ran away? What if I left it all behind?
Ah but Shers... Who would look after him if I ran away right now?
Nobody, that's who.
She decided then she would stick around till he comes of age. But then what about the rebellion? Shers would turn fifteen the year the rebellion happened. If Alastair wasn't there to save us this time that meant the end for all of them.
She raised her head from the water, her eyes narrowing at the mirror set on the opposite side of the pool. White hair with a silvery gleam in it, red eyes - the characteristics of the royal children, looked back at me. She used to curse this beauty all the time in her past life but she couldn't deny the fact that she truly was blessed with beauty. Beauty that brought her nothing but misery.
Red eyes only belonged to the royal family. Once an emperor was crowned, the rest of his bloodline except for his children lost the red color in their eyes, turning it into a purple bluish hue. And if someone took the throne by force like in case of Alastair, the red color passed onto them and then in the future, their children.
She vaguely wondered if she should just take Shers with her and run away. But then what about her other brothers and sisters then? They were still too young. Should she be selfish?
She decided to do the planning of the future after the ball.
Little did she know what a big mistake it would be.