Children grow up really fast, as well as Yen, Rui, Sei, and Haru, who grew up to be extraordinary nobles. So much has happened as Yen was 17, about to turn 18 in just a few days.
College was something all 4 of them were applying for. The name of the school was San Lorence, aka, the most prestigious school in the whole empire. It was not required for them nobles to be going to college, but they still applied nonetheless.
Only Rui and Yen had made it, and they were cheered on to have a happy life in school.
Rui: "I-I like you, in a romantic way."
Yen: "W-what? Really?!"
Rui: "Yes! Will you accept my confession?"
Yen: "Of course..!"
As such, their love story was such a sweet one. Each made promises and equally cared for each other.
____________________
It was Rui's 19th birthday and Sei, Haru and, Yen were preparing his surprise for a whole week.
Haru: "Do you think he'll like it?"
Yen: "Positive."
Yen was holding the cake as the other two held the gifts.
Sei: "He'd probably be so shocked, his screams would blow the roof off."
All three giggled at the thought.
Yen: "Of course he'd do such a thing.'
Sei: "Now shhh.. he's in the third room."
The third room was where they were told his room was. They approached with caution, as to not make any sounds.
Haru: "Get ready.."
He whispered to them as they opened the door.
Sei. Haru, and Yen: "Happy Birth..!"
Yen: "..day.."
Yen dropped the cake in horror to the scene unfolding in her eyes. The scene itself had crushed her heart in a million pieces, all in a million different ways.
Yen: "What..?"
Yen: 'Rui.. and another girl?! Why..'
Sei: "Rui! What is this nonsense?!"
Rui: "It's not what it seems, I swear..!"
Haru: "How cruel can you be?!"
Yen didn't want to see this any further. She bolted out of the room.
Haru: "Yen, wait-!"
She didn't want anything to do with Rui, not anymore. The rage burning in her chest increased over time as she exited the mansion. She didn't call a carriage nor did she ever listened to anyone calling her name.
No matter how fast she ran, she could hear the steps of Haru following behind her.
Haru: "Yen..! Please wait!"
Yen halted and turned to Haru.
Yen: "Please, stop following me and leave me be!"
Just as she was about to start running once again, she heard a sound from the distance.
?: "KRAA!"
Both halted in place. It came from Yen's left and she was shocked.
Yen: "A mythical beast?!"
Haru: "Yen-!"
It was running towards her but she was able to dodge it in time thanks to a sudden teleportation spell casted by someone. She turned to look beside her to see Marione.
Marione: "Sorry for the sudden danger you were in. That mythical beast likes powerful people, especially us, who have magic."
Yen: "M-Marione?! How did it even get here?!"
Marione: "I'll explain later."
She put a barrier around Yen.
She lifted her hands high and did some moves with her hands and fingers, with white smoke left behind wherever her hands moved. It was a bit mesmerizing but the monster seemed aggravated watching her do it.
Beast: "KRUUUAAAA!"
Two claps. It only took two claps from her hands that struck the monster down. It was defeated.
Marione breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her guard.
Marione: "Are you alrigh-"
Marione gagged for a moment as she looked below to see her stomach, stabbed with the tail of the beast. Because of her injury, the barrier shattered as Marione couldn't focus much anymore.
Faced with the beast, Yen was crushed by the weight of it's tail. It injured her greatly as she struggled to move. She was bleeding on her head and she didn't know if she would last much longer.
Yen: 'So this is my end..?'
Yen: "If only I... wasn't.. so.. stub.. born.."
These were the last words let out by the daughter of the Ceresés.
____________________
Yen: "HAUGH-!"
Yen found herself up in her bedroom. She still felt the pain of being crushed.
Yen: 'It hurts.. how am I even alive..?'
Still processing the events of the beast, she knew that it was real. There was no way what happened was an illusion. She could still feel all the pain aching.
Yen: "Ugh.."
The doors were busted open as Kayla, 2 other maids, as well as 2 other guards were rushing in the room, panic shown clearly in their faces.
Kayla: "M-my lady! Are you alright?! I heard a scream so I went to check-!"
Yen: "W-what happened to the beast..?"
Silence waved the room.
Kayla: "Beast..? My lady, are you alright?"
Yen: "Ah! What happened to Marione?! In what I saw, she was hit hard!"
She paused for a moment.
Yen: "Is this.. the afterlife? B-but why.."
The confused and scared look on Yen's face made Kayla pity her. Worry spread in the face of her servants. Kayla just sighed and helped her off the bed.
Kayla: "You must have had a really horrible dream. My lady, it's still your birthday! We mustn't let your dream ruin your special day!"
Yen: 'Special.. day? Doesn't this mean it's my debutante day?'
She just decided to obey, or people would call her crazy.
Yen: "I see. I'm sorry for my outburst. I just had quite a rough night."
Kayla: "It's understandable, my lady. Let's dress you up for breakfast and prepare for tonight."
A wave of nostalgia approached Yen as she headed down for breakfast. They were wearing the same clothes they were on the breakfast morning on her 18th birthday. They even had the same conversation.
Marione: "Happy Birthday, Yen of Ceresé"
Marione grinned as she used illusion magic to play quite a show of their surroundings. The same thing she did on the morning of the breakfast.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Yes, happiest birthday to you."
Yen: "Thank you, Marione and Aquie."
Duchess of Ceresé: "After breakfast, head to the garden and you'll meet Sir Raphael. He'll be the main person who'll be helping with the preparations for your debutante tonight."
Yen: "I see.. I'll meet him immediately after this."
She finished breakfast in a hurry, so she could have some time to herself and think.
Yen: "I've finished. I'll take my leave now."
She left the room and made her way to the garden in a slow pace.
Yen: 'If what I'm thinking of is true, I am in the past.'
She thought a bit more.
Yen: 'But who would've done that? Of course I died but I'm sure Marione couldn't do it even if she could do that in ease. She was greatly injured.'
She entered the garden and soon spotted someone standing beside the fountain.
Yen: 'I'll think about it later. Right now, I'll just talk to Raphael.'
Raphael Devoz was a man of tall figure, with silver hair and yellow eyes. He looked like an older and more mature version of Rui, as he was his older brother.
Yen: 'Speaking of Rui, I'll decide what to do with him later.'
Raphael: "Greetings, Miss Yen. I trust you know my reason here?"
Yen: "Yes, of course. We can start preparing now."
____________________
By lunch, she was exhausted as she was in the past. It was taxing handling with many different kinds of things. It was expected, as she won't be the only one having her debutante in the ball. There are many other noblewomen her age that hasn't had their debutante yet.
Yen: "Now about Rui.."
Rui was someone who brought an irreversible pain to her. Like A hole had been just shot out through her chest. He was also technically the reason of her demise, her death from the mythical beast.
Yen: 'Since it's my birthday, Rui just confessed 4 days ago.. It's too early to reject him so I figure I should just wait until something happens.'
As the saying goes, 'Patience is a Virtue', and she trusted that saying as long as the end result would be beneficial to her.
While walking back in, she ran into Aquie.
Yen: "Ah! Greetings, Aquie."
Aquie: "It's good to see you. Have you finished chatting with Sir Raphael?"
Yen: "Yes, we just finished."
There was a momentary pause. Aquie then seemed to remember something.
Aquie: "I heard you were dating his younger brother. His name is Rui, if I'm correct?"
The thought of Rui alone made Yen feel a great sense of disgust. She hated him to such a high extent, she had wished laws never existed. But she still had to reply to her sister's question.
Yen: "Y-yes. He confessed 4 days ago. How did you find out?"
Aquie: "Sir Raphael has been acting like we were friends for years. I barely even know the guy! But he mentioned something about the two of you, and I was shocked to hear you actually accepted his confession."
Yen: 'Yeah.. wonder how I even accepted such a moron.
She smiled in a bittersweet kind of way, but luckily for her, Aquie did not notice this.
Yen: 'Now that I think about it, she probably thinks Rui is too.. irresponsible and loud. For a noble like him, he does seem to fit the festival kind of role, but he has no etiquette. After learning he's a cheater though, I wouldn't recommend him for the job. I wouldn't even consider him family'
Aquie: "You really do have.. unique taste."
With that, Aquie continued on and talked to the maid beside her, most likely sending her off as a messenger.
Yen: "Yeah.. unique taste.."
The mention of Rui just seemed to bring her mood down.
Yen: 'About me going back to the past and resurrecting..'
She was thinking if she should consult it with Marione, as she might know some kind of magic like that. The other side of her wished to keep it to herself for the time being, until she has some new information about it.
How could she simply get new information about something so random?
She found herself walking up in front of Marione's door.
Yen: 'What a stupid decision..' Her actions said otherwise.
Knocking on the door, she awaited further instructions or a simple silence.
Marione: "Come in."
She entered Marione's room. It has been a few months since she's stepped foot in the place, but it has changed quite a lot. The books on the shelves were much more organized and the whole room in particular was much more tidy and spacious, still giving the whole scholarly feel to it.
Yen: "How tidy.. Have you had some sort of 'Change of Heart'? It's creeping me out."
Marione: "It's not always dirty in here. You just come in at the wrong times."
She gestured toward the couch.
Marione: "Do take a seat. I have a feeling what you're about to discuss is rather.. important."
Yen closed the door behind her and hesitated for a moment, worried if there were dust, yet still took a seat.
Marione was just grabbing a load of books using magic and also took notes using it. It seemed quite useful, but maybe it also took up quite the energy.
Yen: "What are you doing.."
Marione: "Experimenting with magic. Nothing new."
Yen: 'Does she do this everyday..? Quite taxing, if I do say so myself.'
Marione: "Hm? Why aren't you speaking?"
Yen: "What?"
Marione: "Don't you have something to say to me? Isn't that the reason of your presence in this very room?"
Yen: "Right. It's about resurrection."
Marione: "Okay, resurrection. What about it? Do you want me to resurrect someone?"
She halted.
Marione: "Oh my! Is it about your dear Rui?! Then I must hurry as the more time passes-"
She realized the look on Yen's face. She was pissed. This made Marione jolt as it seemed like the mention of Rui already seemed to sour up her mood.
Marione: 'D-did those two catch on an argument or something?! It's only been 4 days!'
Yen: "Please. Do not mention that name and just let me explain my situation of resurrection."
Marione: "Y-yes ma'am!"
Yen took on some deep breaths before asking the question, hoping that she asked the right person and it wouldn't turn into regret.
Yen: "Is it possible to resurrect and.. go back in time at the same time..?"
Marione's eyes had widened with the question.
Marione: "What.. made you go to such a conclusion?"