The familiar canopy painted with winged women was the first thing that welcomed Yuri. Her breathing was ragged, as if she was being chased in her dream.
'More like being killed in my dream, thank you very much, dear protagonist.'
Yuri groggily sat on her plush bed. On instinct, she pulled the bell that would remind her handmaidens that she was awake. Yuri stared at her hand that pulled the bell.
'Is this also Ivynia's instincts? My dream is also plagued with Ivynia's memories.'
Down from Ivynia's first memory as her mother and father were shaming her dragon-scaled face and up to the previous humiliation that she felt during her youngest sister's coming-of-age ceremony.
The handmaidens rushed inside the luxurious rose-colored room. One servant stood out among them – pink blush on her freckled cheeks while her straw-colored hair neatly braided into two. Yuri knew one particular character in the series wherein a handmaiden with braided hair was involved, and it was no other than Riza. This ambitious handmaiden would steal make-up from Ivynia while working as a spy for her equally ambitious sister. According to the original plot of the series, Riza was the reason for the misfortunes that Ivynia suffered as the crown princess. But still, the ever-loving Ivynia never doubted the two-faced Riza.
It was a ploy to remove Ivynia from being the crown princess. And the next time she returned to the Imperial Palace, Ivynia was summoned by the thirtieth emperor and crowned as his empress – the start of Ivynia's thorny fate as she watched her husband mourn over another woman.
'Oh, that was the part that made me flip my laptop as I internally wished to poison Riza, Ivynia's sister, and the blasted Hyan! Well, well, well. Look at this chance meeting. Who would have thought that standing before me is the same Riza placed as number five on my To-Kil-List.'
"Your Highness, did I offend you?" The innocent mouse-like voice of Riza resonated inside the room before she kneeled on the floor. "Please forgive this servant, Your Highness!"
'Oh? I must have unknowingly flustered her by showing her my ill-intended smile that is not meant to be seen by my handmaidens. After all, Ivynia is a benevolent woman born with the dragon scale on her face, rendering her the ugliest person in the empire.'
In one swift move, Yuri guided Riza up from her kneeling position. "No, my dear. You just remind me of my pet, whom I loved so much. You see, I have a pet mouse, and I love baking goods for it."
Yuri saw it. It was just a passing second, but Yuri saw how Riza clenched her jaws after being compared to Ivynia's nonexistent rat. Riza's forced smile made Yuri grin wider as she clasped her servant's hands. "So, will you be my pet mouse in this palace?"
Though Yuri's words were an insult even to a mere servant – no one dared to interrupt the eldest daughter of the Rosehil Family. She wielded the largest military prowess against the restless Aristocratic Faction.
Yuri felt Riza's hands tremble with anger beneath her dainty hands.
'I mean… Ivynia's hands.'
"This servant is most honored to be the crown princess' beloved mouse, Your Highness." Riza was about to kneel again but was stopped midway by Yuri. The latter whispered her words to her newly acquired pet. "No need. Bring me an outdoor dress. I want to go outside the Sunflower Garden."
Upon mentioning the Sunflower Garden, every handmaiden froze. The pail with water and rose extract stopped midway to her, one maid dropped her jewelry, and Riza almost tripped at the dress she was holding. But Yuri pretended as if she did not see their epic reactions. She knew, she damn well knew why they were acting like that – it was because of him.
'Hyan Rezenia Bezarius.'
Yuri could vividly remember her dream. In the original plot, the protagonist, Travis, was responsible for Ivynia's demise. But in Yuri's dreams, the one holding the sword was Hyan Rezenia Bezarius. Yuri interpreted her dream as a warning sent by the original Ivynia. After all, Ivynia's ill fate started when she fell in love at first sight with the fourth prince.
Yuri subtly touched her heart – it kept on aching ever since she woke up from the blasted dream. Realizing the difference in emotion between watching the series as an outsider and experiencing the onslaught of painful memories, Yuri agonized with how the original Ivynia led her life to destruction, all for a man who never loved her.
Walking to the enormous and grand mirror, Yuri stared at the lady in front of her. Gone were the original's sunken melancholic eyes, replaced with a determined yet wicked pair of eyes that belonged to Yuri.
'Oh, so this is the infamous dragon scales, huh? Fucking awesome!'
Her reflection grinned like a Cheshire cat before Yuri decided to trace the gray-scaled skin just beneath her left eye. Carefully grazing the bane of the original Ivynia's misfortune – Yuri felt the rough texture beneath her fingertips. It only stretched towards her left ear with a length of three inches and a width of four inches.
'It only looked like I got some patch attached to my left face. Duh, it is not heinous, as portrayed in the Netflix series. To think that this brought you closer to your doom, Ivynia. I do not know if I should pity you or thank you for giving me this opportunity to breathe again. But this, I promise you, my kindred soul, I will not go down as the last monarch. Rather, I will become 'the' monarch. Screw Hyan! Screw Amina! Screw all the characters! Let's trash this awfully written plot!'
"I will not wear any cover," said Yuri with the tone of finality – her gaze daring her handmaidens to disobey, staring right at them through the mirror. No one answered like she wanted, so Yuri continued, "I don't want to see any clothing meant to cover my face. Or else, I will sell you all to the traders. Never forget, this princess owns you."
"B-But you are the crown princess," said Riza hesitantly.
'Ha! She was maybe tasked to control me and not to show my face. Poor you, Riza. You are my property now, my little rat.'
Yuri faced them, her hands crossing each other as she gave off the aura of being a bratty princess – an easy task for someone like Yuri, who specialized in espionage. "Exactly, I am the crown princess. Your future empress, yet you, a mere pet, dares to rectify me. Do you want me to set an example through you by whipping you to death in front of your fellow handmaidens?"
Pure horror painted on little Riza's face before, for the second time, she kneeled in front of her again. "This servant is undisciplined, Your Highness! Please punish me as you see fit!"
"Oh? What's with you and your fetish for pain? This princess is benevolent, so I will give you one last chance, my little pet." Yuri grinned at the slumped form of Riza, who was looking up at her.
THE GENTLE TOUCH OF THE AFTERNOON breeze soothed Yuri as she felt her face with no obstruction. She was walking merrily towards the Sunflower Garden, also known by the fans of the Netflix Series as the rendezvous area for Lady Amina and Prince Hyan.
'It is probably this time that the new and young concubine of the twenty-ninth emperor arrived in the Imperial Palace since it is supposed to be a day after the crown princess arrived, which is fucking me, and that should be now.'
The arc of the Sunflower Garden was not as extravagant as she imagined or as shown in the Netflix series adaptation. In reality, it was unmaintained. The stench of the arc's rust overshadowed the citrus-like fragrance of the hundreds of Sunflowers. The vines and the lawn were uneven and long. Dragonflies loitered around her like some pest trying to ward her off – hundreds of Dragonflies flew around her.
Yuri looked back at her handmaidens, who maintained a reasonable distance of five meters from her. "Don't come closer. I want to explore the garden, and that's an order."
She did not bother to wait for a reply as Yuri stepped into the infamous Sunflower Garden, wherein numerous immoral scenes happened between Lady Amina and the fourth prince.
Walking to the maze of grass and Sunflowers as Dragonflies constantly flew around her – Yuri went deeper into the garden. Yuri's good old curiosity kept on itching inside her. She wanted to see the place with her eyes while the immoral couple had yet to show themselves.
Yuri was about to turn back when a cold deep voice that was supposed to be new to her resonated in the cramped maze-like pathway – his voice felt oddly familiar for Yuri as she was stopped from leaving.
"Who's there?"
Oops!