The first thing Yuri noticed was the blue-colored tie that made the man standing in front of her look so docile – a perfect prince charming material. But the saying that looks can be deceiving was true since this man in front of her was far from being docile. After all, he was the husband of the original Ivynia, who made her suffer by neglecting her, thus leaving her alone in the lion's den called the Imperial Palace. He was a scumbag for Yuri, a walking poison target for her. She loathed irresponsible men like him.
"Judging from your horrendous face, you might be the fiancé of my brother." Touching his chin with his long, dainty fingers, Ivynia had the urge to snap them one by one after plucking his fingernails.
A kaleidoscope of feelings merged inside her. Yuri was torn into crying even and attacking the fourth prince – the Netflix series' antagonist. She was sure that these feelings were caused by the original Ivynia, who still loved the fucker to the core.
'Ivynia's standard is this? A type of man who humiliates a woman because of her physical appearance? What a shallow man this Prince Hyan is. I pity the original owner of this body for loving a no-good like him.'
In contrast with his cold snake-like smile, Yuri gave him the middle finger before marching away from the blasted scumbag. "Go. To. Hell."
After passing by two corners of the maze-like Sunflower Garden, Ivynia slumped to the ground, not minding her dress. Clutching her dress right above her frantic heart, Yuri bit the insides of her cheeks rather firmly – drawing blood in the process.
'I hate this. I fucking hate this beating heart, which still belongs to Ivynia.'
Yuri stared at her shaking hands and laughed sarcastically – the onslaught of tears never showed any sign of slowing down. She knew that the moment this body met the scumbag fourth prince's cerulean eyes, the unbearable pain would make these tears appear. Yuri was all too familiar with this intense kind of pain – the pain from betrayal. The moment this body saw him, this remembered the treachery he did. Hence, Yuri was only able to utter those three words to him. She knew she could not break down before him, or he would call her a lunatic.
"Poor Ivynia. Worry not, my dearest kindred soul. I am now choosing the path that will double the pain for them. Just wait and see," Yuri whispered. She let the lingering attachment of this body run wild. Her shoulders heaving, her sobs were muttered by her shaking hands, and her face was now a mess. Yuri wanted to let this body set free from the past.
YURI TATTERED STATE caused a ruckus when one of her handmaidens found her slumped on the ground with a blotchy face. Because of this, she spent her entire afternoon doing beauty regimes with her handmaidens. The rosy smell of the bath lingered around her. Her handmaidens were busy bees after hearing from the head maid that she would dine with the crown prince at his palace. His palace was located in the northern part of the Imperial Palace. It was bestowed to him by the emperor during his coming-of-age ceremony.
While letting her handmaidens treat her like a doll, Yuri's mind wandered elsewhere. She was still thinking about the original Ivynia and the plot of the Netflix series "The Serenade of Death".
Though it was a Netflix series that she binge-watched, thinking that all those sufferings were real for the original Ivynia made her itch to change her future.
It was common knowledge for all the fans of the series that Ivynia, a side character of the story, suffered because of her futile love for the blasted fourth prince, Prince Hyan Rezenia Bezarius. But for Yuri, Ivynia's life as a crown princess when she was still betrothed to Crown Prince Leonedas Bezarius was fine. Until Ivynia was demoted as the crown princess because her younger sister schemed to take the throne. And that future was something that she should stop.
To maintain the privilege of a crown princess, such as the hefty amount of silver, she needed to wed the crown prince and sabotage the fourth prince's plan to seize the throne after his coming-of-age ceremony. Silver was the currency of this world, and she needed lots of silver to buy information.
Yuri knew from watching the series that Prince Hyan Rezenia Bezarius was brilliant, but she had one thing that no one had in this lifetime – the eye from the future.
Oh-ho, I have a lot of things to do. I need someone I can hold by the neck to do the errands for me – someone knowledgeable yet invisible against my enemy's line of vision.
Her eyes stopped at her sweet pet Riza, who was busy glaring at her underhandedly.
'Hmmm. I have found myself a quite good pet, I believe.'
"Ladies, step out for a moment, will you?"
Though dissatisfaction was evident on their faces, they could not demand to question her after her little display of dominance from earlier. All of the handmaidens started to disperse when Yuri spoke again. "Everyone out, excluding you, Riza, my darling pet."
Riza froze for a minute before lowering her gaze while clutching the hem of her dress. "You called for me, Your Highness?"
Yuri took a seat on the soft couch in her receiving area. Her following words were dominant with no hint of bullshit. "How is your mother, Riza?"
Riza's eyes snapped at her – it was almost bulging out from her eye sockets.
'Of course. It is a passing part of the series. Still, Ivynia's little sister is a blabbermouth who informs the viewers of the series why Riza's desperation – her mother got an incurable disease. With the diagnosis I remembered, Riza's mother has Tuberculosis which is supposed to be incurable at this time.'
'But I am a chemist and can create the cure with the right ingredients.'
"I-I don't know what you mean, Your Highness."
"Pity, I thought I could give you a cure for her disease."