( Hmm… )
Slowly opening her eyes and adjusting to the light, Ciara's view was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling.
( Huh ? )
Where was she? Was the first thought she had. Before she could familiarize herself with what was going on she heard a low mumble outside her door "Is she awake?"
It sounded like a female's voice and strangely enough it sounded familiar.
'This is certainly the first time I'm hearing that voice, so why does it sound like I know it?' she thought.
"How the hell did she survive that, after all I went through to kill her" Ciara heard the same voice complain .
'Are they, my killers? wait, I'm sure I was killed. There is no way I survived that. So, what on earth is going on?' she continued to ponder while remaining skeptical about the whole situation.
'I need answers.' She mused "Ker, you there?" She called out to her wolf yet no response was received which eventually led her to call once again for her trusted ally."Ker?"
Still no response. Alarmed, she focused on her connection to her wolf and when she couldn't feel it, she finally panicked. What was going on, was she in hell? But no, the place looked too good to be hell.
"Ciara?" She heard her wolf call out to her, causing her to calm down and heave a sigh of relief.
"I'm here Ker." she replied, but her wolf continued to call for her. It was as if her wolf couldn't hear her.
'The hell?' she thought."Ker, I'm right here!" she said out loud raising her voice a little.
"Oh, my goddess, Ciara, I was so scared, I couldn't sense or hear you. What happened to us, aren't we supposed to be dead? And why can't we use mind-link to communicate?" Ker asked a series of questions the moment she realized their predicament.
"Relax Ker I also don't know what's going on." Ciara replied helplessly, she herself was also going through a predicament no less than Ker herself .
"Clack" They eventually heard the door open.
A young lady who looked about the age of 18 walked in, brown hair tied in a neat fishtail halo, downturned round green eyes, a small button nose and pouty lips.
"She's pretty." Ker praised this young lady. As though the girl was the trigger, memories that weren't Ciara's started flooding her mind.
********
She was in the body of a young lady named Katherine Montrose Mooncrest, daughter of Marques Villard Mooncrest of the Celestia Kingdom. The young lady who just walked in was her half-sister, Rose Ashford Mooncrest, daughter of Marques Villard's second wife Lady Victoria Ashford from a Baron family. And also, the reason why the original Katherine died.
Katherine's mother was Lady Genevieve Montrose from a Count family. Her marriage to the marques was an arranged marriage so the Marques never loved her or her daughter. Two weeks after Katherine was born, the Marques married Lady Victoria who gave birth to Rose six months later.
The story that was published was that Rose was born a premature baby but everyone in the household knew it was a lie. Lady Victoria was already pregnant when she entered the Marques' house, which meant that the marques cheated on his pregnant wife.
A few years later, when the girls were five the Mooncrest household received an edict from the king saying that one of the marques' daughters be engaged to the crown prince. The honor naturally went to the eldest daughter, Katherine, who was also the daughter to the Marchioness.
As the two girls got older, people couldn't help but compare the two sisters. Rose was a smart, confident young girl while Katherine on the other hand was a shy, meek girl with no confidence whatsoever. Everyone thought the title of crown princess was best suited for Rose, which led to Rose believing she was better than Katherine. So, what if she's the marchioness' daughter, she had no spine to be the crown princess and the future queen.
When the girls were ten, Katherine's mother, the marchioness died from a disease no one knew. The Marques didn't waste any time to name Lady Victoria the new marchioness, simultaneously causing the status and worth of his eldest daughter to experience downfall.
As soon as Lady Victoria became the Marchioness, Katherine's life became hell. The marchioness cut her allowance so much that she couldn't even buy a decent dress befitting the first daughter of the marques, prompting everyone to think she just didn't have any fashion sense.
Rose always bullied her, and since she was a meek child, she didn't do anything to defend herself. This caused even the servants of the house to disrespect and look down on her.
The only one she had left that put a smile on her face was her fiancé, the crown prince Fin. Growing up, she always knew that she would one day marry him, so she naturally fell in love with him. She loved spending time with him, though he rarely did. But she understood that he was a busy person.
She thought they would have a happy ever after but that thought died when she caught him and Rose sharing an intimate moment in their garden on Rose's eighteenth birthday which was a week ago.
( Step-step )
Gaining some courage from the heartbreak she walked towards those two to confront them. "How can you do this with your fiancé's sister?" She asked prince Fin with tears in her eyes, doing her best to not collapse from the excruciating pain within her young heart.
( Swoosh )
The breath of the world abruptly sweeps everything, swaying those beautiful hairs and dresses, making them dance with the wind.
"I'm sorry Lady Katherine, but Rose is the one I love." Fin said with not even a shred of remorse. That broke her heart even more, and whatever courage she had dissipated.
( Step-step )
As A Result, she ran to her room and cried to herself, feeling betrayed and heartbroken by such cold words from the person whom she was supposed to wed and spend her whole life with.
.
She stood on her balcony staring at the night sky. She had cried so much to the point she had no tears left to cry.
( Creak )
She heard her door open yet didn't even bother to check who walked it. At that point she just didn't care.
"Oh, sister, I'm sorry, I was going to tell you about us, I just didn't know how to tell you." Rose's tone didn't sound sorry at all but contrary to what she said, it was as if she was indirectly mocking the stupidity of her sister.
( Smirk )
"Fin and I have been in a relationship for quite some time now. He said he was going to tell the King that he wanted to marry me, not you." She continued to brag as she walked closer to Katherine "But it isn't easy because the king said he needed your statement stating that you also do not wish to be engaged to his highness. Of which you and I both know is not going to happen. So I decided, if I can't get your statement, I'll get one from your corpse." Before Katherine could even react, Rose pushed her off the balcony.
********
"Katherine? Can you hear me?" Ciara heard Rose ask as soon as the memories stopped "I was really worried about you. Did you really have to jump off the balcony just because the prince said he would marry me."
Rose looked genuinely worried, which confused Ciara because her memories vividly indicate this girl to be the one who pushed Katherine off the balcony.
( ...Hmm… ? )
Her confusion turned to realization when she saw Prince Fin next to Rose, Finally all the puzzle of the truth getting together within her mind.
The prince was clad with golden regal outfit befitting of crown prince with grand stature, one that stands above thousand lives. He was silently standing with his hands behind, with calm demeanour observing the young lady who was unfortunately, still his fiance.
He didn't look like someone standing at the bedside of his fiance who just survived a suicide attempt at all.
'Oh, so that's what's going on. She is a two-faced bitch. Well, I guess since I'm Katherine from now on I'll live accordingly. I have no idea what happened to me, but I was once the most feared Alpha Queen. There's no way I'm letting this little girl bully me.' Ciara silently observes those two couples, not deciding to comment anything for now and just observing what will happen.
( Sigh )
Prince Fin had a disappointed and disgusted look on his face. "I didn't think you'd stoop so low as to commit suicide just so that your sister and I can't have a normal marriage. Were you hoping that everyone would see Rose as the evildoer who married her late sister's fiancé?"
"Humph" Prince Fin scorned, disgust evident in his tone. Katherine just stared at him. She wasn't even paying attention to what nonsense he was blabbering right now, for she was too lazy to listen to the dog barking .
Prince Fin did not possess any out-of-the-world handsomeness, or striking face. He was handsome but just average handsome with blond hair and blue eyes. The only outstanding aspect he had going on was that he was the crown prince
"You know, I'm trying to find what's so good about this guy. I can tell from his scent that he's a scumbag despite possessing so-called royal blood or whatnot" Ker was disdainful for this so-called crown prince who looked more like a joker to her.
Wait, even calling him a joker would be an insult to all the jokers in the world !!
Katherine agreed, but she couldn't make a comment because of the lost link, once again causing her to sigh inwardly.
"I love Rose, can't you just be happy for your sister. It's not like we have anything special....." Prince Fin was in the middle of narrating how great his love for Rose was while on the other hand, he never loved Katherine.
Yet Katherine interrupted him with a smile "Let's call off the engagement. I think my sister is best suited for the position by your side when compared to me"