*Flashback*
In the kingdom of Vensah, in a dingy, dark, old basement a woman's painful screams reverberated, as the midwife in front of her encouraged her to try harder in pushing the baby inside her, out.
After several hours of shouting and screaming echoing inside the room, it suddenly went quiet and instead of the screams now, the refreshing cries of a baby resounded and its mother and the midwife breathed a sigh of relief.
But in an unexpected change, the midwife's relieved eyes turned troubled and guilty, looking at the mother and child hugging each other and crying together. But even after all the hesitation in her eyes, she did as she needed to do, to live and approached the mother with a bowl she picked from the nearby table filled with water.
She watched as her niece drank the entire bowl out of exhaustion. Her eyes turned guilty after each gulp that eased its way down the woman's throat. After she ensured that the entire bowl was empty she took it from her and put it back on the table.
"You should give her to me, to clean her up, don't worry you'll have all the time you need to spend with her afterwards" The old woman stated as she took the baby away from its mother while also trying not to make any eye contact with her niece. As she turned to walk away with panicked tears in her eyes, she felt a tug on her dress.
"Aunt…Thank you so much…. for raising me , for helping me, and now, for this, I know it must have been a hard decision for you, putting your life in danger just to help me..... Thank You"
The hypocritical old woman turned back to gaze at her kind niece, with a benevolent smile on her lips and tears in her eyes, looking like a saint.
"You're the only one I have in this entire world, so if I don't help you then who else should I help?"
Saying the old woman turned, again, towards the door and climbed upwards on a flight of stairs,turned towards the direction of the cramped little bathroom, and washed the little baby with trembling hands, with tears constantly flowing down her cheeks.
As the baby felt more and more comfortable in the water she stopped crying and started to flail her arms around trying to feel the water she was submerged in.
When the woman completely finished cleaning the baby she dried her. While wrapping the baby in the softest cloth she had in possession, she heard several knocks echo in hut, originating from the front door.
She quickly walked towards the door with the baby in her arms, she stopped, took several deep breaths while wiping her tears, before finally proceeding to open the door.
She went straight out of the gloomy hut, towards the somber group of people, standing in front of her with dark capes covering their faces.
The old woman easily identified the princess from the group, by looking at the shining locket on her neck, and immediately kneeled in front of her.
"I, I did as you ordered, y-your majesty, a-a-and here's the b-baby"
The trembling woman raised the newborn above her own head, expecting the haughty princess in front of her to hold her, but the woman ordered a man beside her to hold it instead of her.
"N-now can y-your majesty let my s-son out?"
The princess seemed to smile amicably at the old woman, but her words were the complete opposite of her expression.
"How can I let out someone who's already dead?.... Kill her"
Before the old woman could fully register what her princess had said a man who had stood behind her without her knowledge, slit her neck.
The old woman brought her hands to her neck, that bled profusely and tried to say something with confused eyes, but the effort only resulted in her neck bleeding even more. Failing to realize what had happened to her, the she fell face forward in the grass while her neck constantly kept bleeding.
The princess scowled at the dead body under the shadow of the cape that was cast on her face. She turned her back on the body and stared at the newborn in her gaurd's arms who was cooing calmly while her eyes explored the sight visible to her.
The sight of the child made the princess frown and she glared at the child with unpleasant shock in her eyes.
'Golden eyes....How?.....This child is a lowborn, and even Francis doesn't have golden eyes. How can this be?...Th-this is… my grandchild…Why?.....WHY?'
Her hand involuntarily reached to touch the child's face, entranced by the thought that the adorable, little child was related to her. But just as she was about to caress the baby's face -whose eyes had widened to stare at the object alarmingly close to her face-, she steeled herself by thinking about how she had to choose between this innocent girl and her son.
'If the king found out that Francis committed committed adultery before even becoming 18, he would kill him, while this child would undoubtedly become his successor as she possesses golden eyes'
The princess' eyes brimmed with tears, that weren't visible because of the cape looming over her face. She took the little but plump baby in her arms and very slowly ran her right hand from the top of the baby's head to the bottom of her feet.
The innocent child's -originally golden- eyes turned into an endless black, while she laughed in a refreshing way , because of the tickling sensation which enveloped her body.
Listening to the laugh that resounded in the dark forest, the princess closed her eyes to try and hold back her tears, but the attempt failed miserably as they flowed down her cheeks, landing on the soft cloth that wrapped the baby.
Those tears were the last straw for her as after all the years of holding her emotions back, she laughed along with the baby in her arms, while her tears fell in much more quantity than before.
She laughed with the happiness of marrying the love of her life- the prince of Vensah-, having a beautiful little family, bringing the addition of a son into her sweet family after trying for several years, finally being able to forget the sorrow of being an illegitimate child and feeling equal.
She cried with the sorrow of being blamed for being an illegitimate child during her entire youth, her love- Who finally made her feel as if she was alive- dying, having the responsibility of raising their son without him and failing miserably, harboring the fear of their son- the only person because of whom she continued to live, die, killing several innocent people for the sake of her son, almost treating this innocent baby just as she had been treated in her youth and the fear of her love rejecting her when they meet in the afterlife.
The princess gradually got a hold of her feelings and slowly walked out of the dark gloom of the forest, while her men disappeared in the forest. She sat in the simple car which was waiting for her the entire time she was in the forest.
"To Livanna Orphanage"
Her commanding voice was easily able to reach the driver, who immediately powered the light stone inside the car, making it start.