Knife to the neck.
Bolted with such strength that it didn't only pierce the Empress neck but also the wooden chair she was sitting on. Blood ran down her neck spreading through the small chains of spider web necklace before continuing down an staining her golden dress withe blood. It was a horrendous sight to witness. Her hand only came half the way up before collapsing back into her lap, her eyes wide open but the attacker she did not see. That is the most cruel way a man can die, without seeing who killed him.
"Do you really deserve to die like this?"
Said a voice to familiar to ignore. Empress raised her hear with her hand on her neck completing the uncompleted action. There was no wound, there was no knife, there was no blood, she could breathe. It didn't hurt, it never does in the beginning.
"Answer me, you always had something to say. Don't hold back now Lilith. "
"Don't call me that!" Empress took a deep breath. The room was dark, there was no floor or ceiling, there were no walls. Only a woman standing tall several feet away from her illuminated a soft white light.
"I see you haven't changed. " The woman said.
"I am not Lilith anymore. " Empress calmed down a little. This wasn't death standing in front of her, nor was she dead. "And I have changed, you just refuse to accept it."
"Are you saying the pupil knows better then it's teacher?" The woman said almost jokingly.
"Understand it however you like, I am Thalia now, it is too late to change that. Now turn your time back and let me be."
Empress turned her back choosing to look at the darkness rather then the woman. This is not her first time in this place, in fact it is her third.
"Do you truly belive you are Thalia? That you can live up to that name? That you understand what it is to be her?" The light came closer, it was warm.
"I can't be Thalia because there was no Thalia before me, there for I am she. Now let me go, you can't keep me here forever. "
"I pity you Lilith. You before anyone else should know that as long as you have memories of this place you will never die. You will keep living your previous life like it was never over. "
A familiar feelings started to appear on the Empress's back, a burn that will, like every other time turn into excruciating pain.
"If you would let me forget I would die gracefully and peacefully."
"We both know that is not true."
The lights disappeared, the dark space returned to the round courtroom. She was sitting in her wooden chair with one hand on her neck and a feeling of air stuck in her throat. The Empress was very much alive, actually in the eyes of people around her, even her murder, she never died. She was not reincarnated, the time was turned backwards and forward only by few seconds so that the crime never happened. It is exactly what happened the last time she died. A long ago in a small shieling where no one would ever find her body if she were to really die that day.
The most important thing that one can learn from dieing and coming back to life as if nothing have happened, is to adjust to the moment no matter how confusing it may be.
The Empress listed carefully, the moment she is currently in is the one she has been waiting all day for. Now is not the time for fear and confusion to attack. Now she doesn't have the time to turn around and look for her killer.
Duty, it was her duty to complete what she started. No amount of pain could have stopped her from getting up from the chair. Not even the one spreading all over her back causing her hands and knees to tremble.
Everybody noticed her as soon as she moved, all the heads turned even the ones that weren't looking at her direction. Lucky the fence wasn't far from the chair.
"Your Majesty, is there something you would like to say?" Asked Sir Sullivan who was about to announce His Majesty the Emperor before he speaks about his proposal.
Even if her hands still trembled the Empress voice echoed strongly in the room. "I have a proposal for this year."
Sir Sullivan, the right hand of the Emperor, waited for His Majesty to approve before he answered the Empress.
"The court will hear Her Majesty's proposal." He announced for the whole room to hear.
To meet her husband's eyes from the other side of the room seems impossible but the Empress knew she was looking directly at them. Dark as obsidian, you can never miss them.
"My son, prince Iyan is to be the first Crown prince of this Empire. "
Silence overtook for a moment.
In the room full of men, important parliament members, lords and military officials for a woman to be present is a rear sight, even if she is a Empress. For her to speak freely and cast her vote is even more unusual. But she is not just any woman and she is not just any Empress she is the Holy Empress Thalia, the most respected and beloved woman of the Empire. Men don't show her respect just because of her position, there is something in the way she speaks that is making her impossible to ignore. Every single person present in this room is aware of that.
Sir Sullivan looked at the Emperor waiting for a instructions on how to proceed. This is not an easy subject for discussion, especially because the whole room is ready to approve of this proposal. This makes the Emperor look unimportant. You can not make the Emperor look unimportant.
Emperor Evan glanced a look at his son who was standing next to him, stiff like a statue. This is the matter of his life, a important decision that will change everything about his future. But he is not a main character of this matter.
The Emperor noded his head and Sir Sullivan spoke again.
"We will now cast a vote! All those in favor may stand up!"
And they did, all of them. Even the Emperor stud up and approached the fence of his balcony.
It was a clean decision.
"This court has approved Her Majesty the Empress's proposal to name Prince Iyan the rightful heir to the throne! Long live the Crown prince!"