In the darkness, suddenly, the world colored.
I found myself in a warm room, a room that looked familiar, as if I had just seen one. The air was filled with the scent of blooming flowers, and a soft breeze rustled the curtains.
I was lying down, my head resting on the lap of a young girl. Her gentle touch soothed my aching head, and I felt a sense of calm wash over me. She caressed my hair, her fingers moving with a tenderness that made the pain fade away.
"Lucavion," she whispered, her voice soft and sweet. "You love me, right?"
I tried to respond, but my voice felt distant as if it belonged to someone else. "Yeah, I love you, Isolde."
She smiled a radiant smile that seemed to light up the entire room. "You believe in me, right?"
"Of course, Isolde," I heard myself say, the words feeling both familiar and strange. "I believe in you."
Her eyes sparkled with a mixture of affection and something else, something I couldn't quite place. "Good," she said softly. "Because you and I are meant to be together, always."
At that moment, a nauseating feeling rose from my chest, a feeling that I suppressed for some reason.
"So, my Lucavion. Will you drink this for me?" She brought something from her side. For some reason, the nauseating feeling rose more and more, yet as if I was apprehended by something, I hadn't moved my body at all.
"I will do anything for you." Saying that I gulped it down. At that instant, the feeling of the same nausea rose from my chest.
And the world went dark.
The scene shifted, the warmth of the sunlit room replaced by a cold, oppressive darkness. The girl's face began to blur, her features becoming indistinct.
"Isolde?" I called out, my voice echoing in the void.
But there was no response, only the lingering sensation of her touch and the faint sound of her laughter fading into the distance.
I woke up with a start, the dream still fresh in my mind. The darkness of the cell pressed in around me, and the cold stone floor beneath me felt harsh and unforgiving.
"Lucavion," I whispered to myself, trying to make sense of the name and the dream. "Isolde..."
The names.
They were oddly familiar yet at the same time unfamiliar. As if I knew them, yet I didn't at the same time.
It was such an odd feeling. I felt trapped, unable to comprehend anything that was happening around me.
Everything that had happened was like a wave crashing down over which I had no control. I didn't know what happened or what it meant.
At that second, I started hearing the voice of a young girl crying, her sobs echoing through the darkness.
"I didn't do anything," she sobbed. "I don't know what happened there. I don't know why I was there."
Her cries were filled with despair, each sob tugging at my heart. I turned my head towards the source of the sound, my senses heightened in the dark cell. The pain in her voice was palpable, and it resonated with the confusion and fear that I felt.
"Elara?" I called out the name. Subconsciously, it was already registered in my head, most likely.
The sobbing paused for a moment, then resumed, even more heart-wrenching than before. "Why won't anyone believe me? I didn't do anything. I swear."
–CREAK!
At that moment, the door opening sound was heard.
Following that, light entered the dark place we were in.
–TAP! TAP! TAP!
Somehow, I could hear the steps echoing. From the position I was in, I wasn't in a state where I could see the newcomer; from the sounds, it felt like a woman's.
"Isolde, sister." Elara's voice was filled with a mix of relief and fear.
The steps stopped, and the light from the doorway illuminated a figure. Isolde stood there, her expression cold and calculating, a stark contrast to the sorrowful one she had worn earlier.
"Elara," Isolde said, her voice smooth and devoid of any warmth. "How unfortunate to see you in such a state."
"Isolde, please," Elara pleaded, reaching out to her sister. "You have to believe me. I didn't do anything. I don't know how I ended up there."
Isolde's lips curled into a chilling smile. "Oh, dear sister, I believe you. I believe you didn't know how you ended up there."
Elara's eyes widened in confusion and hope. "You do?"
"Of course," Isolde replied, stepping closer. "Because I was the one who arranged everything."
"….."
At that moment, everything stopped, as if the world itself stopped.
Just like mine.
'This...This line…..'
Slowly, memories came to my mind.
Everything made sense.
Why I felt it familiar.
Why was I feeling like these names? That appearance was something that I knew.
'Shattered Innocence.'
I was now in that book.
********
"Because I was the one who arranged everything."
'What is this?'
Elara asked herself.
'That can't be true…..No…..That can't be right…..That is not right…..'
She tried to deny everything. How could she not do that?
After all, it was the dear sister of hers….The one that she had doted on….
How could this happen?
She gasped, her hand falling to her side.
"What? Why? Why would you do this to me?"
Isolde's smile widened, and she knelt down to be at eye level with her. The face that she had always seen, the face that was undoubtedly pale and sick most of the time.
It now contained a shade of redness and life in it.
As if she had regained her life.
The expression of relief and the expression of reveling in the pressure.
It looked strange. Different.
"Because, dear sister, everything you had was meant to be mine. Your fiancé, your status, your future. You were always the favored one, the cherished one. But now, all of that will be mine."
Elara's heart pounded in her chest, a deafening drumbeat of betrayal and disbelief.
Her mind raced, desperately trying to piece together the fragments of shattered trust. The world around her seemed to tilt, the familiar walls of her home now alien and hostile.
She took a step back, her legs trembling, barely able to support her weight. "Isolde, you can't mean this. We've always been there for each other. I would have given you anything."
Isolde's eyes glinted with a mixture of triumph and something darker, something that made Elara's blood run cold. "But you never did, Elara. You never saw beyond your own perfect little world. While you basked in everyone's adoration, I was the shadow, the afterthought. No more. This is my time now."
Elara's breath hitched, her vision blurring with unshed tears. She had always known Isolde was envious, but she had never imagined it ran this deep this dark. "I loved you, Isolde. I would have shared everything with you. Why this?"
Isolde stood up, her posture straight and commanding, a stark contrast to the frail girl Elara had always known. "Because sharing was never enough. I needed to take what was rightfully mine. And now I have."
Elara's mind swirled with memories, moments where she had overlooked Isolde's subtle hints of resentment and dismissed them as mere sibling rivalry.
One by one, those things that she had overlooked started coming out of the light.
The times when she felt like a gaze was boring through her when she was leaving Isolde's room. The times when she felt like Isolde's smile was somehow fake.
The way she looked at her fiancée…..
How blind she had been. "You betrayed me," she whispered, the weight of those words settling heavily on her chest.
Isolde's expression softened slightly, but there was no regret, only a cold satisfaction. "I did. And it was so easy."
Elara stared at her sister, struggling to comprehend the depth of her betrayal. Isolde's face, now filled with a twisted form of joy, was unrecognizable.
"How?" Elara managed to ask, her voice barely above a whisper.
Isolde sighed, almost as if she were reminiscing a fond memory. "From the very beginning, dear sister, Adrian loved me. Not you. We were in love long before you even entered the picture. But our families, with their ridiculous promises and alliances, decided you were to be his bride. It didn't matter that he never wanted you. We were trapped, both of us."
Elara's mind reeled. Adrian had always been distant, but she had assumed it was just his nature. The truth was far more painful.
"And I was given Lucavion," Isolde continued, her voice dripping with disdain. "A stupid country bumpkin who had no idea what was happening around him. But he served his purpose. I needed a way to get rid of both you and him, and the solution was simple. Use your stupidity and his naiveness."
Elara's breath quickened as the pieces started to fall into place. "You… you used him. And me."
Isolde nodded, her smile never faltering. "Indeed. I played my part perfectly, feigning illness and weakness to keep you close, to make everyone trust me and never suspect me. And when the time was right, we put my plan into motion.
A plan for the heiress of the dukedom to fall.
How could the banquet of your fifteenth birthday, the day when you would be making your debut, not be the best time for such a scandal?
Adrian was the one to drug you. Remember how he came earlier than the other guest just to see you? And you had a light drink together….Did you really think he came just to see you here, as expected from my stupid sister…."
Elara's breath hitched, her eyes widening in horror as Isolde's words sunk in. She replayed the memory of that fateful evening in her mind. Adrian's earlier-than-expected arrival, his warm smile, the drink they shared—a drink she now realized had tasted slightly off.
Isolde continued her words, not minding what Elara was thinking at all.
"But aside from that, no, I did not use Lucavion at all. He did everything out of his own volution.
From the bottom, I knew he always desired you. He always wanted you instead of me.
And when I told him that you wanted to be with him instead of Adrian or I told him Adrian was forcing you into a relationship and that you were too scared to speak out, he instantly took the bait.
That disgusting bastard instantly believed me since he wanted to, and out of his own desires, he came to that room thinking you would have chosen a stupid country bumpkin like him."
The moment Elara heard about this, she couldn't believe her ears.
'That Lucavion...No….'
To think that he would do such a thing.
An impeccable feeling started rising from her heart.
A feeling that she couldn't put her heart to.
"Now here we are…..
I am where I am supposed to be….
And you are where you were always supposed to be."
Elara felt a surge of anger mixed with overwhelming sadness.
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "You orchestrated everything. Every moment, every detail..."
Isolde's smile never wavered. "Yes, dear sister. Every moment was meticulously planned. Adrian and I had it all figured out."
She stopped, looking into Elara's eyes.
"And, sister….You had to be there to look in the father's eyes….The moment he realized the pure daughter he thought he raised was actually a whore who would commit such infidelity…."
Elara's breath caught in her throat, the cruel words slicing through her like a knife. The image of her father's devastated expression flashed in her mind, the disbelief and disappointment in his eyes. She had lived that moment and felt the crushing weight of his judgment.
"How could you do this to him? To me? To our family?" Elara's voice shook with a mixture of anger and heartbreak.
Isolde's gaze remained cold, unfeeling. "Because it was what he deserved. Father always saw you as the perfect daughter, the rightful heir. I was nothing but a burden, a sickly shadow in your light. But now, with you disgraced, the path is clear for me to take what should have been mine all along.
Yes, sister, that is right.
From now on, you are nothing.
And you will always remain like that.
Whatever you have, it will all be mine."