Hi, dear reader. A brief explanation please.
So think of this, our FL comes from a different time period and has very little insight on the nonverbal host body. Meaning, her mind is all over the place due to the lack of information, and as such she would need some time to process things and adjust to this new world and its technologies while seeking for protection. So please be patient with the first few chapters (1-4) especially. The story takes off after chapter 5 to 6. Thank you.
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The year is 1524 AD. Dublin City, Ireland.
"Put your weapons on the ground; otherwise, we'll shoot!" a voice commanded as the sound of feet running towards the criminal was heard.
Catriona Byrne smiled as the royal guards surrounded her with their spears and swords raised and pointing towards her, ready to strike at the command of their leader.
She looks so innocent that even her glare, which is illuminated in the moonlight alone, causes the younger soldiers to be smitten.
Just yesterday, this innocent-looking lady was at the gallows about to be decapitated for the assassination of a minister, but she managed to escape to commit more atrocious crimes.
Now here she is covered in blood after escaping the gallows to go and massacre her own family.
For such a young girl to be able to do something like this, it must be true that indeed, she was cursed. But it seems that some of those fantasising about her beauty cannot even see that.
Catriona threw the weapons on the ground. She has no need for them anymore. She has finished avenging her sister. Her purpose is accomplished.
Her dark reputation as the bearer of the Bryne's curse had made everyone run away as soon as they saw her two beautiful orbs turn a mixture of deep gold and crimson red, like a burning furnace.
So gaining access and killing the old minister was nothing stressful. But when she later discovered that her family was behind everything, that's when she escaped prison and killed them too.
Now she can happily go on her way to the underworld. She knows that she and her youngest sister will never meet again.
Because her sister is already happy in heaven, while Cat too is glad to go to hell with her victims now that she has achieved her goal.
*
After being apprehended the previous night, the King ordered for Catriona's execution. It wasn't death by decapitation anymore, as it was previously decreed.
She is to die by dismemberment now, but this will not be done by any human being.
Each of her limbs, both the upper and lower ones, was tied to a horse, each with very long ropes, while she's positioned in the middle.
At a command, the four horses were whipped, and each one of them moved in a different direction. As a result her body was pulled from the different directions of all four horses at the same time.
The crowd was cheering as her body was being stretched. Cat was feeling every bit of the pain; she wanted it to be over soon but knew that was not going to be so.
She wanted to leave this wicked place quickly. As her limbs were being ripped out, the indescribable pain knocked her out.
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The year 2024. Dublin, Ireland.
"The test came out positive. She's three weeks pregnant." The doctor informs her patient's guardian.
The middle-aged woman was confused. "What are you saying, doctor? What do you mean by our daughter being pregnant? How? She hardly steps out of the house alone. She homeschooled until now because she is socially awkward. How then is she pregnant?"
Catriona Byrne heard the voice of a genuinely worried woman ask as she opened her eyes to see two figures standing and talking beside the bed that she was sleeping on.
"Hey. You're awake. Are you feeling pain anywhere?"
A woman in a turquoise green shirt and trousers with a white overcoat and a metallic rod-like thingy around her neck asked.
Cat wanted to respond, "Yes, I'm okay." but the sound that came wasn't clear, making her feel stupid.
She tried two more times before realising that she couldn't speak well, but it seems the one who asked the question had already gotten her answer.
"Darling, the doctor says that you're three weeks pregnant. Can you tell us who is responsible? Wait, let me find a paper and a pen for you."
The other woman, who looked like her stepmother, said and left the room.
Cat was so confused as she looked from her surroundings to the woman in the white overcoat addressed as the "doctor," then back to her surroundings.
Pregnant? Who? She? How? Don't they all know that she is the bearer of the Byrne curse and that she can never be pregnant? What nonsense is her stepmother cooking up again?
"You must be quite tired. Why don't you rest more? I'll tell your mother to let you be for now. You can continue with your conversation once you're discharged." The doctor said this to her before she too left the room.
"How come that I am still alive? What is happening? Where is this place? And why is Stepmom acting all concerned about me? What are these things?" She asked the last question, staring at the phone and iPad on a small table beside her bed.
"Ahh!" Cat threw the phone on the floor when the screen light came on after she touched it, not knowing what it was.
Though a bit scared, she still stretched her neck to look at the image displayed on it and got frightened. It was her beloved half-sister's photo, but she thought this meant her sister was trapped in it.
"Is this the underworld? Am I seeing my sister, who is in heaven through that thing?"
"Hey! Where did she go? I want to see her more." She said it out loud as the screen light went off again. She didn't realise that her voice was now working just fine.
Thud! A loud sound was heard as she tried to get off the bed and go after that thing (the phone), which had allowed her to see her beautiful sister happily smiling in heaven. She wanted to see more but ended up tripping instead.
*
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The beeping sound of the patient's bedside monitor distracted the two women.
"Hey! Bring the defibrillator. Her heart rate is dropping." The doctor shouted to a nurse once her eyes flashed to the monitor.
Cat heard the doctor's voice as she opened her eyes once again.
The doctor then stopped using the defibrillator on her as soon as her patient opened her eyes.
"Oh, you're awake now. Thank the universe! You scared the sh*t out of all of us. Anyway, how are you feeling now?" The doctor asked, to which Cat only nodded.
If anything she saw in her dream were true, then she has to thread very carefully; otherwise, she would face the same fate as the previous owner of this body.
It's a pity that she doesn't have full memories of this body yet, but the little she has is enough to let her know of the precarious situation that she is in.
If the dream is true, then she is now in the body of her half sister Leony, who still bears the same name as many centuries ago. And that also meant that she no longer has her devine powers, which she was kind of grateful for. Now no one will get to use her for her powers again.
Cat wishes the people in the room would leave so she could check herself in the mirror and confirm her own theory.
As the bearer of the Byrne curse, Cat is not too surprised by what she dreams about. It seems that she has been reincarnated into the body of her half sister, whom she had revenged in her previous life, centuries ago.
Neither is she surprised to know what her other half siblings have been doing to their own sister, Leony.
But now that Cat has been given another chance by the gods, she plans to do things very differently.
So instead of seeking revenge for what these people have done like she did in her past world, she intends to do everything in her power to keep the babies and Leony's body safe.
In her previous life, she never got the chance to even say goodbye to her beloved sister before they killed her.
But this time, the gods have given her more than that. She gets to save her nephews or nieces. But how is she going to go about that?
How is she going to survive in this place with only partial memories? Cat doesn't know what she should do yet, but there is one thing that she knows she shouldn't do.
And that is, to never admit to her sister that this baby is her husband's. Thank the gods that she was brought here at a time when Leony was yet to admit to them who the father of her child was.
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"Which boy or man is responsible for your pregnancy?" Leony's father, who is also Cat's real father from her past life, asked his daughter.
"I...I...I don't know, fathe..."
Slap!!!
Catriona, who now occupied Leony's body didn't get to complete her sentence when her dad slapped her across the face.
"You don't know?! You don't know? Ha!" Her father let out a short laughter at her ridiculous answer.
"I'm going to ask you one more time. Who is the father of that bastard in your tummy?" Leony's father demanded. He seemed really angry.
It's been three days now since the 25-year-old Catriona transmigrated into this world. And yet the host body's family keep asking her whom she was pregnant for.
Kenia, especially, wouldn't let her rest. She keeps insisting that the pregnancy is her husband's, but Cat also keeps denying that vehemently.
Her stepmom and half-brother didn't care enough to interfere. They were just there to enjoy the spectacle.
A servant was holding a writing pad beside her so that she could write her response, but Cat had no intention of writing anything because she had no answer for them.
"If you're not going to say anything right now, then fine." Her father turned to his men, "Guards, put her into the car. I'm taking her to the hospital. She would not keep that bastard while still living under my roof."
The guards immediately grabbed her and dragged her out of the living room into the hallway. Cat, who has no idea what his father meant, thought that they were taking her to another scary person who would get the answer out of her mouth.
She naively smiled in amusement, telling herself that they would never get the answer out of her.
"You stupid fool. You want him to get rid of my baby; that's why you're doing this, right? Or is it that your stupid brains cannot grasp what is going on here?" Kenia said to her sister, she was following them to the car.
Cat gave her a questioning look, not understanding what she meant.
"Papa is going to have the doctors take that baby out of your womb. They're going to kill the baby if you do not tell the truth that it is my husband's child. Do you want us to lose this baby?
Are you going to kill an innocent child all because you want to deny me the joy of being a mother?!" Kenia was desperate. This is her lifeline for her to save her marriage.
Fear gripped Cat as what her sister said sank into her brain. They're going to kill her babies! The very babies that she swore to protect. What is she going to do now?
The babies are not safe, even if she tells the truth that they're for Kenia's husband. She already knows what fate awaits her later if she dares to go that route.
But she also doesn't know anyone's name to call or use as an escape. The only memories that she has from the old Leony are the ones about her pregnancy and how her siblings killed her.
In fact she feels like a warrior at the warfront without any fighting tool. How is she to protect herself and these little angels that she's carrying?