"Why? What wrong did I do to you?" A woman's voice, which was so hoarse that one could feel how strenuous it was to even talk, asked the beautiful woman in a yellow dress, exuding elegance, looking like a fairy, and having a mocking smile on her face.
Standing beside her was a handsome man who also looked at the woman, whose hair was messy, and had bloodshot eyes with her fists clenched so that all her knuckles that were already pale had become white due to the strength she was using with no emotion in his eyes.
"Even if you hated me, little Prince Author was your own son; must you kill your own son just to frame me?" She asked again hoarsely, her body twisting in pain due to the poison that had been administered to her. The poison caused one's internal organs to melt, and its effects were more excruciating than being tortured with a hot iron pole.
Luciana felt like screaming; the pain was so intense, but she didn't want to give these filthy people in front of her the satisfaction. They will only feel happier.
The woman smiled evilly.
"Since the poison is taking effect, maybe I can tell you how stupid you are. The Little Prince Author was never my son; he was your son. Who asked you to covet what is mine? Since we both gave birth together on the same day, I switched my daughter with your son, who knew that even after Prince Nicholas found out you gave birth to a princess, he would still love you so much and still do everything to win your love, but because of your stupid revenge and filial piety, you never gave him a chance, causing him to be so obsessed with you," she spat angrily.
Princess Luciana's eyes were bloodshot the more she listened. She wanted to jump on Lady Evelyn and scratch off her fake face.
"You wouldn't get away with this; the gods have eyes. You will face retribution," Princess Luciana growled fiercely, looking like a vengeful spirit. But Lady Evelyn just laughed.
"I have already gotten away with it; why don't you ask yourself why the blood test between little Princess Diana and General Dominic here came out positive? He is the father of my daughter; the crown prince had never touched me, but the both of you were so stuck up in your little world that you didn't even realize that." She paused and gave her a mocking smile and continued,
"How do you feel about losing everything? You didn't only cuckold Prince Nicholas but also killed his only heir. But he only sent you to the cold palace; if not for my father riling up the ministers in court, even sentencing you to death by drinking poison was something difficult for him to do. But since you didn't realize it, don't blame me for your foolishness."
Princess Luciana opened her mouth to curse the wicked woman in front of her, but a mouthful of blood poured out of her mouth. She twisted her body in pain, letting out a loud howl, and fell limply on the floor. She strained her heavy eyelids, keeping them open so that she could imprint this adulterous pair into her memory.
Because she promised herself that even if she became a ghost, she would never forgive this pair in front of her.
"I'm coming for you!" She yelled, staring at the smiling face of Lady Evelyn as she let out her final breath, her eyes still bloodshot and refusing to close.
~~~
Luciana felt a tightness around her neck and opened her eyes, only to see Prince Nicholas holding her neck in a tight grip and growling.
"Who sent you? Who gave you the courage?" Luciana was too confused to understand the dire situation she was in. Wasn't she dead? Why was she here with Prince Nicholas? Her eyes scanned the room, taking in the decorations in the room, the wine on the table, and Prince Nicholas' dark face, and everything clicked.
Did she go back in time? Has she been reborn? This was the night she had disguised herself as the princess of Florendel, the prince's bride, and had tried to kill Prince Nicholas to avenge her parents.
She realized she couldn't breathe properly, and she felt her neck would break in an instant.
Prince Nicholas realized she felt familiar and dragged her to the source of light, and his eyes narrowed in surprise. It was her! He slowly released his grip on her.
"You?"
Luciana felt relief, coughing violently and taking in huge chunks of air, and raised her gaze to look at the prince. The person she had hated most in her previous life.
This was also the night she found out that Nick, the soldier she had met outside the palace on her usual escapades and had fallen in love with, and Prince Nicholas, the man who killed her parents, were one and the same. She realized she needed to act surprised about seeing him here. If not, their previous misunderstanding from their previous life would repeat itself.
"Nick?" She said in a high-pitched voice, trying to act surprised.
But Prince Nicholas, who had already seen through her act, began to laugh maniacally. "I'm not even surprised," he said.
"You finally decided to kill me!" he added. Luciana realized everything was still playing out like her past life and decided to follow the script for today. No matter what she said, Prince Nicholas would never believe her. She will try to make changes from tomorrow onward. This was too much information to process in one day.
"Why are you here? How did you know I was here?" She asked breathlessly, looking confused.
Prince Nicholas, on the other hand, looked at her appearance and nearly believed her but had a reality check. 'This liar,' he thought.
'She was still pretending.' He looked at her unconvinced and retorted,
"You drugged the wine and wanted to kill me! What are you pretending for? Is it because I saw through your plans? Do you take me for a fool?"
Luciana looked at him as if he had two heads. What was he talking about? And then she remembered; she had indeed drugged the wine. At that time, her thoughts were like, 'If the prince was poisoned, her work would be even easier.'
Besides, at that time, all she was thinking about was killing the murderer of her parents, and she didn't even know the common soldier Nick and the ruthless Prince Nicholas were one and the same. And when she realized that Nick knew she was the Princess of Serenevale and had still killed her parents, her anger and hatred were at an all-time high at that time.
"You are the prince? You killed my parents and brother?" Luciana asked with tears in her eyes, following the same pattern in her previous life; this was the right way to act.
She must show emotions according to the situation, except that the tears she was shedding were tears of joy. The joy that she was given a chance to change it all and the angry and fierce look in her eyes were a result of remembering everything that bitch said before she died. She was going to repay Lady Evelyn hundredfold for every pain she had caused her.
"Stop pretending," he growled.
"You wanted to kill me just a few seconds ago," Prince Nicholas said, his tone full of hostility and pointing to the dagger that was lying on the floor.
"It's because you killed my parents; you took the life I was used to and my family from me! What did you expect?" She yelled.