Celeste Gwendolyn.
The Crown Princess of Wales Empire, on her 20 th birthday, she was assassinated and passed away.
Despite knowing the perpetrator, despite knowing that it was done by an insider, despite knowing that she might get assassinated on that day, she didn't do anything to stop it. Or rather, she couldn't do anything.
Ever since she was announced as the crown princess at the age of 12, she was taught to become the Crown Princess. The elegance, etiquette, postures, duties... she was taught everything except one thing.
Awareness.
Awareness of the threats and dangers that came along with that title.
As her life slipped through her hands along with the blood that oozed out of her abdomen, Celeste, enraged, swore on her tears...
If there's a next life, I'd make sure to live only for myself, for my happiness and comfort.
Because, in a life she lived for others, no one really appreciated her for her efforts.
...
"Young mistress! You're awake?!" An excited chirp of a little girl sounded by her ear as soon as Celeste opened her eyes.
The chirp of a voice sounded very familiar, yet very distant at the same time. It's as if she had known this person for along time but hadn't been in contact with.
Celeste slowly fluttered her eyelids open as her head processed the identity of the person by her side. However, even before she could open her eyes halfway, a piercing headache startled her as she clutched her head and groaned. Her head seemed to be too muddled to process anything.
"Young mistress!", the little girl by her side panicked at her groan and quickly ran out before returning with a wooden basin. By the time she returned, Celeste had already sat up, trying her best to ignore the menacing headache.
"Young Lady! Lie back down." The little girl said submissively before proceeding to soak a white cloth in the basin of warm water she brought in. Her head too muddled to think, Celeste went along with her as she laid back down on her bed, letting the little one do whatever she wants.
Soon after, she felt a warm sensation on her forehead which felt quite soothing to the headache. She didn't know when she fell asleep but, by the time she woke up, the day had already dimmed. Yet the little girl still sat by her bedside, already asleep.
With the headache long gone, Celeste sat up as she stared at the girl in a trance.
She couldn't recognize her earlier because of the headache but, now that she'd taken a closer look, Celeste recognised as her maid, Joanne.
But, if she remembered right, Joanne was her maid when she was yet to become the Crown Princess, when she was 12. As soon as she was crowned as the Crown Princess, her father had almost urgently changed all of her attending maids and servents saying that a Crown Princess shouldn't have sloppy people around her.
Although it was hard for a 12 year old to have strict and old maid's around her, Celeste didn't mind since it was arranged by her father for her own good.
According to her memories at the moment, Joanne shouldn't be here right now. Not as a little girl at that. It's been 8 years since she last saw her after all.
It's as if she had travelled back in time.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, a shiver ran through her spine. She scrambled off the bed in a hurry as all her memories rushed to her mind like water flowing out of an opened dam.
Right!! I had already died!!
The pain in her abdomen still felt vivid. The dampness of the pool of blood sticking to her mind. She had clearly been killed by an assassin. Then, how did she wake up with a mere headache, with her maid from 8 years ago by her side?!
Nothing made sense. Everything felt like a mess until Celeste reached the mirror in her bedroom.
The figure reflected on the mirror wasn't the 20 year old Crown Princess Celeste Wyncrest of the Wales empire. It's the 12 year old Celeste Gwendolyn, who's just a daughter of a Noble family in Wales.
She truly had travelled back to the time when she was yet to become the Crown Princess.
Coming back to this time, it felt like dream to Celeste. In the 8 years Celeste spent as the Crown Princess of Wales, she had spent her first year wishing that she could go back in time, to the time where she wasn't a Crown Princess. Carefree and happy without much worries or rules in life.
Later, she had spent the next 5 years thinking that it wasn't too bad to be the Crown Princess. She had duties, responsibilities and goals in life with a fixed future waiting for her. Everyone respected her. People of the empire looked up to her. To those people who had placed their trust on her, she felt like she could do anything for them.
However, this wasn't the case in the last two years of her time as the Crown Princess. Power struggles, schemes, conspiracies behind her back to overthrow her position as the heir to the throne... her dream of protecting the people of the kingdom felt like a long forgotten joke when she had to give her all to just protect herself. What's the point of dreams when you can't even protect yourself?
There had been times when she wished to go back in time, back to her 12 year old self.
Now that she'd actually came back, she didn't know whether to feel happy or sad about it. She had a dream to protect the people of the Kingdom which she can't fulfill without the title of the Crown Princess. At the same time, that same title held a pressure that she couldn't handle all by herself. She even had to lose those she had cared about because of that one title she held.
Checking the day, there was only a week left to the day she became the Crown Princess in her past life. It was just a day before the previous Crown prince was assassinated. If the Crown Prince were to survive, she doesn't have to take his place. She doesn't have to become the Crown Princess.
Now that she was given a chance to choose again, whoever that brought her back to the exact day where her life took a turn, what did that person wanted her to do? Did they want her to change her fate or did they want her to go along with the fate while doing better than she did in her past life?
Lost in thought for who knows how long, by the time the sky lightened with the rise of the sun, Celeste had come to a decision.
Whatever that person wanted, she had to choose her heart. And her heart was stick with the promise she had made to herself at the last moment of her past life.