A Crown Princess No Longer

9

"You are a joke Lucas Regulus."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as a feeling of dread sunk into my bones. I tried to sense for any threats around me but I felt nothing.

"The future emperor of a whole empire who's oblivious to what is happening within the walls of the palace he resides in. How can you rule over an empire when you don't even have the capability to see the true threat to your kingdom in front of you."

I turned around but once again saw nothing. I tried to use my magic and yet it failed. "Your magic is nothing compared to mine boy so don't waste your energy trying to use it."

Suddenly I felt a terrible pain on the back of my head and it travelled around me. Eventually my body couldn't handle and gave out.

I eventually came to and found myself in front of Raeliana but she looked older and she looked terrible. Her hands were suspended in the air by old silver chains. Wounds were scattered all over her body and none of them appeared to My body tried to move towards her but I found myself stuck to where I was standing.

"Wakey wakey."

He recognized that voice. Is it Penelope? He turned around and saw an older version of his sweet sister leaning against the bars of the cell with a sinister smile on her face. "It's quite a nice sight to see you where you belong sister," she mocked.

"You killed him," Raeliana whispered. Penelope heard this and smirked. "You should be happy. Without me killing brother then you wouldn't have had the chance to even have the title of crown princess.

You two are more alike than I thought. You were a fool and so was he to trust me," she jeered. Lucas froze when he heard that. What?

"My... people call me a monster when it's... you... Poisoning him, killing him..., torturing me..."

Penelope's smile grew more twisted. "You of all people should be aware of the dangers that come with the title of royalty. Lucas was a fool to trust the same daughter of the person who you're father cheated with and you were a fool to not see what I was doing."

"... Monster... Monster... Monster... Monster... Monster..."

Raeliana kept repeating the word like a broken record until I could see Penelope get annoyed. "Shut up!" she screamed. Raeliana kept on until she was slapped hard by Penelope. Lucas tried to move once more but he was still stuck.

"... Monster..."

The word was a faint whisper before the scene in front of him faded away to dust.

"There's lots more for you to see Lucas. So much more."

The voice sounded sadistic and sinister, as though mocking him which he could tell it was. Everything went black once more and another scene began to fade in.

••••••••

"Anne, prepare a carriage," I ordered. Two months of being stuck in this palace, no, jail had made me agitated and so I chose now to move. Penelope had recovered from the situation regarding Lucas a month later and had started pestered me once again. Though I could tell that she was just as bothered with what happened as me.

I, on the other hand, made it more clear that I didn't want her near me. Without Lucas to shield her and her father's attention was still directed at getting his son to awake while keeping rumours from breaking out, I could be as harsh as I wanted to be.

"My lady-"

"Don't worry about it. I won't get in trouble," I assured. She nodded then left to do so.

I had sent another letter but had to go through more methods to get it safely to the Duke. Safe to say, it appears that some palace workers are clearly more motivated by money than their lives. The best and worst kinds of rats.

The palace should be on lockdown but my father's too busy trying to find the culprit and keep the factions in peace without spreading stories that he's slacking on keeping me and Penelope in. With what I had planned, I could possibly not only leave the palace but also ensure that my father would not be able to force me to come back. If his pride didn't get in the way, the fear of a ruined reputation would keep him at bay.

Once Anne was done, we set off in the carriage. "My lady, do you not fear being attacked like your brother?" she asked. I could tell that it was a question that had been in her head for a while.

"Not really," I replied. I wanted to tell her how I really felt. That while I had a suspicion that the attack was meant to be a scare more than anything, I was still a bit scared. I wouldn't have been scared by something like this in my first life. Maybe trauma's the reason why I feel this way.

"But my-"

"Anne, you've been beside me for as long as I can remember, you of all people should know if what I'm saying is what I'm confident in."

She remained silent for a second. "You're right," she mumbled. The carriage moved on until we arrived at me relative's manor. I was welcomed by many servants standing in the front of the manor whilst they bowed.

"Welcome, Princess Raeliana."

It came from the head butler. I greeted him and curtseyed while doing so. "My masters have been awaiting your arrival."

They had considered my proposal and not only had what I talked about before being true but they had found the rats out when they tried to steal very valuable information about the family.

Safe to say, I've cemented my place here. Well, cemented in terms of being accepted as their daughter in name. Not in spirit.