How I Became Immortal

Chapter 22

       After Haemi's visit, the atmosphere in the Kim Household became peaceful and silent once more. Yuna decided to go back to studying. She needed more information for the upcoming battle with her enemies. Yuna was still in the dark about who could be trusted and who couldn't.

The comparison between her old self and new self was vast. She used to be popular and the majority of the noblemen and women were interested in befriending her for the benefits that came along with being friends with her. It used to be a time when Yuna enjoyed going to parties and events.

Although she was popular, she had a terrible sense for people and their true intentions. She was only able to detect people's outer shell personas. Most of her friends had a mask on that covered the ugly parts. If only Yuna was able to tell what people were really thinking.

The reverse became true once Yuna became an introvert. A lot of it was because Yuna had studied psychology as a hobby. She was a fan of Paul Ekman and his theory of emotion. He was a psychologist and professor at the University of California. He gained a reputation for being one of the best human lie detectors. She was fascinated with his study on emotions and their relation to facial expressions.

Yuna spent her evenings observing the expressions on people with different emotions. It became easier for her to tell whenever anyone lied to her or if they were intentionally trying to deceive her.

After many years of studying expressions, she was able to read people like books. Their expressions and tone of voice told her everything. Some have been afraid to approach her because they felt their minds being read by Yuna. It wasn't very comfortable being around someone that could detect lies without much effort.

Being an introvert had its' perks. Yuna decided that it was time for her to begin socializing to figure out her enemies and their agendas. She already knew that Minho and Haemi weren't much of a threat because she had already experienced the first life. She knew all their intentions and what would happen in the future.

She only worried about the people that were behind the scenes. The ones that had a malicious intention towards her. She was the only daughter of the general/prime minister. If she wanted to live past her allotted time of

death, she needed to know her enemies. She also needed to pay close attention to the dangerous ones.

While reading through most of her books, someone knocked lightly on the door before entering. A maid informed her that she received a letter of invitation to the eldest princess' upcoming birthday party. The letter seemed to be an invitation that was meant to be a formality. Most people had no clue who Yuna was and if they did know her, none were able to befriend her.

The letter was decorated beautifully, and a faint smell of perfume emanated from the pages. The letter was extremely girly, and it contained flowery language that filled up many pages. Yuna skimmed through it and it looked like Han, Ara (the eldest princess) had sent many people the same letter. It didn't seem like the letter was originally written for her.

The letter came at an opportune time. It was time for her to finally make an appearance to events even if she wanted to spend her time away from people. It wasn't a good idea to hide in her home forever. The only way for Yuna to survive in the future was if she was knowledgeable about what was happening around her.

It would be ideal for Yuna to be inconspicuous. It was already difficult for her because she had the title of being the number one general's only daughter. There were countless people that were aiming for a higher status. She didn't want to be the person that would easily be swayed by people with malicious intentions.

Yuna was originally planning on going to the party with Sun, but she couldn't have Sun be known to the public. Majority of the nobles still had bad impressions of anyone that came from the Kingdom of Ezra. Yuna didn't plan on putting Sun in danger, so she decided to go to the party alone.

Yuna quickly skimmed through the information about the royal family members and noble families that were prominent. She was lucky to have a general and prime minister as a father. It was easy for her to obtain information.

Han, Ara was a princess that was born from a concubine that was favored by the emperor for a short period of time. The empress was great at dealing with concubines. She always found a way to defeat the concubines that gained the emperor's favor. Most of these women were either found dead or accused of heinous crimes.

Unluckily for Princess Ara, she lost her mother to the Empress' schemes. She was too young at the time and she had no power to fight back. The Empress decided to raise her as her daughter after her mother passed. The public viewed the Empress as a loving mother figure while Princess Ara was being abused behind the scenes.

Princess Ara was traumatized by the Empress' mistreatment and became disabled at a young age. She lost her eyesight at the age of 4 for unknown reasons. There was no way for Princess Ara to write the letters herself. It was most likely the maids that have written those letters for her.

It was obvious to Yuna what Princess Ara was going through. She was most likely being used as a puppet to gain more power for the Empress. The birthday party was only happening now because the Empress was desperately in need of more power. She did not have a son that could become the next Emperor and Crown Prince Jimin was slowly gaining the upper hand in politics.

She needed a way to keep Prince Jimin in check by marrying Princess Ara to a neighboring kingdom's prince or someone with great power. After she gained support from a neighboring kingdom, she would be able to choose a different prince to become emperor.

In Yuna's memories, the Empress eventually chose Minho to become the next emperor. She gained enough power by marrying Princess Ara to the Kingdom of Miyon. Yuna wasn't clear about the history of Miyon, but she knew that there was something unusually sinister that was happening there.

Yuna hadn't decided fully on who she wanted to support because she hadn't met Prince Jimin and she hadn't met any other princes. Minho was able to gain the upper hand against Jimin by marrying Yuna and gaining the Empress' support.

Yuna planned on observing everyone to figure out their intentions and find out which person would be the right person to support. She had to go with someone that wasn't the Empress or Minho. She was hoping that Crown Prince Jimin was the right person.

She wasn't planning on marrying to support Jimin because she despised the idea of becoming empress. It wasn't in her plans. She only wanted to prevent Minho from becoming the next emperor. Although, she wasn't supporting anyone with marriage, she still had a way to support them through other means.

It was only matter of time before Minho gained the upper hand and Yuna wasn't going to sit around while everything fell into place. She had to figure out a way to prevent the horrible future that led to her death.