The Golden Rose

Prologue

My whole world started collapsing into bits and pieces. The sight in front of me was nauseating. I could not bear to watch it anymore as I fell to my knees. Covering my face smeared with tears, I tried to connect the dots. When did it begin? When he first visited our estate? Or was it even before that...at the carnival where we had run into him...our first encounter? My father was the sole Marquess in the Empire, the nation I dwell from and my mother, the Marchioness passed away while giving birth to me. My father, known for being a generous and empathetic man, passed away when I was sixteen, leaving me as the owner of his estate. I became the Marchioness.

Before his untimely demise he adopted a girl two years younger than me, who he met at an orphanage. He took pity on her due to her small stature from being constantly starved and abused. Her name was Raelia and I had considered her my own blood, my sister, since the time I laid my eyes on her. The girl in front of me with a shrewd look in her eyes and a smirk across her face, was she the same girl who would look up to me with eyes full of love and admiration? To her, our memories, our bond, the time we spent together meant nothing after all. Duke Uken, my husband who I had wed a week ago, was a man of few words. However, he was a gentleman, was what I believed until we got married. I soon realised after we tied the knot that my husband was not a shy man, considering how he showered Raelia with affection and sung her praises at every opportunity he was granted. Now that I recall who did Duke Uken stare at, mesmerised, when he looked towards my window? It was Raelia he always looked at, who would join me every time I would gaze out from my window to admire Duke Uken. There were also those times when he would visit my estate and due to some urgent work that would pop up unexpectedly, I would be unable to attend to him. Raelia would graciously keep him company instead. Those occasional strolls they used to take at the garden where they would smile at each other lovingly...I thought nothing of it as I had faith in Raelia, my adorable younger sister. How foolish of me! There were so many incidents yet I never suspected them once. Had I lived twenty-four years to be betrayed by every person I trusted?

On my knees, I pathetically stared at Raelia who clung to my husband glaring at me. She walked towards me and whispered into my ears, "Oh dear sister, look at your wretched state. I feel so sorry for you. Things really didn't need to be like this. Only if you weren't the Marchioness who owned all the wealth and weren't the object of adoration of our father...you see from the day I met you, I loathed you, your status and the privileges you had grown up with. However, when I finally started being happy after I found love in Duke Uken, you became engaged to him. Why were you engaged to him when I was the one who fell in love with him first? The moment I saw Duke Uken at the carnival, I fell head over heels for him. Why did you have to even take him when you received all the love from others too? That's when I decided to take everything that belongs to you, for myself. You should have just stayed quietly in your room instead of trying to manage the estate. Well, it didn't matter because all the servants you thought worked for you were my people. Also the poisoning of the crown prince, it was my doing but all the evidence will point to you and soon you would be executed and I will become the Marchioness. Now then, excuse me I have some urgent matters to attend to."

I was devastated. She had planned to bring my life to ruin for a long time now. Why didn't I realise it before?

As Raelia had predicted, I was ordered to be executed. While I stood in front of the face of death with a sword held to my neck, I wished I could go back to the past. If I could, I would never make the same mistakes again. That's right if only I could go back in time! As such thoughts filled my mind, my consciousness started slipping away. Even as darkness pierced into my mind, I couldn't help but remember an alluring pair of red eyes. 

I woke up to find myself in my room but something was wrong. I looked younger and my late father rushed into the room as I screamed at the sight of myself in the mirror. I had actually gone back in time?!?!