Chapter 2: What I don't know

“ Wait! Wait!” Sera shouted, dragging her knees forward.

She swallowed hard, panting heavily with her body shaking. “ There's a mistake. A HUGE one— I’d never do such a thing to my brother I have no idea why he's saying this but he's my brother, I'd never participate in incest and you know that.”

“ Why would I know that?” Prince Theodore dismissed instantly, “ And moreover, everyone knows he's not your real brother, and that's why you're so evil to have taken advantage of him.”

Sera's heart and jaw dropped. ‘ Why is he saying that? Why is he talking like he doesn't know me?’

She swallowed, tears streaming out of her cheeks as she turned to Caleb.

“ Why are you doing this? Did- did I do something wrong?” She asked, lashes fluttering with tears pooling out.

Fear and desperation clawed at her rib as she looked at her brother who still refused to look at her.

“ If I do something wrong, I'll apologize you know I will, why are you ..”

“ Seize her!” The prince ordered, cutting her short.

Her head snapped back at him.

Two guards grabbed her from behind and her heart nearly stopped.

“ I can see you're trying to manipulate him even with everyone present. So despicable.” The prince said, voice laced with irritation.

Sera felt her chest squeezed so tight it was almost impossible to breathe. Her lips quivered.

‘ How's this possible? Why is he so changed like.. like he isn't my prince, like he isn't my lover.. people don't change like that.. wh..what the hell is going on, what- what.’ Thoughts stuttered in her mind as tears pooled in her eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak when she saw Maribel lean down towards the prince, smiling as she whispered into his ear.

But what got to her was how tenderly she was touching his arm, how he was smiling and holding her hands, like they're together.

It was intimate.

It was more than any casual touch or whisper.

And worse, they were both smiling at her, an evil smile that tells more than she needs to know.

Hot tears dropped down her cheeks.

Shivers ran down her spine.

Her body shivered. Cold washed off her.

Her knees weakened.

“ Why? Why?” She snapped her head to Caleb. “ Why? Why would you lie about something like this, I never did anything wrong to you!”

She shouted bitterly, anger blazing through her eyes.

Caleb turned away, fist clenching hard against his thighs as his eyes flicked to the prince and Maribel.

“ Tell them the truth! Tell them I'm innocent!”

“ Shut up!” The prince’s voice thundered. “ I think I've given you enough grace, but you're just a disgusting maggot who's not ready to admit to her sins. Here's my sentence…”

The atmosphere tensed up.

“ I hereby sentence you to be prosecuted on the spot, beaten to death.”

Sera's body stiffened.

His words had no emotions, no feelings, no explanation, a cold sentence that seeped right into her bones.

Before she could blink, guards had immediately seized her arms.

“ No.. wait-wait.. please.” Her voice cracked as they began dragging her forward.

She fought them, not with strength, but with desperation, twisting, stumbling, digging her heels into the ground to push back.

The world blurred. Faces melted into a single mass of watching, judgmental eyes.

“ Please!” She screamed, the word tearing out of her throat. “ I never did that! I never hurt my brother I swear on my mother's grave—please!”

No one listened.

They forced her down onto the execution table, roughly tied, so tightly she could not move her limbs.

Her heart thundered so violently she thought it might burst free.

She kept screaming until the first strike hit her back.

“ Ahhhh.” Shs screamed in pain, tears pooling out of her eyes, but she never stopped shouting that ‘she didn't do it’.

By the time the forty stroke hit, all energy was drained out of her.

Every part of her body was on fire with pain, blood slowly streaming out of her lips.

‘ Was this the punishment for my sin? For the crime of love I committed?’ She turned her head to look at the prince, saw Maribel’s hand resting lazily on his arm. ‘ This isn't. This is a punishment for a lie.’

Her eyes flicked to her brother and more tears pooled in her eyes.

‘ Ever since our father died in the war, ever since your mother who's my stepmother abandoned us, I've always cared and loved you. So why?’ She shut her eyes so hard, wincing in pain as more strikes hit.

Terror, anger, pain, all settled deep in her. ‘ am I really going to die?' she sobbed.

Her eyes flicked to see some of her customers, the same people who once shared laughter and jokes with her now look at her in utmost disgust, pointing and spitting.

Blood streaked from her lips to the floor, her clothes drenched in her own blood soaked the wooden table.

‘ I don't want to die.’ She whispered bitterly, life and energy slowly slipping out of her. ‘ But If this will be my end, please heaven, let theirs be worse, let them seek death without finding, let them…’

Darkness slowly took over, her eyes closed slowly, and just when everything was about to turn black, she saw her.

Her mother.

Smiling so sweetly at her.

Tears spilled out of her closed lids, her lips curved as she muttered. “ Mum.”

And with that, everything turned blank and right on the spot, she was confirmed dead.

******************

It was nothing but darkness, like a smoke drifting into eternal blackness.

“ How long does she have to live?”

A strange voice pierced through the dark vastness, calm and soft.

‘ What's going on? Is this hell? Who's talking?’’ Her mind wandered.

“ She has approximately four days left.” She heard another male voice say.

Her brow twitched.

A ray of light slowly dipped into the darkness.

‘ Hm?’ Her brow furrowed deeply as she felt the soft surface pressed against her back.

Strangely, her finger moved on instinct.

‘ Wait, am I alive?’ Her face twisted into confusion.

“ Can't she just die?” She heard the first male voice say again, this time it was laced with anger.

Slowly, Seraphina flicked her lashes open to the unfamiliar environment.

She woke up to the silk beneath her fingers and the canopy above her bed—ivory fabric draped in soft folds, embroidered with faint gold thread.

‘ Where's this place?’

“ Oh, she's awake.” She heard the second male voice speak and turned her head to see two strange men.

A short man in his late sixties dressed in muted robes.

He rushed to her side and began checking her pulse.

She furrowed her brow as she smelled the faint scent of herbs and ink on him.

“ Who.. who are you?” She asked, her eyes flicking to the other man whose gaze was locked on hers.

Her lips parted as she gazed back at the man so inhumanely beautiful.

Tall and graceful, devastatingly handsome, refined features, and a calm authority in his gaze made his presence so commanding that it could silence rooms without effort.

Her eyes trailed to his finely fitted tunic of deep, rich fabric that hugged his broad shoulders, paired with tailored trousers and polished leather boots.

Gold embroidery traced the edges of his sleeves and collar, a ceremonial belt resting at his waist.

‘ He looks like a royal.’ she said in her mind and looked back at his face. ‘ He's too handsome to be humane and …oh.’

She mouthed and said to them. “ That must be it.”

“ What's it?” The royal physician, Rowan, asked.

“ I'm in the afterlife.”

Everyone paused.

Rowan turned slowly to the royal man who scoffed.

Sera furrowed her brow as she saw his countenance change instantly to intense disgust.

“ She's not only useless, but also crazy.” He muttered with irritation and turned to her properly. “ The next time I lay my eyes on you, I want to see you dead, not alive.”

And with that, he walked out of the room.

Sera immediately frowned. “ Even if this is after life, isn't that …very rude? I already died.”

The last word made her voice crack.

“ What are you talking about, princess?”

“ Prin..princess?” She turned to Rowan and eyed him like he was crazy. “ I'm not a princess, I… why are you looking at me like that?”

Rowan leaned back, worries worn over his face like a second skin. “ I'm sorry princess.”

“ I'm not a princess and stop looking at me like I'm crazy, I already…” she swallowed, tears welling up in her eyes. “ Who's that angel or grim reaper—whichever he is, why would he ask me to die again, isn't my death so unjust enough?”

“ Stop saying that, princess. You're not dead. Yet. And stop talking about the Majesty like that, he's your husband..”

“ My what?!” She cut in, sprang up, but she fell back immediately she sat on.

Her body felt numb and heavy, like her soul was alive, but her body was dead.