The True Evil, Part IV

I DON'T HAVE MORE TIME, so, please, I know I shouldn't ask this after every life my hands ended... but I can't help it. So, I'm asking for a second chance. One more chance and I'll do it differently. I swear I will.

Let me do it right, just give me another chance. I'm begging you, Mikla! Or whoever has the power to grant me this last wish-

I'm so scared of death... And I know I shouldn't be when I became so familiar with her, but I fucking am. I don't find my death attractive at all. It scares me more than anything.

As I saw Dalilah going back to Christopher's side, I finally let the tears fall, falling them and getting mixed with the blood on my face.

When I turned to meet the cold and shining ruby-red eyes of the executioner under his pitch-black helmet, I saw the ax dangerously close to my precious neck. He held it higher. And when he was about to behead me, I swear that I sensed him smiling at me.

Not only that, but by the look in his eyes, he seemed amused by what he was going to do next. And the strangest thing was that even tho he was overflowing with bloodlust, I felt as if none of that was directed to me.

But if... it wasn't, why did he seem so delighted? It gave me goosebumps. My body trembled in fear with his creepy and unexpected reaction.

I swear that I felt as if his eyes could see through my soul. As if... he could see me in a way no one else ever could... if he could see everything that happened, the truth.

Shit.

What the heck is happening to me? What kind of feeling is this? Why am I so conscious about these men? And who the fuck is he? Why does this guy feel so strangely familiar when I have no memories of him?

I closed my eyes waiting for my death. Cursing Dalilah and the perverse 3rd Imperial Prince Christopher, my damn brother-in-law, who was a stone in my way and who organized my execution together with my nefarious twin. Cursing each person present who's happy with my death.

Preparing myself for the upcoming feeling of, literally, losing my once beautiful head. And at that moment, a freezing wind surrounded my body and entered me through my mouth. I gasped blood once again.

I felt the inside of my body freezing little by little, as a familiar feeling filled me at once as well as the pain, and when the pain became unbearable, it got worse.

And then, it finally happened. I felt my flesh and my neck being torn apart and my head getting slowly separated from my body when the executioner's ax hit me. His moves were fast, I knew it was but the sharp sound his blade made before touching me, but it felt like it took him hours to cut through it.

Unexpectedly, after a second that felt like a billion torturous years, my eyes opened out coldly and the executioner with his stunning bright ruby-red eyes was nowhere to be seen. As well as I wasn't in front of the crowd, being executed in front of the Imperial Palace anymore.

I was somewhere else.

※※※※※

Second and Current Timeline

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I felt my tongue intact and moist in my mouth and when I found myself, I was already screaming in pain. My neck and arms are intact. There's no blood on my face, neck, or body whatsoever.

Is this for real or am I dreaming?

I stopped screaming the moment I realized that I was no longer in the center of the square in front of the royal palace but in my childish light pink room from our manor at the Imperial Capital. Where we only came when the spring began and we, as members of the Royalty and Nobility, had to spend the season in the capital.

"This can't be a dream! Is this for real? Was my wish granted?" I shouted, already crying with happiness. "I'm still alive..."

I let out a deep breath.

"Or should I say that I'm back to life? Because I came back... I am back..." I whispered to myself, trying to make myself believe in what had happened.

I touched my neck, my thin arms, short legs, not-so-flat but not-so-big-yet chest, long and messy hair, and my soft face trying to have the confirmation I needed. "Thank you, Goddess! ...Or whoever saved me! I owe you my life. When I discover who saved me, I'll make the possible and impossible to thank the person or deity... or whatever creature did this! But right now, I need to know how old am I."

I got up and ran to the mirror, and what I saw shocked the shit out of me. No scars or broken bones and purple eyes on my face, neither on any part of my body and all my body members were indeed intact. This is my thirteen-year-old self!

How can I tell? Simple, a month before my fourteenth birthday I got in a fight with an apprentice of the Knights back in the Nicholai Grand Duchy in Leopenia, in the northern region of the Empire, and that left a scar on my left forearm.

And when I looked at my reflection again, there was still some light in my eyes. After staring at my reflection with my jaw on the ground for what seemed to be an eternity, I ran back to my bed before anyone could come here.

I'm back and with thirteen years again according to my body. And I'm not fucking letting the story repeat itself. Things are going to be different this time, or my name isn't Natasha Mary-Anne Ludwick Nicholai!

You made me a villainess by controlling my mind, Dalilah. Now I'll be the villainess of your story! I'll destroy you and that Goddess-damn 3rd Imperial Prince. I'll use my second chance the best I can. You said that we would see each other again in hell, so don't worry, sis, I'll make your wish come true, making your life a living hell.

You will pay for what you did, dear sister. This time, things are going to change. I'm going to live for myself and Valerian, and I'll make people see your true colors.

The Goddess may forgive you, but I never will!

Let's see who will end up beheaded this time.