Chapter 1: Her Second Chance

THE environment around her was damp and cold at first. It was the feeling of being abandoned in the middle of a snowstorm with nothing on.

She felt like she was naked and bare, floating in the air as her eyes are still closed.

Amerie was weak. She couldn't even move her own body at will and she knew she died, at the hands of Keres.

She surely felt the sword penetrate her stomach as Keres left her to die.

'Is this…the afterlife?' She asked herself.

There was no answer of course.

She tried to stretch her limbs out, see if she is alive or dead, but she can't seem to control her body.

It was still in a fetus-like position, her knees up to her chest as her head rested on top of it.

'That's how I died… With just a stab…' she told herself as she sighs mentally.

'I am such an idiot.'

Amerie is conscious of the choices she made and she would be lying if she says that she doesn't have any regrets.

She regretted not being the first person to change Keres and only fed him words of comfort even though that is not what he needed most of the time.

She avoided confrontation and reality, thinking that it is the best way to keep Keres safe.

She was wrong and not only that, she died using his sword.

The sword that she gifted him on his 16th birthday.

'If only I could go back…' she whispered in her mind.

She truly wishes she could go back and change her fate. She doesn't want to die in the first place nor does she want anyone to die too. It was all the consequences of her actions that lead her to that.

A war Keres made against her home, against her family.

'If only I stopped myself from making those choices, I would change my fate…'

Amerie looks at it now, she thought she might have chosen differently.

She shouldn't have supported Keres in the beginning, she shouldn't have coddled him as much, she shouldn't have ignored the fact that the fight for the throne is bloody.

She shouldn't have hidden the fact that Keres is an illegitimate child when she knew about it, and that the Duke was the first empress child.

She knew this when she came across letters of the first empress in the room, she was kept in. She kept her mouth closed, thinking at her last days that she would protect Keres by not saying anything.

Days later, Keres found out when the Duke told him. The Duke was captured at that time and he spilled out all the secrets of the first empress, maybe due to such hatred that led him to do so.

That Keres was the child of the empress from another man.

Keres threw a fit that day that she can't do anything to ease him up. It was the truth, she couldn't deny it, and Keres shouldn't even be in the palace to begin with.

If it weren't for the first empress, he wouldn't even be the crown prince.

However, she didn't choose to support Keres because he is will be chosen as the crown prince nor when he was.

The only reason she supported Keres is that she owes him her life.

Keres saved her from a cliff she fell in when she was 14, that was the first time they met.

She was on the verge of death, with a fractured leg and several injuries, after an assassination attempt on her life by the Voulirs, a cousin family of theirs. As her throat dries, she can't even cry for aid. At that moment, she was most likely to die of dehydration.

When she was beginning to accept death, Keres appeared. If Amerie remembers it clearly, he was 13 when he saved her.

Looking back, who knew that the boy who saved her from near-death will be the same will kill her?

'If only…' she knew, but she didn't.

'If only I realized it sooner.'

Suddenly, a jolt of pain flashed through her body as she opened her mouth in agony. She wants to scream at the sudden pain but he couldn't, not even a drop of her voice came out.

It kept increasing and increasing, the pain slowly numbing her mind as she trembles.

The pain mostly came from where Keres stabbed her.

'It… It hurts…!' she cried silently.

'No more... Please...'

She endured the pain, twisting and turning in her mind as the pain slowly dimmed and vanishes. It felt like the pain was just her imagination and it disappears the moment she woke up.

She breathes out a sigh of relief in her mind but frowned when her eyes still closed, blinding light peaks through her eyelids.

She was confused. She was used to seeing the darkness that surrounds her after she was stabbed.

There was no light there, and even if there is, it would only be swallowed up by the dark.

Curiously, she slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the brightness, and as she did so her vision cleared up, finally seeing the place where she was.

She first saw the familiar placement of a drawer and sofa in the room she was in. Even the mirror at the side and her collection of stuffed animals are there, she knew that it was hers because she memorized them.

She roamed her eyes around the room again and saw the familiar vibrant atmosphere in the morning.

"Where..." She stammered, her throat parched.

The room was even more bright as the curtains were drawn back, revealing the room even more to her eyes.

"Is this heaven?"

She gasped; her voice is finally back as she held her neck softly. She sighs in relief and looked around the room, still in the bed.

"Wait, this all seems to be… real?" She muttered confusingly.

She made her way out of the bed and walked around the room. Her feet felt soft as she looked down and saw the same carpet as she remembered in the past, it was a gift to her by her beloved father.

"This…"

Amerie was even more confused now. Why would she be in her old room, the one that was destroyed along with the whole mansion when the war broke out, was intact and felt real for her?

'Maybe… This is heaven?'

Amerie started to think that this may be a manifestation of heaven for her.

She walked around the room again and she passed by the mirror. A glimpse of silver greeted her vision.

She walked back to the mirror, thinking she would see the 24-year-old body of hers but she only saw herself when she was younger.

Amerie gasped loudly as the young girl in the mirror looked back at her.

The same girl has vibrant silver hair that reaches her waist, auburn eyes that always seems like they are glowing, and a small physique that she is familiar with when she was younger.

"It's… Me…"

She was shocked to see the younger version of herself staring straight back at her as the sunlight became even brighter.

'Wait, why am I looking at my younger self? Aren't I suppose to be older?' She asked herself as she frowned.

She saw that her reflection did the same, and was even more confused when the heat of the sun hits her arm, feeling the warmth coming from it.

She decided to pinch herself, hissing as she did, and rubbing the part where she pinched softly.

The sun, the feeling of reality, the pain…

She slowly realized all of this as she looked at her shocked reflection.

"Did I…came back?"

'It couldn't possibly…'

Amerie is more confused.

'It may be possible…'

She was about to pinch herself again when she heard a knock from the door, interrupting her.

"Young mistress, are you awake?"

'I haven't been called like that for a while…' Amerie thought as she looks at the door.

When the mansion was burned, all of her people were executed.

They were all accused of treason as Amerie was captured, she even saw from her window how they were executed by the kingdom's soldiers.

Amerie shook her head at that memory, focusing on the voice that called to her at the door.

She didn't bother to answer as the owner's voice seems very familiar to her. She turned around and watched as the door slowly creaked open.

When it did, the person who called her came into her line of vision and the sight of that person was enough to make her cry.

"Nanny!"

She ran into the arms of the nanny that protected her until the very end. She was one of those people who was the first to be executed.

The nanny was surprised at the attack of the young mistress and chuckled lightly. She gave Amerie a warm smile and held both of her arms.

"Oh my. Did you have a bad dream, young mistress?"

Amerie wished it was just a bad dream. However, it was very vivid to her.

She just nodded as to erase any suspicion.

The Nanny warmly hugged her back as Amerie just embraced her tightly.

Albeit the warm atmosphere, her heart went cold and frigid as she remembered everything.

Someone heard her regrets and granted her wish.

Amerie couldn't be more grateful at this realization as her hug tightened. She wouldn't let this opportunity go to waste; she would definitely make different choices this time.

She will change her fate this time, no matter what.