BXBX NOVEL Chapter 310 Her Tale (3)
"Ah… no…!" kneeling in the front of the guillotine, Lucia's entire body seemed to have been bathed with ice-cold water.
'Wake up! Wake up! I have seen enough…' She tried to shake her body in an attempt to wake up and stop the scene but her efforts were in vain.
The guillotine looked like the mouth of a ferocious monster, ready to claim her little life at any second. Just a glance of the blade made her shudder and lose strength.
'Why won't this dream end!! There's nothing more to see!!!' Lucia complained in her heart.
She knew that she was in a dream of the far future but why is it that everything, even the fear, and pain felt real?
If she was unable to wake up on time? Will she ever wake up at all?
'Heavens! Please… if this was the near future, then spare me from foreseeing my demise like this…' She prayed as her body was dragged to be placed under the guillotine's blade.
She closed her eyes for she knew that what lies in front of her could be countless corpses of those who went before her.
However, before the blade fell to her death, she was able to hear the words of the woman.
"See what happens when you reject me? If back then, you chose me to be the empress then none of this would have happened! Now, look at what your empire has become… Valentin!"
And then, everything went black… Finally, Lucia was able to wake up from the nightmare and finally breathe.
"What was that?" Lucia catches her breath and wiped away the cold sweat in her forehead, the dream was too much for her to handle.
She looked at the window and thought to herself… how was she able to live right now when she had seen something that she wished, she couldn't just have seen?
She stayed awake until the room was fully bright in the morning, but no matter how much she thought the entire night, she could not come up with a decision in her mind.
How would she be able to prevent the tragic end of her family?
She saw her brother… and her future family… maybe she would have had one too, but then she was not able to tell in that particular dream.
Also, it bothered her a lot that the dream was not only speaking of Astaze's downfall… it was the downfall of the whole empire. And as far as the woman was concerned, she was not even able to identify who she was…
"My lady… you are awake!" She was awakened from her thoughts by the voice of her maid. "Oh no, milady… are you that excited to see the coronation of His Highness Crown Prince?"
"Ah… no… I just had a… I just felt thirsty and was about to call you…" Lucia would have said that she had a nightmare but decided against it. Because everyone in the estate knew that her dreams were not something to be ignored or taken for granted.
"My… then please wait a moment Milady… we get you some water…" The maid replied as she ordered the fellow maids of her request.
It was only then that she realized that today was the coronation of the Seirende Empire's Crown Prince.
Valentin… She heard the name before her dream ended and from what she could decipher, he would be detrimental to the Empire's future.
'Then… Let's take a look and observe… The main players might have been present at the coronation event later…'
'For now… I will just gather enough information about those people… Who knows… maybe I would be able to prevent it all…' She thought while her eyes brightened on her newfound plan.
It was then that she first saw Valentin, a young charming prince that was gifted to make his subjects respect him the most. She was also able to see the family of the prince, the Empress, and the second prince who was also of her age.
Finally, she gets to see the reigning Ruler of the Empire, Emperor Idelfonso, who was an S Class Mage and an open path.
The moment she saw the Imperial Family, there was a trace of sadness in her eyes as she remembered the far future. In her dream… it happened obviously when the reigning Emperor was no longer around… would he be smiling right now if he knew that the Empire would fall under his son's rule?
'Ah… what am I thinking!' Lucia shook the negative thoughts away and swept the crowd with her eyes, trying to find the Vesala family.
When she was investigating the people with amethyst eyes and purple hair, it was only the Vesala family who fit the description, however, she was still in the eastern territory and was not even allowed to go out unless under such an important occasion like this.
So this was her only chance to get to know the identity of the woman and the man from her nightmare. The entire ceremony was done but her search became unfruitful.
'The banquet was my last chance!' She thought.
Most probably, the younger generation of the noble families would attend the banquet this evening, and so she thought that she may be able to see them.
True enough, she was able to finally see who the people were and to her surprise, they were the direct descendants of the Duke of Vesala!
Maxim, the young master of the Vesala duchy, and Carolina, the treasured princess of the Vesala family!
'These two would cause the downfall of the empire?' She thought in disbelief as she watched the siblings go around greeting everyone with innocence in their eyes.
'How could these people turn to have an enmity with the Empire… I can't imagine!'
Maxim is a passionate young man, he was brilliant and humble. He was not keen to speak his thoughts in an arrogant and intimidating way but was well versed in expressing his opinions without offending the other party.
Carolina was a beautiful young lady, every daughter of the noble families was drawn to her like she was the most beautiful butterfly in a room full of bees.
'Even in the way they look at people, there was no contempt in their eyes…'
'I have to investigate them further…' She thought. The thing that bothered her the most was how they were able to be so strong that no one in the Empire was able to resist them?
Then they must be wielding strength that no one in the Empire had at the moment.
From that point onwards, Lucia, who was originally the aloof and shy daughter of the Astaze Marquis forced herself to debut into the social circle earlier than expected.
With the help of her family, she was able to attend social parties that Carolina would attend and finally saw who she really was.
An obsessed lady from the Vesala family!
She witnessed her orchestrate things for the ladies who had shown interest in the crown prince, even the slightest! As she watched her, she saw how Carolina's expression changed every time her obsessive behavior kicked in.
It sends shivers whenever Lucia is reminded of Carolina's terrifying obsession. She wondered, how did Valentin manage to resist her in the far future?
"However this is still not enough…" She thought. "The Vesala has to be powerful enough to propel their family to such heights…"
And so Lucia started to use her newfound freedom to investigate the Vesala on their own.
It was a little bit hard for her to keep these plans by herself because she could not afford anyone from the family to prematurely know of this dream that she had.
If that happens, her family decides on something that would even hasten their downfall. Or worse, the Emperor might even condemn their family for brewing something that would betray the empire.
But the results of the investigations made her brows furrow in frustration…
The Vesala Family was an upright family. They were powerful because of their businesses and they did not attempt to even explore any shady businesses.
They were also not greedy in their dealings as if they no longer desire anything but to stay on the top of the society next to the Imperial Family.
Aside from the fact that they were renowned and talented casters, there was nothing extraordinary in their family other than they were one of the strongest powers in the Empire - something that was normal for Lucia who was also a daughter of the competing counterpart of the Vesala's in terms of aristocratic influence.
"So could it be that this really all started with the fact that Carolina was obsessed with the Crown Prince?"
"Isn't this reason too petty for the Vesala's to cause rebellion in the Empire?" Lucia contemplated as she read the contents of the report.
However, she was unable to fully understand everything until…
Carolina made the biggest mistake of her life…
The mistake was so big that it almost caused a war between the Empire and an allied kingdom.
A mistake that caused her dear father, the Duke of Vesala, to sacrifice his very own life!