Chapter 1: Awakening to their New Lives

In Tokyo General Hospital, a young and talented doctor of medicine and pharmacy research is working late in her lab finishing up her formula of curing throat cancer. Amagawa Aoitsuki has been working on this cure since she was in medical school as, she too, is a victim of throat cancer, so she is doing everything in her power to find a cure, so others may survive, as she does not have much time left.

As she works on preparing the final ingredient for the formula, she is interrupted by a colleague who happened to walk by as she is leaving for the night.

“Oh, Dr. Amagawa, I did not know you were still here?” a colleague asks, peeking into the room.

“Oh, yes, I wanted to get this done before I head home. Thank you for your hard work today.”

“Of course. I should be thanking you for all your hard work and dedication you have done in finding this treatment.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Have a good night.”

“Thank you, have a good night and stay safe.”

The colleague soon left and Dr. Amagawa resumed her work. She continues mixing the ingredients together making sure they are ready for the final piece to be added. While waiting for the mixing to be completed, she brings out her favorite book to read to pass the time. She is in the middle of her favorite part of the book when she begins to feel something strange running through her body. From that, she knows her time is soon coming and she has to work fast.

Hearing the noise of the machine completing the mixing, she holds on to her book and walks over ready to add in the final ingredient. As she is about to add this final ingredient in, she collapses to the ground grasping her book in her hand, as she is entering her final stage of death. Slowly slipping into this stage, her life flashes before her eyes thinking there was so much more she wanted to do, but what she regrets the most was not being able to live her life.

“Oh, Dr. Amagawa, I am sorry, I forgot….”

The colleague sees her on the floor and enters a state of shock. “Dr. Amagawa, please wake up, please.” With no answer, she tries reviving her, but it was no use, she is already gone from this world. The colleague begins to tear-up for losing someone she knows. There was no time for this, she had to act quickly before she is completely gone. She searches for a phone to call for help and they are on their way.

In the meantime, she explores around the lab viewing Dr. Amagawa notes that she finally discovered the cure for throat cancer. She did not want this to be forgotten, so she thought she would publish this under her name to honor her life and legacy.

Dr. Amagawa may be in her death state, she did hear the final words of her colleague and pass peacefully into her next life.

Hopefully, in her next life, she will be able to live her life she always wanted.

Transitioning through a world between life and death, the world surrounding Aoitsuki is pitch black where there is nothing. Slowly, coming out of her sleeping state, she hears a strange flow of water near her.

As she opens her eyes, she slowly, but weakly stands herself up. Wanting to know where the sound of water was, she begins walking towards it hoping to find some answers.

Arriving at the source of the water, it was pitch black with a ripple of waves slowly crushing to the shore. She walks over to see her reflection on the water like a mirror wondering why she feels so different.

Upon seeing her reflection and continuing to think, she begins seeing an orb of light slowly floating towards the surface heading right towards her. She seems not to be fearful of this light as it appears before her. The light begins to reveal a god-like entity appearing before her.

“Hello, Aoitsuki, my name is Rayan, and I am here to grant you a chance at a second life.”

“Huh, what are you?” she says as she grabs hold of his arm and starts playing with him.

“I am a god who can grant you a chance at a second life. If you do not hear my words, then you will die and this gift will never be presented to you again.”

“Very well, what do I have to do,” Aoitsuki said, trying to understand what is going on here.

“You do not have to do anything, I will take care of everything. Now let’s begin your journey to your new life,” Rayan says, as he begins his task of sending her soul to her new rebirth cycle.

Aoisuki stands still as a bright light suddenly surrounds her, as she is slightly blinded and falling out of the shadow world, as her new life is about to begin.

In the realm of the book

Diamant Estate- Lady Aurora’s bedroom

It is morning now in the Diamant Estate, where Lady Aurora, the only daughter of the duke, seems to be sleeping soundly in her bed happily enjoying what might have been a lovely dream. It seems nothing can wake her up from her dream state as it seems something has taken control over her body.

Struggling to wake up as always since she never really was a morning person, it took a lot of will to open her eyes. As she finally gathers enough energy, she manages to sit up straight on her bed, but still feeling very sleepy. Then mustering enough strength she possibly can to get herself out of her bed and walks over to a large mirror standing on the other side of the bedroom. Walking over, still drowsy from sleep, she begins opening her eyes, and what she sees in the mirror is not what she expected.

“Huh, what is this? Who am I? Where am I?”

As she is asking these questions to herself, she hears a knock on the door. She turns to see the door opening, revealing her maid entering her room. “Oh, good morning Lady Aurora. I did not expect you to be waking up so early,” the maid said, as she entered the room. Aoitsuki thinks for a moment and wonders why she is calling her by that name.

“Um, yes, thank you, but what did you call me?”

“Um, I called you Lady Aurora, is that not correct?”

“Yes, I do apologize, please continue.”

“Of course, please excuse me,” the maid said, excusing herself to resume her duties.

Lady Aurora is left to her thoughts and she finally realizes she has inhabited the body of the Lady Aurora Diamant from her favorite novel The Bejeweled Tragedy.

“Is this my second chance of life that the person spoke of?”

“Did you say something, my lady?” the maid asks, thinking that Lady Aurora is speaking to her.

“No, nothing, please resume with your tasks.”

“Of course my lady, please excuse me,” the maid said, as she is preparing Lady Aurora’s wardrobe and jewelry.

Now this being her new reality, she now has to begin to adjust to this new life. All she has to do now is staying calm, cool, and collected in this new world, but at the same time trying to find out her place and purpose in being in this new world.

Her maid returns ready to begin her next part of the task. “My lady, it is time for you to get ready for the day. I also came to tell you that your father and the rest of your family are expecting you to attend the family breakfast,” the maid asks kindly.

“Yes, of course, I will attend, thank you.”

“Now, shall we begin?”

The maid brings in the other maids to help Lady Aurora get dressed for the day. One maid begins working on her hair by brushing it out while the other maids begin the rest of the preparations. With the first maid completing designing her hair with a pull up ponytail with the rest of her resting on her shoulders, it was time for the dress. This dress is in the color of aqua blue dress which matched the color of her eyes and the necklace paired with the dress.

Once she was done getting dressed, she walked over the door to open it and let herself out of her bedroom. She begins walking through the halls nervously ready to meet her family wondering if they would notice any changes in her.

Outside of the dining room, she is still feeling nervous, so she takes a deep breath, corrects her posture, and slowly makes her way inside where it seems her family have already arrived and are waiting for her arrival.

Then Lady Aurora walks over to her seat while greeting her family.

“Good morning father. Good morning mother. Good morning brothers,” Lady Aurora greeted them kindly, as she walked over to her seat.

“Good morning my lovely daughter,” her father, Arch-duke Wolfrik, said,smiling at her.

“Good morning, my darling,” Aurora’s mother Arch-duchess Dianthe said, as she too smiled at her beloved daughter.

“Yes, good morning sister, at last you came, so we can finally eat,” Lady Aurora’s older brother Arnor sternly said, by not giving her eye contact.

“Good morning, big sister,” Aurora’s youngest brother Runolf confidently said while surprising her from behind.

“Thank you brothers.”

Soon as she took her seat next to her younger brother, she and her family began to eat the meal their servants kindly provided.

As they eat their meals, Aoisuki begins to understand she is part of a truly loving family, thus accepting she is part of a loving home.

Prince Mathias’s Regression Period (ten years in the present future)

Imperial Capital- The Imperial Palace during the time as the empire is collapsing

In the inner walls of the palace, His Highness, the third prince of Arcenciel Empire, Prince Mathias, is in the middle of a battle between his brothers trying with all his might to stop them from killing one another.

“You have to stop this. There is no point in continuing this fight. We are brothers, we should be working on restoring peace in our home,” Prince Mathias shouts trying to get his brothers to listen.

“Your words mean nothing to us brother. You did not even fight for the throne,” First Prince Adalwolf angrily shouts to his brother Prince Mathias, charging at him with his sword.

“Mathias, you are not worthy of the throne,” Prince Mathias, older brother Prince Leonidas hysterically said, who also charged towards his brother.

“No, brothers, you have to stop this….”

Without another word coming out, Prince Mathias was stabbed through the chest by his older brother's swords and collapsed to the floor. Weaken as he is, slowly clinging to the remaining life he has, he is slowly opening his eyes to see the true collapse of the empire. The kingdom is now in flames as it appears,there are no survivors and the empire is in chaos. As for his brothers, they too, have perished as the flames reached for them, and they were burned for their sins.

With himself getting close to death, Prince Mathias says a final prayer hoping someone will be listening.

“I wish this chaos could have been preventable. I should have done my duty in taking the throne, then none of this would have happened. I beg you divine being, please help me go back and prevent this event from ever happening. Please grant me this second chance,” Prince Mathias begs as he slowly passes away from his wounds.

At the Imperial Capital (ten years ago) The Current Present

Imperial Palace- Prince Mathias’s Bed Chambers

“Huh, was that a dream or was it a memory. I wonder why this keeps happening?”

He begins opening his eyes and realizes he is back in his room. It took him a minute to realize he had returned to his bedroom wondering how he got back there. Everything looks the same from the last time he has seen it. He runs towards the mirror and notices he is the same as he was ten years ago. It seems he has returned to his eighteen year old self before the time the empire falls.

“What is going on? Why am I alive? I could have sworn I have died, so why am I here?”

He continues viewing himself and wondering what happened to him before he came back in time to the time where nothing has happened to the empire as of now.

“Perhaps the gods heard my pleas and returned me to the time when I was eighteen.”

Prince Mathias continues to think about the idea he was reborn and it was time to act rather than staying on the sidelines.

“It seems the gods have deemed me worthy of giving me a second chance and now I am not going to waste it,” Prince Mathias said to himself thinking about what to do next.

“I have to make sure this empire does not fall into chaos and I will do everything I can to protect it.”

He continues to speak to himself as he is trying to think of different scenarios making sure he knows what he will be knowing next. There is no time to waste, as he is given this second chance and he tends not to waste it.

He quickly went over to the washroom to freshen up, but when he heads over to the closet to get dressed, he hears a knock on the door.

“Your highness, may I come in?” his servant asked outside of his door.

“Yes, you may.”

With Prince Mathais’s permission, the servant enters the room holding what appears to be a letter. The prince soon comes out fully clothed in his formal wear, wondering what this is all about.

“What is the meaning of this? It could not wait until later today?” Prince Mathias asks, sounding a bit annoyed.

“Forgive me your highness, but I just received these two letters from your father and one from a noble family,” the servant explains, as he holds out the letters.

“Hum, interesting, do you know what this is about?” the prince asks as he takes the letter and begins to read it.

“I believe your father has called an imperial meeting in the meeting chambers to discuss potential marriage candidates for you, your highness.”

“Hm, and will my brothers be in attendance as well?” Prince Mathias asks, wondering about that idea.

“No, they will not be attending this meeting. They are currently dealing with their own business.”

“How interesting.” he said in a whisper.

“Did you say something, your highness?”

“No, I will go to this meeting. And what about this second letter?”

“I am not sure, but from the seal, I believe this is coming from a well respected family.”

“Very well, I will read the letter later. Shall we go? You know how father gets when someone is late.”

“Of course, please follow me.”

“Before we leave, can you please tell me today’s date?”

“Yes, your highness, it is April 5th in the year of your father’s twentieth year of ruling our beloved empire.”

“Thank you.”

Prince Mathais and his servant finally managed to leave his room, but he still had a lot more thinking to do. “Ok, if I remember this day correctly, this is the time where the Noble Faction is pressuring me into marrying Duke Rubis’s daughter Lady Sirena in order to gain favor with me. I have to make sure this does not happen and he does not gain anymore power than he already does, ” Prince Mathias said, trying to remember the events that once passed. “And in order to do this, I have to join the running of being the next ruler of our empire.”

His servant begins to worry about the prince, so he asks,” Your highness, are you alright?”

Prince Mathias looks up briefly seeing his servant worry, so he has to make sure he is not worrying him. “Yes, I am sorry to worry you. I am just mentally preparing myself for this meeting.”

“Of course. It must be difficult for a prince to perform duties, like marriage in order to create alliances,” the servant points out.

“Yes, I will admit, sometimes I wish I wasn’t a prince,” Prince Mathias admits.

“Yes, the pressures of a prince can be stressful at times.”

“I agree.”

“Yes, your highness. Yes, we should be going, I expect your father and the nobles are waiting for you.”

“I imagine so,” Prince Mathias said, continuing to walk through the halls.

As they continue walking through the halls, Prince Mathias is thinking to himself about what events he has to change with the knowledge he has from the future to stop his brothers from destroying the empire. He knows now to stop them he has to begin getting involved in the empire's politics and gain support for his cause to be in the running for the throne without his brothers interfering with his plans.

Since the Imperial Noble Faction supports his older brother Prince Adalwolf and the Nobility Faction is in favor of the second prince Leonidas, so Prince Mathias had to find even more powerful allies outside of these factions, so the Neutral Faction will gain some political power to claim the throne and support to protect this kingdom from falling.

His first ally he considers is Arch-Duke Diamant, from the Neutral Faction, as he is its leader. He does remember the arch-duke has always been a great ally and friend to the empire and he will be a good ally to have on his side to put his plan in motion.

Not long after he arrives outside the door of the meeting room and the servant opens the door, so they may enter.

“Pardon me, your majesty and your graces, I would like to announce, his highness Prince Mathias has arrived,” the servant announces.

“Yes, let him in. Thank you,” his majesty said as he dismissed the servant.

Once the servant completed his duties, he left the room and Prince Mathias entered to join the rest of the nobility.

“Good morning, your majesty and members of the nobility class,” Prince Mathias says, greeting the gentlemen.

“Yes, good for you to join my son. Let’s begin,” his majesty Emperor Axelle says, ready to begin this meeting.

Prince Mathias takes a seat further away from his father, as he notices that indeed Arch-duke Wolfrik Diamant attended this meeting. He also notices his brothers are present when he hears they will not be attending. He slowly walks over to where his brothers are and begins speaking to them. “What are you two doing here? I thought you were busy with your own affairs.” Prince Mathias whispers to his brother.

“Well, I thought it would be fun seeing who will be the girl you will be stuck with,” Prince Leonidas whispers back in a teasing voice.

“Be quiet, you two or I will severely punish you,” Prince Adalwolf said, getting annoyed by his brothers.

“I would like to thank all of you for coming and attending this meeting to discuss potential brides for my son to marry to be considered as a candidate to assume the throne,” His majesty Emperor Axelle begins.

“Yes, your majesty,” the heads of the noble class agree.

“Now, let’s begin with the list of candidates,” his majesty agrees.

A court announcer, in this case, Duke Sephir, had the honor to read down the list of potential candidates, but none struck Prince Mathias interest, so a different approach was taken.

“Your Majesty, I would like to offer my daughter Lady Sirena Rubis,” Duke Rubis recommends.

“Hum, and why do you think your daughter will be a perfect candidate for my son?” his majesty asks.

“My daughter Sirena is the most beautiful, well- mannered noble lady, but most importantly she is well versed in etiquette. She also has been acquainted with your son since they were children,” Duke Rubis explains.

“What do you think, my son?” his majesty asks.

“Duke Rubis, I understand your daughter is a lovely young woman, but I must decline your offer,” Prince Mathias declined the duke’s offer.

“What! Why is that so?”

“Yes, I would have to agree with the Duke, why are you refusing his proposal?” Prince Leonidas asks.

“I am declining your offer because your family is in the Imperial Noble Faction supporting my older brother, so I will say she is not a candidate for me, but perhaps my brother instead,” Prince Mathias politely declines.

“It is because I do not believe she is right for the throne.”

Duke Rubis clicks his tongue out of anger before responding. “But your highness, with this marriage you will have my support and many of my followers for your candidacy for the throne, please reconsider,” Duke Rubis pleas.

“My word is final.”

“I would have to agree with my brother, I do not believe your daughter will be a great fit for the throne.”

“My son, Duke Rubis would be an excellent to have on your side, so why do you decline,” his majesty wonders.

“Father, I understand your concern, but if you want you can have Leonidas marry her instead. If you must know, I have someone else in mind to be my bride,” Prince Mathias answered.

“And who might that be?” his majesty asks.

“You find out soon enough. Arch-Duke Diamant, I understand you have a daughter that recently came of age to marry, correct?” Prince Mathias asked.

“Um…, Yes, she is.”

“Good. I would like you to arrange a meeting with your daughter as soon as possible,” Prince Mathias asked.

“Um…Yes, of course, I will arrange it as soon as I return home,” Duke Diamant replies, in shock a prince wishes to meet his daughter.

“Does this mean you have chosen your bride?” Emperor Axelle asks his son.

“No father. I am not saying she is my potential bride. I only wish to meet her,” Prince Mathias announces to his father.

“Since my son has not chosen a bride, I say this meeting has been concluded,” Emperor Axelle announces dismissing everyone.

Soon, the guests have started to leave the room besides Prince Mathais and Duke Diamant.

“My lord, I hope I did not surprise you with my sudden announcement,” Prince Mathias apologized.

“It did surprise me a little bit that suddenly you care about the political affairs of the empire or even potentially getting married. Why the sudden change?” Duke Diamant asked, wondering about this sudden change.

“Well, let’s just say I have turned over a new leaf.”

“Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“As a matter of fact, yes there is something you can help me with.’

“And what is that?”

“I was wondering if you know someone in your faction to help me with a little project I am working on.”

“I believe I do, your highness. I believe the Margrave Opale can assist you in anything you desire to do.”

“That is great. Would you kindly write me a letter of introduction?”

“Of course, your highness. I will be honored to do so. Expect a response this afternoon.”

“Thank you, your grace. I should not keep you any longer,” Prince Mathias said, excusing himself from the room.

With Arch-Duke Diamant leaving, Prince Mathais leaves the room to return to his bedroom to relax after the exhausting meeting he just came out of. Opening the door to his room, he went to sit at his desk and begin to check the rest of the letters. He picks up the letter Lady Serina sent and calls for his servant Rion to come to his room.

A minute later, Rion Emeraude enters the room.

“Your highness, you called for me?”

“Yes, I want you to be on the look out for a letter from Margrave Opale. Once we receive the letter, we will leave at once, so please standby.”

“Of course.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes, I have decided to take on a bride to further my cause in taking the throne right underneath my brother's hands,” Prince Mathais informs Rion.

“That seems unusual for you, your highness. I don't think I've ever seen you care for the empire’s affairs before.”

“Well, let's just say, I am interested now.”

“May I ask who you have in mind to marry?”

“I have decided to marry Lady Aurora, Arch-duke Diamant's daughter, but it will be a contractual marriage. I need to get the Neutral Faction on my side as soon as I can.”

“Very well, your highness. Is there something else you wish me to do?”

“Yes, I would like you to send a letter to Lady Sirena stating politely I have rejected her as my bride as I have chosen another,” Prince Mathais orders.

“Alright, right away, please excuse me,” Rion said, as he left the room.

Prince Mathais finally being alone in his room, the least he can do is read the letter she has sent. He briefly scans through it and throws it on his desk.

“Huh, there is no way I am going to marry her, she is too arrogant to be a refined lady.”

After he is done reading, he decides to relax on his bed for a while before he receives word about the meeting. As he is on his bed, he begins thinking over and over about what simply happened in the meeting, hoping he is making the right decision. With so much thinking, he dozes off and falls into a deep sleep.

It seems he is in his dream state again remembering the events he tries to prevent. It seems this will never end as long as he works quickly in preventing this from ever happening. He wanted this to stop, so tries to walk himself up from the nightmare. He tires with all his might, but nothing until a shake wakes him up.

“Your highness, are you alright?” Rion asks, standing close to the prince.

“Rion, what happened?”

“You dozed off for a few hours. During this time though, the letter from Margrave Opale arrived and he provided us with directions to his manor.”

“Good, let’s leave at once.”

“Yes, the carriage is ready to take you to the domain of Margrave Opale.”

“Right, let’s go now.”

Prince Mathais and Rion leave his bed chamber and quickly head over to the carriage to depart before anyone can stop them. The carriage took its leave from the palace and entered the section to the Imperial Capital to drive out Margrave Opale which is on the other side of the Gretel Forest where the meeting will take place shortly.

Now they are alone, Rion wants to get to the bottom of the real reason of what the prince is up to.

“Prince Mathias, I may ask a bold question,” Rion nervously asks.

“Go ahead,” Prince Matias said.

“Why did you suddenly choose to join the succession conflict to attain the throne?” Rion asks curiously.

Having heard Rion’s question, thinks carefully about what to say to him considering what he has experienced in the past and hoping the truth will not mess with his plans for the throne.

“Let’s just say that recently an inexplicable experience, I witnessed, changed my perception to change myself to be better as a prince and heir to the throne as well.” Prince Mathias said, as his mind wandered off.

“Very well, your highness, I will support you in whatever you decide,” Rion agrees.”

“Thank you, you are a loyal friend,” Prince Mathais kindly compliments.

“Thank you, sir.”

Margrave Opale, being the first noble to join his cause for the Neutral Faction, will begin the start of a new plan and a new life, hoping this will create a better future.