Cecelia Zadkar

--Due to being very close geographically, as well as sharing the honor of being the largest territories in the continent, the Velzan Empire and the Northern Lands have been in a constant state of belligerence since ancient times. Raids from Northern bandits clans into Velzan frontier towns and villages were very common during the earlier centuries. They would steal their valuables, confiscate their provisions, and in the worst of cases, outright kill the residents, and sometimes kidnap women and children to sell them into slavery. They only left destruction in their wake.

Even long after the various clans of the North unified into a single government and drove away the numerous bandit clans when they became a threat to public order, their reputation with the Velzans became unsalvageable. They became known as "savages" and "barbarians", and the sentiment spread into the continent as a whole, even through the lands who were far from the north and never experienced any of these hardships.

But even with the changing times, the advancement of culture, values, and technology, the Velzan Empire and the Northern Lands remained in a state of uneasy peace. Apart from the ocassional border skirmishes, both nations silently acknowledged that provoking the other would be a bad idea. That it would bring a myriad of unwanted troubles, and in the worst of cases, a destructive war that could easily end with a total Velzan victory, or a complete Northern victory. Either way, one of the nations was bound to suffer greatly if the other ever chose to strike with all their might, so the least they could do was turn a blind eye to any minor infraction.

That was, until the Empire conquered Deira, one of the territories that belonged to the North, drove out the natives living in that land, and estabilished the Duchy of Benningfield.

Why would the greatest empire in the continent, possessor of the most advanced technology known as well as the epicenter of cultural and artistic expression, be interested in a frozen, harsh wasteland like the North, where most of the food has to be either imported directly through one of their allied kingdoms or hunted by the inhabitants themselves?

It was the discovery of a mine full of an previously unknown precious stone.

Officially, it was called Noixite, after the man who discovered it, Noix Calfee. But because of it's beautiful, bright teal blue color that shone brightly, it became coloquially known as "Larentia's Tears", named after the Mother Goddess herself.

The discovery of this mineral caused the previously stagnating economy of the Northern Lands, which relied on trade of fur and precious metals to subsist, to become revitalized, with many peasants moving to live near the mines so they could make a better living.

Due to it's high beauty and resistance, Larentia's Tears became a very sought after item by the Velzan nobility. A legend even went around that, if you gave the woman you loved a necklace made with Larentia's Tears, your love would be blessed by the goddess herself and made eternal. Associating the gem with a fairytale like that would of course increase it's demand with the highly sentimental, romantic Velzan inhabitants.

There was no way the greedy Velzan Imperial Family would pass this opportunity to monopolize this precious stone, and after hearing intel that there was an undiscovered Larentina's Tears mine in the remote, scarsely populated region of Deira, the Kaiser send a force under the command of Count Langobart Andras to subyugate the land, using the pretense of having received critical information that a budding crime syndicate had it's base of operations on Deira, and after coming victorious from his campaign, the Kaiser elevated him to the title of Duke, and put him in the charge of the territory he helped conquer, renaming it the Duchy of Benningfield.

The Northern Lords didn't respond well to this, and for next 30 years, they attempted to take back control of this territory from Velza, spearheaded by the Lord of Kasanje. While relatively small scale, this conflict had it's fair share of casualties, and ultimately, after Duke Andras's managed to capture the Lord of Kasanje, the Northern Lands were forced to surrender in exchange for his release.

But that was not the end of this humilliating defeat.

To prevent any further escalations of conflict, the lords agreed to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Velzan Empire. One of these conditions was for the leader of the dominion to send his firstborn child to be brought up in Velza until they came of age "to strenghten the bonds between the nations and promote a lasting peace".

In other words, as a hostage to keep the North in line and prevent any further attempts at rebellion.

That's the story of how I, Cecelia Zadkar, came to live in the Velzan Empire 5 years ago.

At first glance, my situation doesn't seem that bad. I stay at a fancy guest house in the vicinities of the Royal Palace. To make things more comfortable, some of my servants from back when I lived at Rhiannon were allowed to come with me for the duration of my stay. Every five months, I'm allowed to visit my family for a week, and I can send them letters every other day, whenever I want. I have tutors personally selected by the Kaiser, and all my meals are prepared by one of the royal chefs. With the exception of some rooms, I have free reign to visit any place of the Palace, as well as the Empire. The people of the palace are ambivalent towards me. They're not particularly nice, but they aren't awful either.

And even more important than that, I'm allowed to play and meet with Addie, the princess.

Though normally a hostage wouldn't have any bussiness getting close to the royal children, due to certain cirscuntances, Addie and I ended up becoming close friends. I think the Kaiser was a little wary at first, but upon realizing that me, the future Queen of Rhiannon and leader of the Dominion of the Northern Lands developing a close bond with his daughter would make things easier for him later in the future.

But I don't care about things like that at all.

To me, Addie is Addie, and I'm me. Right now, we are not royalty, but two normal friends growing up together.

Thanks to her, I could forget the pain of being separated from my parents and siblings for such a long time. I don't think I could have endured the past 5 years without her kindness and friendship.

That's why I care about her very much. She's my only friend in the world.

All in all, I say it's a pretty good life.

But even with all this luxury, I'm still a stranger in a place where she doesn't belong. Not to mention that my life is always on a thin line. Even if my bond with Addie looks advantageous now, there's no telling the Kaiser won't change his mind in the foreseeable future.

One wrong move, and all of these privileges could be easily taken away from me. Worse, I could be killed, with nothing to guarantee that my family nor the rest of the northerners wouldn't share same fate.

That's why I've been living my life as quietly as I could, to make myself seem so harmless that the Kaiser wouldn't feel the need to send me to the guillotine until I turn 18, then I can return to my homeland and live the rest of my life preparing to assume the position of Queen once my father passes away.

That's what I intended to do, anyways.

Before I hit my head and realized I'm the reincarnation of some Velzan wench that got killed for treason 20 years ago.

After that little accident, I lost conciousness once again and was rushed to my room, where I woke up alone very late into the night.

During the time I was unconcious, I dreamed a few more things. Some were memories of when I was young, but some were memories I couldn't recognize as mine. They must have been Orlane's. But no matter how hard I try to recall them, they come out blurry and incomplete.

All I know about Orlane is that she knew Kaiser Gilbert, probably a close friend-- or maybe a lover? gah, I really hope they weren't lovers. What kind of scummy man would send his own lover to her death like that?! Not to mention it would be weird...to think that I once was a couple with the father of my best friend...(even if it was in a past life...)

...Hmm, thinking about it, I'm really taking this in stride. I thought I would be more shocked? To suddenly remember my past life, and experience how I died in such a painful way...

Maybe the reason I'm able to take it like that it's because, no matter how I look at it, it didn't happen to me. Even if these sensations feel real, they happened to Orlane. I just happen to be the person Orlane reincarnated into, but i'm not her.

I'm Cecelia Zadkar. Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Rhiannon. Future leader of the Dominion of the North. Daughter of Stefano Zadkar the Unyielding and Ylisse Zadkar. Older sister of Marianna, Luka and Emil. Hostage of the Velzan Empire. Best friend of Adelheidis Velza Sveigder.

I'm my own person, with my own experiences.

...That's what I hope.