Chapter 4

When Vinea woke up, there was a young man standing over her, or that’s what it looked like with him blocking the sun. She almost mistook him for her brother, if he wasn’t taller than Felix or more well built than Adiran. “Wake up already!” A voice bellowed, shaking her. This definitely wasn’t one of her brothers.

“Lord Astase! Get out of the Lady’s room this instance!” Vinea heard her maid scream. Now, memories flooded back. This was who she was going with on that trip. Her best friend, older than her by two years, Duke Claes de Astase’s second son, Valerian de Astase. In other words, a fifteen year old boy who ignores all rules of high society. Namely the one about bursting into a young woman’s chambers.

Valerian was thoroughly kicked out using the force of a broom, allowed by Duke Astase, of course. Vinea shook her head. She was younger than him, but she was so much more mature. Maybe it was true that girls mature faster than guys. Or maybe it was because she had grown up for ages over, while this Valerian was only living his first and only chance at life.

“My Lady, everything is set. Your bags have been packed and breakfast is set on the table. I am ready as well. All we need to do is get you dressed. Lord and Lady Astase will join you and your family for breakfast. And then we shall set off”

“Right. Thank you…”

“Mary”

“...Right. Thank you, Mary.” She remembered the maid’s name. She didn’t need to be reminded. She swore that she would forget it in this life. But here they were.

Mary helped Vinea out of bed and through her morning rituals. Then she dressed her in a simple pink traveling gown. Vinea didn’t remember owning this gown. Then again, she had been so focused previously to appease that chosen child that she may have even dressed in rags.

Mary did her hair for her and laced up the shoes that she wore. It reminded Vinea of the corsets adults had to wear. She was lucky she didn’t have to wear them as of the moment. Her luck may go down the drain in the future, but that was something else entirely.

After she was ready, Mary grabbed a bonnet and escorted Vinea to the dining room, where everyone was already seated, even her father. Well, she supposed, it was only courtesy to dine with your guests.

Her father wasn’t the only one there. Her aunt and cousin were seated there already as well, despite her uncle not being present. Ungrateful wenches. There was no proof as of the moment of the ‘murder’ that Lady Faybelle would commit of her mother. There was not even an inclination of it. It may not even happen. Her mother may not even die. But as the Spirit had promised her, she would take no chances.

She would spend as much time with her mother as possible today, this would be her last time meeting her in this life if her prediction was correct. This may be her last time seeing her forever. She may not go back this time. The Spirit had said that this was her last chance. So be it!

Vinea strutted in with confidence and did something she’d never done before, or at least what she assumed, give everyone in that room, even Valerian and Reyna, a good morning kiss on the cheek. It was greatly appreciated, except when the men in her family had glared at Valerian and Adiran glared at Valerian’s older sister, Lady Moira de Astase.

Lady Moira had grown up with Adiran as Valerian had grown up with Vinea. But those two didn’t get along. As Adiran was engaged to Princess Sabrina, Lady Moira was engaged to Crown Prince Mattias von Mikhaln. They were to become a family soon. And yet they would plunge the country into civil war if they could simply because they didn’t like each other. Their respective betrothed often told them to get married already.

When she got to her mother, she hugged her. Her mother mirrored the gesture. No one seemed to be surprised, so maybe this wasn’t odd for her. In fact, many people weren’t even surprised by the cheek kissing, other than Reyna. She wouldn’t know. She didn’t remember her life from before this moment. Maybe she had been a very expressive child before this moment in her life. Maybe.

She hurried and took her seat. The meal had already begun and she ate as well. It was nothing special, just bread, butter, and jam along with some eggs. But she savoured it. This may as well be the last meal she had with her mother. She wanted to remember it.

~~~~

Vinea sat in the carriage with Lady Moira, Valerian, and Reyna. Behind their carriage was a carriage filled with the maids of each. Reyna was not meant to have a single maid, forget nanny, assistant, pageboy, and servant. She was not high enough on the social ladder to have one. But Vinea’s father spoiled his niece. She had a plethora of servants similar to Vinea’s. And they all loved her. Even most of Vinea’s servants loved her. Well, that was other than Fabian, of course.

Fabian served as both her assistant and servant, sometimes even pageboy. He was a small ginger-haired boy Vinea’s age, or at least from her memories. She hadn’t seen him yet in this time. All she was aware of was that he was in the carriage behind her, not sitting outside of the carriages with the drivers as did the pageboys nor on a horse as did their knights.

Vinea turned her attention to Reyna. Reyna sported the same black hair that was common in the Vystrya family and the same cold blue eyes that were a trademark of the Vystrya House. They looked similar enough to be mistaken for twins from far away. But Reyna looked so much gentler than Vinea, so much so that it was disgusting. Vinea hated Reyna. Almost as much as she hated the cursed child.

Reyna, in all of the times that Vinea had lived, had been on that chosen child’s side, her best friend. Never, not once, had that conniving little she-devil taken her own flesh and blood’s side. And yet that prophesied child was who she deemed the most righteous of all? Reyna was loved throughout society and engaged to a lowly baron’s son. Not the one who would lead the family, but a slovenly third son.

After the chosen child had appeared, she had brought great fortune to Reyna on many accounts, gotten the woman married to Duke Astase, whichever son took that position, or gotten her married to even on of Vinea’s own brothers, in both cases elevating her status from that of a mere knight’s daughter, who wasn’t even distinguished enough to be given the name Vystrya to a member of a founding family of the Empire.

Vinea found all of it disgusting. Vinea would make sure that Reyna, too, suffered in this world. Especially, if her mother really did kill Vinea’s mother. It didn’t matter if they were flesh and blood or not. Reyna’s father had been caught with a coup to overthrow the empire, and when he had confessed, he had all of his property and his title revoked. Her uncle himself should be grateful that he could still hold the Vystrya name. Reyna didn’t even have that. It wasn’t that she was a ‘nobody’, she was a ‘somebody’ fallen from grace. And Vinea could use that. There was no such thing as kinship in her world.

Vinea heard Lady Moira’s teeth grind as Reyna laughed at something Valerian had said too loudly. Current seating arrangements made Lady Moira sit next to Reyna and in front of Valerian, as Vinea mirrored her position, next to Valerian and in front of Reyna. Either way, her laughter was too loud, too pretty. Valerian was too involved with the conversation.

“Lady Reyna. It’s not proper to laugh at something so loudly.” Lady Moira chasitized. She made sure to emphasize on ‘lady’, a title that was just a word in front of Reyna’s name, holding no actual value like it did for Vinea and Moira herself.

“I’m sorry, but Lord Va-”

Lady Moira snapped her fan shut, shutting Reyna’s pretty voice up. “And you!” She pointed the fan at her younger brother. “You need to learn manners! Vinea is your guest! Give her company!” The blonde woman said no more but her message had rang clear. By using Vinea’s name without a title and giving a hollow one to Reyna sent a clear message that Vinea was one of them, of their class and someone intimate. Reyna was nobody them.

“I’m sorry, Sister”

“Don’t apologize to me you idiot! To Vinea!” Lady Moira was as bitter of a woman as her name suggests. Her blonde hair, almost silver was voluptuous and her blue eyes were cold too. Her expression of utter indifference and superiority was something Vinea hoped to achieve before the chosen child appeared.

Lady Moira was one of the only people who had always been on her side, no matter what the chosen child said, and it was her support that had gotten her through many trials and cleared her name many times before her executions. Lady Moira had slapped Adiran because he hadn't believed Vinea.

As the future emperor’s future wife, she had suffered as much as Vinea, if not more. Lady Moira was the one person who had been executed in every possible time that Vinea had been in. In the previous time, Vinea herself had gotten Lady Moira executed to save herself, and till the very end, the woman had been on her side. She’d even hugged Vinea, and whispered in her ear the secret to the chosen child’s downfall. This cold and heartless woman was a saint.

“I’m sorry, Vin, for ignoring you”

“It’s alright, Val” Reyna was no longer a part of the conversation. Moira had given Reyna such humiliation that she had shut up. Keeping her company was not a priority. Vinea was important, not her. And using nicknames in front of her, nicknames which suggested the height of intimacy, those that even their families didn't normally use rubbed salt in the wound. Good. This was not even a fraction of the pain Reyna deserved.

It was quiet, until, Valerian started speaking again, this time completely ignoring Reyna. "The capital must be beautiful around this time! I heard that many new cafes have opened up. We should go some time." Valerian's voice was filled with a giddiness. Normally, it wasn't mandatory for members of the two dukedoms to go to the capital during the social season, but this was a special case.

"Are you sure you will be able to come after all those invitations to those parties? This is your social debut we are going to, you know?" She played coy. Maybe it didn't fit with her current appearance, but some thirteen years olds were mature. Just not the ones Valerian knew. He didn't seem to know how to react.

In her previous times, she'd never acted coy. She'd been either proper like Lady Moira or shy. Friendly, maybe. She wasn’t one to point out the obvious. But now she was. Now, she’d say whatever she wished to. She didn’t have to worry about pleasing anyone. “Yes, my poor little Vin. What will you do, if I can no longer be your playmate? And it only gets worse from there, you know? After my social debut, it’s my knighting ceremony, in which I can attend proper balls. Then comes the Coming of Age ceremony, after which I can marry! Who will you spend time with once I’m gone and married? My wife won’t appreciate a woman so close to me. Especially one I’ve shared a bed with~!”

“What?!” Reyna yelled in shock. She was ignored.

“That was one time! Aren’t you too certain I have no other friends? I have both Fabian and Felix to keep me company!”

Valerian gave her a look of disapproval. “One is your brother and the other is your servant. You can’t count those as friends!”

“I haven’t debuted into society yet, my dear, and there is no one of my status nor a house close to mine other than yours and the Imperial Family. It’s not my fault there’s no one my age” There was Reyna, of course. But who would count her? Vinea had never gotten along with the pushy woman who’d act like she was someone of Vystrya blood. It wasn’t even funny.

And soon, too soon, the chosen child would appear and destroy Vinea’s small little world of the three close families that had been created at the very foundation of the empire. In the past, Vinea had forced herself to become the chosen child’s friend, desperately following her every whim, no matter what it may be. This time, it would be different.

Valerian shrugged. “The only people who’ve surrounded yourself with are men!” Lady Moira cleared her throat “And a barbaric woman! And I’m the only person you can say you know that is your age, forget your best friend! That’s terrible for your image! Not to mention after the social debut, rumors will spread like wildfire, no matter what we do!”

This young man was a dramatic one. In all of the lives she’d lived, in all the different times that her soul had dwelled, in one way or another, Valerian was the same. It brought a smile to Vinea’s face. “So, how are you going to stop those rumors? You are half responsible for them, you know? Not to mention, you can’t go and start a relationship with just anyone”

“And don’t even think about trying to prove her wrong” Lady Moira cut in again. Lady Moira came off as a total villainess in multiple situations, and yet Vinea had somehow come to the conclusion that the older woman liked her. Lady Moira, not once, had said anything negative about her. Behind her back or otherwise.

“Sister, you have no faith in me.” He pouted. It was painfully obvious that Reyna was being ignored. She sat quietly in her seat. Lady Moira had only said one sentence to her so far within the six hours that they had been riding in this carriage. Proud Lady Moira had a longer conversation with the knight riding outside of her window. And Valerian’s conversation before his scolding had only gone on for five minutes.

Reyna was not liking this feeling. Her eyes were red and seemed to well up. Good. In Vinea’s mind ran the countless scenarios in which Vinea had been ignored by her own flesh and blood because of Reyna and the chosen child. These were people that Reyna met maybe once a month. This wasn’t even the bottom of the barrel of the pain and hurt Vinea had suffered. And that wasn’t including the countless executions.

Vinea’s train of hateful thoughts was broken again by Valerian’s loud mouth. “Maybe I should get a doll for you to be friends with”

“Really?” She asked skeptically. How would a doll help with anything?

“I mean yeah! A doll would be the perfect socialization tool for you! You won’t suffer rumors that way! Who should I get as a doll for you? She has to be a woman, of course. She needs to be less than you, someone who’ll blindly follow you, no matter what! But they can’t be too low of a status” That sounded like the lackeys that the chosen child had. Valerian, in some time or another had been one of them. Wait, did he refer to a human being as a ‘doll’? “Does Marquess Romane’s daughter seem like a good doll, Vin?”

Vinea blinked. “What?”

~~~~~~

Mikhaln Fact Point

House Astase

House Astase is one of the founding houses of the empire, descendants of Prince Astase who, along with Princess Vystrya, had helped his brother, Prince Mikhaln overthrow their father and become emperor. It is one of the two dukedoms in the kingdom and holds enough power to rival the Imperial Family.

Members [Main Family] [Ages][Notes]

Duke Claes de Astase [51]
Duchess Arabella von Mikahln de Astase [45]
Lady Moira de Astase [20][Future Empress, engaged to Crown Prince]
Lord Flynn de Astase [18]
Lord Valerian de Astase [15]