People have called the love story that goes beyond status difference the romance of the century, but in fact, the royal marriage isn't possible with just love.
There are four reasons why Angela, a former countryside baron's daughter, could become the Crown Princess.
First, Angela was very beautiful.
She had silver hair, which is rare in the empire, green eyes reminiscent of emeralds, and a delicate body with an innocent demeanor. Only a few people would disagree with her position as the empire's greatest beauty.
Appearance is bound to have an absolute influence on people. Had not Angela possess such a beautiful face, it would never happen that the mere baron's daughter would become the 'flower of the society' in the capital.
Second, her closest friend was Marquis Bellechateur's daughter, 'Jaina Bellechateur'.
Jaina, who was an only daughter, adored Angela like her own sibling. Jaina would provide any kind of support so that Angela could fit comfortably into the capital's high society.
Not only does Jaina helped her financially, but also bringing Angela to social gatherings and introducing her to the influential nobles.
Third, Angela was running a clinic. She gained popularity and reputation by helping her patients who were all commoners.
Angela, who has the power to heal and also a herbalist, opened a clinic in the capital with the support of Marquis Bellechateur and provided aid to commoners in need.
As one might expect, the common people began to praise Angela. How can no one respect and love such a benevolent person who cares about the poor? Of course, Angela became popular with the common people and her reputation naturally grew.
At some point, people began to nickname Angela, "White Angel'', and the prince who had heard about the rumor became interested in her. After meeting a few times, Angela and the Crown Prince became a couple.
And lastly, Angela revealed Marquis Bellechateur's treason.
Angela learned that her patron, Marquis Bellechateur, was planning to launch a Coup d'état. After much consideration, she informed the Imperial Palace about Marquis Bellechateur's rebellion, but Jaina Bellechateur found her out and tries to poison Angela to silence her.
However, Angela managed to survive and gave a decisive testimony that uncovers the Marquis' evil plot. As a result, the price Marquis Bellechateur had to pay for his treason against the Imperial Family was the execution of his whole family.
Angela was credited with protecting the peace of the empire and obtained permission from the Emperor to marry the Crown Prince. Everyone in the empire welcomed the news. The beautiful and gentle "White Angel" deserved to be their Crown Princess.
***
The imperial dungeon.
Jaina was struck by a hard stale bread thrown by the jailer. Jaina screamed at the pain as though she was hit by a rock, but her vocal cords were already injured, so only a crackling sound came out of her throat.
As Jaina lifted her head, the jailer was staring at her with a gaze full of contempt. He spits on the floor of the dungeon and left.
The bread darted at the end of the cell. Jaina had no strength to get up, so she crawled and picked up the bread. The bread was hard enough to hurt her teeth when she took a bite, but still, she ate it. This was all she could eat for today.
Jaina forced herself to swallow the food. As she leaned against the stone wall, a cold and aching sensation penetrated her back. Her whole body was full of scars, and her messed-up hair was cut in an uneven trim. The once graceful noble lady was nowhere to be found.
Jaina didn't know how much time had passed. Tears shed again as she remembered the image of her father being executed for treason.
Jaina recalled her father's head protruded on the restraining lunette of the guillotine. There was nothing she could do to stop it. Jaina and the Bellechateur family committed no sin.
―How did things turn out like this?
Angela was nearly poisoned for attempting to reveal the Bellechateur's rebellion, and it was her, Jaina Bellechateur who got accused of being the culprit.
Angela literally sold off the Marquis of Bellechateur to become the Crown Princess. The first thing Angela did was to frame Jaina. Angela fell onto the floor while drinking tea with her. All of it was Angela's doing, but for this, Jaina was charged with attempted poisoning and sent to the Imperial Palace.
The Crown Prince was furious at the possibility that he could have lost his lover. No one could stop him from imposing his decision. The Crown Prince ordered Jaina to be executed, but her father opposed it.
Jaina's father tried to save her, but the words from Angela's mouth turn the situation against her.
Treason.
From the beginning, it was a trap that was aimed at Marquis Bellechateur. When the Imperial Palace made a search inside the Bellechateur Manor, evidence of treason that the Marquis did not know of was found. The charges started with her father's alleged corruption in the military rations. Disregarding the reputation of a prestigious family with a long history, the investigation and sentence were imposed on such a short time.
The family could not escape their execution in the end, and Jaina was left as the only member of the Bellechateur family, but she knew that sooner or later she would also disappear following her brother.
“Jaina?”
The quiet dungeon has become noisy after a long time.
It was Angela.
She was approaching her cell with knights in tow. When Jaina saw Angela's appearance, her dead eyes filled with deep hatred. Jaina rushed up to her with strength she didn't know she still had in her. The two fists holding the iron bars came trembling.
“Why are you showing your face?”
“Why are you threatening Her Highness, the Crown Princess?!”
Before Jaina could sense what was happening, her body rose in the air and she was thrown at the end of the cell. The knight who accompanied Angela kicked her over.
―Cough!
Jaina coughed out blood before raising her head. She saw a familiar face through the hair covering his face. It was Cassel Calmar, her former fiance, the one who kicked her just now.
“Sir Cassel, can you and the others please leave us for a while? This would be our last farewell, so I want to talk to Jaina alone.”
“We can't allow that! That sinner tried to hurt you and she was also the daughter of the traitor. It was His Highness's order that I mustn't be separated from the Crown Princess. We don't know what she would do to you.”
“Sir Cassel, please. I beg of you.”
Angela held her hands together and looked up at Cassel with doe-like eyes. Surely, Cassel couldn't go against Angela's words once she does that.
“There's only one hour left before the execution. Jaina won't be able to touch me because there are iron bars between us. We were like sisters once. If not now, I will never have a chance to talk to Jaina forever.”
Tears gathered in Angela's emerald eyes. Cassel who seldom gets embarrassed had a flushed face.
“Then it can't be helped if you say it like that, Your Highness. If that criminal shows signs of harming you, please call out to me. I will come immediately.”
“Thank you, Sir Cassel.”
The sounds of the knights' footsteps were getting smaller, and they soon faded. Only Jaina and Angela were left inside the dungeon.
“Why are you here? Do you have something to say to me?”
“Exactly. Also, I wanted to see your mess-up face up close.”
"Are you satisfied now?”
"Uh-huh. Oh, I also wanted to show you this.”
Angela placed a sparkling tiara on her head. It was made of platinum. The Crown Princess's tiara matched her silver hair quite well. It seemed that the owner had already been determined from the start.
“From the beginning, my goal was to be the best woman in the empire. And now, I finally reached my goal. What do you think? It suits me well, doesn't it?"
Angela was shamelessly smiling.
Jaina had goosebumps all over her body. It doesn't make sense because she and her father were like benefactors to Angela. But Angela didn't feel any ounce of guilt over the matter of doing these heinous things to her benefactors.
“You are shameless to the end! Have you forgotten what my father and I did for you?!”
“I haven't and I'm grateful for that.”
“Aren’t you even sorry?”
“I wouldn't have done anything like this otherwise. I never thought I was sorry because I hated you from the start. Isn't it because you felt sorry for me? What you did was like telling a beggar with lies coated in fairytale stories. I don't need your pity.”
“You called it 'pity'?”
Jaina felt ridiculous as she scoffed at her. How can all of that be expressed in the word pity?
Jaina still remembers the day she first met Angela.
The girl, who followed Jaina's father and entered the Bellechateur Manor, could not hide her anxious eyes and trembling hands. Nevertheless, Angela shined. Jaina fell in love with the lovely girl at first sight.
Jaina wanted to do everything for Angela, and she sincerely wanted this girl to be happy. That's why Jaina didn't resent Angela even when she thought she had lost her friends, was abandoned by her fiance and lost her father's love.
Even though Jaina knew that Angela was behind everything, she tried to deny it. Jaina trusted Angela because she was a family.
But there's no stopping Angela.
Due to Angela's schemes, the people started calling Jaina a villain. A cunning villain who harasses Angela while saying she's a friend. When Angela was praised for being called the "White Angel", Jaina's reputation was falling to the ends of the earth.
Jaina tried to change the situation, but it was all too late. It was because the position where Angela was standing was already elevated beyond her reach.
“… Did you have to go this far? Even if you didn't have to result to this, you would have become the Crown Princess. The only problem was your identity, so Father tried to formally adopt you into the Bellechateur Family. Didn't you know that?”
“I knew.”
Angela's face was getting closer. She smiled more beautifully than ever.
“But that's not it. I wanted you to be unhappy.”
“......”
“I wanted to ruin your life. I hated you from the start.”
The White Angel was actually a devil. At least for Jaina.
***
The jailer who came to pick Jaina up said that the execution will soon begin.
Now, her torturous days are over. At least, in the end, Jaina wanted to show a resolute figure like a noble, so she wanted to walk confidently to the execution site, but Jaina couldn't stand up much less walk because she had no strength in her legs.
“Can’t you get up quickly? I have no time to waste! Blasted wench, I will just drag you, then.”
The jailer approached her with a furious look. He did not show any kindness as he was hauling her up. Anyway, to him, she was the daughter of a traitor and a sinner who tried to poison the Crown Princess.
As he started grabbing her hair and walking fast, her bare legs swept and hit the ground, creating blood trails along the way. Jaina thought she was used to the pain now, however, it was so unbearable that she thought she was dying on the way to the execution platform.
When the jailer arrived at the execution site, he pushed her hard. Then, two knights approached her, grabbed both arms, and forcibly knelt her down.
When Jaina looked up with barely any strength, she saw the Crown Prince and Angela sitting at the top. Angela was crying while being embraced by the Crown Prince. Perhaps Jaina's the only one who knows that Angela's tears were fake.
As Jaina turned a bit to the side, she made eye contact with Cassel, who was standing behind Angela, and in his eyes, Jaina could not find any emotion other than disgust.
There was a bitter taste in her mouth. Jaina and Cassel have been together for a long time. She was hoping a little bit that he would feel sorry for her even just before her death.
“Commence the execution of the sinner, Jaina Bellechateur.”
After the Crown Prince announced in an indifferent voice, the executioner raised and secured her head onto the guillotine's lunette.
Jaina was already prepared for her death. Still, she was scared of what was coming soon. Throughout the procedure, Jaina didn't show any misconduct. Instead, she held the necklace hanging around her neck with both hands as though she was praying. She received the necklace from her father the very last time they met.
'It's all going to be fine. I'll get you out of this hell hole soon, so wait just a bit. Just in case, make sure you have this.'
My father said so, but Jaina already had known the moment she received the necklace that things would go wrong.
As Jaina opened her eyes and looked ahead, Angela was the only one smiling amongst the solemn atmosphere of the execution site.
—Angela, I condemn you. I thought it would be nice if I could quietly close my eyes and turn back time.
[Is that your wish, child?]
Jaina heard an unfamiliar voice in her head, but she thought it was just a hallucination created on the verge of dying.
[Is it your wish to turn back time?]
It is neither hallucination nor misunderstanding. Jaina raised her head and looked around, but the owner of the voice was not found. The executioner became annoyed by her sudden act, so he grabbed her head roughly and put it back on the wooden lunette.
[I am a fragment of a dragon's soul that had awakened to make your wish come true. You can only say your wish once and it cannot be broken or reversed, so think wisely.]
"Yes. That's my wish. Please turn back the time."
Jaina wistfully answered this unknown existence, thinking that it was her only last hope.
[Good. With this, I kept my promise to him.]
As soon as the guillotine blade fell, Jaina lost consciousness.
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