Prologue

Minerva felt like her whole life, she had constantly been searching.

Waiting.

Hoping.

For what? She wasn't quite sure.

Loneliness was something anyone, even the wealthy and powerful, could feel. And from the very beginning, Minerva had never had any power. From the time that she was a child, to when she could finally break free and make her own decisions, she felt like for every choice given to her, one was meant to drive her mad, and the other was to numb her heart.

She thought it was probably her luck that was bad. When she was born in this lifetime, the gods didn't give her to loving parents. She could eat more than three meals a day, and she could live in a massive house with over ten maids. She could even go to a very expensive school because of her parents.

What she couldn't do, was feel loved.

When she was eight, she realized her father wasn't like the other kids' fathers. Other dads were affectionate and loving to their children, especially their daughters. They drove them to school, gave them gifts, took them to ice cream and congratulated them when they got a star from the teacher—even if that star was only for being the first to answer what one plus one was.

Minerva was very good at school. Every day, she went home with her arms littered with stars in various colors. She joined competitions and won dozens of medals. At the end of the year, she would often be awarded as the first in their grade.

The teachers liked her and praised her often. During general assemblies, they would call her on stage and tell the other kids to follow her example.

Even so, it was like her father never noticed at all.

Her mother left when she was just a child, so she didn't really know her. All she could remember was her beautiful face, which slowly faded from her memory as the years passed.

Minerva had thought that her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. In her young eyes, the powder she put on her face and the pencil she colored her brows with, as well as the lipstick she stained on her lips—they were magic.

They made her beyond simply beautiful.

They made her a princess.

Minerva thought she would ride her carriage and go to a ball, meet her prince and run when the midnight bell toils.

Except…she never returned at midnight.

And she never left Minerva anything but a fading dream…and a life full of lies.

So truly, Minerva had bad luck. She didn't have a mother, and her father didn't love her. Her one and only sister cared more about herself than anyone, so her whole life Minerva never experienced the joy of having a happy, loving family.

And so, this little girl was left with a gaping emptiness inside her chest—wanting, wishing, aching…for something out of reach.

And then...he came.

Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that he...appeared.

Like an angel sent from heaven, he appeared in her life and took her breath away.