A VIVID DREAM

Felicia woke up, her eyes scanned the whole surrounding of the place. It seems that she has found herself in a room, where there were no flashing lights but rather a cell that kept her confined within the close space. 

It smelled disgusting, with something rotten and dried blood. Her nose became sensitive yet she couldn't feel any of her limbs attached to herself. She was groaning, trying to move yet with nothing to support her, she was feeling nothing. 

She couldn't speak, she could taste blood in her mouth and felt that her tongue wasn't attached to it, making her cry. She could feel the pain eating her every system that it felt like she might die in this damn pain. 

She screamed yet she couldn't. There wasn't an ounce of voice that tried to escape from her mouth, suppressed and cut by the pain she felt in her mouth. 

Everything was becoming numb, throbbing ever so painfully that she couldn't understand knowing that this was only a dream but she sure did feel the pain, making her succumb to this unbearable torture. 

Soon enough, she could hear the cells being opened, followed by a heavy stomp, walking towards her direction. She tried to see the person, using her eyes that suddenly went blind all of a sudden, making her unable to see the man in front of her. 

"Dearest sister..." Someone commented and immediately from the voice itself, she knew that it was Helena. No one else but her. 

Her eyes scowled at the woman, not a man but the nightmarish woman who made her life a living hell. The reason as to why she has never been treated like a human being in the first place. 

"Have you gotten used to your new environment?" She asked where Felicia could hear her as her dress slumped, meaning that she seemed to have lowered herself to make themselves the same height. 

"Oh... I forgot... You have no eyes as well. How could you even see how beautiful your surroundings are?" A wretched laugh came out of her mouth, laughing at Felicia she poor state, disregarding the fact that her sister has had nothing left to herself. 

"Ah... What a shame... You could not see how my life has turned beautiful... The Crown Prince and everyone loves and adores me, treating me like their Goddess. It feels so great to become a Queen..." She exclaimed, telling her how great her life had been. 

"But I wouldn't have been able to do it if not for you." She suddenly mumbled which made Felicia frown upon hearing it. What the hell? What does that even mean? Is it because she let her play with her and paint her as a villain?

"Without your Saintess ability, I wouldn't be able to become a great Saint candidate... To steal your ability from you, it was so simple... So simple that I just have to trigger your emotions and used an ancient spell to suck your prowess..." She giggled so sweetly. 

Felicia felt her fingers crawling into her skin, soon gripped her chin and pulled her closer to her, making her let out a voiceless yelp from the pain. She couldn't even suppress it anymore.

"Thanks to you and my charm, I wouldn't be able to live my life to the fullest." She let out an evil smirk, whispering what she had done to Felicia, using her and stealing her abilities to gain them and use them for her own benefit. 

"The Empire... The Church... The People... Even your real family has learned to love me. Your Fiancé—oops!" She giggled once more, a mocking expression flashed in her expression with her maliciousness visible in her own eyes.

"My husband loves me more than how he loves the Empire. He practically bows his head and worships me like I'm his one and only saviour in this world. Gosh, sister. Such a good lover for me." She told Felicia.

"He even went as far as offering me solely as the Emperor of the country, allowing me to have concubines from every place. How beautiful! Sister, I am truly blessed to have such a kind sister like you. Thank you for your hard work." She added, letting another maniacally laugh that echoed in the cell, like a thunderous clap.

Her laughing irks Felicia's ear, wanting to stop it already as it drives her wild and crazy to the point that she might even die just because of her voice and not because of her situation right now. 

The laughter soon ended, and silence had taken in between the two of them. Felicia was still limping, feeling like she was about to pass out from this sickening situation. 

This was the most bizarre dream she had ever experienced. Where she only has her torso and no limbs attached to her. How brutal the situation is for her right now, to think that they would cross this line, just to wreck her even more. 

No wonder Felicia feels there should be no forgiveness being given to everyone who had caused these terrible things to her. 

"Unfortunately, sister... I find you very... Useless right now.' with a throw of her hand, Felicia's face turned sideways, falling into the cold ground where she could smell the dried blood the most, very pungent in her nose.

Felicia frowned, wondering why the room went silent when all of a sudden, she could feel a sharp blade being placed on the skin of her neck, before it plunged right into the skin, separating her torso and her head. 

Blood occupied the surroundings, where her eyes flickered upon her death, only seeing Helena's shoes as she held the sword in her hand, covered in her blood. 

"May you have a nice stay in Hell, sister." Helena greeted as she knelt on the floor, brushed her hair away from her face and smirked at her in such evilness corrupting her whole face, happily watching Felicia die on the spot. 

That dream haunts her, it felt surreal that as soon as it ended, she woke up, gasping and filled with sweats covering her entire body. She unconsciously reached out for her neck, gasping exasperatingly while feeling whether her neck was attached or not. 

She was horrified, scared, and mad. Her emotions were out of place and her eyes let out tears, not because she was sad but because she didn't know what to feel. Such a vivid dream displays a future in which her ending would be like that. Or it could be her ending already. 

It was terrifying, everything felt so true that she could still feel the pain lingering in her body even though she had already woken up from that helpless situation. 

She was shivering in fear, cold sweats dropped from her forehead and rushed throughout her body. She was very awake, afraid that if she were to sleep once more then she'll end up dreaming bad about it once again. 

She scanned the whole room as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, sighing as she wasn't in some kind of a place, but rather her own safety nest. Yet despite being wide awake from the dream, her heart was still pounding, worked up like a horse as it kept on beating ever so fast. 

She was cold yet wasn't feeling feverish. It must be because the fear that she felt, still remained inside of her and causing havoc to her imaginative mind. 

How cruel the dream was to her, creating another fear of what was going to happen in the future, leaving her present and her actions questionable.

—

"I'm sorry, Duke... The Duchess has passed away." The news being delivered has caused quite a rampant shock expression from the people inside the manor. A person from the Holy Church has delivered a coffin, followed by priests and flowers trailing from behind. 

Everyone gasped, unexpected that the Madame had died during her stay. It was quite suspicious given the fact that it was only a month and yet she returned home, dead and couldn't even be recognised due to how much her body changed. 

"What caused her to die?" Everyone had questions relating to her death. But what caused the Duchess to die this early?

"She... She refused to eat and touch the foods we served her. She kept on telling us that she wanted to go back, but the Duke had ordered us to keep her with us within a month. We obeyed the Lord, and kept her for a month..." The priest answered. 

"But things didn't end well for us. Despite the services we provided for the Madame... She was not responding to us, ignoring us and even losing her temper against us. I apologize for not being able to help the Duchess —"

"No... I apologize for putting you in that situation. I should have been the one to handle my wife and yet I passed my responsibility to you and the Church. I am deeply ashamed, Priest Callahan..." The Duke apologized. 

Yet his apology was cold as an iceberg, a tundra where the snow never ends. He doesn't look like he was sincere in giving his apology or even sincere in showing how deeply troubled and sad he is about the death of his wife. 

"No... It's our fault too... Please, the Pope offered the services for free. Once again, I truly apologize." The Priest replied, sympathizing with the Duke's family for losing another family member. 

"Good morning, Father—Priest Callahan? What are you doing here?" A soft-spoken voice suddenly interrupted everyone, making them look at the person above the stairs while looking at them with curiosity in their eyes. 

It was Helena.