IV

It's a bit hazy and stuffy. There are people around her who are surprised and nervous. She can hear noises and screeches, from her left to right. She felt weak with a heavy drop of her eyelids.

"...trina....na.....kat.....katrina?"

A worried call from her father who is looking on her. She can see his pale skin closer.

'Ah! If other people could see it, they will think that he's a really good father who adores his children.'

But then truth is, he isn't. She can still remember the past Katrina and her family, wicked and only thinks of their reputations. They want to be an ideal noble family. Above than the royal family. But then again, people only notice and acknowledge them as being 'good nobles'.

She clenched her fist as she speaks,

"Why?....why can't you love me, father?"

She thought, maybe, the past Katrina, might change if she, only felt the love she wanted to get from her parents. But she didn't.

The duke's face was distorted as he managed to hear the soft and weak voice of her daughter.

"But, father....I don't want you to die...."

***

It was the bright and strong light from the sunset which wake her in her slumber.

She felt weak and thirsty while squirming. Half part of herself wants to stand-up and call for a maid. And other half just wanted to lie down and sleep again.

It was the first that she didn't have a dream. It was a peaceful sleep she ever had before she married.

But then, she decided to rise on her bed, extending her hands to grab the bell. But before she made it, the door of her room opens and the face of Lucy; shock, worried and relief, could be seen, rushing to her.

"Miss, are you okay? Do you need something? Want me to get a water? Are you hungry?"

"Water...."

The girl, who is at 14, managed to throw her a lot of questions that made her left hand grad the temple of her head.

She wondered, where Jinnie is, that made Lucy came instead. Though Lucy works on her care, Jinnie is her favorite.

The girl pours water on a translucent glass in the side table. Immediately, handed it to her while looking intensely.

".....Should I call the duke?"

She initiated, still looking at me with an intense eyes. It looks interestingly funny that she was more concern than before.

I didn't utter any word, instead, give her back the glass which I emptied and decided to lie down again.

"Miss....you were asleep for 8 days straight. A lot of doctors came here, and..." She stops as she gets closer to me who were shocked rather than fascinated.

I waved my hand in surprise. I didn't even know that I slept for 8 days straight.

"I'm not sick, aren't I?"

"Well, they said, you're not.....and.....they died...." she answered in a whisper.

"Who died?"

But the 8 days sleep who shocked me, was replaced by the sudden word, 'died'.

"The doctors who came...."

She answered again, clear but whispered. Her eyes with no emotion, like it was usual to happen in the duke's mansion.

"....why?"

It felt like, there are thorns caught in my throat that I can't believe it happened.

"The duke is not present because of empire's affairs, so the little duke....ahemmm....he's here."

'The little duke, she said. The little duke is here. The bastard who is an exact copy of our mother, physically and also mentally, is here.'

I was dumbfounded.

I thought he would stay in Farlen, until next year. But he is here now, different from the past timeline.

Did it start to change from the moment I showed up in Solera and met the second prince?

Well, it doesn't matter.

The only conclusion she got is to not get killed, revenge and be the last standing.

"Then, if father is not here, why did you ask me if I want him here now?"

I ask again. The reason why I like Jinnie than Lucy is that, Jinnie is a little bit compassionate and is truly loyal only to me. While Lucy got no emotion.

'I don't know how these kids ends up working here in the Avariche dukedom.'

"He said to notify him the moment you wake up. But I wanted to ask you first. You're my lady afterall." She answered politely and smiled innocently.

'Creepy! As if you wouldn't notify them even if I said no.'

I murmured in myself as I looked outside the window. It is starting to dim and the color of the sky looks bloodier than usual.

"Prepare me a light dinner. No grease at all."

"Yes, Miss."

The girl bowed and walked through the door.

Silence again. This house feels more creepier than usual. The past Katrina until got married, didn't and won't even think about the wickedness her family had. She was raised and blinded by those pretentious eyes.

"The dukedom might vanished for the reason. But it was too hasty for the Emperor at that time to do that. Until the end the Avariche was still covered by their pretentious image that people won't trust the royal family."

She was deep in thought, thinking hard how the family goes in ruins. The duke was a master in politics and the little duke was a little angel for the poors and was hailed by the rich.

"So.....why?"

Dying in the hand of the emperor, might have a complete reason if its about Katrina, the Empress in my past timeline, she was branded as an evil woman who killed the Emperor's concubines because of jealousy.

She breathed deeply as she closed her eyes. There, flashes of blood and screams in the hallway was seen. A silhouette of a man was there. Standing in the garden, outside the Empress Palace. Blood scattered on his face....

She gasped for an air. It was a shocking image if someone will ask her. She can't even think of who it is, as she was so scared and relentless.

And at the time she hoped for a salvation, the door of her room creaked open. The golden hair of a handsome man that he saw 4 years ago, slipped though the gap of the door and the wall.