Chapter Five: New Life

"LYRA!" Violet yelled to get Lyra's attention.

It took about a minute before Lyra responded. "Hm."

"Are you okay? You seem out of it?" Violet asked worriedly.

"I'm okay," Lyra said.

'I will follow my own path. I will not let fate get in the way! Why should I let someone take hold of my path when I'm the one on it.' With that in mind, Lyra snapped back to reality. She looked at the tree in determination swearing to the tree that she, Lyra will not listen to fate's plan and instead, follow her own plan.

As if the tree understood her, the wind blew around her.

"Should we go look around some more?" Lyra wanted to look around the palace some more.

"Mh, let's go," Violet said happily. The three siblings walked around the Royal Palace in harmony with each other.

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It was time for Lyra's 5th birthday celebration. All the nobles started gathering into the celebration room inside the Royal Palace. Her birthday was quite grand as all the upper and lower nobles are there.

"Greetings everyone to my daughter's, Lyra Clarke's 5th birthday party. We hope that you all enjoy it." With a bow, the Duke and Lyra went down the stage.

"My, Miss Lyra is beautiful."

"Yes, indeed."

All the noble ladies were praising Lyra's beauty. Some of them were out of admiration for her beauty but some of them were also out of envy. The party was quite boring as all the nobles were just praising her to curry favors with the Duke's family, it was annoying, to say the least. "I'm going to go outside for a bit, I'll be back soon." Lyra was bored with the party already.

"Alright dear, be careful." The Duchess allowed Lyra to go outside.

As Lyra walked outside of the party, she went to the tree that the three siblings saw earlier on. "Ah, finally." Even though Lyra went through all of this in her past life, she still finds it annoying. Thankfully, she's only 5-years-old so she doesn't need to care so much about it at the moment.

Looking at the tree, Lyra noticed that it was very beautiful. The tree leaves' were white. Sitting down, she leans onto the tree and tried to sort out her thoughts. It was still unbelievable for her, having a second chance in life and having more than one past life. 'I had two past life that connects to each other. It still feels unreal. I hope I can thank that person one day, without that person, I wouldn't be here.' The person that she was talking about was the one that gave her a second chance.

"Hello."

Hearing a voice, Lyra turned to see who it was but she saw no one. Thinking that it was her mistake for mishearing something, she ignored it. "Hello, Miss Lyra." The voice said once again.

But Lyra looked around a second time and yet again, she saw no one. "Who are you?"

"Guess."

The voice was quite familiar to Lyra. Trying to remember where she heard the voice, she remembered the day where she was given a second chance.

"Correct."

'It can hear my thoughts?'

"Indeed."

Lyra looks at the tree in surprise. "Were you really the one?"

"Correct, my child."

Lyra couldn't help but be surprised once again. "Thank you for this second chance."

"You deserved it, after all, you did save me once."

"I saved you?" Lyra was confused. She doesn't remember helping anyone.

"Yes. Even though it wasn't on purpose, you still saved me and I am forever grateful."

"May I ask-"

"You should go now, the best part of the party is about to start. I shall give you your gift now."

Lyra was curious about the gift, she only felt a gust of wind before it disappeared. "Ah, yes indeed. I should go now. Thank you once again." She was still confused but the voice said that she will know soon and reminded her about the party. Knowing that they will meet again in the future and they didn't want to say anything more, she bowed then left.

"Go forward on your own path. I will look forward to your future." The voice said in a whisper. With that, the voice along with the white tree faded away. Leaving behind nothing besides a new tree representing Lyra's new life.

"Lyra, you're back!" Violet rush over to Lyra and gave her a hug.

"Aw, your sister is so cute!" The person who said this was Violet's best friend, Diem Atkinson, the daughter of the Prime Minister.

"Hehe, I told you." Violet was proud of her sister's cuteness. While the three of them were talking, someone approached them.

"Greetings, Miss Lyra, Miss Violet, and Miss Diem." The man greeted.

Looking up, Lyra saw a boy with slightly orange hair and blue eyes. This boy is the crown prince. 'The man that killed my family.' She wanted to go up to him and scream in his face but she knew that the boy in front of her is not him... yet. But she still couldn't help but look at him with deep hatred in her eyes. "Greetings, Crown Prince." All three of them said. Lyra badly wanted to hit him in the face but she resisted and looked away.

Not noticing anything wrong, the crown prince spoke once again. "Happy 5th birthday, Miss Lyra."

"Thank you." Not bothering to make any small talk, she just ate her dessert.

"Greetings crown prince. May I pull my sister Lyra aside for a bit?" Good thing Oliver came to the rescue. In her mind, Lyra gave a big thumbs up to her brother.

"Of course." The crown prince said with a smiling face. The face that Lyra loved, the face that once brightens her day now makes her sick. Just seeing him makes her sick to her stomach, but sadly, she can't do anything about it. After all, she will be seeing the crown prince often in the future at the academy. Sighing to herself, she excused herself and went with her brother.

"Are you alright, Lyra?" Oliver was concern about Lyra, she didn't seem like herself today.

"Ah, I'm fine brother. I just.. have a lot of things that I'm thinking about, hehe." Not wanting to worry her brother, Lyra tried to make it seem like nothing.

Oliver sighed. "You don't have to tell me but.. we're family, Lyra. I won't make you tell me but if you ever need someone to talk to... come to me." He was quite nervous while saying this since he doesn't express his emotions quite often.

Lyra was touched that her brother seems so worried about her, she beckons him to come down to her height.

"Thank you for worrying about me, brother. But it's a simple problem I can deal with it, after all, I'm Lyra Clarke." She then gave a hug to her brother. 'I do not want to worry you again, I will deal with this problem myself, you already did a lot for me.'