SEASON 1: SIDE STORY 1 THE SAINTESS OF BEGINNING

In a kingdom where slaves and war frequently happen in a year or so. In a Kingdom, where it is always defeated by its enemy but never has it once thought to give up. There is also a Kingdom, filled with luxurious objects — adorned with millions of diamonds and gold. They're the Kingdom that's intelligent and will always win the war — they are the Kingdom that doesn't want to fail, who never wants to lose.

That is where a beautiful baby girl named Rafaela whose hair color same as the brightest star and her eyes have the night-sky. She's considered unique and beautiful because of her fair white skin, blonde hair, and night-sky-like eyes originally born in the Kingdom where victory is always with them — The Olympia Empire.

However, no one knows where Rafaela's parents went. The women in the orphanage heard Rafaela's cries one night in front of their door only laying in a basket with no letter or memoir for her to keep. The women in the said orphanage believed that Rafaela is a daughter of an aristocrat and because she was a bastard, her parents gave her to the orphanage.

At that time, this is the most favorable choice rather than killing your own child if ever it is recognized as a bastard. Aristocrats in Olympia are very prideful after all and they wouldn't want someone to dirt on their own image or reputation. Even so, Rafaela grew up so brightly at the orphanage. She's a bright child — always giving pranks to the women in the Orphanage, the one who takes care of her. Even she would always prank her friends inside the Orphanage. Rafaela has no clue where her parents are, but she despises them.

"If they do really love their own child, they wouldn't hurt me like this." She thought to herself one night as she looks into the sky. She slowly starts to raise her hands as if she's reaching out to the sky on that cold night of September when she became 15 years old — her birthday.

"Why do the gods loath me?" She asks, thinking that the gods must've hated her for what she's done in her past life. To her, her current life is sadder than the others. Not until one night, it is also her birthday she turned 18 years old. To celebrate her birthday, she went to the woods and performed her own dance like a ritual given to the Moon, dancing under the pale moonlight.

As she comes back to the orphanage, she saw her beloved Orphanage being burned down. She ran towards the women who took care of her but unfortunately, the Guards of Olympia Palace captured her alongside them. The Guards made her kneel and so she knelt down looking at them with angry faces as tears keep streaming down to her eyes watching how the orphanage burned down and the women getting killed in front of her one by one.

No one interrogated them, they were all just killed. As if the guards got bored and decided to burn the whole building for fun. It was cruel.

When it was her turn, the guards looked at her with perverted eyes. The guards start to rip off her clothes to rape her, but then, someone shouted from behind and it made the guards flinch in fear.

"ENOUGH!" The young man wearing a general outfit and his purple eyes stared coldly at the guards and ordered them to watch the others. Fortunately, the guards flew away. The young man approached her and gave her his coat, covering her almost naked body, and left. Rafaela was left dumbfounded by his actions since she knows that the young man was the leader of the guards yet he helped her.

After what happened, the guards decided to sell her to the black market. And that's how she entered The Kingdom of Rahania — who's known to have the widest black market in all the Imperial Countries. She was sold to a man who looks a perverted old man, bald and too chubby — an ugly man.

Rafaela was brought to the Circus Troupe where the man who bought her works. He was the manager and the CEO of its business too. The women in the dancing troupe taught her and Rafaela learned easily because she has a talent of dancing. Although her dance is seductive, she has no other choice.

The manager of the Circus Troupe and Rafaela has a deal. If Rafaela can make money from dancing, then she can safely leave and live her life according to her wishes but only if she can make money. Making money in the Circus is hard in Rahania because of the war going on. However, the manager was surprised and amazed to see her dancing on the stage and both men and women getting mesmerized by her beauty. In those days of working with the old perverted man, she was treated kindly. She thought at first that the old man was just taking advantage of her but that wasn't the case. The old man looks at Rafaela like his daughter who was killed by the Olympian Royal Family.

The Circus which was once on the brink of bankruptcy now became one of the famous entertainments in Rahania, and soldiers of Rahania would often go to where Rafaela worked just to see her beauty. Dancing is her passion, but dancing like this isn't for her. Making money is still hard so she decided to steal some money from a drunk man every time someone pays a night for her. She uses sleeping drugs or hallucinations so no one will know that she is stealing money.

One night, as usual, Rafaela dances on the floor to entertain the guests. The night is cold yet the place is crowded with men and women wanting to see Rafaela. As she gracefully moves her body to dance with her seductive eyes, she caught a glimpse of a familiar young man whose eyes were fixated on hers and Rafaela's as well.

The song ended and Rafaela's eyes couldn't get off those familiar purple eyes she once saw in the orphanage. Rafaela wanted to talk to him but her manager suddenly called her so she has no other choice but to walk away, leaving the familiar young man alone watching her as she walks away from him.

*******

Caeden III Zues. He's the son of Duke Caeden II Zues and was said that Duke Zues never liked Caeden ever since he was born. There are even rumors circling that Caeden is not Duke Zues's son, nevertheless, Caeden wanting to have the approval of his parents never cared for those trivial rumors and emotions. He achieves higher than anyone else and everyone praises him, except his father.

Duke Zues never appreciated his son even though he knows that whoever he is, Caeden is still his child — be it illegitimate or not.

"Haven't I given enough, father?" Caeden once said confronting his father one day.

"What do you mean, 'enough'? Ha! I never raised you to be like this, Caeden. You are Zues! We have connections with the God of War and I want you to live up to his expectations! I want you to be strong!" Duke Zues spoke and it made Caeden break his heart hearing this.

"I never told you to make such an effort. I just want you to live up to our reputation so you wouldn't embarrass our family." He continues and Caeden snapped.

Trembling, Caeden spoke up finally defending himself.

"I never wanted this. I never wanted to be Zues, father. I have no such interest in these trivial matters like reputation! All I want is for you to recognize me, father. That's what I truly want that is why I always give my effort for you to recognize me. But I guess I was wrong on my part on this. I should've listened to myself that you will never recognize me or my efforts as your son whatever I do." Caeden walked away after what he said from his father's office and cried in the corner of his room.

Because of the much pressure and the pain he bears from what his father did make Caeden run away from his home far away from them. He didn't realize he arrived at Rahania until he saw the flag waving at the top of the gate. Rahania is his family's enemy since Olympia and Rahania are enemies too. The Zues Family is one of the military families who protects the wall of the Olympia Empire. But he guesses that no one might recognize him and so he went inside to look around until he arrived at a circus. There he met a familiar young lady as their eyes met. Caeden remembered the young lady he rescued years ago from the guards who tried to rape her.

Caeden wants to talk to her somehow but she was dragged by an ugly fat man from behind so he has no other choice but to walk away too. Days went by, and Caeden is still at Rahania. He arrived at the desserts of Rahania and as if luck isn't on his side, he ran out of water from his water jug. Afternoon came and Caeden got thirsty, but he has no water anymore so he endured until he couldn't do it anymore and tried to find a source of water.

His face starts to sweat from the heat as he pants. He doesn't know why he went to the dessert, I guess he thought the dessert in Rahania is food. Luckily, he saw a carriage passing by and he passed out.

On the other side, Rafaela helped the man and put him into her barracks in the circus. Rafaela took care of Caeden for days until he got better. They quickly became close even though Rafaela knows that Caeden is Duke Zues's son because she snatched away his purse when he was resting in her barracks.

As they became close, Caeden got feelings for Rafaela and it is the same for Rafaela too. They entered a relationship of more than friends and love each other.

"I will always love you, Caeden," Rafaela whispered to his ears one night while embracing Caeden in her arms. Caeden smiled as if he was blushing and answered, "You will always be my forever, my love."

Years went by and Rafaela quit being a dancer and Caeden had no interest in going back to Olympia. They decided to live together when Caeden found out Rafaela is pregnant with their child. But happiness doesn't last long when the members of Olympia Priests visited Rahania in search of Rafaela the missing Saintess of Beginning. Caeden and Rafaela tried to run away from them but they got caught in the end. Rafaela had no other choice but to serve the people of Olympia as a Saintess even though she was receiving backlash for being a dancer of Rahania.

But she didn't let the rumors got into her and let all the rumors circulate, even their hatred towards her. To Rafaela, the only person she cares about is Caeden. As long as Caeden loves her — that is enough.

Caeden's parents found out that he was hiding in Rahania long ago but they didn't try to even find him. They didn't care about Caeden and neither did he. Caeden waited in their home in the countryside of Olympia Empire for Rafaela every night. Rafaela's reign as a Saintess didn't last long when The High Priest found out she was pregnant.

The High Priest wasn't against it however, it was a sin for a Saintess to be pregnant because this considers impure. Rafaela didn't care but The High Priest is worried about her health, after all, a mother's health is very important to her unborn child and so they devise a plan to make Rafaela's reign end peacefully and it is a success.

After Rafaela got banished from The Church, both Caeden and Rafaela moved away from Rahania and Olympia and lived in the countryside of Ishtar. When her womb become big, something entered her mind as if it was a warning. A warning or a threat that a Saintess must not be pregnant and live a life virgin eternally.

Rafaela was stunned because The High Priest didn't let her know. Or maybe, The High Priest knows it and he was protecting Rafaela from the sin of being a Saintess while pregnant. The same night he saw the vision when she opened her eyes, she saw Caeden smiling with pure happiness as if he was getting excited to see his child.

Rafaela cried alone when Caeden is not there. She suffered alone when Caeden is not beside her because she doesn't want to let Caeden know about what happened. She doesn't want to choose whether to live beside Caeden or to die yet this child will live with him for the rest of his life.

Rafaela couldn't choose and she struggled until the day she gave birth. The sin she made activated as if it was a curse and Rafaela died at the same time their child is born.

"Rafaela...?" Caeden whispered and his body starts to tremble. He put the baby beside Rafaela and pat her, waking her up. But she didn't wake up.

Caeden didn't stop shaking her body until he felt her body's temperature get low. His tears streamed down from his face — crying from the death of Rafaela, the only girl he truly loved.

Even though Rafaela died, Caeden still tried to treat his daughter right but only for a minute until his daughter got kidnapped. Caeden returned to The Zues Family for revenge and made a deal with the Hildegarde Lady named Laura. They got married and had children — Hethan and Lewis. After the plan goes smoothly, he killed his family and became Duke Zues we currently know in the present. However, behind the curtains of a powerful figure, Caeden never stopped searching for his lost daughter until he got nightmares from the stress of searching for her.

Until Caeden met Tina and adopted her as his legitimate daughter.