Chapter 1

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Waking Up from a Nightmare

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It was a dark and stormy night. The rain poured heavily on the Grey Duchy, and the wind fiercely banged on the windows and doors, trying to force its way into the houses. The clouds rumbled as lightning struck the ground, casting white light over the area.

The surroundings shook from the strong rumbling and thundering, causing the figure in the bed to wake from her slumber.

She rose slowly, black strands of hair falling over her face, her dark brown eyes staring into blank space. She looked around, noting the dim and empty room. Turning her head, she saw the bad weather in the middle of the night.

Shifting her body, she moved out of bed, landing quietly on the floor. She walked toward the mirror in the far corner of the room.

Everything felt strange.

This whole thing felt surreal.

Suddenly, pain surged in her neck, causing her to fall to her knees and gasp for air. Tears escaped her eyes, falling to the ground.

It felt like her neck was being sliced off with something sharp and deadly, sharp enough to decapitate her head from her body. Flashbacks flowed through her mind, causing her to grab her head as pain rushed through her brain, as if it were about to split open.

"Aaaaahhhh!!!"

She screamed in excruciating pain as she remembered clearly what happened that day.

People had gathered around her, in front of the stage where she knelt, while figures sat atop the tower.

They sat on their golden seats, staring down at her like some filthy waste to be discarded. He was right there, staring indifferently at her.

It could have been her sitting on that Golden Chair alongside the man she married. But fate had turned, giving her a destiny she wasn't meant to have.

She loved that man her whole life, but he betrayed her in the end, after all the sacrifices she made and the pain she endured.

Now, she was there, in front of all the people, about to be beheaded for crimes she did not commit. And all of this was because of her own doing.

She regretted everything she did in the past. And now she was going to pay for it all.

Crows flew above her head in a circular motion. The crowd was silent while the blade shone brightly against the sun, defining its deadly sharp edge. The man held the rope tightly with his gloves, waiting for the command.

"Any last words?"

The announcer knelt to her level, whispering those words in her ear, clearly happy at her fallen grace. People like him held no value to her, especially his words. But she couldn't accept that they both would have their happy ending while she was on death row, about to be beheaded.

She tried to fight, to resist, gathering all her strength to break the bindings, but to no avail. She sweated endlessly as her head hung down, staring at the ground.

She lost all hope of ever getting out of those chains.

There was no use resisting and fighting back now, she knew that. But she couldn't just sit still while those people happily sat on their seats.

She glared at those devils, eye to eye. But the angrier she looked, the more joy it brought them.

How frustrating, how utterly ridiculous, how pathetic.

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