HENRIETTA: PRAELUDIUM [TO BE EDITED]

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 23

[ DISCLAIMER : PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A FEW SHOCKING SCENES AND UNCOMFORTABLE EVENTS USED TO EXPRESS THE CHARACTERS' HARDSHIPS THAT MAY BE UNCOMFORTABLE TO THE READER. READER'S DISCRETION IS ADVISED. ]


[ FIVE YEARS AGO. IMPERIAL PALACE. ]


"Go! Move quickly! We have to transfer everything to the new room," the Chamberlain ordered.

There were a few male and female servants scattered around the hall at the third floor of the main palace. They were currently redecorating the new room of the princess. The empress herself chose the decorations and palette that will be used for the princess' new room.

"My dear. Are you enjoying the tea?" Empress Avery asked her daughter, Princess Henrietta Amethyst.

The princess paused for a second then she glanced at her mother. A small smile ghosted on her lips before she continued drinking her tea. It was a kind of tea different from the normal ones that are usually served for the imperial family. The tea smelled like strawberries, but it somehow tasted like camomile. Either way, the princess silently enjoyed her tea.

No matter how it tasted doesn't matter, what's important is the soothing effect that it's giving to her small, fragile body.

The empress fell silent as well as she watches her. Truthfully, she had been teaching her little daughter different ways on how to endure any types of pain. That is to prepare her for this day.

Three months after the death of the first princess, Princess Henrietta, the emperor and the empress summoned the great master of Arcana, Grand Sorcerer Seymour. He was the best of the best in the field of magic and divinity since he was a descendant of the first Grand Sorcerer, Solaris.

"Why did the ruler summon me?" Like his great ancestors, Seymour was also an arrogant Sorcerer who doesn't bow down or pay respects to any normal human, may it be from the imperial family, a royalty or a nobility. The Grand Sorcerers lineage would only lower their heads to those who have been blessed by the Goddess Amaranthine herself, like the first empress, Empress Clara.

Emperor Augustus gritted his teeth at the Sorcerer's rudeness, but he tried to hide his displeasure by getting straight to the point. He informed him about Princess Henrietta's death first before asking for a way to save her.

"Reviving someone from the dead is part of necromancy magic, and we, the protector of this empire, are not allowed to wield that kind of magic. However, we will be able to preserve the essence from the dead princess' body and transfer it to a new host." Seymour glanced at the empress, he scoffed inwardly when he noticed the empress silently smiling behind he emperor.

"Bring the other child here!" The emperor's thunderous voice filled the room.

And Seymour couldn't be more amused as he watches the empress acting in front of the emperor. If he wasn't aware of anything then he might've believed that the empress's worried for her second child by now.

Honestly speaking, the Goddess Amaranthine showed a vision to him. If the current empress, Empress Avery, gives birth to the Emperor's child with his blood directly flowing on their veins, a calamity will breakout. The empress was destined to give birth to a pair of twins. To a pair of twins that will destroy the Empire of Amaranthine.

He wasn't ordered to change the future, but his cooperation was needed to trick everyone and to prevent the empire from collapsing.

Seymour cooperated, believing the vision that the Goddess had shown him and tricked the emperor by conducting a paternal test after the twins were born. A paternal test was a magical test to determine who the father of the new-born child is. You will only need a tiny amount of blood from the newly born baby and the blood of the baby's father. They will be combined in the cup of truth. If the blood mixes together, then it proves that the child's father is none other than the mother's husband. But if the blood rejects one another and doesn't even combine together, then it means that the child isn't his.

He did the same test during that time, but he used a different cup, one that resembles the cup of truth. Then with his power, he discreetly manipulated the test, making it seem like the emperor fathered the first child, and the second child was born from infidelity.

"G-Greetings to the E-Emperor and the Empress..." A small child with white hair and light purple eyes entered the sitting room.

She was wearing a plain pink dress. Her small hands were gripping nervously on her skirt while she looks down. If he was oblivious of the situation, he'd think that the first princess had come back from the dead. They resemble each other so much that it's confusing.

"What else do we need?" And this was the emperor speaking as if he'd gone insane after losing a daughter that's not even his. Seymour shook his head and informed them to prepare an empty room with two empty beds.

The next day, only the trusted servants who were aware of the real situation in the main palace and the ones who knew about the twins were present. The small child that looked exactly like the first princess, Princess Amethyst, was dressed in a plain white dress.

She looked scared as two imperial guards dragged her inside the empty room. She was forced to lie down on one of the beds while the dead body of the first princess was lying down on the other bed beside her.

Alas, the Grand Sorcerer arrived. He asked for everyone to withdraw from the room and to wait outside. For the last time, he informed them of the ritual.

"Once the transfusion ritual is done, Princess Amethyst will experience a few side effects. She will lose her memory about her childhood, and she will experience personality shiftings. It means that her body will change into different personalities until the body finds a very compatible personality. That chosen personality is called a 'soul fragment'. She will be indifferent until the awakening happens."

The emperor nodded his head firmly, while the empress clasped her hands together. They stood side-by-side, but the distance between them was enough to distinguish the real relationship between the two. No one dared to ask anymore questions. The empress wasn't at ease, but she was sure enough that the Goddess won't betray her and will let her only and real daughter, Princess Amethyst, live.

Seymour closed the door of the room, and the transfusion began.

He had cut his palm with a dagger he prepared then he stood in the upper middle of the two beds. He had glanced at the frightened Amethyst before he started the ritual.

A couple of drops of his blood kissed the cold floor, and a red light flared around it. A circle for the ritual appeared on his foot as he started reciting the incantation.

Amethyst's small eyes widened in fear as she watches the Seymour. Then her gaze shifted to the other side of the bed. And she couldn't be more frightened when she witnesse with her own two eyes how the fragments of her sister were being separated from her mortal body.

There were dark purple shards of light floating above her. And when Seymour increased his voice, the dark purple shards of light dove inside of her small body. Amethyst cried as she struggled on the bed. Both her arms and legs were shackled that she won't be able to fall or move away to avoid the purple shards.

Tears were starting to fall on her cheeks as a loud shriek of terror escaped her lips as she felt the shards forcing their way inside of her. Her fingers dug against her palms while her legs did everything they can to tug on the chains on her feet. Amethyst felt like her insides were being burned and pierced in different angles. Her chest felt heavy, as if something was squeezing her heart. She felt suffocated. And it was painful.

The pain for a small child like her was too much and unbearable, and surprisingly, she managed to endure it and stay awake. The ritual lasted for three hours, and Seymour ended it as soon as the shards of the first princess' fragments completely settled inside Amethyst's small body.

Amethyst whimpered softly as she squirmed weakly. There were no strengths left for her that she slowly allowed the darkness eats her sanity away, not knowing that it will be her last day seeing the light as the second princess.

Seymour's wound has healed as soon as the ritual finished. He was also panting heavily, his complexion looked paler than his normal skin color. There was a throbbing pain on his head, but he tried to ignore it. Instead, he moved slowly towards Amethyst, silently observing her.

He lowered his head a little, as if he was checking if the little girl received any bruises or markings from the ritual. But he saw none, except for her pale complexion, mirroring his.

He honestly felt pity for the young child for having such extreme fate. So, he wanted to give her a little pat, only to console her after enduring such pain from the ritual. But as soon as their skin made contact, as soon as his hand touched her head, a vision flashed right before his eyes.

There were destruction and war. The whole place was burning while the people cry for mercy. Blood were splattered anywhere and there countless of lifeless body piling on the ground.

And above them all, was a powerful human. She was floating in the air as purple shards of light surrounded her.

Seymour fell on the ground as he realizes what the real future was.

And it will all start once this child gains her consciousness. Even so, Seymour couldn't let that happen. Not when he can do something about it.

He quickly pulled himself up. He opened the book of rituals and searched for another spell, a spell to bind Amethyst's current soul to the past, and to awaken her inner self instead.

He won't be able to stop the future from happening, but he can change the one who was bound to cause destruction. And with that, the second princess fell into a deep a slumber.

She was awake and alive, but her body looked lifeless. All she could feel was nothing but constant pain. That was the start of how her past life got entangled with her present and future.