Forgiveness || wmmap fanfic

2 Precious

This was it. It was the day.The day Jeanette had been looking forward to, the day of the debutante ball. The most important day in the life of a young noblewoman.

Lucas watched her in her room, thinking about her outfit for the big ball. But he also knew that this day was special for her because she would see her family again. Not only her so-called father and the daughter of the dancer she calls her sister, but also Archduke Anastacius, her other uncle. He had told her about him, they kept in touch without Claude knowing. Anastacius was happy to know that Penelope's baby was doing well even if he was also sad to learn that she had died in childbirth. Yes, it was Lucas who had taken Penelope away, even though it was only his second plan, the first was to kill Claude and Diana, but Penelope had begged him not to do it.

Several times Anastacius had thought of coming to Alpheus Manor to visit his niece but Claude would have thought it would be suspicious so instead he exchanged letters with Lucas and sometimes sent gifts for Jeanette. When he recalls all the letters he received, one of them makes him particularly angry. The one where Anastacius wrote him that Diana was still in the palace and that Claude was starting to treat Athanasia like a real princess, giving her absolutely everything she wanted.

Athanasia. A name too pretentious to be borne by a bastard girl. How could Claude allow Diana, a slave from a foreign country, to give her daughter such a name. A prestigious name made only for the heirs of the throne! Wait a minute...did that mean Claude recognized this girl as his heiress ? Has he moved on so quickly? Is he even aware that he is insulting Penelope's memory by doing this? It would not be long before he married Diana and made her empress.

To say he was furious was an understatement. Hadn't this man learned his lesson? Lucas was beginning to believe that Claude really did want to die.

If Claude, Diana or Athanasia made even one false move toward Jeannette, he wasn't going to hold back. Penelope was the only one who could contain him. Now that she was dead, no one could stop him.

It was already the night of the debutante ball. Athanasia was with her mother and her father who was her escort. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress that made her look like a flower. It is exactly the same dress as in her former life. Besides she is not sure how exactly she died. All she remembers is that she was about to become empress, her father was about to put the crown on her head when suddenly everything went black and when she woke up she was a baby again. Everything was as it was in her past life. But there were things that changed, her mother was alive, she never got to meet Lucas in the forest like the last time, Anastacius was the archduke and his fight with her father never happened.  There were other strange things too. Her father seemed distant with her, he was not like in his other life. Sometimes he looked at her as if she were a stranger. Her mother reassured her that it was nothing.

But there were times when her father wanted to be alone, not to see Diana or her, and he had a sad look on his face, it seemed like he was in another world. Why was he sad? The woman he loved was with him and she was there too. One day she asked Felix why his father was like that. His answer was very intriguing.

"His majesty has lost something that was very precious to him and it hurts his heart not to be able to find it."

What could her father have lost that was so precious?

Did you see the plot coming? Athanasia is dead at the time of the manhwa where she becomes empress but how? What happened at that moment? Any theories on how she died and who could have done it?
I look forward to your comments and votes!