Mirror of the Past: The Villainess' True End

PROLOGUE: The Villainess' Downfall

"The Crown Prince is here. Please come out of your cell, Lady Karina." The knight on duty politely called after he opened the door of the cell that they put me in after getting accused of poisoning that person and conspiring in a treasonous plot.

Though he called me out a few times, I remained sitting on the cold, hard ground, unwilling to give in from his repeated pleas.

I heard the clacks of his shoes as soon as he entered my cell, but I kept my head down, staring blankly at my cuffed hands, still smeared with the blood of my beloved people.

I closed my eyes, attempting to push the horrible memory of how he killed my people—who were just trying to protect me—from my mind.

Until he spoke, I had my hand clenched in fist, hiding my trembling hands, remembering his cruelty.

"Karina." He used the same cold and authoritative tone when he called my name.

He never once called me using my family name, and for that reason, I submit myself to him, always heeding his call. But I am not the same Karina who does everything he wants to please him.

He knelt and raised my chin so our gaze would meet. "You better start talking or you will die tomorrow with your father. Make up excuses to save your life or just tell me the name of the nobles who planned treason together with your family. If you do that, I'll spare your life for trying to harm Lady Arabella's life."

When I heard the name of the woman who organized everything with my cousin, who wanted everything that belonged to the head family, I wanted to laugh at his foolishness. He asked these questions in a way that just made it clear to me—he won't trust my words.

To Achilles Dimitri Aelius, the magnificent crown prince of the Aelius Empire, I am nothing but a mere pawn. To him, I was someone who attempted to murder his beloved Arabella—the only person he loved and his faction desired to occupy the empress' seat.

I turned away and spoke my last words, "I have nothing to say anymore, your highness. Please leave."

My response caused his face to darken, but I no longer give a damn to what he will do to me. This man won't trust my words even if I knew who is responsible for the assassination of his father. Just like me, love blinded him from seeing the wickedness of the lady who attempted to dethrone me as the crown princess. I suppose it's true that first loves are hard to replace.

"Suit yourself then." He took his hands off of me and stood up from kneeling on the ground. "I can do it without your help anyway. I just gave you one last chance but you threw it away. Don't regret your choice."

As soon as he turned to leave, I exhaled deeply. He's not rushing, giving me more time to change my mind to speak the truth, but I am done believing him. I am done being used by him.

I may have loved him half of my life but it doesn't mean that my love is limitless. The moment he pointed his sword at my neck moments after Arabella vomited blood after sipping the same tea that I personally served, and just in time his troops informed him of the king's assassination, I finally realized that his negative opinion about me remained the same. Though he showered me with affection for the few months that we were together, he never trusted me. I tried to explain that it wasn't poisoned because I drink the same thing, but he already believed that I tried to kill the only lady he had ever loved.

"Why didn't you explain yourself, My Lady?" Mizark, my personal knight asked in a weak tone when Achilles eventually disappeared from my view.

Even if I can't see him in the cell next to mine, I know that he was badly wounded from trying to save me from the royal knights when they took me to prison. He won't be put into the guillotine like me and my father, but his knighthood would be revoked.