12 parts Ongoing MatureArmine stood before the tall, tarnished mirror, her reflection cold and mocking. The ornate frame, once gold, had dulled over time, its roses twisted like thorns. The room around her, grand with silken curtains and gold-trimmed furniture, felt suffocating. The air was thick, heavy with regret. She stared into the glass, not seeing a princess, but a shadow of herself-broken and lost.
"Will there ever be a day," she whispered, her voice trembling, "when I stop hearing you laugh at me? When I stop hearing that I was never meant for the crown?"
The reflection seemed to smirk, its cruel laughter echoing in the silence. "You were never meant to wear the crown. Thorns are meant for you, to choke you. You will never be his."
The words hit like daggers. She wanted to look away, but the mirror held her in its grip. She felt suffocated by her own thoughts, by the weight of the crown she never wore, the love she never had.
"Madam..." Alicia's voice broke through the silence. "You are so much more than this. Your worth is not in a crown or his love."
Armine shook her head, her hollow smile barely visible. "He will come back, Alicia. But not to save me. He will come back to remind me of the game I've lost. I am nothing but a fool in this cruel story."
She turned away from the mirror, but the laughter followed her, filling her ears. "Life isn't beautiful for everyone," she whispered. "It's for those whose fates are touched by angels. Mine... was touched by the dead."
Alicia reached out, but Armine stepped back. The mirror's cruel truth echoed in her mind-she was never meant to be the princess, never meant to be his.
