The Villainess Went Back in Time

The news spread like wildfire across the entire empire that the crown prince had taken a liking to, and doted on, the third princess of the neighboring empire, and I was chased away from my position as the crown princess.

“Always remember, Milady, you will be the next empress of this empire,” was what everyone told me since I was a kid. I lived my life studying to become a proper and suitable lady for the empire who would stand beside the emperor someday.

As I was walking inside the palace, everyone turned their heads with their malicious eyes boldly staring at me before murmuring something to the person beside them. Instead of worrying about the murmurs coming from their filthy mouths, I walked in the middle of the hallway with my head held high.

Everyone was wearing their most expensive dresses, coats, shoes, and jewelry. The whole place was grandiose from the marble gold floor up to the diamond-encrusted ceiling where chandeliers made from expensive stones hung elegantly.

I should have been in the east right now, together with one of my brothers, but the emperor and empress wanted me to have an audience with them. I did not know what the matter was, but the only thing that was obvious was that they feel comfortable with me around.

“She is really straight faced.”

“She looks arrogant.”

“I heard the prince refused the tea she brewed herself.”

“Shh. Keep your voices down, ladies. She is just meters away from us.”

I sighed. I could hear the people very well.

I stopped in front of the door with two palace guards guarding the entrance. They were wearing gold armor and a gold-lined cape with the empire’s crest on the back.

My Lady-in-Waiting, Pristine Gerald, who had been standing behind me stepped forward and looked directly at one of the palace guards.

“Lady Maxineirah Shinoe Alde Levyne Zachrono is here to have an audience with His Majesty,” she said before she moved back to her place behind me with her head bowed.

The guard nodded at his co-guard. They pushed the gigantic doors together causing a deep, reverberating sound to echo throughout the entire palace. The moment the speaker saw me behind the doors, he announced my arrival to the room.

“Maxineirah Shinoe Alde Levyne Zachrono of Grand Ducal House of Zachrono is now entering!”

I walked into the middle of the throne room. The soft, red carpet beneath my feet was a heavenly feeling as if I was walking on cloud nine.

I stopped when I was near the stairs of the throne and clasped my dress with my fingers. My ten ladies-in-waiting behind me did the same and bowed in front of the majesties as soon as I bowed.

“We greet the greatest Fire of the empire, His Majesty, the emperor and the greatest Water of the empire, Her Majesty, the empress. May the Gods bless you with great and long health,” my ladies-in-waiting and I chanted in unison.

“Lift your head, Lady Maxineirah,” the emperor said happily.

I glanced to the side at brother Maxilliary.

He was keeping an eye on us as part of his profession, advisor of the empire. He was looking at me coldly with bored eyes. I immediately looked away when our eyes met for a second and focused my attention to the Majesties.

“Oh my, my. I thought we already told you not to be formal with us, Lady Maxineirah,” the empress said as she chuckled.

“I do not dare do that to Your Majesties,” I said with a straight face. I could see disappointment on their faces as I spoke bluntly, which was proved by their sighs.

“I am happy to see Your Majesties in a healthy state. This humble person respects your presence,” I greeted after a long silence in the throne room.

“How is your stay in the palace, Ija?” Her Majesty asked formally.

“My stay is very comfortable, thanks to Your Majesties’ sincerest concerns.”

“We are glad to hear that. We are sorry you could not be with your brother in Prague because we called for you to be here,” the emperor said sincerely.

“I do not find anything wrong with not being with my brother. The truth is, I just want to tag along with him. I believe that calling for me right now is more important than my personal reasons.”

Come to think of it. Looks like I already know why they called me.

“Our Maxineirah, are you alright?” Her Majesty asked with a troubled expression on her face, and I could not help but be touched by the warmth I only feel when I am with them.

Just a week ago, the crown prince found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

And it was not me.

It was Princess Charminia Apastria Vanessa Adelaide Strangford, the third princess of Strangford Kingdom. The empire’s prisoner.

The woman with yellow hair and jeweled green eyes.

Jeweled eyes were known to be a part of royal families.

“…Thank you, Your Majesty but I am quite alright. You need not worry. I understand His Highness for choosing the princess. I understand that he fell for her kindness and beauty. His Highness loves her dearly.”

…The same as I loved him…

My fate was to have an unrequited love with the prince. I already gave up the position to be the crown princess because he obviously did not want me. He already found the girl he was meant to be with, the one who made his stone heart soft.

I may have already given up, but the feelings I had for him, were still here. The effect was strong. Painful. It made me weak.

He also did not want to have a queen or concubines, and clearly refused to be married to anyone other than the princess. They were still not married but he clearly announced that he would not take anyone other than her.

Even me. If I would not be the empress, then I should be the queen at the least. The role of the queen was to aid the empress in her work, but the crown prince deeply stated his refusal. He just wanted me to be the empress’ solia, which was the empress’ right-hand woman from a noble family.

“As I expected of our candidate,” Her Majesty said in a joyous tone and glanced at His Majesty.

In their eyes, I was not hurt. I was stoic, stiff, and arrogant. That was what I showed them, but deep inside, I could not breathe properly when talking about the crown prince and princess.

I love him. It might not be noticeable to everyone, but I did everything just to be loved by him. I even limited myself so that no one would think that I was chasing him. That would only lead him to be annoyed with me.

I did not know why, but just seeing me irritated the hell out of him. I could sense that his anger could burst out any moment.

I could not seem to find the reason why, but he tried avoiding me. Somehow, we always seemed to cross paths.

Seeing as how we were living in the same palace, under the same big roof, I could see why we couldn’t avoid each other. And that meant enduring the pain this caused me.

The prince’s anger towards me was hurting me even before the princess came to be a prisoner of the empire. What was some more pain if the princess he loved was here?

I got a permit to go home to our estate, so the next day, I grabbed my breakfast and left before dawn.

I rested well in the carriage. We were caught by darkness before we could even get in the Zachrono’s estate.

The place was undoubtedly bright even after the sun completely set. Was it a full moon? The breeze was cool and quiet, maybe because it was summer.

I was about to go upstairs when I stopped midway.

Brother Millian…

He was wearing a silver armor suit that looked heavy. His armor reflected the rays from the light peering through the windows and I could see clearly the sword on his waist with the emblem of their squad despite the darkness. He was holding onto his helmet on his left side.

Just like me, he was just standing above the stairs, looking below me with his sharp razor eyes. It was cold as an ice piercing through my soul.

Brother Millian was always cold to everyone even to me, his sister, but Dad and my brothers were exception to his attitude. But now, he was colder to me when the news of my engagement with the crown prince was cancelled.

Everyone in the house were disappointed in the outcome of my engagement, no one was an exception. Even I, myself was the most disappointed. All my efforts were all in vain. The knowledge I acquired, the spanking I got from my Teachers, the time I spent learning and the cold treatments I got from everyone were all for nothing.

I clenched when my chest tightened.

His eyes were scrutinizing, mocking me for being useless to this household. He did not have to say it because just the way he looked at me, I already could tell.

He started to continue descending on the stair.

“B-brother Millian…W-where are you going? It is already nighttime,” I said when he was already in front of me.

I asked even I know where he would be going. He must be annoyed.

“None of your business,” he coldly said as he walked past me.

I could not do anything but to follow him with my eyes until he vanished behind the door.

He was going on an expedition and as the Captain of Black Shadow Royal knight Squad, he needs to lead the army.

Before I could even lose his presence behind the shut doors, I clasped my hands in front of my chest, closed my eyes and prayed for his safety.

I was on my way to the castle. My vacation was not yet over but His Majesty, the emperor, and Her Majesty, the empress, granted me an audience to have a tea party in the Asiantic Garden.

The Head Maid greeted me in the hallway with her maids following her.

“Greetings Lady Maxineirah. His Majesty and Her Majesty was waiting in the garden, I will escort you there,” she greeted and curtsy together with her maids.

While on our way on the garden, the Vice Captain of the palace guards, my Brother Lein and I crossed our paths. He was with the fourth prince. We stopped and greeted them, but Brother Lein only glanced at me once without stopping on his tracks and passing us by with large strides. The fourth prince, who was with my brother, was the only one who stopped to greet us.

Irritation was visible on the face of the prince because of my brother. And he even scratched his head like he was going crazy, he glanced at me and nodded a little before following the vice-captain with larger strides to cope up with Lein.

I sighed. Brother Lein…

I felt a pang sadness in my chest, but I immediately ignored it and maintained my normal posture before continuing to the garden.

“Thank you for the audience Your Majesties. As gratitude, can I give you a gift? It is not worthy compared to what you have but I hope it will suit your tastes,” I said politely and gestured for the maid to come forward with the gift.

“You are so thoughtful and considerate Lady Maxineirah. Of course, we will accept whatever you gift us,” the empress said happily.

“In this case, we might even accept poison if it is from you,” the emperor said and laughed hardly. I felt a chill. I did not know where it came from, but I suddenly felt cold from head to toe. I almost tremble but I stopped myself.

“My emperor, do not say such things! Look, Lady Maxineirah is turning pale.”

“Pardon me, Lady. I was just joking,” the emperor said and smiled awkwardly.

The empress opened the lid where Velvet Mint Tea lies within.

Why…Why did I feel cold and trembling?

I felt like the air around me was being stolen and breathing seemed so hard. It was not like my present had poison…

I secretly let the air stocked in my throat out.

“My word! It is worthy, Lady Maxineirah! We really like this. Is this tea from Leiston Kingdom?” Her Majesty asked with a joyous tone.

“Indeed, Your Majesty.”

After the small tea party, I went back to our estate right away, but bad news greeted me.

“W-what happened to brother?” I asked the messenger. I ignored Amo, Maxwell, and Dad who already heard the news clearly. They look devastated on the news we heard once, but I could not believe it. My ears were tricking me!

“He fell on the cliff while chasing the escaped—"

“Milady!” The maids immediately came to my aid and supported my weight when I was about to fall because of my weakening knees as I heard the terrible news.

No. No. No. That was not true! I heard it wrong!

I should have stopped him that night even if he was annoyed! It was my fault. I was the last one who saw him before he left that night.

If…If I just…

I felt a hand rested on the top of my head and when I looked up, I saw the duke. It was father with a stone-cold face, but I knew better, behind those facades, I could feel his sadness and grief.

“Dad, b-brother—” Dad shook his head to imply that it was over.

“No…” I refused to accept the fact.

“I will find him,” my second brother said grimly and walked with fast pace, dragging the knights under him.

All I could do was to stare his back while he was walking away from us.

That day, I made a mistake again for not stopping him…

I was sitting at a long table inside a big hall with the members of Aristocratic Faction. I did not know why they invited me to this meeting because our family belongs to the Emperialist Faction, and I am not even the head of our family.

Maybe they invited Dad, but Dad refused and that was why they invited me? But they must invite my older brothers first…why am I here?

But the thing I really wondering was why were the princes here? The second, third and fourth prince belong to the Imperialists Faction. Were they not afraid being found out by the emperor?

We -they talked about the South granary and a big discussion happened, the group split into two different plans, resulting to argument. I was just watching them on the side, but my silence was broken when the head of the faction asked for my suggestion.

I suggested something that I did not expect them to approve that easily.

The meeting ended but it was not the last meeting I attended. I attended all the meetings until the emperor approved of the idea that he did not know was from me.

The south granary started working under the command of His Majesty.

After my short vacation ended, I immediately went back to the palace, but horrible news arrived after night.

“The Young Master was ambushed!” that was the horrible news I heard.

It became an uproar to the Ducal house of Zachrono.

I immediately went back to our estate that night to confirm the news.

The only thing that came back was his cold corpse bathed in blood. I should have stopped him. Again, I failed. I failed as a sister. I failed as a daughter of House Zachrono.

I knew that there was a chance Brother Amo would end with the same fate as Brother Millian, but I did not even bother stopping him. I should have stopped him.

I did not shed any tears when we buried my brother nor when the burial was over. My face remained stoic like what happened was just a normal thing for someone like me but deep inside, the pain was unbearable. My heart was reaping apart, it was tormenting and bleeding a lot.

I cannot breathe!

“Did you see her on his brother’s burial? She did shed no tears.”

“What a cold-hearted sister she is.”

“Her father and brothers must gravely disappointed that their mother and wife died giving birth to her.”

“She should not have lived. What a pity vessel.”

“She has no shame.”

“And now, she still has time to flirt with the prince.”

“Are you okay, my lady?” Prince Aspall, who was with me, asked worriedly after hearing the whispers around us. We were currently on an inauguration for the new Baron in the North and the second prince was my escort.

The whispers about me were too loud to be called whisper. It was like, they were talking in that way, meant for me to be heard but despite all that I remained the same, not minding the stares and whispers surrounding us.

“I apologize, I am fine. You do not have to worry, Your Highness.”

We were already dancing when a person barged in in the hall with beads of sweat in his face, trembling and catching up his breath.

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and the whole hall fell into silence, glancing at the new man.

“The emperor and empress were poisoned!” that news made an uproar.

The thumping on my chest were fast non-stop. I felt the nervous surged in in my nerves.

The banquet was stopped and everyone in the hall were dismissed.

The emperor and empress were both poisoned without eating nor drinking anything from the banquet before they left.