I opened my eyes slowly… painfully slowly, as if my eyelids were heavy walls refusing to lift. The light was dim, tinged with yellow, seeping through narrow cracks in a strange stone ceiling. Everything around me was blurred—faded lines and shifting shadows I couldn't make sense of.
I wasn't fully conscious. It felt like waking from a long, dark dream, but my body screamed in agony. As if I'd been dragged across rough ground or beaten over and over until I could no longer feel anything clearly. My bones felt unbearably heavy, and something deep inside me cried out in pain.
Then suddenly, something cold and rough brushed against my lips… like damp cloth or some kind of restraint pressing tightly over my mouth. I tried to move my legs, but they wouldn't respond. Instead, the harsh clink of metal confirmed the truth—iron shackles bound my ankles, weighing down every movement. I struggled more, only to realize my hands were tied behind my back, chains digging into my wrists until it felt like my blood could no longer flow.
I was helpless… completely helpless. Like a bird trapped in a suffocating cage.
I shut my eyes for a moment, trying to steady my breathing, but every breath felt thick, soaked in the stench of dampness. I forced myself to look around. All I could make out were thick stone walls, stained with patches of green mold, and a wet floor covered in old dust. Water dripped from the ceiling at intervals, its monotonous echo filling the silence like a clock counting down my suffering.
I was in a cell.
I tried to lift myself, but the chains dragged me back down. My body was exhausted, my muscles felt shattered. But the worst pain wasn't physical—it was inside me. The memory of what I had seen in the palace… the blood covering the floor… my family's lifeless faces. The memory crashed into me like a flood. I gasped, and tears spilled down my face once more.
I kept thinking about everything that had happened. Every misfortune now felt like a living hell with no end. I replayed the past days in my mind, separating memory from certainty, mistake from betrayal. Slowly, the pieces of truth began to come together like a broken painting: I was the one who took the black stone, believing it was a purification stone… but how did Sina know? How did she turn my mistake into a crime that followed me all the way here?
Fragments of memory clashed together—
the room of stones,
my hand reaching toward that covered object,
the faint warmth I felt… and the desperate belief that it was a healing stone.
I didn't know darkness lived inside it. I didn't know it would open the door to something far worse than anything I imagined. I had only been searching for relief—for a way out of the suffocating shell of guilt and isolation.
But Sina…
Sina had taken that moment and twisted it.
She wasn't just a jealous woman whispering poison from the shadows. She was skilled—dangerously so. She wove stories, spread rumors, watched from unseen corners. She understood the black stone long before I ever did. Maybe she had even planted it there for me to find… or maybe she had been waiting for me to fall into the trap with my own hands.
I hadn't chosen revenge.
It had fallen on me like a catastrophe.
Regret stabbed at my heart mercilessly. I cried until my eyes burned dry—regret for my naivety, for my desperate need to be healed that made me ignore every warning. If I could go back… I would have chosen my family first.
But now… it was too late.
I had no strength left to defend myself. To everyone, I was nothing but a criminal.
Tears streamed down my face as the cell closed in around me like a grave. I stared at the door, as if expecting a miracle to come and save me.
Was this a nightmare…?
Or was this reality, ready to consume me completely?
Footsteps.
At first, I thought it was one of the guards again, but these steps were different—lighter, smoother. They approached, and the door creaked open.
Sina.
She stepped inside as if she had just won a grand victory. Elegant, composed… and smiling in a way that made my skin crawl. She moved closer, then crouched beside me, her face far too close to mine. The sharp scent of her perfume felt suffocating in this place.
She placed her hand on my thigh as if she owned me.
"Where is the duke's precious daughter now?" she said with a quiet, cruel laugh. "Is this the one they claimed would become the next duchess?"
Something inside me twisted violently. I wanted to speak—to expose her—but I couldn't. I was bound, drowning in wounds that hadn't even begun to heal.
She laughed again, then pulled out a black handkerchief—the same one she had threatened me with before. She lifted it slightly, as if it were a weapon.
"If you move… you'll see," she whispered coldly.
I trembled.
Not just from pain—but from the fear of losing the last piece of myself.
But something inside me whispered back:
Don't break now.
I tried to move anyway, tried to push her away, to grab the cloth and tear it apart—but the chains held me down. She pressed the fabric against my skin.
Pain exploded instantly.
Darkness crept into my vision as I let out a weak cry.
"You can't speak… and you can't write," she murmured softly. "So let me tell you the truth…"
Her words came like knives.
"Your mother—the so-called duchess—was nothing more than a commoner. Worthless. How could someone like her ever become a duchess? My mother is the one who deserved that title."
Each word dug deeper, poisoning everything inside me.
Then she smiled wider.
"That's why my mother killed her… forged her will… all with black magic. We did everything. Your family's death… your curse… everything. And the way people treat you now? That's all us."
The world felt smaller. The air turned cold and metallic.
"Now the duchy is ours," she continued calmly. "And I'll become empress… because I made the emperor love me."
She leaned closer.
"And you… will be executed at dawn."
She laughed.
Then she left.
And I was alone again.
…
At dawn, three guards entered my cell. Their silence felt final.
They dragged me to my feet and pulled me through cold stone corridors until we reached the execution platform. A crowd had gathered. Nobles above. Commoners below, shouting:
"Kill her! Kill her!"
I stood there, fear clawing at my chest—but also a desperate need to survive.
Then I saw them.
Sina.
Her brother.
And the emperor.
He stepped forward, lifted my chin, and looked at me with cold judgment.
"Criminal."
Something inside me snapped.
I shoved him.
Gasps spread through the crowd. Shouts rose louder.
Before anything else could happen—
A blade pierced through his back.
Chaos erupted.
The emperor collapsed.
And behind him… stood the second prince.
"Stop playing with my cousin's life," he said calmly.
He took my hand—
And suddenly, power surged through me.
A violent force burst outward, sending everyone flying. The world blurred. The prince disappeared.
But I felt it—
Something inside me had changed.
Like there were two souls within me.
Then a voice echoed in my mind:
"This is your second chance… don't waste it, Karina."
And then—
Everything vanished.
Silence.
Nothing remained but the feeling that everything… had just begun.