It Starts at the Guillotine

The red, fiery red sunset fills the horizon. A guillotine was set up in the main square of the capital of the Imperial City. The rusty, rugged blade was glinting in the sun.

Standing in front of it was Mia Luna Tearmoon, the only princess of the Tearmoon Empire. Stunned, she looked around her surroundings. She can hear piercing voices. Voices of anger and malice. They were blaming her for everything

“…Why, why, is this happening?”

Why should I, the only princess of the glorious Tearmoon Empire, be subjected to this? Was it because I laughed and told them to eat meat if they didn’t have bread? Or was it because I slapped the daughter of a poor noble out of anger? Was it because I fired the chef who kept on cooking my hated yellowmoon tomatoes?

She kept on wondering as she saw the gazes of the angry people, totally unaware that she had already answered her questions.

At the front was a young man giving instructions to the soldiers. Sion Sol Sunkland. The crown prince of the great Kingdom of Sunkland. His silver hair and the way he stood out looks very dignified. And beside him was a girl as dignified as him. She was called the Saint of Tearmoon. A young lady from a poor noble family who, with the help of Sion, started a revolution because of the suffering of the people. Tiona Rudolvon. She despised and hated Mia before. But now the flames of hatred had disappeared; all that’s left were the ashes of resignation.

“… Why is this happening?”

Mia weakly muttered. Eventually, a soldier behind her forced her to kneel. She could see in front of her was a plank of wood with three holes. Those holes were for fixing prisoners that will be decapitated.

The crude surface of the wood bit into her skin and left splinters…

“Why is this happening …”

This was the third time she asked the same question… and still no reply.

“For the sake of the Empire, die quietly Princess.”

Looking up, she saw the eyes of the soldiers who forced her into the guillotine. They were cold and hostile. But she didn’t have any time to be scared. A heavy blade of iron fell… then there was a dull sound… then everything was spinning.

The only article she was allowed to have, a used diary, fell into the ground. Its pages slowly started to seep in the blood. Same color as the sky.

That was how Mia Luna Tearmoon died.

That was how the dream went.

“Hiya ah ah ah ah ah ah!”

Mia screamed. It was a scream that was totally improper for someone that is the princess of the empire.

“Ma-ma-ma my head! My head!”

She frantically patted her head to make sure it was still attached to her body.

It’s still there. I’m okay.

Next she looked down on her body. She was wearing a luxuriouys nightwear instead of the stiff tattered clothes. Her clothes now was fluffy and has plenty of frills and it is comfortable to touch. Her skin that was once full of scars small and big was now smooth. She stared at her palsm which seemed to be a little bit smaller than she remembered in her dream…

It’s like the hands of a child…

Still a bit drowsy, she got out of bed and stood in front of a full-length mirror. What she saw was blue eyes that are wide open, platinum hair that is trimmed around the shoulders, and healthy cheeks that are slightly flushed. It was her appearance when she was about 11 or 12 years old. It was the time when the empire was the most affluent and prosperous on the continent.

Strange. I’m sure I was 20 years old…

At the age of seventeen, she was captured while trying to escape and was imprisoned in a dungeon for three years… and so.

The memories of all those painful days resurfaced one after another, falling as teardrops from her eyes. She recalled the suffering, the nights she cried to sleep, the feel of the hard stones in the dungeon, the cold damp blanket… She was confused by the memories, but more than that, she felt relief.

“…Ohoho, that’s right.”

Mia laughed.

“None of that ever happened. How could it be?”

She laughed it off as a bad dream.

“It was a silly dream and how childish of me to believe it really happened.”

Mia continued laughing, then she noticed something near her pillow.

“…Oh?”

Mia tilted her head, confused. There was something there.

It was an old diary.

As far as she can see on the cover, there is no mistake that it was the diary she has been keeping since she was ten years old. It looked much older than it should be…

…and it is covered with dark stains.

It’s just like the diary she saw in her dream. She picked up the diary with trembling hands. Slowly she flipped over the cover and saw the pages dyed in red and black.

Written there were her grudges that matched her dream word for word. The suffering in the prison, the fear of the guillotine… they were all written in vivid details.

“Hiyaaaaah!”

Mia screamed again, fell on the bed, and fainted.

Chapter 1
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