4 years
695 Words
The first thing I felt was warmth.
Not comfort.
Just heat pressing heavily against my skin, thick enough to make breathing feel exhausting.
My eyelids barely opened before pain shot through my head.
I shut them again immediately.
Somewhere nearby, fabric rustled.
Then a soft voice spoke carefully.
“My lady?”
I frowned slightly.
The voice sounded familiar.
Slowly, I forced my eyes open again.
The room was dark except for candlelight flickering softly near the bed. Rain tapped gently against the windows, the sound strangely calm compared to the pounding inside my head.
For a moment, I didn’t move.
Then memory returned all at once.
The mirror.
Seraphina’s face staring back at me.
The execution beneath the Black Moon.
My stomach twisted violently.
I sat up too quickly and instantly regretted it.
Pain exploded through my body hard enough to make me gasp.
“Please don’t move too fast,” the maid said quickly, stepping closer.
The maid.
The same girl from before.
Her tired eyes widened slightly in relief when she realized I was fully awake.
“You collapsed two weeks ago,” she explained softly before I could even ask. “The physician said the shock caused a severe fever.”
Two weeks.
The number hit me strangely hard.
I stared at her blankly, trying to process the fact that I had lost fourteen days inside a body that already felt like borrowed time.
“What date is it?” I asked quietly.
“The nineteenth night of the Frost Moon.”
My heartbeat slowed.
Then suddenly sped up again.
I knew that date.
In the novel, the Frost Moon Festival marked Seraphina’s first public appearance as Luna after marrying Alpha Malakai.
The beginning of the rumors.
The beginning of Isabella.
The beginning of everything falling apart.
But most importantly—
It was still early.
Very early.
Relief hit me so suddenly I almost felt dizzy again.
I wasn’t standing at the edge of Seraphina’s death yet.
I still had time.
Four years.
Four years before the execution beneath the Black Moon.
Four years before Malakai killed her.
The thought made my chest tighten, but this time it wasn’t pure panic.
It was something else.
Hope.
Small. Fragile. Terrifying.
Maybe I could still change this.
Maybe I didn’t have to die the same way Seraphina did.
The maid hesitated beside the bed before speaking again.
“You frightened everyone, my lady.”
I almost laughed at that.
Not because it was funny.
Because I knew it wasn’t true.
Nobody was frightened for Seraphina.
They were frightened of her.
“What happened while I was unconscious?” I asked.
The maid lowered her gaze immediately.
That silence told me enough.
No one came.
No worried visitors.
No grieving husband.
No friends waiting beside the bed.
Only physicians doing their duty.
The realization settled heavily in my chest.
This was the villainess’s life.
Beautiful rooms. Expensive gowns. Complete loneliness.
I looked back at the maid standing near me.
Simple black dress.
Tired eyes.
Hands clasped nervously together.
Unlike everyone else, she looked genuinely relieved that I was awake.
“You stayed here the entire time?” I asked quietly.
She blinked in surprise, almost like she hadn’t expected me to notice.
“Yes, my lady.”
“Why?”
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
She looked confused.
“Because you needed someone.”
The answer was so simple it hurt.
I stared at her for a moment before speaking again.
“What’s your name?”
“Sheryl.”
Right.
I remembered her now.
A minor character barely mentioned in the novel. Seraphina’s personal maid.
One of the only people who remained beside her until the end.
Something about that made my chest ache unexpectedly.
Outside, distant music drifted faintly through the palace windows.
Elegant.
Bright.
Carefree.
The Moon Festival had already begun.
I remembered this scene from the novel too clearly.
Nobles dressed in silver and gold.
Lanterns covering the palace gardens.
Whispers spreading through the crowd while Seraphina stood alone beside the Alpha throne.
And somewhere in that same crowd—
Isabella would appear for the first time.
- Writer
