Even After Death

Chapter6

As soon as Katarina reached her chamber, she silently sat on a chair. She was thinking of ways to escape the fate of being the Queen in that life.

Being the Queen brought so much adversity to her previous existence, and she would not let it happen again in this lifetime.

“Your Highness, I am going back to the woods now.”

It was Andres, and he was saying farewell to her.

Katarina almost forgot that they were with Henri’s knight.

She looked at Andres and nodded in answer. But before the knight left, he said his last words for her.

“Your Highness, it would help if you do not worry too much about that woman with the Prince. She is just his pastime.”

Katarina gazed at Andres and just smiled. She smiled because it was absurd. That was not how she remembered Sophia’s role in her past life.

Her role was much more significant than that.

When Andres finally went away, Agnes approached Katarina. “My Princess, how did you know the woman is a Princess?”

Katarina turned pale, hearing her servant’s question. There should be no way for her to know about the woman, and she certainly could not tell Agnes that she knew Sophia because she went back to the past after dying.

She needed to think of a plausible answer.

“It was because…” she mumbled, still finding words to say. “It was because she looks like it. She looks like royalty.”

“I see,” answered Agnes. “She looks elegant, but you are more beautiful than her, Princess. Do not worry too much. It is inevitable for Kings and future rulers to have one or more concubines. You are still the future Queen.”

Katarina’s chest painfully thumped momentarily as she answered, “I do not care about the Prince’s affairs. I- I just do not want to be the Queen.”

Agnes then stared at her with a worried expression. “You need to rest now, My Princess. But let’s clean that wound on your cheek first; it looks bad.”

And that was when Katarina remembered the minor laceration she had inflicted on her face.

She immediately went in front of the mirror and looked at it. It was small but still noticeable.

Then she thought that maybe that wound could help her. After all, it was a cut from the moon blade.

*

*

The morning came, but it was still quite dark outside.

Massive clouds lingered in the sky, covering the rising sun, but the people’s faces showed an opposite ambiance — their expressions were relatively bright.

It was because they were waiting for the arrival of the Crown Prince — Prince Henri Amaris. After a year of an expedition, he finally returned to the kingdom to pay his deceased father’s respects and take over the throne.

On the other hand, Katarina was standing on a vast central platform of the palace. Together with her were Queen Sora Amaris — the widow of the late King, and Chief Minister Alejandres — the highest-sitting councilor of the kingdom.

The three of them stood there to welcome Henri’s arrival.

“What is that in your face? Is that a wound?” Queen Sora suddenly asked Katarina upon seeing that laceration on her cheek.

Katarina curved her lips when she heard the question from the older woman. She intentionally did not wear makeup to make the wound more visible.

“Yes. It is a wound, Your Majesty,” replied Katarina.

The old Queen rolled her eyes to show contempt. “And you did not even try to cover it? How dare you,” she said disdainfully.

The attitude shown by Queen Sora was not a surprise for Katarina. She knew the Queen did not like her for her son.

The Queen did not like her because she was just an ordinary girl who happened to be the daughter of a powerful knight. She believed that more powerful girls were deserving of her son.

Katarina then stared at the Queen and smiled. “My apologies. The wound is too painful, and I think covering it would make it worse.”

“Do you think it would scar?” the Queen suddenly asked.

“I believe so.”

“You know a scar could make you banned for the enthronement, right?” The Queen could not even hide the excitement in her tone.

“I know that much,” Katarina replied with a neutral countenance to hide her delight from the Queen’s reaction because that was precisely what she wanted.

Queen Sora then smirked and muttered, “We will discuss it later.”

Katarina just nodded.

Their conversation ended when the knight guards suddenly opened the palace’s enormous threshold.

Then the messenger announced, “His Highness, the Crown Prince, has arrived!”

The crowd looked ahead of the opened gates and cheered when a golden horse-drawn carriage appeared. Several horse riders were following it.

The carriage then stopped right after it reached the palace grounds. One of the knights opened the door, and Prince Henri emerged.

The people then applauded upon seeing him. After all, the Prince was an influential figure for them — he was their next King.

Henri, on the other hand, just looked at the people. He was still that aloof and distant man from Katarina’s previous life.

And then, the Prince himself opened the carriage’s door again and assisted a woman in descending from it.

It was Sophia.

After seeing that scene, the people then chatted about it. Two questions lingered on their minds — who was that beautiful young lady, and why did Prince Henri care for her so much?

It was a natural reaction for the crowd because they had not seen the Prince do that for Katarina, even once.

“It looks like the Prince has found a replacement for you,” Queen Sora whispered to Katarina.

On the other hand, Katarina watched Henri and Sophia walk down the long path covered with a red carpet. Their hands were intertwined with each other. Although she had already witnessed that scene in her previous life, it still shattered her heart.

When she heard what the Queen told her, Katarina stared at her and countered, “Yes. They look good together.” Then she let out a lovely smile, to Queen Sora’s surprise.

Henri and Sophia finally arrived at the central platform of the palace, where Katarina, Queen Sora, and the Chief Minister were waiting.

Katarina’s gaze met Henri’s gray eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, and then the Prince looked away.

“Welcome back, Your Highness!” Chief Minister Alejandres gleefully greeted Henri.

The Prince coldly gazed at the older man and replied, “Fix a chamber for Sophia.”

“Who is she, my son?” asked the Queen. Her eyes were glimmering with excitement.

“She is Princess Sophia from the small kingdom of Olfana. I brought her here because she has the magical hands.”

“The magical hands?” Chief Minister Alejandres and Queen Sora exclaimed in unison.

“Yes. That ability in which she could make any potion effective and robust,” Henri answered with a neutral expression.

“A woman of skills,” the Queen said while she gave a taunting glance at Katarina, standing at the side at that time.

Katarina did not answer.

Henri then walked away as he told them, “I want to rest for a bit before we start the ceremony for Father.”

“All right. Leave Sophia to me,” Queen Sora replied. Then, the older woman looked at Katarina. “You — we will talk another day.”

Katarina nodded her head before Queen Sora also walked away with Sophia.