Eleanor of the Shadow Palace

I

-Ugh. My head hurts. Did I drink too much last night?

I opened my eyes and immediately squinted at the bright light that assaulted it. I blinked plenty of times to adjust and when I finally regained my bearings, I froze as my gaze got glued to the ceiling.

-Strange. That’s a very familiar looking ceiling, but I can’t-

Images, no memories, then flowed into my head.

-I am Eleanor Bloomfield. I stand in the shadows of the mafia. I… Right…

“I got shot.”

I looked at my chest and abdomen where I was sure the bullets pierced but…

“Huh? I’m not in pain. In fact, I don’t have wounds. Wait, why are my hands so small? It’s like-“

I gasped and clutched my face, then grabbed a handful of my hair.

-Silver-white hair. Eleanor Bloomfield does not have silver-white hair.

I looked around the room I was in and noticed another bed. In it was a child, about ten years old, sleeping peacefully. I couldn’t help but let out a muffled gasp at the familiar face.

-Edmund! My younger twin brother Edmund!

I couldn’t help but grasp the hand of my younger twin brother who remained asleep in the bed he was in.

Memories once again flowed into my head. This time, they weren’t that of Eleanor Bloomfield but that of another Eleanor, another me; Eleanor Raneri Primavera, the neglected fifth imperial princess of the Primavera Empire.

The memories flowed like a river and I was unable to stop it. In mere minutes, my entire first lifetime flashed inside my head and I couldn’t help but let out a cry. Such memories I chose to bury when I was living as Eleanor Bloomfield played like a movie in high definition, it was very vivid. And I felt like living in it all over again.

I saw my younger self inside a dark and dingy room. Beside me was my twin brother. We were both bound to a metal table and was screaming in pain. The pain seemed endless and I only saw nothing but darkness around me.

-Until the light arrived.

When we reached twelve years old, the slave trader who was keeping us was arrested and then killed by the first princess of the Primavera Empire; Anastasia Lyar Primavera. She also saved us from that place of pain and darkness.

-But my memories as a slave have always been spotty. In that life Edmund seemed to have forgotten all about it too.

Despite being saved by the princess, our older half-sister, the Noble Consort Katherine Arche Primavera nee Vimi took me and my twin brother under her care with the reason that our mother was one of her ladies-in-waiting and was therefore responsible for us.

But it was all lies.

Under her care, Edmund and I only suffered. She would starve us for days and punish us for no reason. The worst of all was that she would collect numerous vials of our blood once a week and cut our flesh once a month.

-That b****y b*tch! She was turning our blood into pills to heal others and enhance people’s strengths and power gain more support, and she consumed our flesh so she could retain her youth and beauty!

The noble consort was a despicable woman! She did all sorts of atrocious things to keep her seat of power! She even murdered the empress to replace her!

At seventeen, I was married off to an earl in the eastern territories of the empire. My husband’s family was a vassal household of the Vimi Family, a noble household who held the status of marquis. This family was also where the noble consort, then empress, hailed from.

-Frederick Giju Aftesde. I will hate that man no matter what lifetime!

The earl was an abusive man. Under his watchful eyes, my routine of blood extraction and cutting of flesh was maintained. Despite being the first wife, he constantly abused me and had illicit affairs with various other women.

-The bastard thinks it’s his goal to make a b****y harem!

At twenty-two years old I became pregnant with our child, thru forceful means of course, but I received even more beatings from him. Even his mother and sisters ostracized me and spread rumors that I was an unfaithful wife. Rumors that the child I was carrying was not my husband’s spread throughout the empire.

I was in my eight month of pregnancy when I heard the news that my twin brother Edmund was accused of murdering his own wife. Since he was part of the imperial family, he was not executed but rather exiled, stripped of his title. I was not able to visit him or help him because of my situation.

Later on, I found out that Edmund and his wife sided with a noble family that was against the empress. She had the wife killed and Edmund was framed for it.

Due to the shock and stress I gave birth earlier than expected, but my child was taken away from me. I did not even find out the gender of my child, I never heard anything regarding the child ever since.

Months after giving birth, a rebellion rose led by the third prince, Vincent Ananthy Primavera. He was Empress Katherine’s eldest child.

Everything was planned by the empress, just so she could become the empress dowager and remain as the most powerful authority in the empire.

But the rebellion failed. Vincent was arrested by Gregory Sieja Primavera, the crown prince and rightful heir to the throne, the night he killed our imperial father so he could take the throne for himself. Empress Katherine pushed for Harold Luscar Primavera, the fifth prince and her third child, to be emperor in the reasoning of legitimacy, but her dreams were crushed when an Imperial Will written by our father was revealed, naming Gregory the next emperor.

Due to that, everyone directly involved in the rebellion, whether they were nobles or not, was executed, including my husband.

The most unfortunate thing?

I was framed as the strategist of the rebellion and was executed as well.

That was how my life ended the first time.

­-But it seems like I have returned to being Eleanor Raneri Primavera. This makes it my third lifetime? My third chance in life? But how? And more importantly, why?

I was very confused. I did not know what was going on.

-Calm down El. You’re not that naïve and powerless princess who was a marionette of that woman anymore. More importantly, you’re also Eleanor Bloomfield, a powerful and respected figure in Earth’s underworld.

-First, I have to assess the situation. If I have really returned to my first lifetime, a few years before my life went to sh*t, I should be able to turn the tables this time so me and Edmund won’t have such f*cked up endings.

After moments of observation…

-Hmm… It seems like I have returned to when I was twelve, after we were saved by the first princess.

I couldn’t help but sigh in disbelief. I mistook my own brother as ten years old.

-Well, we were quite small for our age.

I didn’t even notice I had been brushing the peculiar scar on my upper left cheek.

I remembered that after we were saved, we were asleep for weeks. No one knew what was wrong, my twin and I just slept. And when we woke up, the then noble consort Katherine then reached out to us, promising us shelter and care. Since we lived a life of suffering, we took the chance of someone offering a helping hand. Only to regret it later.

-But that will no longer happen. The first thing I have to do is to get Edmund and I away from the clutches of that vicious hag.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the scream. I pinpointed it to the bed where my brother was asleep. Before I could even get closer and attempt to comfort my brother, I stopped on my tracks. In my first life, Edmund lost all his memories before being saved from the slave traders. That time, he was apprehensive of everyone, even me. It was only days later when he finally calmed at my presence and recognized me as his twin sister. It was the only thing he seemed remember and recognize too.

-But I don’t think he screamed when he woke up that time.­

“AAHH! Damn those b****y dogs! Using such dirty tactics! An ambush?! Seriously? What if I died? Oh no, E! Ellie! Eleanor!”

-O…kay? That’s strange.

“Ed?” I called out cautiously.

Edmund stared at me with a confused look on his face.

“Who the f- f-f-fudge are you? Damn it! Why is a kid here? Where the b****y hell is this? Hey kid! Tell me where I am! Was I saved by someone you know? That’s strange, silver-white hair? Is that your natural hair? Are you perhaps an albino?”

-Edmund… Edmund is not this talkative!

“Hey kid, answer me! I-ompf!”

He attempted to get off the bed but he fell on his face. His face sported confusion and then it morphed into a questioning look. He looked as if he misjudged the distance between the bed and the floor. It was as if-

“He does not know he’s a child.” I mumbled to myself.

“Huh? A child? Why- AAAAAHHHH! Why the f*ck am I chibi sized? What the f*ck is going on? Hey kid! Why are you only standing there?! Do you not know who I am? I’m the f*cking boss of Sceptre! Edmund Hunter! Bring an adult here immediately!”

-‘Chibi’? And he… he’s… he’s who now?

My mind went blank and my eyes stayed glued to my twin brother’s figure.

­-Did he just say… he’s Edmund Hunter?

“What the b****y hell is going on?”