The Orphan Crown

“Sleep well, my little princess… Sleep soundly. Don’t wake up until the moon rises high and awakens your pure heart… Sleep well, little one. You are our saving light…” Who is it? Who is singing? “Rise… Rise, my sweet girl… My little daughter, remember this well: do not shed tears, and do not speak easily. Forget who you are until the right time…” Rise… is that me? Why should I do this? Who are you? BANG!!! “Go, Lucia! I entrust the baby to you. Go, and don’t look back!” Go? Where to? And what about you? Why is the smell of blood so strong? What’s happening? Roar!!! “Capture that woman! Slit her throat and take the baby alive!” “Shhh… My princess… Please don’t cry. Please bear with it a little longer. Lucia will take you to safety.” Lucia is bleeding so much… Lucia! Don’t run that way! Come back here! Let’s hide together! Lucia! Thump! !!! “Aaaa!!!” Franziska woke up with a start. A spasm gripped her heart, followed by the familiar sticky feeling of cold sweat. “Ha… Just a strange dream…” She sighed, gently rubbing her aching forehead before wearily collapsing onto the bed. The dizziness and pain were still there, but she could only patiently wait for them to subside. This situation had repeated itself for years, ever since Franziska turned eight. It was so familiar that she could almost predict each person who would appear, each word they would say, and the events that would follow. She knew she would stand there again, helplessly watching Lucia, the woman who had carried her to safety, being bitten off the neck by monsters, time and time again, hundreds of thousands of times. In that endless, recurring nightmare, Franziska was merely a bystander. After witnessing it countless times, she knew Lucia was the head lady of her family; she knew the child sleeping soundly in the swaddling cloth was herself. She also knew she had never been an abandoned child, unloved. Her family had been brutally attacked and murdered by monsters. While her father and brothers fought desperately to buy time, her mother, severely wounded, was forced to entrust her one-month-old daughter to a servant, so that she could flee and seek a chance of survival. For six long years, Franziska was forced to watch her father, mother, and brothers struggle until their blood stopped flowing, then one by one they fell. She could do nothing. Even their faces were always obscured in the shadows. “Who am I, really? What was that monster attack in my dream about? Why didn't the Imperial Palace send reinforcements?” These questions appeared again and again, like a curse clinging to Franziska's heart, slowly seeping into her very being. She stared at the exquisitely carved iris branch on the ceiling. Only an unnamed emptiness remained in her chest. Clearly, compared to her childhood years when she yearned for love and family warmth and deceived herself, the ruined place that appeared in her dream was her true home. This luxurious, opulent mansion was not. Knock! Knock! Knock! The rude knocking on the door made Franziska's heart skip a beat, decisively pulling her out of her rambling thoughts. Immediately afterward, a cold voice rang out from outside. “Miss Franziska, it’s almost time for morning prayers. You have fifteen minutes to bathe and get ready. Lady Rebecca can’t wait any longer.” Franziska didn’t reply. She paid no heed to the maid’s rudeness, silently stepping out of bed, though her head was still spinning. After leaving that brief reminder, the maid said nothing more. Perhaps she had left. In truth, it wasn’t just that maid. The entire mansion didn’t really need to treat her with the respect due to a true mistress. Franziska was merely a child adopted from an orphanage by Lady Catrina Damaris Crozier, the legal wife of Duke Crozier, the true owner of this place. This mansion was where the members of the direct lineage of the Crozier family lived. The Crozier family possesses the bloodline of the Leopard, a lineage that has endured for hundreds of years, from the founding of the Kingdom of Sneica to the present day. Within the Crozier territory, the inhabitants of the city all possess the bloodline of the Leopard. Except for her. A nameless fawn, without antlers yet, living among a pack of leopards and still managing to grow up safely was already incredibly fortunate. If Franziska hadn't possessed something valuable to the Duke and Duchess's only daughter, she would have long since become food for these ferocious beasts.