The Duke's Slave Daughter

Chapter 2: A Name Forgotten

Urania stumbled through the dense fog of the Winter Forest, her breath coming in shallow gasps as the cold air bit at her skin. The trees around her loomed like twisted, silent sentinels, their branches heavy with snow that seemed to fall endlessly from the sky. The world around her blurred, twisting and shifting with every step. The fog pressed in, thick and suffocating, the path beneath her feet fading into a white void.

She had been walking for hours, perhaps days, fighting off the beasts and monsters that lurked in the shadows of this unforgiving forest. Every muscle in her body ached, her limbs heavy with exhaustion, but the deeper she ventured, the more her mind began to cloud. Memories that once seemed so vivid and sharp began to fade, slipping like water through her fingers, until even the simplest thoughts became a struggle.

Her mind drifted, the sounds of the forest blending with the roar of her heart. Why am I here? she thought bitterly, her anger simmering beneath the surface. Why am I still alive?

She hated everything about this moment—hated the helplessness she felt, hated the memories that she had to carry with her, memories of a life she no longer recognized. She had survived, but at what cost? The warmth of family, the love and trust she had once known, now felt like distant echoes from a life she didn’t remember wanting.

As she stumbled forward, her thoughts turned darker, and the resentment began to grow. She hated the Duke—her family, the people who had taken her in after the miserable life of s*****y. She had trusted them, she had believed in them, and now, it all felt like a lie. Every moment she had spent with them felt like a chain, binding her to a future she never asked for. She had been so foolish, so weak, to believe that the warmth they had given her was real. They had all turned their backs on her. And she had been too naive to see it.

"I wish I had never met them", she cursed inwardly. "I wish I had never known that kind of hope. That kind of trust. I’d be better off alone."

She reached up, clutching her head in an attempt to hold onto some fragment of herself, but the thoughts kept slipping away. Her name, her past—it was all becoming so distant. The memories of the Duke, her brothers, the faces of those who had once loved her, were now faded silhouettes, unrecognizable. Names, faces, events—they all twisted and blurred into a fog of confusion, leaving her with nothing but an aching emptiness inside.

"What was I… before this?" she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible. The answer eluded her like a forgotten dream, slipping further from her grasp with every passing moment. She wanted to scream, to rage against the world that had betrayed her, but instead, she just kept walking, deeper into the void.

Urania found a snow-covered tree to rest beneath, its branches sagging with the weight of the frost. She sank down into the cold snow, her body numb, but her mind swirling with confusion. The world around her was quiet, too quiet, as if even nature itself had abandoned her.

As she leaned back against the tree, her head heavy with exhaustion, memories began to flicker in and out of her consciousness. The faces of her family—her brothers, the Duke, all of them—appeared before her eyes, but they were no longer clear. The warmth of their love, their once comforting smiles, had faded into indistinct shapes and shadows. She tried to hold onto them, but they slipped through her fingers like smoke.

She had once known what it meant to be loved, to belong, to have a family. But now, all she felt was the sting of their betrayal. The memories of their smiles, their embrace, seemed to mock her now. Why had I believed them? The thought made her stomach churn with disgust.

Her brothers, once so protective, now seemed like strangers. The Duke, the man who had taken her in, now looked at her with cold indifference. They had all turned away from her. She had trusted them, believed in their kindness, but now she saw it for what it truly was—a lie. They had never truly cared about her. They had used her, just as everyone else had.

"I was… someone important. Wasn’t I?" she whispered to herself, her voice trembling. The words felt hollow, like they belonged to someone else, someone she couldn’t even remember.

Her hands, trembling from the cold, brushed against her face, but even the feel of her own skin seemed unfamiliar. Her identity, once so clear, now felt like a faded photograph, its edges curling and discolored. She had been someone. She had been important, hadn’t she? But now, she was just a shadow, a forgotten name in a world that no longer cared.

The wind howled through the trees, its icy fingers biting into her skin as Urania tried to stand. She was so tired. Her body screamed for rest, but her mind was the real battleground. The cold pressed in from all sides, not just the freezing air, but the cold emptiness inside her. The more she struggled to hold onto her past, the more it shattered like glass beneath her fingers.

She tried to remember—tried so hard to cling to the pieces of her identity—but the harder she grasped, the more they seemed to slip away. Every attempt to remember felt like tearing open an old wound, exposing the raw, bleeding truth. She wanted to forget. She didn’t want to remember the people who had betrayed her. She didn’t want to remember the pain of losing everything she had ever loved.

Her mind felt like it was unraveling, the threads of her past scattering like dust in the wind. "Gods and Goddesses above", she prayed bitterly, her voice thick with sarcasm. "I can’t take this pain anymore. Take it all away. Take my memories. Take my life. No one in this world sees the worth of my life, so why not just take it all?"

She leaned against the tree, her breath ragged, and for a moment, she closed her eyes, wishing for the end. But even in her darkest thoughts, she couldn’t escape the gnawing emptiness that had taken root inside her. She wanted to forget it all. She wanted to be free of the torment of her memories. But nothing was that simple. Her body might ache for death, but her soul... it was not ready to give up.

As the night drew near, the cold grew even more intense. The stars above seemed impossibly bright, their light shining down with an otherworldly glow. Urania looked up at the sky, her mind so clouded that the stars seemed to speak to her.

"We can’t lose you, dear child. The world still needs you," a voice whispered in her mind. The words were soft, comforting, and yet utterly foreign.

She blinked, staring at the stars above her, disbelief washing over her. "What is this?" The voice, soft yet powerful, seemed to reach her from beyond the heavens, but who was speaking to her? "Why would the world need me?!"

In her heart, she couldn’t believe it. "How could they need me? The world has turned its back on me. Everyone has left me to die alone in this forsaken place."

But the voice persisted. "“You are needed. The world is not finished with you yet.”

Urania felt the weight of those words sink deep into her soul, though part of her resisted. Why should I continue? What is left for me? She felt the fog of her thoughts thicken, clouding her memories, her name, even her sense of self. It felt like her very essence was being lost in the storm, a whisper in the wind. She was vanishing, slipping into oblivion.

"Urania…"

She muttered the name softly, but it sounded strange, foreign. It no longer felt like her own.

And in that moment, she realized the truth—she was becoming someone else, or perhaps no one at all.