Chapter 106
Amelia sat down slowly, as if her body couldn’t hold the burden any longer. Her hands trembled in her lap. Kai didn’t speak. He simply took a seat beside her, close enough that she could feel his presence but far enough that she wouldn’t feel crowded.
"I wasn’t always... her," she said quietly. "The real Amelia Cosgrove, the one born in this body is gone. I just... took her place. I don’t know how it happened, I just woke and found myself in the hospital in a strange world."
She looked at Kai, carefully gauging his reaction before continuing.
"In my world, I was Amelia Volemont. Empress of Akea. I was also the daughter of Duke Volemont, one of the most powerful men in the empire. I was raised to be perfect. Always graceful, always obedient. My father was a general, my mother died early, but I had two older brothers who adored me. My father, though strict, also deeply loved me. In all, we were the pride of high society."
Her voice cracked for the first time, the memories of her father and brothers’ smiles flashing in her eyes and then, their brutal deaths. Tears threatened to rush out, but she pushed on, the words tumbling out like a dam had broken.
"I fell in love with the ninth prince. He was forgotten, way below the inheritance line... but the first time I laid my eyes on him..." She could remember it clear as day. He had been at the palace garden, sitting all alone amidst the mist of gardenias, his hazelnut hair fluttering along the wind. She had been watching him silently until she stepped on a twig and he turned to her, his golden eyes piercing into hers, and her breath caught in her throat. He was beautiful, an angel to behold. That was when she decided, she had to have him.
"...I begged my father to support him for the throne and when Aldric ascended, he married me as part of the deal."
Kai’s jaw tightened slightly at that name, his eyes filled with jealousy at the fact that his little butterfly had another before him, even if it happened in her previous life.
"I thought we’d eventually fall in love. That if I gave enough of myself, he’d return it. But he never did. His heart always belonged to Countess Cecilia, his first love. I was his Empress for five years, and he made no attempt to hide his infidelity. In fact, he blatantly threw it in my face because he knew I’d still stay. As long as he showed me little bits of affection, as long as he gave me hope that he might one day come to love me, I’d still stay."
She paused, her fingers curling tightly around the edge of her clothes.
"I accepted it. I hated it, but I... still loved him. I tried to be content with what little love he had given me. I was even prepared to one day have to share the imperial power of an empress with another woman." Amelia smiled, but it was sorrowful. Though no tears fell, Kai could feel the weight of it.