Chapter 1: Chapter 1

"Duke Everdale"Bloodshot irises looked up from the desk where papers were jumbled and arranged haphazardly. The Duke was in his late forties and had handsome features thus when the butler saw him as such he could not help but sigh and feel sorrow. Their mansion was once an impenetrable castle where not even a bird could enter without the permission of the Duke and two young masters but now it was all a shell made up of nothing but empty hallways.

"Master Princess-"

"Is Laylah back?! I-I must go out at once and receive her!"

"No! No master.....Princess Marianna has called you out to eat." The childish excitement was gone and was soon covered under the dust of frosty blue irises as something that was not even alive was awarded death again and the duke refused to acknowledge his agony.

"I will be downstairs in a moment." The scene of a small little child with beautiful pink hair, stuttering shyly before presenting her cake to him came in front of his eyes.

The duke along with his two sons and a daughter were soon settled in the dining room as he ordered a cherry cake. Maybe this time if he ate the cake that she used to make..maybe it will make her come back and forgive him.

"MASTER! MASTER! Lady Layla has been found!"

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Dirty greyish locks did not resemble their previous glory, in a way personifying the woman that was so young as twenty-five but looked worn and tired enough to surpass someone in their late thirties.

Layla Everdale, once considered the most beautiful flower of the empire was now almost unrecognizable as she coughed blood in front of the magnificent marble statue that she was kneeling before- Sun god Narairis.

She had been infected with the same disease that her mother had when she gave birth to twins- Layla and Marianna.

One was loved while the other was discarded.

Marianna that was weak since childhood was pampered by their cold-blooded father, Layla was taught not to cry and endure the responsibilities of a lady.

Marianna was loved by their two elder brothers when they barely gave much attention to her.

Marianna was a Rose blooming in the greenhouse,

Layla was a weed that was uprooted with such force that she had at the end no home at all.

After the rejection from Duke Valentine her fiance, she ran away to a monastery, exhausted by her so-called family but even here she could not live peacefully as she had to go through a horrendous disease with pain and wounds littering her body.

The trembling irises that resembled rose gold looked up at the statue that was made out of stone before she threw herself at his feet and hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Why me? Why me my eternal father.....what I have done so terrible as to have nowhere to belong, why did I not receive an ounce of love? Why was I never loved.........." even before those words could have been completed her eyes dulled and the woman fell.

It was how the princess of Everdale whose eyes shone brilliantly like galaxies and whose glazed locks resembled hues of the sun dipped in pink honey died at the end.

A day passed before a worker of the monastery discovered a corpse in the temple and informed the local authorities. A battalion of knights was dispatched to see whether it was a murder or a natural catastrophe of an individual.

Yes, at last she was found but in such a way that there was no place for guilt, remorse, regret and love.

She was dead only to be revived once again because maybe even after being discarded by the world she was still loved by the god.

And just maybe for someone far away she wasn't a weed.

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CHAPTER 1

"What is the date today?"

"Mylady it is seventeenth of lunar year, third month in spring."

There was utter silence on the other side of the room for some minutes before the female sprang up suddenly and ran to the dresser.

"Oh!" Irises like opulent gems just like her mother and a healthy body that she possessed before. It was maybe a dream, a dream in which she was twenty and have returned five years before her death. But what was the use of all that, it was an illusion altogether.

So supposing it was a beautiful dream the said princess again went to sleep yet even after waking up after an hour or so nothing changed.

She could feel the refreshment of cool water in which she bathe, taste the warm soup she drank and the feeling of lace on her body was also too real. Even her personal maid hummed the exact same song that she used to sing all those years ago.

She had returned.

The smell of inked papers filled the room, it was a familiar aroma that filled her lungs but also one of the most hated reminders of her life.

It was the Everdale castle- the place from where she was sold to Valentine and then at last ran to the temple.

What happened with Jeremiah Valentine, her sister Marianna and others was at last unknown to her since she had long gone from their life and later died but now she regretted running away because in temple there was not even a warm meal and sometimes she had to sleep in starvation.

This time she would not make the same choices.

"My lady, master duke has asked for your presence."

After the announcement was made, she was well dressed like a poised and noble lady but today was somewhat bizarre, even the closest maids that have watched the smiling shy girl that always laughed even at tiny things and forgave people with the heart of an angel was silent, maybe too quiet to be true.

"My lady, is...is something troubling you?" Layla was long lost in her own thoughts before she was asked and shaken from her stupor.

She remembered in her previous life today was the day when she was called by the duke- her father to get engaged to Duke Valentine and she being a fool agreed to it.

She was truly too stupid in the past.

In past Layla always entered the Duke's office with something that she baked from her own hands.

There were only two females in the family and since Marianna was always sick, it was only Layla that took care and bound the family together and make it look like a home so when the butler came to take her to his master's study it was strange to see that she had nothing in her hand.

Pink irises somewhat smiled in melancholy, yes she had nothing now, nothing to give them anymore since an empty vessel cannot pour out any love for she was devoid out of it, she will not put any effort, not for the sick sister and neither for anyone else.

If she had only 5 years of life left then she will live without any attachments.

Layla with the butler walked down the hallways as the people greeted her and before she knew, she was infront of the doors of her father's study.

"Master, I have brought miss."

Surprisingly when the door opened there was not only one person but two people inside both of whom she had prayed to the god to never let her see their faces again.

"Greetings to Duke Everdale, greetings to lord Valentine."

Damian Everdale that hoped to hear the usual cheerful voice of his daughter stopped in his tracks and had to look up from his desk to see the face which was devoid of much emotion, he looked at her closely, maybe she already knows what was going to happen and did not know how to react.

Damien continued in all seriousness thereafter.

"Currently the situation at the border is critical and as we know a war can break out anyday from now on, we cannot sit idle and an alliance of the two most noble families will bring stability to the empire.

Duke Valentine and you have been close friends since childhood and would not be unsuitable for one another....what do you think of getting engaged to him."

Same words

Those were the same words which made her feel like she was responsible for the poor, helpless and impoverished so in her previous life, she had agreed and gained nothing but contempt.

".....Layla?" When she was quiet for too long Damien could not help but call out his daughter.

"Duke is misunderstanding, we were simply children back then, now Duke Valentine and I have nothing in common and are not connected either. If it is about joining hands with families and alliance then there are other families that can similarly have a marriage alliance with House Valentine and if it has to be Everdale....then Marianna is closer to the Duke."

Till now Jeremiah had said nothing and was simply trying to understand the situation but now at this moment her words made him see the irises of the female he had once considered a very close confidant but now a stranger.

"....I would like to talk to Lady Layla."

She did not wished for that, did not even want to see his face. That same face had hurled innumerous accusations at her and had seen her with eyes full of hatred, left her in a home full of unknown people that disliked her presence and later threw her away for her own sister...she feared his presence even more than a monster.

He was a nightmare to her and she only felt contempt towards him.

Thus when he suggested his hand for her to take, the female visibly flinched and took a step back.

"Please talk here." It was simply to say that she did not wished to talk to him as she felt threatened by his presence, the hatred Duke Valentine saw in her eyes made him take his hand back.

Those weren't the eyes of someone obsessed with him like Marianna said... they were the eyes of someone that never desired to come face to face with him.

Those were the eyes of someone who disliked his touch.

"I thought you suggested your father that you wished for this marriage."

".............."

"What are you talking about?! It was I that saw your potential and your care towards my daughter when she was young so I suggested it.

Furthermore I never talked about marriage, an engagement is not equal to marriage, I will not send my daughter to your castle.

She can very well stay here and break it off after you come back and marry someone more suitable.

Duke Valentine, every year the empire's nobles break of hundreds of engagements and it is only a political tool...what the hell are you thinking!"

There was crack on the table that Damien held, expressing his rage with the Jeremiah.

After that one statement where Layla stepped back and and refused to say anything Duke Valentine felt like he did not know Layla one bit.

He realised something at that moment, just like he did not cared for this engagement and had come to refuse, Layla too had disliked it.

"If it is nothing anymore, I will take my leave."

No even listening his apology, Layla left the office as if she was uncomfortable in his presence.

Love and Hate had a very thin line and till date she had been a victim of his wrong assumptions.

If Jeremiah could hate her then there might also be a part of him that could not let go.