Chapter 18
That night, Asteria had a dream. In the darkness, a woman was weeping.
She approached the sobbing figure cautiously. The woman had platinum-blonde hair nearly silver, just like her own, and a delicate, slender frame.
When Asteria’s hand touched her shoulder, the woman turned to face her. Her eyes were the same shade of violet.
‘Ah… so you, too, are a child of the Lumines.’
In that instant, Asteria felt a mysterious energy beyond words, as though she had traveled to the distant past and encountered a being from another dimension.
‘Why are you crying?’
‘Because my fate grieves me, and because yours grieves me as well.’
Asteria could not easily grasp the meaning of those words.
‘The men of Orbien have always broken the taboo. It is like an inescapable chain. My fate was sealed from the start.’
‘Fate…?’
‘Yes. Fate.’
The woman extended her hand. A strange space opened before them, and within it, a man who appeared to be of the highest nobility lay bedridden.
‘He will soon meet his death. Just as the stars and dreams foretold.’
Her voice resonated with unbearable sorrow.
‘There was a time I resented him, but… looking back, it was all for nothing. Before fate, there is nothing a woman of the Lumines can do.’
She extended her hand again, and the hazy space dissolved.
‘Who is he?’
‘Franz. It was a name I never once called him by.’
Long years of regret were etched into her features.
‘And when he breathes his last, I, too, shall meet my death.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that is the promise handed down through the generations.’
The woman raised her violet eyes to meet Asteria’s.
‘But your fate is different from mine. Perhaps that is what makes it all the more sorrowful.’
‘My fate?’
‘It is already decided. It is a future no one can change.’
She reached out and gently caressed Asteria’s cheek.
‘What a pitiable child you are.’
‘What is your name?’
‘A name that will soon be forgotten. One that will leave no trace anywhere.’
‘Why would you say such a thing?’
‘Because it was you…..’
In that instant, the woman’s face transformed completely.
The elegant features vanished, replaced by a woman with rich golden hair and blue eyes, glaring at Asteria with pure loathing.
‘It was you who stole what was mine!’
She lunged and wrapped her hands around Asteria’s throat. Asteria thrashed and struggled, but she could not overcome the crushing force.
And the moment she thought she could endure no more—
“Gah!”
Asteria awoke drenched in cold sweat. Even so, the sensation of being strangled lingered, vivid and raw. She reached up and touched her own neck.
Just then, Clarisse entered the bedchamber and started at the sight of her.
“Saintess, did you have a dream? You look terribly pale.”
“Yes. I had a dream.”
Asteria stared blankly ahead.
“Clarisse, do you know someone named Franz?”
At those words, Clarisse’s face went white.
“You must never speak that name aloud.”
“Why?”
“That is… the given name of His Majesty the Late Emperor.”
Now Asteria could guess who the woman in her dream had been. She must have been the Saintess of the Lumines, dedicated to the late Emperor.
“What was the name… of the late Emperor’s Saintess?”
“That has not been recorded. And even if one knew, it must never be spoken.”
“Why? What happened to the Saintess after the late Emperor passed?”
Perhaps it was the most natural question in the world.
After the late Emperor died, where had his Saintess gone?
“She… I heard that she took her own life.”
Asteria nodded in a daze. The memory of that sorrowful figure filled her chest with a dull ache. And at the same time, she recalled the woman who had strangled her.
“Clarisse, does the Empress happen to have golden hair and blue eyes?”
“Yes, she does… Did you see that in your dream as well?”
“Yes.”
But it was not something she wished to speak of aloud.
No, it was something she must not.
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