Chapter 2

ALKANASIA

I roll the wheeled chair to bring me closer to the white roses in front of me.

"Aren't they beautiful?"

That is the sound of a man. I look to my left and right, but see no one.

"Who- who are you? Show yourself!"

A boy with hair dark as the moonless night, eyes red as blood, and skin pale as the freshly fallen snow, suddenly pops up from the rose bush in front of me.

"You-"

"White roses means purity and innocence. That is the reason why it is the National flower of Alkan." The boy explains.

"Do you think I don't know that?"

"I know you do. But here is something you don't." The boy snakes his hand around the bush and picks one of the flowers along with it's thorny stem.

"Why did you do that? Who do you think you are to pick a rose from a royal palace?" The boy ignore my words and prick himself with one of the thorns placed on the stem.

"You're bleeding!" I cry out but the boy continues to gaze at the rose as he wait for his blood to drop from his wounded finger. "What are you doing? Stop that at once!"

The boy does not stop, instead he looks so focus. So I follow his gaze, looking at the rose and wait as his blood turns the tip of the rose crimson red.

"This is how life works. Not all innocence can forever stay that way. You will be tinted one way or another."

???

"What are you trying to say?" His eyes travel from the rose to connect with mine.

"You'll understand when the time comes." The boy then smiles vibrantly and unsullied.

I don't know what happened, but after I saw the Boy's smile, I felt so light and forgot what we we're talking about.

"Hello beautiful lady." He picks a flower from the rose bush in front of me and removes all it's thorns before he gracefully hands it to me. A weird feeling of deja vu rushes through my spine giving me goosebumps. Why did I have this feeling just from watching him pick a flower? And since when was this boy here? I feel as if I am missing a piece of my memory.

"Th- Thank you." I feel very uneasy around him. I look at the flower he gave me. It looks pristine and clean like an infant. Alkan white roses are known to be the purest white roses ever existed. Why did I just notice that now.

I look up to ask the boy for his name, but he is suddenly nowhere to be found. Where did he go? I look here and there, but nothing... As if he had... Vanished.

"Young Miss! There you are!"

"Nicole!"

I watch as she catches her breath. She looks so cute.

"Young Miss, it's time to go inside, look at how red you are. Your delicate skin must be burning!"

"I'm fine."

"We should head back. Come!" Nicole helps me to sit and push the wheeled chair back to the palace.

*Sigh* Is my free time already over?

FEW DAYS LATER

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

After raising my hand to my mouth, I feel a pungent scent pierce my nose. The scent is almost metallic. With a worried expression I hesitantly looked into the palm of my hand, peering back at me was a splattering of red. Blood.

"Young Miss!" Nicole barges in my room and sits beside me on the bed to wipe off the sticky dark liquid. "Sir John! Please bring the Doctor!" Our Butler, Sir John, enters and without a second thought, calls for my personal doctor.

"Young Miss, please stay lying down." Nicole helps me to rest and not long after, Doctor Harold arrives. He gives me a check up here and there, does tests like before then gives me a smile to finish everything off.

"Rest assured, little Lady."

Doctor Harold walks over to Nicole and brings her to the side for a chat. I do not intend to listen to their conversation as I already know I am becoming weaker and weaker by the day. So I gaze at the withering white rose on my bedside table and fall under a deep sleep.

AUTHOR

"Doctor Harold, how is our Young Miss?"

"Her highness, Princess Alkanasia is becoming worse. Her heartbeat sounds weaker than my last checkup. Miss Nicole, was there anything you noticed aside from her eating disorder?"

"Yes Doctor. Nowadays, Our Young Miss seems to be a bit.... crazy."

"By crazy, whatever do you mean?"

"Young Miss is nice one time, but the next second she is not... Then sometimes, our young Miss would become very violent but because of her low stamina, she would faint after a minute or two." Nicole sighs.

The young maid is distressed with her young Miss's current situation. She has been taking care of her since the princess was first brought to this cold palace... The Doctor pauses to think.

"It must be because Princess Alkanasia is a premature child. The after effects of a premature child seem to come out now."

"After effects?"

"Bipolarity and Mental disorder"

Nicole gasps from Doctor Harold's words. Her heart begin to race and tears begins to form from her eyes.

"Will our Young Miss be cured?"

"So far, I have no cure yet. This is a rare disease that the young highness has. Luckily, her highness does not show any physical disability other than her disorders. Some cases, they could not talk properly or even walk. For now, I must inform his Majesty and will think of a way to cure her. While doing so, keep your patience on the lady and make sure she eats well. Her violence is something the Lady herself won't be able to control."

"Yes Doctor. I will try my best to keep our Young Miss happy at all times."

The doctor leaves to send a message to the Emperor and Nicole walks back to her young Miss's side.

"You will get better soon, Young Miss. I believe you will."

THE NEXT DAY

"No! I won't eat that! It smells disgusting!" Alkanasia throws the bowl of soup in front of the maid and lays back down then covers herself with the duvet.

"But Young Miss, you haven't eaten since yesterday. You must try, please?" One of the maids pursues the young princess.

"Yes, young Miss. We put less spices to make it more suitable for you." The other maid continues.

"I said I don't want to eat! Go away!" Alkanasia did not move an inch while the maids continued to beg her to eat.

ALKANASIA

Ugh! I snap out of my anger again. I've been doing this so much this last few days. Without me realizing anything, I would just snap and become mad without any reasons. I can't control my own emotions and my own body when I reach that state.

I would go crazy until my heart begins to go so fast that I would faint like I have a heart attack. When I wake up, I won't remember a thing until the memories kick in after a few minutes. The guilt that I suffer when I have my memories back is much too much. I don't remember having this in my past life.

I must be stronger than this, I can't let this devil inside me control me again. I have important things I still need to accomplish. After a few minutes when I snapped out of it, I looked towards Nicole who has been sitting beside the bed since I first snapped out.

"Nicole?"

"Yes, Young Miss?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what is happening to me. Everyone must be suffering because of me."

I feel a lump in my throat as I remember all the things I said and done. Everyone here is just trying to help me yet I am becoming a big pain to them. I can't help but feel guilty. Nicole looks at me with pitiful eyes and holds my hand to hug it tightly.

Why is she always doing this? Everytime I apologize to her, hoping she would get mad at me and give me a lecture she would always try to comfort me. I feel terribly remorseful.

"It's alright, Young Miss." She hushes me while brushing the back of my hand with her palms.

"Everyone must be hating me now." Nicole gives me a serious but sad expression.

"Oh with the power of the pure Goddess Alka, No! Young Miss, all of us treasure you here. We know that you are having a hard time yourself. We would never hate such a young and beautiful Miss like you."

Such sweet words. Nicole, you are always here for me. All of the people in Cold palace are. But I know the reason why. It is because I am too pitiful. I am someone who can die in a blow of a wind so they all try to atleast make my life a bit better.

But I don't want to be a pitiful person. Not anymore. My existence of 15 years in the past taught me that living like a living corpse is nothing different than an actual corpse. It was hell. Now that I have a second chance, I will change my past!

Though it's hard changing into something I am not.

I smile.

"Really?"

"Yes." She nods once to reassure.

(ALKANIA EMPERIAL PALACE)

ALEXANDER

I place the documents down from my hand and rub my eyes to rest. Sigh. Then I stand up to walk over to the full size windows behind my desk and watch the heavy rainfall. It's dark and gloomy outside like every month of September. Sigh.

Days like this always make me wonder.... How is my daughter Alkanasia? What food has she eaten today? Is she taking her medicine well? Has she gotten better? For many years, those questions are still the same as before.

All these years, I have been investigating the assassination of my wife and my youngest daughter. Five years ago, I found out that the Second Princess Kariah, my second wife, was the one who plotted all of this. I could not harm her as that could harm not only the whole Empire, but also my children. So to save everything I own and everyone I love, I followed her every request, making her the new Empress of Alkan United Empire.

But behind her back, I've secretly slowly built up a secret assassination camp to help me to take over of Inakin Kingdom and have her and her father's crimes be exposed. One day... I'll find the time to do that. One day, I'll find my way to my get rid of these villains.

Thankfully, on the day Alkanasia was born, I gave her to Cassie's most trusted head maid to be brought to the Cold palace and keep her safe. That palace is one of the unknown palaces I owned. One that is supposed to be a gift for my dead wife, Cassiopeia.

After her death, I've arranged for people to stay at the Cold palace. All the maids and servants that stayed there stays there forever. Once they step out of the palace, they die.

It was arranged for Alkanasia's identity to be kept hidden from the public eye and safe from the group of assassins.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"Your Majesty? It is me, Sir Harold?"

Alkanasia's private doctor! That man is the only one I've allowed that can leave and enter the cold palace safely as he is my messenger.

"Please, come in" Doctor Harold walks in and I lead him to sit down.

"Doctor, tell me, how is my daughter?" Doctor Harold pauses and takes a deep breath. Observing from his actions, things are not going as well as I hoped.

"Doctor, please be at ease. Tell me... How is my Alkanasia?"

"Well... Your Majesty," he takes another deep breath and as he is letting it out, he says.

"The young princess is getting worse." The Doctor's tensed body tightened more, but that is none of my concern now as all of the world suddenly became blurry.

My chest felt as if it is being stabbed by a sharp knife. I know for a fact that my daughter hasn't been doing well since birth and I thought I was prepared to hear the doctor's words... Unfortunately my insides twisting here and there that makes me feel uneasy is saying otherwise.

"Doctor please, tell me in detail." The doctor goes on about Alkanasia's situation and I tried my best to hold myself from breaking.

.

.

.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"It is my honor, Your Majesty. I will find a cure to make the young princess better." The Doctor leaves.

My heavy body strides towards my desk and there, I let myself fall. Looking over at the top drawer on my right, I open it and pull out a picture of my daughter back when she was still an infant. Her sweet smile, so innocent, so bright. It was her first smile... How I wish to cradle her in my arms now.

Her first step, her first word, her first laugh... I missed them all. I clench my aching chest that's been becoming more and more tight every second. My beautiful, beautiful daughter...

All these emotions that have piled up for many years slowly begin to unfold. These feelings I've put together to make a wall that would protect me from breaking have finally crashed down. Layer by layer.

I clench my hand tighter and I grit my teeth. I feel the anger rise but suddenly become sadness then slowly turns into guilt.

I know I couldn't hold it anymore, so I let my tears run down. I wail with guilt and I grieve with regret. The idea of a father hearing his dying daughter's beating heart is haunting my very existence.

Oh Cassie, what should I do? Will it be too late to beg her for forgiveness? Will it be too late to tell her that I do miss her? I want to show her how much I care for her. I want to let her know that I am not prepared to lose her just as how I did you. I love her very, very much...

Cassie, please guide me to find my way back to our only daughter.

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@Utopian typewriter

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