Prologue: The Lady is Depress

In the shadows of a modern city's towering structures, Rana bore the weight of a darkness that seemed to seep into her very soul. She appreciates the full moon that illuminated light around her. It was a time where only darkness envelopes every side of the city. The world around her spun in a relentless dance of indifference, a symphony of apathy that drowned out her silent cries for understanding. She stood there, aimlessly gazing at the buildings her eyes could possibly seen."In a city that never sleeps, how could one feel so utterly alone?" she whispered to herself, feeling the emptiness echo in her heart.

The passing night wind caressed her cheeks. That makes her shiver for a moment. Her legs that suspended in the air, trembled slightly because of the surging chill brought by the cold wind.

The night street hummed with a subdued glow from streetlights casting long shadows across the pavement. A gentle breeze carried the distant sound of cars whizzing by, their headlights slicing through the darkness. Occasionally, a car horn pierced the tranquil air, echoing off the silent facades of buildings. The city's heartbeat pulsed softly, accompanied by the occasional footsteps of late-night wanderers, creating a serene yet dynamic urban symphony under the night sky.

This sceneric view was finally my last. I felt a little strange thinking about my decision.

It could be my greatest mistake. If I survive, I might end up regretting it. But survival was never the plan.

All of her energy was drained by all her emotions.

Have you ever met someone who seems to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders? It's like they've lived through every storm life could throw at them, and now they're just standing there, weathered and worn out.

My eyes held stories of heartbreak and disappointment, yet I still managed to muster a smile when needed. But behind that smile was a soul weary from years of battling against the tide, against expectations, against my own demons.

My spirit weighed down by a lifetime of abandonment and abuse. You could see it in the lines etched upon my face, the way my eyes held a mixture of sorrow and resignation. I had weathered storms that would break most people, yet somehow endured, carrying scars that ran deeper than the eye could see.

I often wondered how I kept going, what kept me from succumbing to the weight of all I carried. Maybe it was resilience, or maybe just sheer stubbornness. Or perhaps it was the faint flicker of hope that, despite everything, whispered that tomorrow might be better.

I used to wake up with a spark, a flicker of hope that today might be different. But now? Now it's just a heavy weight pressing down on me, every morning, every moment. I'm tired. Tired of fighting, tired of pretending everything is okay. It's like I'm trapped in this cycle of disappointment and despair, and I can't find the strength to break free.

Life used to hold promise, dreams I could reach for. Now it feels like those dreams were just illusions, slipping through my fingers like sand. Every effort I make, every step forward, it's met with resistance, setbacks that knock me down harder each time. How long can a person keep getting back up before they just can't anymore?

Everytime I look around and see everyone else seemingly moving forward, finding happiness, achieving their goals. And here I am, struggling just to get through the day. It's exhausting to keep up this facade, pretending I'm okay when inside, I'm crumbling. The smiles are forced, the laughter hollow. I don't remember the last time I felt genuine joy, the kind that fills your heart and makes you forget about everything else.

I'm not sure when it happened, when the weight of it all became too much to bear. Maybe it was the constant setbacks, the heartbreaks, the betrayals. Or maybe it was just the accumulation of years of disappointment, slowly eroding away any hope I had left. Whatever it was, here I am, standing on the edge of a decision I never thought I'd face.

One fateful evening, as the city lights flickered like distant stars, Rana made a choice that defied the logic of the living.

She lowered her head slightly and looked down at her feet. With each step towards the edge of a looming precipice, she carried a burden heavier than the concrete beneath her feet—a burden of sorrow, of loneliness that no one could fathom. "If only someone had seen the cracks in my facade," she thought, her eyes filled with unspoken pain.

"If I fall here, I'm surely done for."

Despite her fear of heights, she never thought she could gather all her courage to stand tall in a 10-story building.

She thought she would stagger and feel dizzy, but surprisingly, she felt rather comfortable with the height, finding solace in the wind that occasionally embraced her.

A briefly memories flashed through her mind.

When I think back on my life, it's like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down into a dark, swirling abyss. It's not just the memories that haunt me; it's the feelings that come rushing back, like a tidal wave of pain and betrayal.

I was just a kid when it all started. My parents, they were supposed to be my safe haven, my anchors in this chaotic world. But instead, they left me adrift. Abandoned. It's a feeling that never quite goes away, you know? That sense of being unwanted, of not being enough to keep them around.

And then there was the bullying. Kids can be so cruel, so relentless. I was an easy target, I guess. Maybe it was because I was already carrying this weight of abandonment, this aura of vulnerability. They sensed it, and they pounced. Day after day, it chipped away at me. Words like knives, actions like punches to the gut

And the abuse... God, that's a whole other level of darkness. To have someone you should trust, someone who should protect you, instead use their power to hurt you... It leaves scars that run deeper than any physical wound. It's like a poison that seeps into your soul, twisting everything inside.

Every day was hell. I never thought about dying because I really wanted to live I persevered. I kept on enduring and enduring it.

The false hope that someday it will be okay. I comforted myself by repeating it million of times. With that thought I endured the hell until now.

It's funny how life unfolds. When I look back now, I realize I spent so much time living in this bubble of hope, thinking things would eventually fall into place. I held onto dreams like they were lifelines, convinced that if I just kept believing, everything would work out.

But now, staring reality in the face, I see it for what it really was: delusion. All those hopes I clung to so desperately, they were just illusions I created to shield myself from the harsh truths of life. I wanted so badly to believe that my efforts would be enough, that my dreams were within reach.

I thought if I just worked harder, sacrificed more, things would magically turn around. But they didn't. Each setback, each disappointment chipped away at my optimism, until there was nothing left but this hollow feeling of betrayal by my own naivety.

I built castles in the air, only to watch them crumble at the slightest breeze. I painted a picture of a future that was bright and full of promise, only to wake up one day and realize it was all smoke and mirrors.And now, here I am, facing the cold truth that hope alone isn't enough. It doesn't pay the bills, it doesn't heal broken relationships, it doesn't undo the mistakes of the past. It's a bitter pill to swallow, realizing that my belief in a brighter tomorrow was just a coping mechanism, a way to survive the uncertainty and chaos of life.

"It will be over now."

She heaved a sigh of relief.

And jumped

The wind roars past my ears, drowning out every sound, even my own scream. The cityscape blurs beneath me, a dizzying mosaic of lights and shadows. My heart races, pounding so violently that it feels like it might burst through my chest. I’ve never felt more alive, yet I’m plummeting towards the inevitable.Time stretches, each second an eternity. In this brief moment, every regret, every lost opportunity flashes through my mind. Faces of loved ones, memories of laughter, and the ache of what could have been. The cold air bites at my skin, and a shiver runs down my spine, but it’s nothing compared to the icy fear gripping my heart.The ground rushes up to meet me, a relentless force of gravity pulling me down. There’s a strange mix of terror and exhilaration, a paradoxical cocktail of dread and liberation. My stomach lurches, my limbs flail, instinctively searching for something to hold on to, something to stop the fall. But there’s nothing. Only the empty air and the certainty of impact.For a fleeting instant, a thought pierces the chaos: What if? What if I had stayed? What if I had chosen differently? But it’s too late for what-ifs. All that’s left is the descent, the final surrender to the pull of the earth.And then, just before everything ends, a surreal calm washes over me. Acceptance, maybe. Or resignation. The city below sharpens into focus, and I brace for the end, feeling both a part of this world and utterly detached from it. This is it. The final moment.

As she plunged into the abyss of her own despair, a cosmic hand reached out, wrenching her from the clutches of mortality. In a whirlwind of sensations that blurred the boundaries of reality, Rana found herself torn from the fabric of her existence, thrust into a realm not her own. "Am I being given a second chance, or is this just another cruel twist of fate?" she wondered as reality slipped away.

When her eyes fluttered open once more, she stood amidst the opulence of a grand estate—a place she knew, yet had never truly seen. It was Voughn Castle Mansion, a setting from the pages of a novel that once cradled her in its tales of romance and intrigue. "How strange to find myself in the world of a story where I once sought solace," she mused, feeling the surreal twist of destiny.

But as Rana's gaze swept over the grandeur that surrounded her, a realization dawned like a specter in the night—a realization that she was no longer herself. Instead, she inhabited the form and essence of Arabella Voughn Castle, the lady unloved within the ducal family, a character she once admired for her unwavering cheerfulness in the face of neglect. "Arabella, who bore her burdens with a smile—can I ever be as strong?" Rana questioned, feeling the weight of her new identity.

As the threads of fate intertwined around her, Rana, now Arabella, felt a chilling metamorphosis take hold. The once vibrant and resilient Arabella, who had danced through life's shadows with a smile on her lips, now bore the weight of Rana's sorrow. In this twisted dance of existence, as the Lady Is Depress, Arabella's laughter faded into the echoes of a past she never lived, while Rana's anguish found a new vessel in a world where even the brightest souls could be consumed by darkness. "Even the strongest hearts can break under the weight of unseen sorrow," she thought, a tear tracing down her cheek.

****************

In the grand halls of Voughn Castle, a heavy silence hung in the air, suffocating the very essence of the once vibrant Arabella. The lady who had once danced through life with a smile on her lips now bore the weight of unrequited love, her heart aching with the resounding of neglect. "How cruel is the silence of those who once mattered most," she sighed, feeling the emptiness close in around her.

As she stood alone in the dimly lit chamber, the shadows of the past seemed to whisper cruel truths in her ear. Arabella's eyes, once bright with hope, now reflected a deep well of sorrow that no amount of cheerfulness could mask. The ducal family, blind to her sacrifices and blind to her love, had turned their backs on her, leaving her to wither in the shadows of their indifference. "Why is love so often met with cold indifference?" she lamented, her heart heavy with unspoken grief.

The sounds of their laughter, their mocking whispers, reverberated through the stone walls, a haunting chorus that pierced Arabella's fragile heart. She had given them her all, poured out her love like a river flowing endlessly, only to receive crumbs of affection in return. "Is there no end to the cruelty of those who take love for granted?" she wondered, feeling her spirit fracture with each mocking echo.

As tears welled in her eyes, Arabella's breath caught in her throat, a sob escaping her lips like a desperate plea for understanding. But the walls of Voughn Castle remained deaf to her cries, unmoved by the pain that clawed at her soul. "Even in a palace, I am but a prisoner of my own heartache," she whispered, her voice trembling with despair.

And At that moment of utter despair, as the weight of unrequited love bore down on her like a leaden cloak, Arabella crumbled to her knees, her spirit broken, her heart shattered beyond repair. In the silence of that chamber, she whispered a final farewell to a world that had never truly seen her, a world that had failed to grasp the depth of her love and the magnitude of her sorrow. With a heavy heart and a soul weighed down by the burden of loneliness, Arabella, the lady unloved within the ducal family, surrendered to the shadows that had long haunted her existence, her spirit fading into the darkness filled with unspoken pain.

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