Ch. 1

The air was filled with the smell of blood. One could understand easily that this was the place of wars.

A brown haired woman in armor stood still in the middle of the corpses that belonged to her enemies. Lenais Poen, despite surrounded by dead bodies, she was dazed by herself as she was thinking of her beloved ones.

The girl had a very stunning face and a delicate air loves to twirls around her, yet the girl brought another victory to her beloved country.

She was a general of an empire named Shern. She was a strong woman with a strong background. She has fought many wars, battlefield is her second home. The reason she was willing to fight while facing death every time, was because of that person, the crown prince.

'He said he loves me and cherishes me more than anything, so I want to give him victories and happiness.' was what she always thinks about.

But...One day, when she visited her beloved prince, she found him cheating. He slept with another woman. Her body freezed, she didn't want to believe her eyes and instead, she asked him, hoping that it was a mistake, but he, instead, imprisoned her... He said he did not know her and she trespassed illegally. As if it was not enough, her own family also turned their backs against her.

'Why? I gave everything to them... And ThIs Is hOW ThEy treAT Me?!

Unforgivable, unforgivable! I'll make them pay...'

With her skills and her strength, she easily escaped the prison. She took down the empire's manpower, little by little, torturing them with despair. She then killed her own family, the nobles and everyone in the palace, she spared no one.

Finally, she aimed for the terrified royals. she killed them brutally and smiled one more time for the prince who was then got slitted on his throat.

The palace was drown with red crimson blood all over the ground and walls. She stood there all alone while the others are laying on the ground, lifeless. She slowly lifted her hands that was covered in red and widen her eyes slowly as if she has finally woken up.

"... what?"

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The little girl opens her eyes in shock.

All those scenes flow into her head without a sign of stopping.

"No!" She screams as she sits up, pressing her head with her two cold hands.

"Sona! Sona! You finally awake!" The mother of hers, Nichole Ein Vallade, exclaims and cries while she hugs her lovely daughter.

"... Mom?" The girl called Sona shutters, she tries to gather her thoughts as she is still haunted by what she saw.

What was that? That girl had my face... Was that me? It felt to real to be a dream, will that happen in the future...? No... our empire is not Shern... perhaps...

As she keeps herself busy in her thoughts, the door bursts open and reveals three men from the other side.

"Sona!!! You're awake!!" A man with black hair runs to her first. His name is Edwin Vallade, the second son of the Vallade Dukedom. He is 5 years older that Sona.

"My dearest daughter! I thought I won't be able to see you again!" The shouts continued by her father, one of the Duke of The Empire, Geraldene Vallade.

While Sona's oldest brother, who is seven years older, Albert Vallade remains silent, his black dark hair covers his eyes as he leans to the walls, but a smile is formed on his face.

"Calm down dad! Brother Ed! What happened?? My memories are fuzzy..." She asks as she is confused.

"You don't remember?" Albert asks as he brushes his little sister's hair gently. She shake her head in return.

"My dear daughter, you fell into the 'Deep Water' when you accompanied me in the Imperial Palace. It was your first time going to the Palace and you looked like you were having fun in the garden, I don't dare to disturb you. But then, I heard you fell into that place. How could you do this to your dad, Sona!" Her dad whines in sadness as he explains to her, "Not to mention how scary your mother was when she learned about this accident."

Sona laughs and smiles softly after hearing her silly father.

But I fell? Was I that reckless?

The 'Deep Water' in the Imperial Palace is located in the West Palace, Silver Palace. The Silver Palace was originally a palace that was given to the Empress by the late Emperor. The 'Deep Water' inside its garden was discovered not long after several servants drowned there. Since the truth has been revealed, people are scared to get close to it, no one dared to get close to it because many people died in there, that includes the current Emperor's mother who fell some decades ago. Since then, Silver Palace has been abandoned, only few people come there to keep the place clean.

I fell to a place like that and I'm still alive and well?!

"How was I able to get out from there?" She asks. She has a hard time believing that a mere 10 years old girl survived after falling to a place where many adults died.

"It was a miracle! Really! The water that is supposed to pulled everyone and everything in, was calm. That's why we were able to pull you out easily." Duke Geraldene says, his face shows just how much glad he is.

"What did you do, Sona? That was incredible!" Edwin asks, looked excited.

"I didn't do anything..." She mumbles then goes quiet as that dream when she was unconscious strikes again in her head.

Is it connected to my dream? No, what was that really? It felt too vivid too be a simple nightmare. Judging from the surroundings, perhaps it was something that happened a long time ago? Like a novel I read, where past lives exist...

"Sona, are you alright? You look pale..." Albert asks. She jumps a bit when she realized her brother's face was in front of her.

"Yes... I just need to rest for a bit more." She replies after and smiles.

"Aww? Don't you think you need my hug to calm down, Sonnie?" Her second brother asks as he approaches her, but got held by the older one.

"Just stay still if you don't want her condition to get worse." He sighs and pulls Edwin away from Sona.

"Alright then, Sona. Have a good rest okay?" Geraldene says and orders everyone in her room to leave.

"Call me if something happens or if you feel something is wrong!" Nichole says with a worried tone as she grabs her daughter's small hands. Everyone move away from Sona's room, leaving the young lady alone, as her own request.

Sona lies again on the bed as she stares at the ceiling.

"If what I saw really is my past life... That's terrible..." She mumbles to herself as she frowns.

Really, what a tragic life. It makes me feel more grateful to have a good family.

... Let's not think about that.

She slaps her cheeks, making them slightly red. She then gets down from her bed and walks towards the mirror. She touches the mirror as she looks closely to her light blue eyes. And then touch her hair too.

my eyes and hair were in different colours. I wonder what would it feel like to have a brown hair instead of peach? But I like my pastel too...

She thought as she twirls her hair and smiles. But soon after, her gaze becomes slightly serious.

"... A general..." She mutters.

To be fair, our family has always been the sword of the Empire from generations. Vallades are known to be the best military forces. Is it fate that I will become a swordwoman again? After all, I think I can be more familiar with swords and other weapon because of that past. Huhu, I am pretty lucky, aren't I?

She thinka as she gets a little too excited.

Hmm... Should I learn military arts too?

Sona smiles at her new goal.

Oondora Empire is a strong empire that rule over the whole continent in the north. They have the biggest force than any other empires in the entire continent. Other than the imperial family, there are three dukedoms.

The first is the royal duke, Colheln Helstle Oondora, as the duke of the Helstle dukedom. He is the emperor, Georlen Rousich Oondora's older brother. He, who was the crowned prince, gave his tittle to his third brother after the rebel of the second prince. He choosed to help his brother instead of becoming a ruler himself, therefore, he became the duke and is known for his wise actions.

Then, there is Dukedom of Vallade, the current Duke is Geraldene Vallade, Sona's father. The Vallade family is known as the sword of the empire. Sometimes they were to be called the shield too. Vallade family, who vowed to protect the empire, from generation to generation, never failed to bring victory to the empire. Many says that they are very much likely equal to the Royal Duke, but with the great respect and loyalty towards the imperial bloodline, they have never step onto that great title. And this is why, Vallades are adored by the royals.

On the other side, Duke Veilthon, is a also great but due to the fame that the Vallades have, they have always been the second to them. With that, for many decades, Duke Veilthon and Vallade are never on the good term, plus, Duke Veilthon is siding with the aristocrats and Vallade to the Imperials. Even the duchy of Veilthon and Vallade are located in opposite ways. The current duke is Walrn Veilthon.

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