Chapter 8 Past Life 1

• "Good morning, Your Highness!" The loud voices of six women standing near Trinia's bed startled her awake, causing her to jolt out of bed and land on the ground. They had rudely interrupted her beauty sleep, and she wondered who these voices belonged to.
• "Are you alright, Your Highness?" Aneeka rushed to Trinia's side, finding her sprawled on the ground with her eyes closed. "Your Highness," Aneeka knelt beside her, concerned.
• Trinia groaned and fluttered her eyes open. "What is going on?" She looked up at the faces looming over her. Counting their heads, she realized there were six of them, all females. "Who are they?" Trinia grasped Aneeka's hand as she helped her up.
• "Your Highness!" The servants greeted Trinia once again.
• "Stop that," Trinia said, sitting on her bed. She rubbed her forehead and turned to Aneeka, repeating her question. "Who are they?"
• "These are the new servants the king has assigned to you," Aneeka informed her.
• "All of them?" Trinia widened her eyes, glancing at each of the girls who kept their heads lowered. "There's no way I need this many servants," Trinia complained, sighing. "All of you, please leave." She ordered them.
• "No, Your Highness," the girls refused to comply, remaining in the room.
• Trinia let out another sigh and stood up from her bed. "I cannot possibly have this many servants," she counted the girls and turned to Aneeka. "You are enough for me."
• Aneeka shook her head and walked toward the other servants. In unison, they recited a few words. "Luna Vanessa, you are our Queen, and we will serve you forever!" They repeated the words twice, but before they could repeat them a third time, Trinia yelled at them.
• "Enough!" She shouted, pointing to the door. "Please leave my room now!"
• "No, Your Highness," they all chorused.
• Trinia facepalmed and pointed at the door again. "I said leave!" She shouted, rushing towards the door. The girls followed closely behind, but when she opened the door and stepped backward, they hesitated and took a step back. "Get out," she calmly requested, rubbing her forehead due to the growing headache. Trinia had expected to wake up to a pleasant morning, but Ansel had ruined it by assigning her servants she didn't even want.
• "Your Highness," Aneeka stood beside her, trying to explain. "We can't go against the king's orders. If we disobey him, it could lead to our deaths."
• Trinia clenched her fists and let out a scream of frustration. "Why does he always have to ruin everything?" She yelled. "Ansel!" Trinia closed her eyes as she mentioned his name. "I am going to kill you, and..." She stopped talking when Aneeka nudged her on the shoulder.
• Unbeknownst to Trinia, Ansel had approached the entrance of the room, watching her as she called his name. When the servants tried to speak, he silenced them with a gesture.
• "What is going on?" Trinia opened her eyes and turned to Aneeka, who pointed towards the door, where Ansel stood. Trinia visibly gulped as she faced Ansel. "Your... Highness?" Trinia faked a smile at him.
• "Your Highness!" All the servants fell to the ground, their heads bowed.
• "I didn't know you were..." Trinia scratched the back of her head. "I wanted to come and..."
• "Come to me?" Ansel scoffed, moving closer to her as she moved backward. "Moments ago, you were shouting my name disrespectfully, without using the proper honorifics!"
• "I don't need all of these servants," Trinia retorted, her confusion growing. She had no understanding of why Ansel was making such a fuss about his name. In her world, Trinia didn't need to address anyone with honorifics except for the president, whom she had never met.
• "How dare you call me by my name?" Ansel's voice dropped low, laced with a threatening tone that made Trinia take two more steps backward. "You have no idea what a severe punishment that is. Just because you lost your memory or are pretending to have, doesn't mean I will allow you to act like a fool, disrespect me, and then act as if nothing is wrong!" He shouted at her.
• Startled, Trinia jumped in fear and stumbled backward, almost falling to the ground. Ansel rushed towards her, extending his hand to help her, but their interaction only resulted in both of them falling to the ground, leaving the room in sudden silence. Ansel found himself lying on top of Trinia, his hands by her sides. "Your Highness," Trinia let out a low grunt, breaking the silence.
• Ansel raised his head from her chest, gazing into her eyes. They locked eyes for a few seconds until Trinia placed her hands on Ansel's chest. "Your Highness, you are too heavy!" She said, lowering her hands to his waist.
• "Stop touching me!" Ansel exclaimed, quickly standing up and distancing himself from Trinia's body. "This matter will be addressed later," he declared before hastily leaving the room.
• Once Ansel was out of sight, all the servants rose to their feet. Aneeka approached Trinia and helped her up from the ground. "That jerk!" Trinia shouted in frustration.
• "Your Highness, "Your Highness, you cannot use such language," Aneeka warned her, assisting her back towards the bed.
• Trinia let out a heavy sigh and collapsed onto the bed. "How did my life turn out like this?" She stared at the chandelier above her, feeling overwhelmed. However, her thoughts soon drifted back to the moment when Ansel fell on top of her. That image lingered in her mind, and even as Aneeka tried to speak to her, she found herself lost in her world.
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• "Oh my!" Trinia exclaimed, flopping onto her bed as she returned to her room. She had spent hours standing during the Luna Queen training that Ansel had forced her to participate in. "I despise him!" Trinia punched her pillow in frustration and let out a sigh. She had every right to feel resentful towards Ansel and the events of the day. First, he had imposed numerous servants upon her whom she never even wanted, and then he had compelled her to attend the training. Finally, in the evening, Trinia had some time to herself. She lay on her bed, shifting to her right side where her dressing table stood. Suddenly, she remembered the green book that belonged to Vanessa. With a burst of energy, she leaped out of bed and headed toward the dressing table. Carefully picking up the green book, she returned to her bed. "I'm sorry for intruding, Vanessa, but I need to uncover who you truly are and the life you've lived." Trinia opened the book and began reading the first sentence that caught her eye. "My life is filled with bitterness."
• ~~~
• Vanessa's Diary
• Year of the Sun I have longed to write about this for a while now. If I had the chance, I would go back to the day of my birth and start penning my story anew. I learned from my Aunt Anora that I am a powerful witch, born as the daughter of a once-mighty witch who succumbed to greed and turned evil. I should have perished, but Aunt Anora took me in as her own until her death, leaving me as an outcast. I was banished to the outskirts of the town, left to fend for myself. Diary, you are the only one I can confide in, for whenever I recall my past, I am left wondering why I was fated to live rather than die. Alone, I began hunting for food at the tender age of nine. A young girl, abandoned in the wild. They could have killed me, yet they left me alive because I held significance to them. I was destined to possess the pen created by the goddesses who sought to balance life and death. When I turned ten, they came to my humble abode and brought me back to town. I was filled with hope, thinking I had returned home, but they only sought the pen I possessed. Supposedly, my powers were to manifest when I reached ten, yet after numerous attempts, nothing happened. "She is cursed!" they exclaimed. "Kill her! She does not deserve to live!" I swore I would perish that day, as I witnessed their malevolent glares, their desire for my demise. Miraculously, I survived once again. He saved me. The leader of the clan rescued me, and I thought he would be different from the others, but he turned out to be the worst. That was when my true suffering began. "Your Highness," Aneeka walked into the room, causing Trinia to swiftly cover the book and hide it beneath her pillow. "What is the matter?" Trinia sat up, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Is something wrong?" she inquired. "I came to check on you," Aneeka replied. "Alright," Trinia smiled at her. "As you can see, I am fine," she lied, though she was far from it. She was eager to learn more about Vanessa's story, but Aneeka was unknowingly hindering her from delving further into the diary.