Later that night, using the excuse of resting due to her long illness, Jacinta stayed in her room the entire day.
She took a deep breath, clutching Nanny Giselda's bracelet — the last gift he gave her before the Empress had her fired. It was a simple piece, made of three silver strings laced together, adorned with four white pearls, representing the four of them, Judea, Jacinta, Judith and Joaquin. Her siblings also had the same bracelets.
Jacinta traced the smooth pearls, her mind drifting.
From the moment she was born, she had always felt like an outsider. Like someone watching from afar, as though life was nothing more than a scripted movie. She didn't even know what a movie was, yet somehow the term lingered in her mind. It was like a distant memory from another life, slipping through the cracks.
Now, with fragments of those memories returning, everything was becoming clearer.
Even before Jacinta remembered, she knew from the endless historical accounts She had read that her mother's greed would only lead to tragedy.
There were times Jacinta secretly hoped she would succeed — not for the throne, but for their survival. If she failed, it wasn't only her fate that would be sealed. 'We, her children, would be dragged down with her.'
But now, that foolish wish had shattered.
The memories confirmed what Jacinta feared most. No matter what, the consequences of her crimes would come for us. In five years, the emperor would succumb to an incurable disease. Everyone believed the crown prince was dead, but he would return — alive and unrelenting. By his side would be his twin sister and the female lead, a knight and the daughter of a duke.
Together, they would reclaim the throne. And the first act of their justice? The execution of the Empress and her children.
Treason. Murder. Attempted regicide.
Because of their mother's greed, their lives would end in blood.
Jacinta clenched my fists, the cold metal of the window railing biting into her skin.
'Why?'
'We are innocent. My siblings are just children. Why should we pay for their sins?
Just because we were born with the same blood of that woman, did that mean we deserved to suffer?'
'Hah.' Jacinta grabbed her coat, and slipped out. Sleep was impossible.
Through the concealed passageway beyond a picture frame of a bronze flower vase in her room, she made her way to the palace gardens. A secluded space where carnations and sunflowers bloomed — remnants of the first Empress's meticulous care. Even after her death, the Emperor ensured it remained untouched, a tribute to her memory.
This garden was one of Jacinta's sanctuary. The current Empress never set foot here, uninterested in anything that didn't serve her ambitions. And Jacinta wanted nothing to do with her either.
Jacinta approached the fountain, the water shimmering beneath the moonlight. Her reflection stared back at her. 'Platinum hair, like my mother's, and golden eyes — the undeniable mark of royalty, inherited from her father.'
But her half-siblings… they were different. The eldest twins bore crimson hair, a legacy of the first Empress, though their golden eyes remained a symbol of their bloodline.
'Unlike us, they had been sent to war as soon as they turned fourteen. A cruel consequence of the Empress's schemes.'
Yet fate had other plans.
After two years from the time they were sent to war at 14, Matthias returned not only victorious but as a swordmaster — a title reserved for the rarest of warriors. His twin, Martina, awakened the dual elemental powers of water and fire, a legendary gift that only graced a handful of nobles once a century. Their triumph sealed their place in the imperial line.
As for the Empress's daughters, their magical abilities were underwhelming — nothing compared to the legendary powers of the first Empress' children.
But when Jacinta's youngest brother was born, everything changed. He bore the mark of a future swordmaster. The Empress' obsession grew tenfold. She pinned all her hopes on him, believing he would secure her grasp on the throne.
Yet none of it would matter in the end.
No amount of power could prevent their downfall if the future unfolded as she remembered.
Jacinta raised her hand, and a small speck of light flickered from her palm. It hovered, glowing like a lone firefly in the dark. 'This was the extent of my magic — delicate and fleeting.'
"But I do wish to have some cheat ability too. Well I guess, the memories of the coming future are already a cheat in self." Jacinta looked at the hovering book above her. "The question is how much can my knowledge and reincarnation affect the future that is written in this book?"
"Jacinta, you don't have a fever anymore?"
Jacinta turned around at the sound of her younger brother's voice. Her expression brightened.
"Joaquin!" She smiled, motioning for him to sit beside her. He inclined his head and took the seat at her right.