CH 2

“What kind of nightmare is this? What do you mean, Liviatan is doomed?”

Dreams that I couldn’t control sometimes surprised me, but this was too much.

I wiped my cold sweat and looked down at my trembling little hands.

“Even the Empire falls? Am-am I going to die?”

Obviously, as long as the two older sisters were here, our family wouldn’t be able to achieve success.

I tore my hair out and let out a silent scream.

“I thought I was living a comfortable and quiet life…!”

It was still midnight, so I couldn’t scream.

“What the hell is going on…”

I drew my knees together and leaned against them.

A very deep sigh broke out.

If the older sisters saw it, they could criticize it, saying, ‘Don’t show a weak appearance’ but now I couldn’t afford to care.

“…If I knew this would happen, I would have forced myself to wake up instead of keep watching.”

It was just that the older sisters were so cold and unlucky today, so I was even more upset than usual.

Still, I wanted to be helpful to my sisters, so I just kept watching the future, thinking this dream might be helpful to them.

“What should I do if they destroy me by telling me not to put a burden on the family?”

At least one of them inherited the duke, and the other would go a different route for the glory of the family.

But the content of the dream was different from the future I had vaguely expected.

My sisters who were being taken away for conspiring with the demons to seek treason, the knights who were likely to have them executed at any moment, and my parents who begged pitifully.

After that, the Empire, which had become a mess after the duke’s treason, walked the path of destruction due to the invasion of demons, and the dream came to an end.

The ability to see the future around me through dreams hadn’t been taken seriously because it had shown trivial things so far.

However, it gave me a glimpse of true misfortune for the first time today, and my body trembled with fear.

‘It’s different from the dreams I’ve had.’

The dreams used to show me about small events happening around me…

“I end up here.”

I had no choice but to let out a sound full of disappointment on my own in a terrible dream.

Perhaps because I peeked into the future through a dream, my whole body sank without energy.

“But it’s a little strange. Why is it so vivid as if I’ve experienced it myself?”

I felt so tired that I couldn’t stand it.

The tiredness didn’t go away as if I had experienced a life that I had endured with a body that would collapse at any moment.

The thought of dying horribly didn’t stop.

I guess I’m dead in the future.

“Damn it.”

It wasn’t something that would come out of the mouth of an 18-year-old noble girl, but I couldn’t stand it without swearing.

Unlike other people, even if I was born with a small and weak body, even if I don’t have anything special on the outside!

I thought I would be able to live happily and laugh with my whole family someday.

To do that, I promised to find out what I could do, but the end was the destruction of the family.

“It’s wrong. The family has committed treason and failed, leading to the end of the Empire. That’s a disaster.”

There was no way I could stop such a huge thing with my humble body.

My beliefs began to falter in the face of a shocking future.

“Since I have enough pocket money, wouldn’t it be better to run away? Poporian Island is a neutral area, so I might be able to live there alone.”

What if I save money and go into exile before the Empire collapsed?

No, if I abandon this identity in the first place and live as a commoner, wouldn’t my obligation to take responsibility for treason disappear?

“It’s too much for me in the first place.”

For a moment, my eyes sparkled with hope, but it quickly faded away.

“Then what should I do with my parents…?”

A benevolent but responsible father certainly wouldn’t run away from such circumstances.

A mother with a kind but upright conviction would also stand by.

“And my sisters…”

Although they were unlucky because they thought they were superior, they left scars by saying mean things every day.

“They’re family. How can I leave them?”

Of course, unlike my parents, they hated me, but they were a very precious family to me.

Hating my sisters just because they hate me is ugly.

‘But is there anything I can do…? Wouldn’t it be best to just sneak away?’

Yeah, obviously not… Not without them.

Now it was year 573 of the Empire, so what happened in the dream was two years from now.

Why should I be so scared of something that hasn’t even happened yet?

‘I know the future, so maybe I can change it…?’

With that thought, I slowly looked back on my dream and thought of the problematic situation.

‘First of all, my sisters’ biggest sin is becoming a heretic. Joining hands with the demons and bringing down the Imperial family... It’s treason.’

But this sin didn’t make sense.

No one knew that Liviatan’s godfather was from the Imperial family and that he was trying to do anything to protect his power.

The power of Liviatan’s godfather was also shared by the Imperial family, so they wouldn’t have had the same opinion.

‘My sisters who were educated by Grandmother couldn’t have made that decision.’

Above all, the First Prince and Princess whom I had seen in my dream were trampled on by my eyes.

‘I heard that the First Prince and the Princess don’t get along well. They didn’t seem to have a bad relationship in my dream. But they didn’t seem close. It’s as if they were in an alliance for a while.’

I didn’t know the details, but I wondered if my sisters were involved in the power struggle of the Emperor.

I didn’t know who my sisters supported, but they must have grabbed the rotten rope.

‘Anyone would have asked for cooperation because they wanted to borrow the power of Liviatan. I’m sure my sisters accepted it for the family. And they were sacrificed for power.’

In the end, they were ruined due to the wrong investments.

“I can’t let my sisters step into the Crown Prince’s selection…!”

Although they hated me now and criticized me for being useless, they were precious sisters to me.

‘And this is something only a person who knows the future can do.’

My eyes sparkled at the thought of doing something for my family, for my sisters.

“Yeah, I can’t let my family die just because we’re unlucky.”

I made up my mind.

The dream I happened to have must be an opportunity God gave me.

You must have given me the task of preventing future tragedies.

It might be a little difficult, but it was my family’s job and, furthermore, it was for the Empire, so I would have to overcome this.

“Okay. Then I’ll try to get closer to my sisters from tomorrow on.”

Until now, we hated being close to each other so I had lived with a moderate amount of self-consciousness, but not tomorrow.

“For a peaceful future, it’s okay to have a small wound in my heart. Let’s do our best tomorrow, Daisy!”

When I came to a neat conclusion on my own, sleep came to my tired body, perhaps because of the shock of the dream.

But I didn’t know at this time.

That the conclusions that I made freely in my head didn’t lead to a happy ending like in the fairy tales.

✲ ✲ ✲

“Let’s give up. Let’s run away.”

I slammed my head against the wall.

‘You want some tea? I’m really sick of it. I don’t have time to spare for you.’

Again today, I was rejected for tea time.

When I was alone with my head against the wall, Viola, my second sister, who left after uttering those bad words, turned around.

Normally, I would have gotten up right away, smiled, and managed my expression, but I didn’t want to pay attention anymore.

‘What do you care? You won’t like me no matter what I do.’

If you’re going to look at me like that anyway…

It’s better to just do whatever I want and receive those eyes.

‘Oh, I think I’m going to cry.’

I thought I was accustomed to being constantly slapped, hit, and watched by my sisters over the years.

Just a moment ago, I had approached carefully and laughed and recommended drinking tea together, but I was coldly rejected.

“Is it already a year? It’s been a year since you recommended it once a day.”

Tears flowed down because of my mood.

I crumbled against the wall.

Just like the night a year ago, the maids around me cried as they couldn’t stand my gloomy look and the sight of me gathering my knees together.

“Don’t cry, Miss Daisy.”

“Am I crying now?”

“We can see it. You don’t have to cry on the outside, but you’re shedding tears on the inside.”

Why are you looking at me as you please?

The words came up to my throat, but I didn’t bring them out of my mouth.

It was embarrassing, so I received a handkerchief and wiped away the tears around my eyes, but the voices around me were full of regret.

“The other girls are mean. How can they be so cold to Miss Daisy?”

“Because I’m ugly. It’s because I’m not good enough to stand alongside my sisters.”

I felt really sorry for myself for doing my best to protect my sisters even though I said I wanted to give up just a while ago.

I slowly rose from my seat with a gloomy expression.

If I kept doing this, I might catch Sister Liliana’s eyes.

‘I’ve never seen anyone more annoying and boring than you in my life. Don’t make yourself noticed again.’

As I remembered what Liliana had said, my mood dropped again.

Even my greetings had been ignored this morning, so my mood showed no signs of improving.

Perhaps the reason I had such a dream wasn’t to change my sisters, but rather a hint to run away quickly?

I swallowed a bitter smile and cast my gaze over the window toward the setting sunset.

‘At that moment the sunset is beautiful. My death must be tragic.’

The First Prince and the Princess pretended to show mercy to my family, but the crime of treason ended with the destruction of three generations.

No matter how hard I struggled, everything would have worked out the way it was supposed to.

Since it was a crime of treason, I might be decapitated by the guillotine.

‘Is it right to run away…’

Fortunately, there is still one year left, so it’s not that I don’t have a chance…

‘That’s enough. I’m giving up.’

As of today, I have definitely realized.

My sisters don’t like me, they don’t love me, and they won’t.

Eighteen years of my efforts are really useless, as my sisters said.

Author's Thoughts

Hoho, I can tell the next chapter gonna get interesting