The music still echoed in her ears.
Laughter. Clinking glasses. Silk brushing against marble.
But Lyra Mirel heard none of it.
She had left the ballroom long before the final toast. Long before the last spin of the final waltz. Her footsteps rang through the halls like war drums, sharp and fast, her crimson gown trailing behind her like spilled blood.
She didn't stop until she reached her room.
The door slammed shut.
Her hands were trembling.
She had smiled too sweetly. Laughed too lightly. Endured too many hollow compliments and venom-tipped stares. They all adored her now—because they didn't know.
They didn't know the truth.
They didn't know she had died.
They didn't know that her father—Count Mirel—had smiled while poisoning her.
She crossed the room and yanked open the desk drawer. Beneath broken wax seals and faded correspondence lay an old, folded map. She pulled it out and flattened it across the desk.
The Virenthar Empire.
Its outline was burned into her bones. A great empire divided into four provinces—North, South, East, and West—all orbiting the capital: Varnis.
Each province was ruled by a duke. Each region had its power. Its danger.
Her fingers skimmed over the parchment.
"Duke Iura Arven," she whispered. "He inherited the North after his father's death, led armies to victory, and earned the favor of both the people and the Emperor."
Her finger moved westward.
"Duke Bill Kalven. A demon-slayer. Fought monsters in the Blacklands and survived. The man is a legend."
South.
"Cardinal Risherd Solen. Once a general, now the High Priest's right hand in the capital. Lost the South to monsters and fled—but gained power within the Church instead."
Then finally, East.
"Duke Luka Aiterner," she murmured, lips curling faintly.
His mother had absorbed the South into her own duchy before dying under mysterious circumstances. Luka had inherited everything, yet in her past life, he had accomplished nothing. Just a decorative pawn for noble games.
She stared at his name a little longer.
"They say his mother was a noble," she murmured, "but his father... a servant. Bastard-born. Never truly accepted. And in the end... completely irrelevant."
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"Just like I was."
She sank back into her chair, letting her gaze drift to the candle's flickering light.
"Emperor Etienne has no male heir," she said aloud, slowly.
"His only child, Princess Emma, cannot inherit the throne. Not while tradition demands a man."
"And the Empress—Elsa—can no longer bear children."
She exhaled, remembering.
"So, he considered three candidates to succeed him: Iura Arven. Luka Aiterner. Oscar Thorne."
The name lingered.
Oscar.
Sharp-witted. Golden-haired. Silver-tongued. Too clever for his own good, too handsome for anyone's safety.
She stood and crossed to the window, drawing back the curtain.
There he was. Alone in the garden, the moonlight bathing him in pale silver. One gloved hand tucked behind his back, the other toying with a rose stem. Looking up at the stars like he meant to own them.
"I never lived long enough to see who was chosen," she murmured.
"I died before the crown fell."
A beat of silence.
"But this time..."
Her voice sharpened.
"This time, I have Oscar."
Her reflection in the window stared back—pale, calculating, resolute.
She smiled, slow and cold.
"I'll bind him to me. Make him loyal. Make him love me, if I must."
She touched the glass.
"And when he wears the crown—
I will wear the empire."
She closed her eyes and let the image burn into her mind.
"And when I sit beside him as Empress, I will be stronger than my father ever was."
A promise twisted in her throat, soft and sharp as a dagger's kiss:
"You will make me Empress, Oscar Thorne. And I—"
"I will crush my father, and I will smile while doing it."
.
.
.
.
.
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✍️ Author's Note (𝐴𝑧0_𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒)
Let's stir up a little chaos, shall we?
Do you think Lyra will use her beauty to enchant Oscar...
or will she set her sights on someone else entirely?
💬 If she does choose another, who do you think it could be—and why?
Drop your theories below. I'm watching. 👀
❤️ Chooses Oscar
💀 Uses someone else
🔥 Burns them all!