[Three months prior]
The Kingdom of Jurantel was ruled by a lecherous king who cared little for the people and only sought to collect beauties for his harem. He was such a terrible ruler, the citizens of Jurantel called him the King of Fools. It wasn't that there hadn't been rebellions to overthrow the Foolish King, but his crown was guarded by the corrupt ministers of his court so each and every one of them was squashed.
That was until the year 1470, when the unfavored Crown Prince with the support of his mother's clan besieged the capital and took over the palace killing his own father to avenge his mother who had been beheaded by the Foolish King.
When the Foolish King Bahart was killed, he left behind 27 children, the 8 princes were all beheaded while the living princes were all given money and sent away from the capital to survive on their own. Only one princess was allowed to return, and she was the unloved Princess Hazia who was suspected to be unrelated to the late king. Suspicions arose from the fact that her mother was already a married woman who was forced to enter the palace and serve the lustful King because of her beauty; out of shame and guilt she committed suicide before the late King so that he would spare her child's life.
In the year 1458 when she was of the ripe age of sixteen years, she was sent to marry into the Wetherlands in an attempt at making an alliance. Sadly, she died within 3 years of marriage, and the treaties that were signed dissolved. When the new King ascended, he sent for her remains to be retrieved and buried in her homeland with all the honors and rites of a First Princess, beloved sister of the King.
King Kazu of Jurantel within his lifetime had managed to unite the Four Great Kingdoms surrounding Jurantel and ruled as Emperor for more than two decades. He was recorded in history books as the bravest and wisest ruler in all the lands, the most powerful man in that time and the longest reigning monarch of any era. The man who inspired myths and legends and was even worshipped as a God in some parts of his empire. However, critics of the modern era would also describe as cunning and scheming, showing no mercy to those he viewed as his enemies. As recorded about the first decade of his reign in the annals of history, to help stabilize his rule over the newly formed nation, he permitted a number of massacres to take place against not only the nobility but also the Mahara'at (place of worship), which caused the commoners to be divided. In those myths and legends, he is often depicted as a tyrant from hell, as wise as he was, he was not kind. Even so, his name Emperor Kazu the Great Conqueror forever stained history books, with notes of his adventures and exploits studied by scholars, and his reign used as a benchmark for all future leaders of the world.
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In a state of semi-consciousness, I curled myself into a ball on the damp and dirty floor while trying to process all the information that was shoved into my brain, I couldn't but worry if my cranium had been dealt any damages, both from the sudden fall and from the physical pain I felt. I could clearly remember that I was a 28-year-old woman of the 21st century by the name of Carmen Quartet, but I also knew that I was no longer her, because she died. I died on one of if not the greatest day of her life and in the most ironic of ways.
After regaining full consciousness, I remained still on the floor, rummaging through all the new information I just got.
From my understanding, I was not only reborn after dying on the very day I've been culminating for 10 years but I was reborn in a whole other world, an alternate universe in the past. And the body I had taken over was the unloved princess who was only given a name when she turned 16 and was going to be sent off to a distant kingdom for a marriage alliance, Princess Hazia of the Jurantel Kingdom. She was not liked by the King because it's suspected that she's not the child of the King at all, but instead the child of her mother's original husband before she was forced into the palace to serve the King, since the king wanted to show his magnanimity he spared her life by throwing her into the cold palace; not caring for her death or her life after her mother had sacrificed her own life to plead for mercy.
Perhaps because I am now possessing this body, visions of the previous owner's memories clouded my mind, like I was experiencing them all myself. The previous owner had fallen seriously ill after being beaten close to death by the attendant of one of the abandoned concubines which resulted in her falling into a deep coma and drawing a high fever. This would've been the beginning of the real tragedy of Princess Hazia. Her untreated fever would've run so hot that even though she survived she had become a complete fool; always being taken advantage of by others. At the age of sixteen, she would be sent to the Wetherlands just south of Jurantel to wed a prince in an alliance marriage but once it was discovered that she was a fool she was made to be a laughingstock. The people of the Wetherlands were ruthless and cruel by nature, complete and utter irredeemable savages. She was even made to crawl the streets naked while barking like a dog by none other than her husband, who was nothing more than disgusted by her. She was humiliated and tortured to death by the royals and nobles of the Wetherlands, even the commoner dared to laugh at her face. There was not a decent being among them that even tried to help her.
Though it did not happen to me directly, I could not help the overwhelming anger and sadness that washed over me. The memories forced upon me were so lifelike and felt so real, I doubted whether I truly hadn't lived that life.
"Is anyone there?" I called out, my voice barely audible.
With what little strength I could muster I sat up from my position and looked around the empty room that was more than a bit run down to see a small basin of water close to the wooden door with the sun's rays peeking through the large cracks and holes and reflecting on its surface. Feeling a fog still hovering over my consciousness I could only crawl towards the bucket on my hands and knees, ignoring all the aches all over my body for fear of falling back down if I tried standing up. The reflection of my current appearance almost scared me to death, though I knew it was bad they say seeing is believing; and there probably has never been truer words spoken. My brown hair was matted, my natural honey-toned skin was covered with a thick layer of grime and dirt, and I had visible wounds on my forehead, arms, and legs. The wound on my forehead had bled until the blood dried and covered it, whereas the others had turned dark and swollen. I had thought my killer headache was from the shock of all the information I had to absorb in such a small amount of time, but it was also because of all the physical injuries the original owner had sustained without any proper treatment.
I reached out my hand for the small ladle in the bucket and filled it with water before chugging it to help soothe my dry throat, it wasn't the cleanest tasting water, but I knew and could accept that this was the best that I could do for now as there was no alternative with being stuck in the white tower [a part of the palace where concubines are said to be sent to pray for the king and the kingdom but was in actuality a prison for those concubines (and in some cases, their children) who were abandoned by the king but were still considered a part of the royal family (and couldn't be dealt with by any other means, so as not to destroy the royal family's reputation) to be sent out of the king's sight].