「 At the Wharton's mansion」

 "Duke Wharton, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," I bow down as I am summoned to my father-in-law's study room.

 "Lady Ophelia, please have a seat," his polite speech matched his outer appearance. Long yet sharp brown eyes held by slight dark circles contrasted his light grey hair and beard. His pale skin was showing off the great gift of aging, wrinkles that made him look wiser and kinder.

 "Thank you for your kindness, your grace," I state before sitting on a comfortable chair from his office.

 "Please call me father, we will be family soon after all," the Duke was a kind-hearted man, during all my lives he always tried his best to make me feel safe and cared for.

 "Alright, father. Thank you for having me," I reply as a warm smile appears on his lips.

 "Terrel is currently in the palace so you won't be able to meet him but he will be back in a month. In the meantime feel free to do what you enjoy Ophelia if you need anything don't hesitate to ask," he is indeed a very kind soul.

As the maids brought me to my room I kept on wondering about the sudden death of Duke Wharton. Even though he is old he is a very healthy man.

 'Something's not right...' I start to think as my mind wanders through my past knowledge.

 "You're all dismissed," the maids leave the room after finishing arranging my belongings.

 I remove the book that held all my old memories and start reading each sheet carefully.

 In my 1st life, the Duke was extremely healthy and had no known disease. Suddenly he started having a really rough fever and he vomited anything he ate. He kept complaining to the doctors about pain in his stomach area and then, in the middle of the night, he died. This was all in a matter of two days, no one was expecting it.

 Then, when I remarried Terrel in my 7th life, the Duke also died in a matter of days with the same symptoms. At last, in my 8th life, he also met the same fate even though my sanity was too shattered to be able to remember any details about his death. 

 "No matter how you see it this is odd... This was no accident. Was he poisoned?" I mumble as I begin scribbling some words onto the paper sheets.

 I was well aware that Terrel Wharton was a greedy man, he enjoyed being in control, he loved having power above anything else.

 'But he was already the first in line...' this situation was indeed peculiar.

I hear someone knocking on the door.

 "Hello Lady Ophelia, I'm Mace Wharton and this is Ralph Wharton, we're Terrel's younger brothers. It is a pleasure to meet you," a young boy about my age presents himself alongside his brother. Both of them resembled their father, the Duke, with their chocolate brown hair and their dark eyes. A small pain pierces my heart as I recall Terrel's wrongdoings.

 In all my lives I never met them, in fact, I was forbidden to. Terrel started stealing power from his father when he was young and when I arrived, he already controlled every single person in this house. The maids and butlers within the estate always prevented our encounters so the only time I caught a glimpse of Mace was in the coming of age ceremony of the princess.

 No matter how you see it, they are children. Ralph is still so young, he should be seven years old, and yet Terrel killed them once he became the head of the house officially to prevent power struggles.

 'Disgusting,' I think as I hid my clenched fist behind my back.

 "Thank you for taking your time to visit me, Lord Mace, Lord Ralph," I bow down just to hear Mace chuckle.

 "You don't need to be so polite Lady Ophelia, just treat us as you would treat a friend," you can feel the kindness from his smile.

 'Luckily, not all the apples are rotten,' I understand the similarities between Mace and Ralph with their father.

 "I'm sorry my lord but I don't know how to treat someone like that," after hearing these words the environment grows heavy and dark. Mace's expression became conflicted between sadness and pitifulness.

Truth be told, I never had a friend.

 I remember vaguely from my 3rd life the existence of someone, a man that I trusted but he betrayed me. Even then, I feel deep down in my heart that I didn't consider him to be a friend. He was somewhat an escape from this devilish torture I have been facing. I needed someone to bind me down to earth, someone to tell me 'No, Ophelia, you are not insane,' and, I was indeed reminded of keeping my feet on the ground as I burned up in flames in front of children, adults, and my family.

 No matter how hard I try, I cannot remember his face or even the time between my father's discovery of my time loops and my public execution. It was almost as if my memories had been shattered, smudged, almost as if they had been intentionally erased by something or someone.

 Dying every night on my 18th birthday engulfed by flames is my unchanging fate. Having my body burn alive is beyond any pain I've ever felt before throughout all my lives: besides feeling the flames on your melting skin you also can't breathe due to the smoke so, if you are lucky, you die of asphyxiation before dying to the fire. I am nothing but a marionette to some pyromaniac being whose pleasure lies in burning me every single damn time.

 "I know that for now, these are only words but I hope that will change soon. Will you be my friend Ophelia?" Mace's eyes sparkled as he yearned for my answer like it was the prettiest jewel in the whole world.

 "I will do my best not to let you down my lord," I state politely after bowing just to see Mace scratch his curly chocolate hair.

 'Wasn't I supposed to say that?' I thought as I strived to understand the situation.

 "This will do for now. You must be tired so make sure to get some rest!" after seeing my troubled expression, he smiles compassionately before leaving with Ralph towards the Duke's study room.

✽ ✼ ✽ ✼ ✽ ✼ ✽

I thought I would be able to lustfully live my life for a month but soon those thoughts were nothing but false hopes. As lunchtime arrives I am greeted by Duke Wharton and his two sons, alongside a surprise guest: Bradley Trace.

 "Lady Ophelia is indeed as marvelous as the rumors say," Bradley comments once I enter the room. Despite being shocked and extremely uncomfortable I managed to retain my emotions as I sat down in front of him.

 'This guy...' I could perfectly see his intentions. He was a sore loser. A womanizer that can only see his value through a woman's desire.

 "Thank you, Lord Bradley, that is very kind of you," I reply politely as I feel some anger accumulate inside of me.

 "Where might your fiancé be? Didn't he come to welcome you?" his sarcastic smile arbored hurtful intentions. He was testing me, teasing me, trying to win, however, I am not a prideful person and I have nothing to lose.

 "Lord Terrel is very busy, there are certain things that can't be avoided. My fiancé is a responsible man, he'd rather take care of his own instead of wandering around," Bradley's expression turns sour as he sees my winning smile.

 'Give up' I thought as the silence on the table turned heavy.

 "My lady you do seem very dedicated to your fiancé, I'm jealous," he smirks, showing me that he had no intention of giving up.

 'So annoying...' I think while trying to keep my hidden emotions at bay.

 "Congratulations on your engagement Lord Bradley, Lady Amanda is a real beauty, I'm sure you are thrilled," Mace Wharton intervenes and the flow of the conversation gradually turns into the mining business.

 Even then Bradley kept his eyes on me during the ongoing conversation. His soul was blinded by greed and lust. No matter how you see it, this man is not a calm and beautiful angel just like everyone else imagines him to be.

✽ ✼ ✽ ✼ ✽ ✼ ✽

「 Some days later 」

"Poor Duke, having his lovely wife killed by a freak," a man said.

"And her hair is black... Isn't that the hair of witches?" a woman asked with her refined noble tone.

"This child is for sure cursed... Thank God she didn't come out of me," another woman added with a superiority complex.

"It wasn't me... I'm not cursed... I..." as I spoke their eyes glared at me almost as if I had committed a grand sin. Their faces were covered in darkness and the only thing I could see was their evil grins filled with pride from reaching the depths of my aching heart.

"Ophelia, how would you like to die this time? Do you want your head to be cut off?" I gulp as I hear these words.

'Who is talking? Who is there?' I wondered as the expressions in the nobility member's faces looked bigger and more terrifying.

"Maybe you'd prefer burning since that's all you know, right?" it's a female voice.

Suddenly, flames rise from the floor and I see myself being engulfed in them once again. My mind was panicking and my body became stiff as a stone. Tears flew down my face but were quickly dried by the overwhelming heat of the flames.

"No!" I yell loudly as my eyes open and I am greeted with the pearly-like ceiling from the Whartons mansion.

My whole body was covered in sweat and I quickly sit straight and start analyzing it. There weren't any burns on my body but I could swear I was in the middle of the fire. I knew it since I felt my whole temperature rise as the flames consumed me. I felt everything as if it was all happening once again.

"Is everything alright milady?" one of the maids asks behind the door.

"Yes, I'm fine. I still need to rest a bit more," I politely reply while trying to conceal the trembling in my voice.

"Very well, if you need anything milady please let me know," footsteps growing further away are heard, and then everything was silent again.

I could feel my limbs tremble almost as if they were still being burned and this sensation was not going away. Slowly my eyes started to picture the flames around my body and I knew I was becoming insane.

After launching my body out of the bed desperately I crawl onto the small desk and pick the letter opener, right before stabbing a bit of my inner thigh with it. Blood started to pour out and the numbing my body was feeling from those imaginary flames soon disappeared only to give birth to a new type of pain.

The letter opener falls onto the floor and I lean my torso on the table while clenching my fists and teeth from this suffering. Then, after a couple of minutes, my body relaxes as I had gotten used to the throbbing on my left leg. Tears fell down my cheeks as a massive headache consumed me.

"Ah... How insane am I..." these words come out of my mouth several minutes later, right before a psychotic laugh escapes my grasp. My right-hand pushes my hair backward as I straighten myself on the cold chair.

A familiar sound is heard and my eyes travel to the bed just to see the black cat looking at me with his ruby eyes. He was sitting while glaring at me, witnessing everything and I could swear that, the way he kept on staring, was almost as if he was amused to see this show unfold.

Somehow he found the Duke's estate and as I was walking towards my room yesterday after lunch I saw him, standing still in front of the big wooden door.

'It was almost as if he was waiting for me...' I thought. With all my emotions I didn't take the time to consider how he had found me but truthfully, I didn't care.

"Right... I should name you..." I mumble as I get up from the chair and lean on my right leg. "Nero. That's your name now" the cat meows almost as if complaining about my choice but once again, he is just a cat.

'Shit,' as I look around I see the confusion I had created: the bed was a mess and my light beige dress alongside the chair and the carpet, had several bloodstains. I could feel the blood drip from my inner thigh onto the floor in a small river guided by gravity.

'This is going to be bothersome,' someone knocks on the door and I gulp. 

✽ ✼ ✽ ✼ ✽ ✼ ✽

"Ophelia dear, I heard you got hurt opening up some letters from your family this morning, are you alright?" the Duke asks me during lunch.

"It was only a scratch your grace, in fact, you can barely call it a wound," I state politely as he kindly smiles.

"Are you still intending to go to Lady Catherine's ball?" Mace asks with his eyes filled with concern for my well-being.

"Yes, it is a great opportunity to be with my sister, I miss her dearly," a smile is drawn on my lips and even though Duke bought my lie I could see that Mace hadn't believed a single word.

I've been in this mansion for a couple of days but I still needed to portray the role of a kind younger sister just so I can attend all the balls and social gatherings of the high class. They are all troublesome and a waste of time however I need to become friendly with Layton Verne, my husband from my 2nd life in order to get rid of him.

"I will go with her father so you won't need to worry," Mace adds and I understood that I was unable to attend alone as I had originally planned. The Duke's second son was smart, that was an undeniable truth.

'I need to be careful around him,' even though, so far, everything he had shown me was nothing but pure kindness, I knew that I couldn't be fooled by such feelings and words.