I Am the Real One

Chapter 6

When Keira opened her eyes again, the familiar ceiling caught her attention.

“Ah.”

Keira instinctively touched the nape of her neck and tried moving her arms and legs. They moved according to her will.

“Am I alive?”

Is this a dream?

But she remembered the sensation of the blade on her neck and the momentary consciousness after her head fell—she shuddered. She could not have dreamt something so vivid.

She died once. Her crime was not being the grand duke's daughter.

“Not long from now, humanity will face a great threat. Young lord, to avoid this threat, you must remember one thing. Whatever happens, you shall have only one child who is an elementalist.”

No oracle had been so straightforward. Was the catastrophe to come as overwhelming as the prophecy was clear?

The fearful demanded the execution of “the impostor.” If Keira were part of the mob, she would have cast her vote for execution as well. One life was a minuscule price for the deliverance of tens of thousands.

Father agreed to my execution after all...

How…?

Humans weren’t always logical beings. In the years they spent as father and daughter, it seemed Keira was the only one invested in the relationship.

"I worked so hard for his approval."

Keira had wanted her father’s approval, and to hear him say that she made the Parvis name proud, just once, would have made a world of difference. She wanted always to behave perfectly for her father, which was why…

Enough.

Keira banished the gloomy thoughts of the past from her mind. She sat up on the bed and sorted through what had happened.

At the last moment…she said that I was the real one.

Besides, Keira saw things that she could only assume were the spirits of water. It was right after she felt an intangible force from Cosette’s touch. What was that? The real spirit? Or a hallucination?

“Hah!”

She let out an exasperated sigh. What does any of it matter now? She was already dead. It appeared she was currently in the afterworld.

But then...

“Time for you to wake up.”

“Huh?”

A familiar voice came from the other side of the door. That unmistakable voice must belong to…

“Rosé?”

Rosé was the maid who had served her for over ten years. Wasn’t she also executed just for being the maid of an imposter?

“Come in?”

Whatever the case, Keira would have to find out more. Rosé appeared through the door looking slightly younger than she remembered. It was a bit odd, but not impossible in the afterworld. Given that most people died old and ill, it would seem to be too cruel if they had to spend the eternal afterlife in that state.

Two maids followed Rosé into the room bearing a basin of water and clothes. Remarkably, they looked exactly like the maids who served her when Keira was alive. Keira was horrified.

Those girls did nothing wrong! They were killed merely for serving me?

“Rosé, did His Lordship have you killed, too?”

“...M’lady?”

“Ma'am?”

Pulling back the drapes, Rosé glanced back, confused.

“This is the afterworld. I came here after my execution, and the fact that you are here can only mean…”

“Goodness, m’lady! You must've had a nightmare! I am quite alive, and so are you.”

“What are you talking about? And stop calling me ‘m’lady.’ I'm not the lady of this house anymore.”

“M’lady? What are you talking about?”

Rosé’s eyes had grown as wide as saucers.

“Is this because of the birthday feast you are hosting for the young master? I understand you want it to be perfect, but please don't be stressed. It's not a big event after all.”

“Young master?”

“Yes, you said yesterday that you would be hosting his birthday festivities. You haven't forgotten, have you?”

That child is here in the afterworld too? But he is innocent! No one could deny that he was the spitting image of his father, and there was no clear proof that he was not the grand duke's blood. Why did they kill him as well?

“Rosé! Where is Zeke?”

“M’lady? I suppose he is in his chamber. But wh—? Oh! M’lady!”

Before Rosé could finish her sentence, Keira had rushed out of the room. My innocent little brother… killed. That was much too much! It must've been Cosette’s doing. She must have pushed him to kill his own son, Zeke, my only little brother. Half-mad, Keira ran down the corridor.

* * *

“How did you end up here?”

The day Keira was locked up in the dungeon, Zeke came to her.

“You were so sure that Father would believe you are innocent… yet look at where you are!”

“…”

“Sister, look at me!”

Zeke was more outraged than the woman destined for the guillotine. He had called the grand duke names she was afraid someone might overhear.

Keira finally said, “Go home. If you stay with me, you might be implicated.”

“Let’s run away,” Zeke had suggested.

“….”

He didn't seem to hear her at all.

“You will most certainly die at this rate, Sister. You must run away.”

“You and I run away? Not just me? Have you lost your mind?”

“I don’t want to spend another second in the same space with those snakes.”

“So we’re going to run away? What if we are caught, hmm? You will be charged with treason as well. Make smarter choices, Brother. Go home.”

She wanted him to return to his life —a life of beautiful furniture and comfort—but the argument continued.

“Let’s run away.”

“No.”

“You’re going to die like this.”

“You’ll die too if you’re found out.”

Zeke gave the prison bars a sound kick and retreated.

“You fool! Take the night to think it over, if you know what’s good for you!”

He implied that he would be back the next day, but Keira never saw him again. She was dragged away to a cell deep in the dungeon, where she was compelled to spill the beans on her scheme. However, she had nothing to tell them as the scheme was Cosette’s. That sight of Zeke through the prison bars turned out to be the last she ever saw of him.

“Zeke!”

She pictured her brother as she rushed down the corridor.

Keira had given her entire life to the goal of getting her father's approval. With only so much energy left for anything else, her brother hadn’t been much of a priority for her. But he was different from the rest of them: he offered to help his sister escape at great risk to his safety.

To be frank, Keira never understood why Zeke thought the world of her. Only in death did she now have an inkling. Zeke would have regarded her in the same way she regarded Father. Losing his mother upon birth, neglected by his father, and always an afterthought to his sister, Zeke would have craved the love of family just as Keira had.

“M’lady!”

More familiar faces appeared as she made her way down the corridor. All of them executed, just for serving me? Something wasn’t adding up. Some of the servants she encountered had nothing to do with her.

Was the entire staff eliminated and replaced?

Her musing was cut short when she arrived at Zeke’s room. Keira—the princess of the castle, presently in her nightgown with her hair flying like a mane— only served to frighten Zeke’s servants. One of them quickly wrapped her in a coat.

“Wh-what brings you here, m’lady?”

“Zeke! Is Zeke here?”

“Master Zeke is taking his breakfast, I presume.”

He’s really here? Father, how could you be so ruthless?

The moment her face fell, Zeke burst out of the room to see what the commotion was about. There he was, looking slightly more boyish than the last time Keira saw him.