Once Upon a Forever, Chapter 1 – The Princess and The Queen,
“Come with us.” Mizuri stopped spreading the sheets and took a deep breath. She expected it. She let the sheet drop back into the basket and walked towards the samurai guards. Soon, they were in the presence of the Regent. She was ready.
“Did the witch put up a fight?” the Regent asked.
“No, Queen mother,” one of the guards spoke.
“So she is confident,” the Regent sneered. “She bewitches my son and now believes she can bewitch a shogunate.”
The maid took in another breath and drifted away from the moment, reminiscing on what led her there. She was a lowly maid in the imperial court of the Edo era who had caught the eyes of the crown prince. She recalled begging him to leave her alone every time he had come to flirt with her while she was spreading silk on the line, or doing some other task, but the next time the prince would return to declare his love for her.
She recalled his handsome face and stopped herself from swearing. She had told him to leave her several times, but he never listened, and now she was not sure of how she felt about him. It was not pity, but at some point she must have given in while also accepting her fate
“Are you ignoring me?” the Regent snapped.
She looked at her. She had nothing to say.
“Whip her!” the Regent commanded.
One of the guards pulled out a whip from his side, the other pushed her to the ground.
“Wait!” the Regent commanded. “Strip her.”
Her eyes widened in shock! But then they relaxed. She had resigned herself to her fate. She felt hands pull at her clothes and let her mind drift again. This time she was 13, walking along a log spread across a stream as a bridge, and the young prince was walking next to her through the stream. He had inquired her name earlier, and she refused to tell, saying she was a slave with no name. The prince was now playing a guessing game with her. He called her Sakura, which made her laugh and tell the prince that he flattered her too much.
The prince kept prodding. When they got to the end of the stream, he held out his hands to help her across. She stared at it, wondering if she should take his hands. She decided not to but was now distracted and lost her balance, falling into the stream. The prince ran to her side, offered to help her up again, but she refused, so the prince sat next to her in the stream. She looked appalled, but then the prince laughed, prodding her to laugh.
“Your Highness!” his royal servant gasped, dismayed at the sight. His gasp brought her back to her present, under the painful lashes on her bare back. She refused to cry or beg, as she did when the young prince’s servant had reported them to the Regent, and she had ordered her to be punished despite the pleading prince.
She began to laugh. “I’ll kill the prince if you let me live!” she declared. She wanted it all to end. This life was pathetic.
“You heard her!” the Regent gasped.
“Treason!” the maid-in-waiting joined.
“She must be executed at once!” The Rōjū added.
“A witch does not deserve seppuku,” another shouted.
Pathetic. In my next life, may my fate not be this pathetic, she thought as the guards pushed her to her knees and bent her head forward. She noted the triumph in the Regent’s eyes and yelled. “The prince and I will be together in our next life!”
“Now!” the Regent ordered, and the sword fell.
Enjoy Reading? New episodes every 3 days. I’m the mean time Check out Let’s play
