Work Text:
Amelia sat on her bed as she read through a teen romance graphic novel. It was about an Emperor who gets married to the daughter of the Grand Duke to ease political tensions in the Rose Empire. Emperor Matthias De Lucca had fallen out of favour with the nobles in the Rose Empire after he declared war on the neighboring land, the Empire of Maria. In order to keep the Empire from overturning the throne he was going to end the war on Maria; and marry a daughter of the Grand Duke from the Maria Empire. He told her there would be no love in this marriage and she had agreed, she merely wanted to live a quiet and uneventful life.
Unfortunately the people of the Rose Empire did not trust the female lead, Rebecca Anua De Lucca, formerly Rebecca Anua Wingrave; they thought she was a spy sent from the neighboring Empire to sabotage them. An assassin was dispatched to take care of Empress Rebecca a year and a half after the Royal Wedding. Empress Rebecca died shortly after in Emperor Matthias’ arms; that was the moment that he had realized he had fallen in love with his wife.
“Well that sucked! I could have written that ending much better!” Amelia huffed and put the book away. She needed to get a move on, she was going to be late for dinner with her friends. She left her apartment, making sure to lock the door behind herself. Amelia walked down the stairs and out onto the street to head towards the restaurant. She double checked her bag to make sure she had everything and hit the button to allow her to cross the street; the beeping started to allow her to cross. She looked up to step on to the street and began to cross; all of the sudden she saw a blinding light then felt nothing, she was floating, or flying, she felt weightless. What had happened to her?
“You need to choose Amelia. Do you still wish to live? Do you wish to do more than you did in your past life? Do you wish to be able to make some kind of difference in your life?” A loud booming voice asked her as she floated there, well she thought she was floating.
“Yes, I want to live, I don’t want to die. But what do you mean, my past life? Can I not go back to my life?” Amelia began to cry, she did not want to leave her old life, she was happy where she was.
“The only option is to start a new life, you cannot go back to something that has already ended.” The voice said loudly, Amelia could not discern whether the voice was a man or a woman, nor could she see or tell where it was coming from.
“Then I have to take this new life? I don’t want to die, there is still so much I would like to do.” Amelia tried to get up, but found that she still could not move.
“Then you shall be reborn as Miss Rebecca Auna Wingrave, Daughter of the Archduke of Maria Empire.” The voice faded and Amelia, now Rebecca felt herself falling. There was no way she heard that correctly, that was the same name as the Empress from the novel she had read. If that was to be her fate she would be dead soon anyway. She saw a flash of colors as she felt herself crash into the cold hard floor and her world went black once more.
“Miss Rebecca, please wake up, Miss.” She felt someone touching her forehead. Rebecca’s eyes fluttered open and she saw a young woman leaning over her with a cloth on her forehead. “Miss, you fell on your way out of the carriage and hit the street. You are currently at the Emperor’s palace. We were on our way for a meeting and he brought you straight in to get care from the palace doctors.” Amelia, well she guessed she should get used to referring to herself and responding to Rebecca. Rebecca looked around, the maid in front of her was light skinned with golden blonde hair and blue eyes, she was very pretty, but she obviously was from a lower class, otherwise she wouldn’t have to work. Rebecca didn’t know a lot, but from all of the novels she read she could gather enough information. She let out a cry of pain as memories flooded back to her and an onslaught of the past 20 years flooded into her brain. She suddenly had a vision of a black mindscape and bodiless voice like she remembered after she died.
“This is a little present for you, you have both memories, now. Use them wisely, until we meet again. Oh, and one more thing Rebecca. This place will not go how the book did, the single beat of a butterfly’s wings can make the biggest change. Use your time here wisely and live a happy life.” Rebecca jolted up right and promptly vomited in the bucket next to the bed.
“Oh! Miss, Rebecca, are you alright?” The maid, Eliza, held her hair back and Rebecca coughed and spluttered. Eliza was a bit dim, obviously she was not okay.
“Yes, I feel much better, I am sorry for the scare, Eliza.” Rebecca sat back in the bed and looked at her personal maid, her mind still trying to merge the memories of this body with her own consciousness. She had access to the memories, but it was as if she had to call them to herself, and watch them, she did not have answers immediately. She could blame it on her head wound for now, but she would have to do some serious work on it while she recovered, so that nothing would seem amiss to these people. Well, she guessed these people were her family and servants now too, at least she had not yet met the Emperor, so it would not matter too much for his sake.
“The Emperor would like to meet with you, to have afternoon tea, if My Lady is feeling better.” Eliza offered as she looked through the outfits that she had packed for Rebecca. “You should try to look your best, My Lady.” Eliza looked down at one of the dresses she was holding, clearly thinking over something in her head. “Although, if you were to seem ill, he may be nicer towards you. From what I have heard while you were unconscious, he is not the kindest man.” Eliza put both dresses back and picked out something different.
“No, I do not think that wise, Eliza. If I am going to meet him for the first time, there should be no deceit or ill will. Hopefully we can speak of the things going on in both of our Empires like adults and not petulant children.” Rebecca stood from the bed and looked at a deep blue gown with silver and gold embroidery. “This should do nicely for dinner, what do you think, Eliza?” She tilted her head and smiled at her maid. Eliza smiled and nodded, it was a good choice and would look lovely with her pale skin and strawberry blonde curls.
“That will be perfect, My Lady. Did you wish to skip tea then?” Eliza asked while looking for something to dress her Lady in.
“Yes, please. It is currently noon, so I wish to bathe and relax a little, before meeting with HIs Highness, if that is alright with his staff. Could you find out please, and have afternoon tea brought here while I wait for my bath to be drawn? Thank you Eliza.” Rebecca stretched and made her way to the bathroom, where she found a large in ground tub. Lovely, that would be perfect to relax in before her dinner with the King tonight.
Rebecca walked into the formal dining room as the butler, Edward, held the door open for her. She watched as a man with dark black hair and mesmerizing gold eyes stood, greeting her. He took her hand in his and bowed over it, kissing the back of her knuckles. “It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Matthias De Luca.” He dropped her hand and Rebecca quickly ducked her head and dropped into a formal curtsy.
“The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness.” Rebecca lifted her head up to smile softly at him and he frowned at her. Rebecca stood and Matthias led her to her seat.
“Would you like a glass of wine, My Lady?” He lifted the bottle and Rebecca scrunched her face up before she could control her expression. “I have a bottle of rose, if that is more palatable for you, Lady Rebecca.” Rebecca tried to fight the flush on her cheeks and ducked her head.
“That would be lovely, Your Grace, thank you.” She smiled and picked up a small piece of bread off her plate, taking small bites as to not seem improper, even though she was starving.
“I am glad to see you are feeling better, you gave us quite a fright the other day. If it suits you, My Lady, would you be agreeable to discussing the conditions of our engagement?” He sipped his wine and raised an eyebrow at her. Here we go.