Chapter 157

Part 4 – The Truth is Bound to Come to Light Anyway…

The girl who took the wrong person as her fated partner received a severe punishment.

That was the story of Petronilla Laura Les Grochester.

When she first saw that man, Petronilla was caught up in her own heart’s flickering illusions. The handsome man’s perfection made her eyes go blind, and stopped her red heart from beating. As she was a young girl, Petronilla did not doubt that the man in front of her was her fated partner of destiny.

If I could just become that man’s bride…

Not all of the Queen candidates wanted to become the Emperor’s bride, because of the public rumors of the Emperor favoring his mistress. Petronilla was the only one who wanted the position.

Eventually, after Lady Vashi deliberately made a move to fail the Queen’s competition with the help of her powerful father, when she had originally been assured of becoming the Empress, Petronilla was able to become the Empress without a hitch.

Petronilla rejoiced at the thought of her destiny being fulfilled, but that joy lasted less than half a day after she got married to him. Her husband had coldly informed her that she should not expect any love from him.

From the very first night of their wedding day, he went to embrace the woman that was his mistress.

It was alright, though. She loved him, and above all she was his one, true Empress. He could not discard his actual wife. Petronilla, unfortunately, was thinking in that manner.

She was not able to receive his intimate favor, and her family was not able to wield indomitable power, as had the family of the dethroned Empress Alyssa. Her authority gradually narrowed, and the mistress relentlessly threatened her position. Her husband’s coldness, indifference, and leading such an impoverished Imperial life left her increasingly exhausted.

Her warm character gradually changed as well. It was not a good change. She knew this, but she could not turn it back around. She cursed herself for becoming a villainess, but did not dare top. She did not cease to curse herself, but the evil deeds continued.

The Emperor looked at her even less than before, and the people by her side either left her or protected her with their deaths. Among them were Mirya and Rafaella.

When she finally learned all of his secrets, Petronilla realized the truth; she and he were not fated to be together. He was a man scarred with too huge a wound for her to embrace and love him. Petronilla did not possess the ability to embrace his wounds.

When she heard from her husband that his mistress had been able to do so, she realized the truth once again. The mistress was her husband’s true destiny. The fact was that her young, green puppy love was nothing more than a little girl’s emotional arrogance. She was completely wrong and mistaken. But it was too late for regrets, as she was already the Emperor’s woman.

The mistress was a smart woman. The wicked woman, who was always one step ahead of Petronilla, finally managed to frame her on false charges, dethroning her, along with bringing ruin to her whole family. Her beloved parents and twin sister were punished together with her. She disappeared with the dew of the guillotine, and her family would also have met the same end.

It was a life full of pain and regret, Petronilla thought in the last moment of her life. If she was to be born again, if she only could. No, if she could just go back to the time just before meeting him, she would never make a connection with him again. She would not even give him a passing glance. As people that did not know each other, complete strangers, they would live like that.

As she bleakly closed her eyes, Petronilla promised that to herself…

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And when she opened her eyes, she seemed to have come back in time. But Petronilla was only able to thank God for this blessing for a brief time, as she had to despair once again. This time, instead of herself, her sister had become the Empress!

Petronilla realized that she had come back in time to save her foolish older sister, and wept tears of misery. She felt so sorry for Patrizia.

She changed her personality, which had only been bright and sunny in the past, to something a bit more dark. She pledged to herself that since the events had already unfolded in this way, all that remained was to change the past, no, the future that was yet to come. Petronilla firmly made up her mind to never relive that tragedy in this lifetime.

She vowed to help her sister. Fortunately, Patrizia was smart, and not as foolish as Petronilla, and did not need her older sister’s help. Occasionally, Petronilla would catch on that Patrizia was obviously unhappy, but there was nothing she could do except hurt for her.

The only comforting point was the fact that her sister was much more mature and calmer than she was. Only then did Petronilla truly understand that her personality was unsuitable for the role of being the Empress.

After being heavily burned once after mistakenly believing her love was fated, Petronilla thought that she would never be able to love again. There would be no man who could love her, and she herself believed that she was sick and tired of the notion of love. But God’s tricks shook her up once again.

“I fell in love with you at first sight, my Lady. I am in love with you, my Lady.”

A man had confessed his love to her. It was a confession that she would have been accepted with joy if it had taken place before, in the past. But Petronilla was afraid. Perhaps this man was the same kind of person as herself, and was mistakenly believing that his young, puppy love was real love. Therefore, she might end up getting hurt again, and hurt this man as well.

“I cannot accept it!”

So she refused him, ran away, and evaded him. Until the point when the old woman had enlightened her.

Do not run away.

Be faithful to the present, carpe diem! Upon hearing that, Petronilla decided to rouse her courage once again. Even if this life presented her with an unsuccessful love again, one could never know? God might bless her with another return trip to the past. Petronilla decided to show some courage.

It was during this time that an opportunity arose to could help her sister. Rosemond, that wicked woman, had switched out the flowers in the birthday bouquet Patrizia had prepared, into the salvia flowers that the Emperor absolutely despised. Not only that, just before it was about to be presented! Petronilla decided that this was an opportunity for her to stand up.

Finally, I can speak about it…

And the result of that was “I also came back in time, like you.”

Success!

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Translated by Haeli

Edited by RED