The Tragic Fate

''Cereza, you won't disappoint your father, don't you?'' Duke Tyrell, the empress's father said as he gently fixed the tiara on her long wavy auburn hair.

He may be smiling but to Cereza it sent shivers down her spine.

''Y-Yes, father. I won't!'' Stuttering, she managed to respond decently without trembling. She knew her father well. He would hate it if she showed an ounce of weakness.

''Good, Cereza. Know who you are.'' He smiled. His eyes formed into two thin lines. He looked modest but she very well knew how thousands of lives got killed whenever he smiles.

''F-Father, please!'' Cereza got it. He had no plans of saving her. This time, she can't control herself to tremble in fear. She suppressed it as much as possible as she can, yet she failed in the end.

''F-Father, I promise. I-I'll be the good empress for you and for the family. Just…please! Don't…don't leave me to die. I want to live!'' She pleaded, her forehead and knees touching the ground as her hands clung to her father's thigh, her only salvation. Her tears got his pants wet and stained by her smudged makeup. The duke was obsessed with cleanliness, looking down at her, disgusted, he kicked her.

''Tch. What a filthy rat!''.

''F-Father, I'm also your daughter."

His kick sent her fragile body down on the floor and her tiara was tossed away to the side of her room. The precious stones, adorning the tiara she dearly loves got scattered everywhere.

Nothing matters to her anymore. She crawled and grabbed onto her father's boots. But he won't let her. Instead, he trampled her hands making her wince in pain. The boots were heavy, it felt like a huge stone fell down on her hands, crushing her bones as he increased his force.

''You're right. You are my daughter,'' he said, bending down as he slowly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look in his emerald eyes, just like the color of hers.

''Hmmm." he used too much force, not allowing her to even utter a word.

''I raised you. I gave you food to eat, the clothes you need, and the seat of the empress,'' he said smiling, yet his eyes glowed with an immense sharpness matching his voice, cold as ice. ''You became the most powerful woman in the empire because of me.''

The empress gave in. Her trembling body can now be seen.

''Hmm." And Cereza struggled as tears streamed down on her face.

''Now, it's your turn to pay me back. You want to be a good empress, right?'' He said. His tone softened and then he let her go, without any hint of the gentleness of a father. Wiping her tears, he smiled.

''F-Father, w-what can I…what can I do?'' She pleaded, looking at him desperately, now that she can smell the scent of death as her father took a glass of wine on a table covered in gold. The fragrance of wine wafted throughout her chamber. He tapped the edges of the glass. His gaze softened as he offered the wine to his daughter who was kneeling on the cold marble floor.

It took her a long moment before she accepted the glass of wine with trembling hands.

Then a satisfying grin appeared on his face.

''Die. Protect the House of Tyrell until your last breath.''

The House of Tyrell is the second most powerful to the imperial family. Their power grew more once an empress enthroned from their bloodline - Cereza Tyrell.

However, in her second year of reign, she committed treason, attempted to poison the emperor, and tried to assassinate the noble consort. She wanted to usurp the throne and aimed to gain absolute power for herself.

The noble consort exposed her crime but in desperation to escape the punishment of torture, she killed herself. Leaving a letter of apology and confession about her crime. She excluded her family and completely cut ties with them, declaring in her letter that she was no longer a Tyrell. In this way, the dukedom of Tyrell wasn't touched by anyone.

In her letter, he expressed how his father, the duke, tried to stop her but since she was blinded by jealousy and revenge, she moved forward.

However, all enemies of the duke have a hunched that he used her daughter's death to save his neck yet no one said something about it. Even the protagonists kept silent and too busy to give justice to one innocent soul.

They saved thousands of lives but they couldn't save one soul over the many.

''What!? This is infuriating. Other characters even the villainess had a decent ending but an innocent woman who dies for a crime she didn't even do met a tragic end. For what?''

Cereza complained as she read the novel ''Emperor's Beloved Consort' for the third time but she still couldn't accept the empress' fate. She loved everything about this book but one thing she would want to change is the poor empress's short and tragic life.

The empress in the story lived her life as her father's puppet and use her to gain power and then, in the end, he ordered her to die for the sake of protecting himself. Sadly, she died, not having a chance to taste the normal life as a human being - free to do what she loves.

"Author, how could her life have turned out this way? What did she die for, exactly?!''

She threw the book across the room, the thing she always did for the third time.

She slumped her body on the couch of her room, tired of dealing with a lot of matters going on in their family business today. It was an everyday occurrence and now she had reached her limits. She decided to get home early to escape the suffocating air inside the company. And then decide to read her favorite novel hoping to at least forget about what happened but it ended up making her feel worse.

Not having any more motivation to continue the book, Cereza turned off the lights of her room. She decided to sleep on the couch instead of going to her bed because she was too tired to move.

However, she was about to fall asleep when her phone rang.

''Argh! Who would call at this late hour?'' She massaged her temples as she reached for the phone she placed on the side table.

''Hello?''

''Cereza, how dare you turned back on me and leave earlier! Are you now rebelling against your father?'' She could feel the anger on the other side of the line and it made her feel uneasy. Cereza was relieved he can't see her now.

She sighed deeply, ''Father, I'm just not feeling well.''

''You are my only daughter! You know very well what I've always told you. You are not allowed to show weakness even in front of me.'' His voice was rising even a bit sharper than before. She had to slightly put her phone away from her ears to listen to what he was saying.

''Ugh, he is more dramatic and antagonistic than me,'' she said and rolled her eyes, her always obedient facial expression was gone whenever her father was not around.

She was disappointed but nah- she was used to it anyway. Rather than asking how she is, if she was feeling okay he either nagged him to pull herself together and be strong or blame her for something she didn't even do like how the company's competitors are growing ahead of them, anything related to business or achievements.

She was just sick of it.

''Let me just…please, I'm tired. Let me rest, father.''

''Wha-'', before he could yell at her again, she ended the call. She didn't even realize she was crying until her hands touched her face.

''How pathetic our life is. Cereza Tyrell, we had some similarities. Am I right?''

She lay down on her couch and as her eyes closed, darkness slowly devoured her whole.

''My body felt so heavy. Just like my heart is.''

As the light fade away, Cereza entered into a deep slumber. She dreamed. A very long dream and she didn't wake up since then.

''Woman, wake up! No matter what is your intention. I won't fall for it'', The next day the thing that woke up Cereza was a rude remark from an unfamiliar voice. She was awake but she can't seem to open her eyes.

''Your majesty, don't be like this. The empress just fell in the lake. I'm sure it was not intentional. She nearly lost her life!'' She heard another deep voice. She assumed it was from a man and it was so close to her that she could feel that man's arms holding her securely.

''How dare you talk back to me. You're merely a knight.''

''I apologize, your majesty but-''

Cereza could feel her body slowly get lighter. She tried to open her eyes and succeeded. But once she did, the light blinded her. She squinted her eyes, a blue cloudless sky and an unfamiliar brown-eyed man entered her view.

''Your majesty! You're alive, thank goodness,'' the brown-eyed man cried.

Cereza displayed a look of confusion and muttered, ''Am I dreaming?''

But the man ignored what she said and instead called for the other person with them.

''Your majesty, the empress is alive!'' He rejoiced.

Come to think of it, she can sense everything around her was so…unfamiliar.

The scent in the air, the strange language the man was speaking yet she could understand him well, and his clothes - did some cult of strange people who have a hobby of cosplaying kidnapped her while she was asleep?

As random thoughts filled her head, she finally opened her mouth.

''Let me go!'' She was surprised, what was with her voice? Did she swallow mosquitoes or some sort of insects that made her voice sound meek?

''Your majesty, I have to carry you and bring you to your chamber. Hold on for a second. Lilith is calling the imperial doctor,'' the brown eyed-man said as he ran and carried her in his arms.

She instinctively hold on to his armored shoulders because he was running a little bit faster. His dark blue cape fluttered as he move.

''Who are you?'' She blurted.

The man stopped in his tracks.

''Your majesty, you didn't know me?''

''Yes. And why do you keep calling me, your majesty?'' Her eyebrows arched.

''Just what happened to you, your majesty? How could -'' His face looked even more confused than her.

''Are you people running some cult?'' She hit him and he was caught off guard. ''Let go of me or you'll find yourself and your friends rot in the jail!''

''Your majesty, why can't you recognize me!'' He said. His eyes glistened but he still didn't let her go. ''I'm Sean, your personal knight. Don't you know me?'' He looked at her and her lips twitched. She kind of saw him as a puppy that was abandoned by his owner.

''That 'your majesty' again? Personal knight? This is crazy!'' She laughed as if he was saying some nonsense joke.

But since he stopped running and chose to walk instead, Cereza could see her surrounding.

Her eyes widened once they passed luxurious and grand corridors that only she could see in movies and photos. It's like she was inside a large European palace built in a medieval period.

She fell into deep thought and searched her brain. Where in the country she is, a place that had a magnificent building like this? Or did the kidnappers bring her to another country? It's impossible! What drug did they give her enough to put her into deep sleep?

Or maybe she was dreaming?

''Your majesty, thank the heavens you are alive!'' A woman came running to them. She looked at her, full of worry and it looked like she cried a lot based on her swollen eyes. But when her eyes landed on her maid outfit she started to convince herself that she was dreaming only of being in a fantasy drama carried by a knight in what-reason-she-didn't-know-about.

''Lilith where's the imperial doctor. Something's wrong with the empress!'' He cried and the girl seemed on the verge of tears.

''Let's hurry, he was waiting inside the empress chamber!''

''Empress? Who? Me?''

''See, Lilith? Something's definitely wrong with her majesty!'' The knight said, freaking out.

''Your majesty! Do you know me, Lilith?'' The maid asked anxiously.

''Nope.'' Then her eyes turned wide.

The maid and the knight rushed to bring her back to a wide chamber screaming luxury everywhere. And they were right, the doctor was waiting.

Cereza confirmed she might be having a dream in a medieval era.

The doctor gave her herbals instead of synthetic medicine tablets or syrup.

''Your majesty, do you know who you are? Do you know your name?'' The doctor shot her a bunch of questions.

''Yes. I am Cereza Meyer, CEO of Aera Group, daughter of the Aera chairman, and his only successor. Living in–''

''Your majesty,'' The doctor interrupted her. ''Who is Cereza Meyer and what is a CEO and this Aera Group?'' He looked so horrified and confused who had a similar vibe with the knight and the maid standing at the side of her bed.

''What? That is all true. You asked me who I am. I just answered it!''

''...''

''Okay, I know it was all a dream. So I understand you didn't understa– wait why everything felt so real,'' she said after she pinched hard herself.

''Your majesty! What are you doing?'' The maid panicked and grabbed her hands.

''Wait, is this not a dream? Why I couldn't wake up?''

''Of course, you're not in a dream, your majesty. Everything is real. This is reality.'' The doctor said as cold sweats broke down on his forehead.

''What?'' She exclaimed.

''Your memories are all messed up. You're having this rare condition called amnesia. The cause might be because your head was greatly affected after you hit your head somewhere in the lake. That is why you couldn't recognize anyone and forget who you are,'' the doctor diagnosed as he scribbled something on his paper while his round eyeglasses shadowed a bit, matching his overly-serious hazel eyes. Her mouth formed in an 'o' shaped wondering why he was using a feather to write.

''Where is your ballpoint pen?'' She randomly asked.

''Ball-what?''

''Ballpoint pen. I said.'' Her brows arched, a bubble of nervousness forming inside her stomach.

''I deeply apologize, your majesty! I don't have an idea on—''

''Impossible!''

The doctor was startled as the empress cut him off in a sharp surprising tone.

If I had amnesia why I can still remember everything? I only don't know who you are and where am I,'' She exclaimed once she came up to a realization.

''Tell me! Who exactly is me? What do you know about me?'' She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

''Your majesty, you got your first name right. It may be disrespectful to say your name but since you don't remember we will help you.'' The doctor said in his most gentle voice.

He adjusted his eyeglasses and coughed several times, clearing his throat before he started his speech.

''You are not Cereza Meyer. Instead, your name is Cereza Tyrell. Adara's empress and Duke Tyrell's daughter.'' The maid explained to the doctor. He was left then hanging and narrowed his eyes to the maid who had stolen his lines.

''W-Wait…what did you say? W-Who is me…again?''

''Your majesty, your birth name is Cereza Tyrell. You are the empress of Adara.''

The sudden revelation shook her to the core. She cursed under her breath.

''C-Can I ask for a mirror?'' She swear this whole thing was giving her anxiety.

''Yes, right away, your majesty!'' The maid named Lilith moved quickly. She could see how this maid was trained well. The way she carried herself, prim and proper is just like that of a woman honed in an imperial court.

'Her name is Lilith,' she thought as she watched her figure go through to a large wooden cabinet.

Then her eyes drifted away and landed on a knight standing beside the doctor sitting beside the king-sized bed she was lying on.

'The knight's name is Sean.'

Then a realization dawned upon her. A certain title of a novel, her favorite one entered her mind. 'Is it merely a coincidence?'

Scanning her eyes throughout the chamber, examining every detail, somehow she felt the room was familiar. But she was sure she never saw nor entered a very royal-like room before.

Something started to make sense but she just couldn't believe it.

'And what is my name? And how they address me?'

The last piece of a puzzle to confirm her conclusion relied on that mirror.

Once Lilith gave her the mirror, she quickly accepted it, mouthed a simple 'thanks', and held it close to her face.

Cereza could clearly see a face that do not belong to her. It was not her. The reflection was completely a different person. However, her features were familiar.

Long wavy auburn hair, emerald eyes a sign of being a Tyrell, and her distinct freckled face. She was none other than Cereza Tyrell. A side character who was bound to die in her favorite novel, ''Emperor's Beloved Consort''.

'My queen, I can't accept your fate even though how many times I had wished to save you. But I never wanted to be 'you'. My life is hard but your life is much harder to live. So why in the world, I transmigrated in your body. I wanna go back!'

She started to have a mental breakdown.