Reborn: The New Empress 19 Prologue

"Where am I" I asked aloud. Just then, the doors opened and a young girl, who seemed to be the same age as me, entered. When she saw me, she gasped and immediately ran to my side.

"Princess, you're finally awake." She said. Princess? What is she talking about? The young girl saw my indifference and immediately stood up and called for the doctor. After a while, she came back along with the doctor and a few unfamiliar faces.

"Oh my dear princess. You've finally opened your eyes. I was afraid you wouldn't wake up." One woman said. She looked familiar but I can't remember where I saw her or who she is. The doctor came up to me and held my wrist.

"The worst has pa.s.sed. The poison has been completely removed and the princess will have to take care for the following weeks." The doctor said. Poison? I've been poisoned? By who? And why? Questions flew in my head like crazy. Suddenly, a vivid vision came before my eyes.

[Flashback]

"My beloved princess Sayori, I will never let you get hurt. Mom loves you so much." Mom? Where are you?

"Princess, I'm sorry but your mother is dead." The doctor said. I felt all of my energy was drained. No, that's impossible. Mom was still okay when I saw her this morning. I quickly ran to Mom's room but it was too late. I knelt down on the floor and cried.

"Princess Sayori, starting tomorrow, you'll be living with your father at his Palace." No, I don't want to. I want to stay with Mom. But before I knew it, I was dragged out of my mother's home where my nightmare began.

"You'll be married off to the general's son, Sayori." Father said. I did everything they wanted even if it meant making a fool out of myself. I can't fight back.

[End of Flashback]

I remember who I am. I am the daughter of a general, General Hino Takas.h.i.+ and my mother was a commoner, her name was Ito Saori. People treat me as a princess because of an oracle that appeared when I was born. It was said that I was granted by the G.o.ds the t.i.tle of "princess"'. But this is not who I truly am. I stood up from the bed and ran to the nearest mirror. I examined my face and noticed that I didn't look like who I was.

My name is s.h.i.+romi Hanako. I was a neglected orphan from the 21st century. I have a bad-temper that's why no one wanted to adopt me. I grew up in the orphanage and when I felt that I needed to leave, I left to fend for myself. I learned the ways of the street and I managed to lift myself from the streets but something unfortunate happened. I was mugged on my way home and he stabbed me. I guess I didn't survive that.

"Princess, are you okay?" Sayaka asked. I remember her name now. She's my maid ever since I moved here. I looked at her and nodded my head.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just glad to be alive." I said. I am really glad that I'm alive although this isn't my body nor my life but I guess I have to live as Princess Sayori from now on. One of the woman who came in with the doctor came up to me and held my hand.

"Are you sure you're okay Princess?" She asked. I looked into her eyes and felt no deceit. She must really care for Sayori but I don't seem to remember who she is.

"I'm perfectly fine…" I paused, not knowing what to address her as. She quickly took notice of my silence and offered her name.

"Just call me aunt, okay." She said. I looked at her and nodded my head. Everything has been very confusing but I do know that I'm supposed to live my life as Sayori from now on since my soul is in her body. First things first, what happened to her? I went up to the doctor and a.s.serted myself.

"Doctor, can you tell me what happened to me?" I asked. The doctor bowed his head before answering.

"It seems that you have been poisoned princess but luckily the poison somehow managed to expel itself from your body. I cannot explain it myself but I'm glad it turned out the way it did. If not, you'd have been dead, princess." The doctor explained. No, it seems that Sayori really did die from the poison but since my soul found her body, she somehow came back to life. But who would poison me? And why? I decided to probe deeper into the matter.

"Do you have any idea who could've poisoned me?" I asked everyone who was in the room with me. Everyone looked at each other but kept silent. n.o.body knew the answer. The doctor spoke in the midst of the growing silence.

"I have no idea who it could be princess, but I can tell you what type of poison they used on you." The doctor said. I listened intently to any clues that can lead me to my killer.

"This poison hasn't been studied in depth. It is a type of poison found in a specific fish found in the sea. A lot of people have died because of this poison but it was miracle that you lived, princess. This poison, when ingested, can kill a human within 20 minutes and there is no known cure for it." The doctor explained. So someone wants to kill me so badly. What I don't understand is why are they after me? What can they achieve by killing me?

"Thank you for that doctor. If you may, I'd like to get some more rest. My body hasn't fully recovered." I said but actually my body is perfectly fine. I just need some time to myself to think about what happened. Maybe I can remember more if I have time to myself. Everyone started leaving except Sayaka.

"Princess, may I stay with you?" She asked. Sayaka looked like the type of person to care for others. She must be the one to discover Sayorí's body when the poison kicked in and now she's scared to leave her alone. I smiled at her and nodded my head.

"Sure, you can stay." I said. Sayaka stood beside me as I sat on the bed.

"Sayaka, tell me what happened before I was poisoned. I don't remember much ever since I woke up." I said. Sayaka's facial expression changed in an instant. She became sullen as soon as I mentioned my my poisoning.

"I am glad that you are alive princess. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you. I promised your mother that I would take care of you." She said. Sayaka must really care about me.

"Before I found you unconscious by the temple, you met with your father. You wanted to cancel your engagement with the general's son." She said. Engagement?

"Did you say engagement?" I asked. Sayaka nodded her head. I quickly stood up from the bed and was about to walk out when Sayaka stopped me.

"Where are you going, princess?" She asked. I ignored her and went out the room. Sayaka followed after me without asking anymore questions. While storming out, I realized something and I stopped dead in my tracks. Sayaka was confused by my sudden actions.

"Princess?" She asked. I looked back at her and had an embarra.s.sed smile on.

"Where is my father's office again?" I asked. Sayaka looked at me like I was stupid. I felt like an idiot going out not even knowing where I was supposed to go. Sayaka led the way to my father's office but before we could arrive there, we were stopped by a few ladies. They don't seem to be the polite type.

"Princess Sayori, we heard that you were poisoned. Are you okay?" One of the ladies said. She had an arrogant tone to her which I don't appreciate. The real Sayori must've been a pushover but I'm not. I won't let anyone trample over the princess ever again.

"I'm fine. I bet you wished I died from that poison." I said. The look on the ladies' faces were hard to describe. They looked offended but at the same time they knew what I said was true. Before I could answer back, Sayaka held me back.

"Be careful princess. Those are the daughters' of the other generals who have their eyes on your fiance, Sir Hasegawa Eiji." Sayaka said. I don't even remember my so-called fiance but even so, I want to know why Sayori wanted to break off their engagement and it's too much of a coincidence that she was poisoned right after talking to her father about the engagement.

"It seems that you've become quite brave right after surviving." One of them said. I wasn't one to back off from a fight. One of the ladies went up to me and was about to slap me but I grabbed her hand before she could touch my face.

"Getting physical, I see. Two can play at that game." I pushed her hand away and slapped her hard. She got knocked back from the impact. She was also surprised by my actions. Sayaka immediately stepped between us.

"How dare you!" They screamed. Without another word, they fled back to where they came from. Sayaka looked at me, her eyes filled with concern.

"Princess, are you okay?" She asked. I nodded but it seemed that it wasn't the answer she was looking for. She must've noticed Sayori's change in att.i.tude. She must've been quite different from how I've been acting.

"It's okay, Sayaka. The old Sayori is dead. I'm the brand new Sayori who won't let anyone bring me down. I'll definitely find out what happened to me." I said. Sayaka gasped from what I said. She must be in shock. It's not easy to accept someone who changed drastically in a span of surviving a poisoning.

We continued to walk towards my father's office. He's an important individual politically. I'm hoping that he has time to talk to me despite of that. We arrived at the office. Sayaka stopped in front of the door.

"Princess, I'm not allowed to enter." She said. I nodded and took a deep breath before opening the door. When I entered, my father was on his desk, doing his paperworks. He must've heard me come in because he momentarily looked up from his papers.

"Sayori." He said blankly. It seems he doesn't care about what happened to me. All the more reason for me to suspect that he had something to do with the poisoning.

"Father." I greeted. He put down his papers and stood up. He walked up to me and stared me up and down.

"I see you're all better." He said. I stood firm on the spot and nodded.

"Yes father. Something like that couldn't kill me." I said matter-of-factly. He looked at me like he knew I wasn't his daughter. I held my head high, I won't let him see me in a weak light.

"Then what are you doing here?" He asked. I took a step back and bowed my head slightly.

"I'm here to discuss with you my engagement with sir Eiji." I said with a straight face. He took a step back and examined my facial expression. His face didn't change when I mentioned the engagement.

"What's there to discuss? Haven't we reached the conclusion that you will marry him?" He said. His voice started to rise a little and it seemed that he was starting to get irritated.

"On what grounds should I marry someone who hasn't even shown up to see his fiancee?" I answered. He was taken aback by my abrasiveness.

"You are marrying him and that's final!" He said. I was not okay with that and I'm not going to let this issue go.

"Why should I? Is it because my marriage to him has some kind of leverage on your position politically?" I spouted. It looked like he took offense to what I said. He turned his back on me and kept silent.

"I respect you Father but I draw the line here. And there's still the matter of my poisoning. I hope you've taken the right actions to deal with what happened." I said. He still kept his back towards me.

"Rest a.s.sured, I've had someone investigate the matter." He answered. Yeah right. I'm hoping you're not involve in this. If you are, I'll show no mercy even if you're my father. With the matters somewhat settled, I decided to go back to my room.

"I'll be leaving now Father." I said. He didn't answer. I left the room quietly and I saw Sayaka patiently waiting for me.

"Princess, are you okay? Did something happen?" She asked. I shook my head.

"Let's go back to my room first. I'll be expecting a guest soon." Sayaka nodded and we went back to my room for my fiance's visit.