CHAPTER 2: Rozena

Thunder striked across the palace. It was a sign...

That an inevitable event is about to happen.

The moment she was born, he looked at her with something far more than love…

but hatred and disgust.

He couldn't even try to name her, one look at her, the past came flooding in his mind as if a reminder.

"She looks just like her.", he muttered

The look in his eyes already filled the surrounding a cold shiver of wind.

There was only silence in the halls, but a crying of a baby. Who had been born under the weather of a gushing eerie storm-along with thunder.

He ordered to lock her away, assigned a personal maid to raise it herself.

Though there was one word that he said before completely turning his back against the infant:

"Rozena.",

As if the maid understood and knew what he meant, she lowered her head, nodding slightly and then left quickly.

It was a name.

It was a miracle that he still has the slightest care to name a child that he doesn't even want to see or even feel to care about.

As if he was obligated to do so, forced to name something against his will. No one knows what was on his mind that day, to name her.

And just like that, Rozena was born. Not out of love, but of a tragic affair...

the fruit of his ruin.

The misunderstandings.

His past.

His tragic moment.

She was born without love.

And here she was, locked away.

A prison.

She was forbid to step outside, she couldn't be near or see her own father.

Growing up slowly, without knowing what it feels like to be with a family, being loved and cared by a father and mother. Typical sad stories that some would have.

She could've grown up to hate her father, but no.

She was slightly... different.

She grew up wanting the love of her father, instead of hating him, she just hoped he'll come to her.

Inside this dust and gloomy filled tower, a small light was living inside.

There were only a few limited times when Rozena could visit one of the east mansion of the palace, where the walls are filled with portraits of royal families, and her father’s portrait stood out the most.

'Ezekiel Ein Valenche',

A name that if you mention it, it runs shivers down your spine. No one dared to say that name behind his back. But for Rozena-

-that was the name of her father, which she often mentions over and over again under her whispers. Speaking it with full of hope and desperation. To be loved. She wanted to remember that particular name.

As if it was a sacred treasure that is so important to her.

So, Rozena only knew the face and name of her father only on mere paintings in frames hanging on the walls that she could never reach.

And then she noticed

She couldn’t understand why there were no portraits of Rosie, her mother, remained in the palace. No stories.

No trace. As if she had been erased.

If only she knew what had happened between her parents in the past.

She thought to herself, if only she understood the meaning of every word that everyone threw at her, more than she can actually have known.

If she knew the reason why her parents abandoned her.

But it was better if she hadn't.

Just a long tragic past that long needed to be forgotten

And Rozena…

was the reminder.