Chapter 1: An Eerie Premonition

Saint-Noel Academy was closing for the summer holidays, and many students had begun their journeys home. Mia was no exception. She was currently sitting in her carriage as it made its bumpy way toward Tearmoon. On the road and with time to spare, she decided to take out her blood-stained diary and revisit its contents. It had been a long time since she'd touched the book, and as she flipped it open she held onto the hope that its final pages would reveal a different future.

"Well, that's... not surprising, I suppose."

She leaned back in her seat and let out a discouraged sigh. The diary still concluded with her execution at the guillotine, and the overarching structure of her story remained the same. There was a famine, followed by a revolution, which sealed the fate of the imperial line. Of course, there were some changes. Whereas the masses had been uniformly critical of the imperial family in the previous timeline, the updated diary described the rise of a voluntary militia composed mostly of residents from the Newmoon District. Their loyalty lay not with the imperial family as a whole but with Mia herself, and they came directly to her aid. While their numbers were small, they fought in concert with the imperial guards and dealt some significant blows to the revolutionary army. Furthermore, there were a considerable number of people in Tearmoon who called for Mia to be spared. Though the degree to which these voices mattered was unclear, the circumstances of Mia's captivity did indeed see some improvement. Rather than an underground dungeon cell, she was held in a room in the castle and, at the head chef's kind plea, was supplied with reasonable food for her meals. The day before her execution, they even cooked her a feast for her final dinner, as evidenced by an entry in her diary that specifically described the event. She'd taken care to mention that the ambermoon tomato stew was a particularly exquisite piece of work. That alone attested to its quality.

There was also Sion, whose attitude had changed as well. At the behest of his attendant, he added his own voice to those opposing Mia's execution.

On the other hand, her actions had caused some things to turn out for the worse. Anne, for example, suffered a far more tragic fate. A bold but failed attempt to rescue Mia resulted in the breakup of her family and with Anne herself being arrested as a criminal. Then there was Abel, who mounted his own daring rescue. Moving covertly, he managed to infiltrate Tearmoon's border, only to be discovered before he reached Mia. He fought his captors tooth and nail, carving a bloody path toward the castle before expiring on its very steps. In his wake was the grisly sight of the countless bodies that had stood in his way. As a result, relations with the Kingdom of Remno suffered, plunging Tearmoon into even further hardship.

"That... certainly wasn't an enjoyable read."

The sentences describing the news of Abel's death were written in a weak, unsteady script that betrayed the writer's shock. Many of the words on the page were smeared, suggesting that they had gotten wet. Sweat, perhaps, from dread of the event's implications. Or maybe...

Despite these subtle differences, however, her end remained the same.

The famine seems like it's not as bad as before, but...

It looked like food shortage was still the primary cause of the revolution. The food she'd instructed Ludwig to stockpile had provided some relief, but it couldn't stop the famine from occurring. Ultimately, they still wouldn't save up enough food.

And then there's the conflict with the minority tribe near the border.

The diary described a regional conflict with the Lulus, a tribe of sylvan people. This might have happened in the previous timeline as well, but Mia had almost no recollection of it. At the time she'd had no interest in the issue, so she still had no idea what had caused it. What she now understood, however, was why it had led to bad things for her.

The Lulus... Tiona's attendant came from that tribe.

Liora Lulu, as her name suggests, was born into the Lulu people. If something awful happened to her tribe, and Mia happened to be implicated in it, it was no stretch to imagine that Tiona would hate her for it. In fact, the diary even spelled out that this event was what fractured their relationship. On the other hand, it suggested that if Mia was able to do something about this one issue, she could maybe avoid turning Tiona into her enemy.

I have to admit, all those crops the Rudolvons produce are looking pretty appealing. If I could somehow get on their good side and convince them to fork over some food, it'll do wonders for the impending shortage.

That supply alone wasn't going to solve the famine, but it could significantly improve their situation.

Anyway, moving on... Hm, this part intrigues me too.

Mia's eyes were drawn to the section describing the event that triggered the revolution — the abduction of Outland Count Rudolvon. According to the diary, seeing that his people were starving, the outcount gave out his own stores to feed them. The subsequent surge in his popularity vexed the emperor, who ordered the outcount's abduction in a fit of envy. This angered the masses, who rose up in protest, thereby sparking the flames of revolution.

This incident was unchanged from the previous timeline, but Mia couldn't shake the feeling that something seemed... off. Admittedly, her father the emperor was no saint, and the questionable dealings of cash and coin that so often accompanied high office could surely be traced back to him as frequently as any other noble. However, she had some serious doubts about whether he would be that envious of some noble who happened to get popular.

I just can't imagine Father caring about something like that. The only thing he's interested in is trying to get me to think he's cool.

He'd go as far as to start a war if his darling daughter asked him to do so, but he was otherwise a rather innocuous man. Granted, the degree to which he catered to her bordered on lunacy and she really wished he'd cut it out sometimes, but that was a princess problem. Mostly, he was just a harmless fellow who didn't do much. Which, considering the crown on his head, was arguably a pretty big problem, but at least he wasn't an actively bad person. An annoying one, perhaps, but not a malevolent one.

Something about this incident doesn't feel right... It doesn't seem like something Father would do.

She tried to keep reading, but doubt lingered in her mind. It clung to her thoughts like tar, dark and viscous and utterly unpleasant. It sank down slowly, oozing past her chest and into the pit of her stomach, where it congealed into a sense of deep uneasiness. It was as if it were all intentional... As if someone had fabricated this incident to purposefully incite revolution... Or indeed, as if it were willed by God, and the invisible hand of fate were pushing the empire toward its ruin. The ominous premonition churned uncomfortably in her stomach before rising up into her throat. This dreadful sensation defied description, but if one had to put words to it...

"Ugh... I feel sick..."

...It would be cartsickness. Indeed, all that reading she'd been doing in the bobbing carriage had made her feel terribly nauseated.

"A-Anne... Ugh... Anne... I feel sick..." she whimpered as she sought the help of her loyal maid, who was currently sitting out in the driver's box because Mia had requested some alone time to read her diary.

Anne soon appeared at the carriage door, where she discovered a teary-eyed Mia who'd rolled herself up into a ball on her seat. The sight was utterly incongruous with the image of the wise princess who was so respected by her peers at Saint-Noel. Fortunately, they weren't there to see.