Prologue

A cold light appeared all of a sudden along with the sound of flesh being pierced. Blood. Bright red blood was splashed among the marble floor and stained the bearskin rug. Behind the splash of blood stood a gorgeous woman, holding a silver butter knife in her hand. She stared manic at the enemies that she slaughtered.

The woman was in a long evening gown. Her pure white attire dyed a crimson colour by the endless blood. Beside her feet, a corpse still grasping a dagger and wearing an embroidered mask. Next to the corpse was its copy and another, then another, slowly revealing the whole room littered with the dead bodies of would-be assassins.

Taking her eyes off the corpses, the woman raised her eyes and smiled. The sight she saw was an amusing one: a group of frightened men huddled together liked a pack of cornered animals; they stared at her in a greedy way, hungry for her blood but too afraid to act after witnessing how their compatriots had fared against the war goddess made flesh. The description couldn’t have been so close to the truth as the women stood tall with such captivating beauty that it could only be described as divine while the blood made her resemble the picturesque idea of a monster on the battlefield instead of a crazed woman in her bedroom.

Scanning through the masked faces one by one, the woman suddenly raised her hand and used one of the fingers to wipe off a drop of warm blood sliding down the corner of her lips. The pale lips were covered by a trace of redness, bright but sinister.

“How dare you disturb me at this hour.” The woman took the threat to her life as if it was just another small inconvenience. “I don’t believe you’ve come here to have some ‘fun’ with me...” As if to demonstrate her meaning of fun the large luxurious bed behind the women began creaking and out of it spilled a pair of young boys half dressed who ran in desperation towards the exit.

“Alexandra… No, Princess Alexandra…Your Highness, you have gone too far.” From the group of assassins, a voice spoke for them all and he walked out of the huddle.

Alexandra frowned as her name was called by the ring leader. Her eyes were full of disdain. To her, the other assassins were just ants, who did not even qualify to be killed using her own hands. But the man who led them was something else. A young man barely reaching his thirties walked towards the princess, unlike the others he held a sword and a posture that appeared like he knew how to use it, unlike the others he was chivalrous and didn’t hide behind a mask, unlike the others he belonged to her, Richard Von Cobalt. Princess Alexandra’s favourite and first concubine.

“Far? Stop this nonsense and come to bed.” The words came from her lips freely in a carefree tone, but her piercing blue eyes glared past her golden locks, that fell in front of her face, straight at him.

“You killed my son!”

“I lost my home because of your ungodly wars!”

“You tarnished your father’s name!”

The assassins threw out many more crimes the princess had committed, some damning others mediocre, everyone single, one of them barely reaching Alexandra’s ears, except for when Richard spoke. “You executed the women I loved…”

The women’s eyes shook and she lost her smile. “Love… Pathetic. To think you’d let that bitch touch you… You belong to me!” Not long after the outburst the woman swung her arm out and pointed the silver butter knife at Richard. “To think you'd come back and bite the hand that fed you!”

Richard stared blankly at her and replied in a soft yet sorrowful voice. “You were truly amazing once and I would have followed you anywhere I… I believed ...” The words the man had tried to speak got stuck in his throat. “I was mistaken. A mistake I will correct.” Turning his gaze to the assassins. “Be easy brave man. I will face her.”

Without further pause, before the assassins could utter a single thank you Richard charged towards her, sword in hand. The princess that he believed and followed, was not nearly this cruel. She was noble, however, just like the seasons pass change is inevitable, the only thing that she had left was not nobility but tyranny and he couldn’t bear to look at it any longer.

“HEY! It’s just getting to the best part!” A whine came from a young woman who had her eyes glued to her phone reading the novel before it got snatched away from her.

Friday night, no different from any other night the restaurant buzzed with people. Waiters taking orders, young couples on first dates to a group of women sat at their usual table drinking and unwinding after a long day at work. “Ugh, why did he have to be engaged?”

“I did tell you yet like a moth to the flame you went and asked him out anyway.” The eldest of the group looked down at her friend who had their face flat against the table, right next to an impressive collection of empty pint glasses.

“I thought you were kidding … I have the worst luck.”

“Ya think?” Their reply oozed with sarcasm before it was replaced by a bite of pizza.

“Bitch.” She said, with a pathetic slur the word tumbling from her mouth in a rush of barely distinguishable syllables. Immediately, what was left of her sober mind made her realise as her head shot up from off the table. “Oh no! What's going to happen if I see him at the office? It’s going to be so awkward… Kill me now.”

Aside from her the youngest of the three women peeled the drink coaster that had gotten stuck to their friend’s face. “At least you tried.”

“Bet she’s wishing she didn’t. I love you but you need to drop the high standards and start looking for a guy who is in your league preferably not already in a relationship.”

A reluctant sigh crept from her lips as her friend stated the obvious. “I know, I know, I wish I was more like Alexandra then I’d have no problem getting whomever I wanted…”

The girl aside from her spoke up, curious. “Whose Alexandra?”

“Please don’t ask.” Taking a sip of wine as the eldest of the three of them knew what was coming next.

“Alexandra! The best!” Ecstatic, the drunk girl reached for her phone and turned it on. As she skimmed through it she described the women without pause. “Not only is she beautiful but a badass!”

“And fictional.” The rant was cut short by a quick dose of reality from the other side of the table. “Look I need to call it a night.”

“Me too, sorry.”

“Huh?! But it’s still early…”

As her friends left her she began to think how wonderful it would be to have been in a world where she could have any guy she wanted, if only it wasn't a total fantasy.

After moments of sitting in the restaurant thinking of her ideal world, she took a glance at their phone to see the time and noticed a strange notification, ‘That's odd, I don't remember there being any new chapters.’ As she opened the notification her head began to feel woozy and her body light as she felt everything around her fade away.

‘What the hell?’ Half expecting to be hungover she was surprised that she didn’t feel a thing from last night. Her eyes snapped open. ‘Was I sleeping? When did I fall asleep?’

Despite being disoriented, she could plainly see a lavish red ceiling above her. She paused before finally resting her eyes and again they opened with panic ‘Wait this isn’t my room!’

The second it became a suggestion in her head her body shot up, and it dawned on her it wasn’t just the fact that she was sober and in a room, she didn’t recognise but she felt great, in fact, she hadn't felt this healthy since she was in high school, but what freaked her out the most was a glimmer of gold that passed her eyesight. She reached to grasp it with her fingers and quickly discovered that the gold was a strand of hair that belonged to her. “When did I go BLONDE?!”