Chapter 4: Interlude: Ophelia’s origin

"You are strong Ophelia. we love you"

"One day Ophelia, you will be running this dutchy and we know you will do great"

Those were the last words my parent said to me the night before they died in a fire, and at that moment as I watched the flames pour out of the house while there were many people screaming and crying, my past life's memories came flooding back to me.

My occupation, my name, and all the other things from my past life were now inside my head and all I could do was stand still and continue to watch the fire burn, my head was dizzy for a moment, but I immediately steadied myself as a maid rushed to my side to check if I was ok. She began pulling me away to safety, but I continued to stare at the blaze that was getting brighter and rising higher. All the while as I watched, I felt tears running down my cheeks and I cried for my mother and father as I got further away.

After that incident, I spent a few days inside the family carriage as I requested to be alone for the time being. I thought long and hard about my past life and this new one, it seems that my personality was mostly the same and then I came to a decision, in my mind there was only one thing that I could agree on,

'The past is nothing now. I am living a new life'

I shut away my past life but kept the lessons and experiences I learned. But considering I was still five years old it seems that I would be needing to rely on my caretakers and my past experiences to restore the family name and rebuild what was lost, in the name of my parents.

I resolved myself inside that carriage, I began a plan to rebuild everything, and so eight years passed, eight long years of hard work and labor. And during those eight years, many things happened. First of was when I turned seven, I began to have glimpses and visions of future events when I would be older, I remember being skeptical of them at first but when I did not pay attention to the visions, someone I held dear to me got hurt and that's when I realized these visions are not to be taken lightly. Of course, I could defy the visions if they resulted in someone, I cherish getting harmed but in most cases, I steeled myself for when they would happen and pressed forward.

Another thing that happened during my eight years of rebuilding was meeting my new pseudo-father, his majesty Emperor Gaius. He told me he and my dad had been friends before and if anything happened to them and I was alone, he would be there to take care of me. I enjoyed his visits whenever he came and I saw him as someone I really could rely on, from helping me stop other nobles from claiming my land to giving me access to the imperial library and the knowledge within. And spending time with him, I got to know his family.

The Empress died after giving birth to the twin princes' and Visnet was only three years younger than me but spent most of his time playing around in the palace with his brothers who were a year younger. But I held no grudge against them since we were in different situations and the emperor, and my father agreed that I should be left out of the family politics and the whole high society world altogether. But one day as I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon with him, I got a vision. It was a vision that involved Visnet, me, and Gaius. It was something I did not expect and neither did he, we talked sometime after that and it was decided that he would no longer return and focus all his efforts on trying to change what could happen, I did not hold it against him since I understood how much he loved them and so I said nothing and only nodded as we saw each other for the last time for a while.

There were many villages and towns inside the dutchy but the one that I found out had the most money put into it was an orphanage near the estate. Said orphanage was built during the months before my parent's death and the orphanage was run by two people, a nun with curly brown hair named Sister Mary and a former army officer now turned orphanage caretaker with silver hair named Mother Felice, both of them were hired by my parents and in the future thanks to me I would save their lives. But despite all of that, the most important thing that happened to me was meeting a girl named Amelia, in the orphanage.

The moment I saw her I was smitten, maybe it was the old me but for some reason when I saw her, all I could think was

'This girl is so cute!'

When I interacted with her for the first time, her smile and energy made me feel warm. At first, it was just an attraction to her cuteness and my want for a best friend in her but when I got older over time it became romantic.

During those eight years, I spent most of it trying to fix up the dutchy and solve the mountain of problems left behind to me by my parents, it was surprising to not only the adventurers but also the townspeople seeing me, a girl who was not even past the age of ten, giving out orders and trying to solve problems that had risen all over the place. Many other nobles had tried to get a glimpse of me or at most try to take over my territory but thankfully having the imperial family on my side made things easier since nobles who did not have my express permission were prohibited from entering my land.  And all the while I would make trips to the orphanage to spend time with Amelia and the staff that was there, when I became ten years old, I began to train myself in the use of magic and weaponry. I sent letters to Gaius and he sent me people for me to train with, they taught me how to use different types of weapons and magic and when I became thirteen, I was already very powerful. Which to me seemed strange as I thought it was highly unlikely that someone my age would have had such power without something behind it. 

Fortunately, I was right in my assumption as on the same day of me doubting my power, he came. A figure who was draped in a dark cloak with purple skin and black scales covering the limbs I could see, his head adorned with a pair of sharp purple horns that curved upward with black and white hair. He introduced himself as the Demon God Harcun, the counterpart to the Goddess of Light Histy. I found out several things about my existence but he told me not to worry about it, he then told me to just enjoy the life I have and that I should be proud of my power and use it to whatever I see fit. He called me their "greatest creation so far" so I guess that was something. 

After the eight years of rebuilding passed, I spent most of my free time as an adventurer named "Starlight" and it did not take long for me to become SSS rank the highest rank for an adventurer thanks to the power that had been residing inside me. Sure, there were other more experienced adventurers, but I fought each and every one of them and downed them, not killed mind you. It was also during this time that I also began to teach Amelia how to be an adventurer, I trained her after her sessions with the main caretaker of the orphanage Mother Felice and spent years bonding alongside her, I was three years older but that didn't really bother us. But our time of nonstop bonding came to an end when she became sixteen, she told me she was enrolled into Hallsworth Imperial Academy by Mother Felice for her amazing talent. I can still remember that night when she told me, it was a beautiful night, and the moon was shining brightly down on us as we seated ourselves on the balcony.

"I heard it is a place where nobles and exceptional commoners go to school. Are you going Ophie?" Amelia said as she looked up at the moonlight while staying within my tight embrace rubbing her head on my breasts. 

"I am afraid not, according to my visions. The moment I set foot in that place, bad things will happen, and sadly, most of those things will involve me and you" I replied as I kissed her on the head before bringing her face up to mine

When she heard that, I saw a look of surprise and sadness at my words. She looked as if she was about to cry. So, I hugged her tightly and said

"Don't worry, I will always be here waiting for you. So do your best in the academy and don't forget to write me letters"

Even after my words, I could still feel her holding onto me tightly, it made my heart ache, but it also made me feel warm and fuzzy knowing that she will miss me. I smiled as I pulled away and was surprised that she had tears running down her cheeks already, I gave her a small smile as I brushed away the tears and looked her straight in the eyes, I then placed my lips on hers and kissed her. I pulled away and saw that her face was bright red and that she looked like a madwoman craving for more.

It made me smirk as I grabbed her hand and escorted her to my bed chambers. I pushed her down onto the bed and I kissed her again, this time it was deeper, and I was happy as she did the same to me. We spent a few hours going into more intimate actions but suffice it to say both of us were tired but pleased in the morning.

We then spent the remaining time sleeping in each other's arms, the remaining months of time we had together before she left was spent adventuring and managing the dutchy, but time goes by fast and soon I am standing in front of the orphanage to see her off alongside Mother Felice and Sister Mary.

"Study hard and come back soon ok Amelia?" Sister Mary said as she cupped Amelia's face, giving her a loving kiss on the forehead

"Indeed, the orphanage will be a lot noisier without their big sister in charge to calm them down" Mother Felice replied as she patted Amelia on the head with a proud expression

"Enjoy yourself, ok? I'll be here waiting for you to return. And if you return early, maybe we can do something..." I added as I took her by the hand and kissed it gently before kissing her again on the cheek, resisting the urge to go into a deep kiss. 

"I... understand, I will miss you guys, so I am going to do my best! goodbye, thank you, and love you"

She said those words with a smiling face as she hugged each of us and kissed me on the lips, before going into the carriage that was bound for the academy. I remember feeling sad as I saw the carriage leaving my sight and soon when it disappeared, I felt lonely. But I had no time to rest on those emotions, since shortly after I received another set of visions and so that regarded the future of the entire dutchy and the people living in it, and so once again I went to work.

I spent many days and nights tirelessly working around the dutchy, from helping the farmers use magic to help their crops, to dawning my "Starlight" persona to rid the high-level monsters that would pop up around the area. But in these times of hard work, Amelia would come back during her school breaks to help out and when we were both free, we would go on dates and romantic adventures for her entire break, only stopping a few days before she had to go back. It helped me tremendously that high society still had no idea who I was or what I looked like since all of my subordinates, specifically my personal kitsune maid "Percy" met them on my behalf.

But at the end of Amelia's third year at Hallsworth, I got a vision that I did not expect. It was a vision of me getting persecuted in the school and being blamed for many things I did not do, it also showed me being thrown into a portal of some kind and being sent off somewhere. At first, I thought that the vision was stupid but I tried to look back at the people who were present in the vision, all of them were people that were clinging to Amelia and I realized that they were her so-called "Friends" who kept trying to court her. I also remembered seeing this being orchestrated by Visnet and his brothers so I already knew why they would be coming for me, I was the last person to hold the title of Grand Duchess. The only person who could object to the royal family without any support from the other nobility since this title was created by the emperors of the past as a final line of defense if the next in line to the throne was someone not suited.

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And since I did not show my face to anyone, it was highly assumed by them that I was a variable that needed to be dealt with. And this alone made me decide that if I was going to be thrown out of this empire, I would take the people in my dutchy who were willing, with me.

And so, I met Gaius, told him about the visions, and relayed my plan.

"You really think this will work Ophelia?" He said as we were sipping tea in the gazebo in his personal tea room in the palace, his hand on his forehead as he heard everything

"If you support me like you always do, then yes. I do believe it will work" I replied, with a confident expression

"Can I do anything that can change the vision or at least prevent this from happening?" He added 

"Sadly not this time, the vision came with other visions if we tried to change it" I replied

"I see...I will do my best to keep your plans under wraps and I will keep an eye on them" He replied with a wry smile as he placed his hand on mine and gripped it tightly like a loving father

"Thank you, Gai-I mean Uncle Gaius," I replied, breaking my confident expression with a warm and thankful one

"Wow, I haven't heard that one in a while" Uncle Gaius said with a small laugh

"I will also need to attend the academy, but I have heard that they don't accept students coming into the fourth year without good reason or if that person did not join in the first year"

"Leave that to me, I know the principal and my word alone should get you into the academy"

"Please note to mention anything special or amazing about me, I would like it better if it was based around my position as the last Grand Duchess"

"I see, leave it to me, Ophelia, it will be done"

"Thank you. And I love you"

I smiled meekly at him as I hugged him and teleported out of his room.

I spent my remaining months that were free, desperately finishing up any projects that were left unfinished and training myself, even more, I trained myself to hide my magical energy and my broken strength so as to not draw attention to myself and I develop a new persona to hide behind, I also studied the curriculum that was for the fourth years and the many lessons I would be facing in the future. I bought myself the school uniform and I must say that the black dress with a white shirt really looked nice on me, I always wondered if I would fit it since I always saw Amelia in it when she would come back during her breaks. Soon enough the day came when it was time to head to the academy, I did not inform Amelia solely because I wanted to watch her surprised reaction the moment she saw me there.

I can still remember the ceremony welcoming back the fourth years, it was inside the campus's large ballroom that was ornately decorated and I remember seeing Amelia on stage giving a speech to them about how proud she was to be there again for the last time to graduate alongside them, and behind her were the boys that I saw in my visions that were clinging to her sides, I felt disgusted as I looked at them but kept my feelings in check as to not give myself away. I locked eyes with Amelia the moment she finished her speech and I put my finger on my lips before she could do anything else, and simply sent her a telepathic message

[Meet me outside when you're done]

Then I walked to one of the exits of the ballroom, I found myself in one of the gardens in the campus and sat down on a bench. I looked up and saw that the moon was a half moon and I smiled as I sensed her near and looked back down to see her standing a few feet away from me. She had a huge smile on her face as the wind was blowing her hair around, her white dress that she wore for the ceremony was slightly ruffled which showed me she ran all the way here to see me. I gave her a small smile and gestured to the empty spot on the bench next to me,

"Surprise"

"O...Ophelia!" she said, her body trembling with excitement

She ran towards me and jumped on me and hugged me tight as I gave a chuckle and patted her head and back as she snuggled her head on my breasts. I lifted her by her chin and saw that her eyes were sparkling and looking at me as if she just saw something precious to her, I smiled and planted my lips on hers and we shared another deep kiss. After we kissed, she asked me why I was in the academy with her and I told her everything, I trusted her so much that I did not hide anything from her. And as I expected, her facial expression went from bright and cheery to something darker by the time I finished explaining everything, I tried to calm her down, but she sent out a blast of magic energy that I was barely able to hide from anyone by absorbing it and looking sternly at her.

"I believe I warned you not to do that" I said as I dispersed the magical energy she blasted off around my body 

"I...I'm sorry, it's just that-Those bastards! They will do those things to you while I do nothing to defend you!" She replied with a angered expression

"I get you're  mad Amelia, but you know already that if I try to defy these types of visions, it will harm more people down the line" I added as I tried to soothe her

"Then to hell with those random people! I don't know who they are! I don't care! If it means saving you from this fate, I will fight anyone!" she said as she grabbed me by the collar of my dress and pulled me in close, her eyes watering 

I sighed as I placed my hand on her shoulder and kissed her, I pulled away and saw that she calmed down, but tears began to flow down as she began to sob. I said nothing as she held onto me and then I returned the hug. After this, she went back to the ballroom first and I followed a while after.

The rest of the year was spent doing secret rendezvous and my best to not stand out and look like a cold and unfeeling person, suffice to say it worked in the end. By the end of the school year, I was thrown into the portal, and I ended up on another continent as punishment, unfortunately for them, the continent they banished me onto is something that I already foresaw.

But that did not mean I am out of the picture, I swore to them I would return to bring them down and I am going to fulfill that promise, now that I can finally use the powers at my disposal to their full potential I see nothing stopping me. Alongside that, my plan inside the dutchy with Amelia is underway and I know they will be here in four month's time if all goes well, and so in that time, I will do my best to make sure that this continent I was banished to will be an empire they will be surprised to see receive them with open arms. 

Until then, Amelia my love. Do your best and please, keep your head held high. 

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