It arrived just before dawn.
Folded twice, sealed with a plain black wax stamp. No crest. No signature.
Evelyne found it on her pillow.
She stared at it for a moment, unmoving. Her fingers hovered over the parchment as if it might burn her.
Then, slowly, she broke the seal.
Inside was a single line, written in precise, elegant handwriting.
> "I remember who you were before the crown. Do you?"
She read it twice. Then a third time.
No name. No date. But the words sent a chill down her spine.
---
Later that morning, Evelyne sat beside Elisse in their history lecture, but her mind drifted elsewhere. The words echoed in her head, louder than the professor's voice.
"I remember who you were…"
How could he know? Her memories from her past life had only returned upon waking as a ten-year-old. The masked boy… was he someone from her old life?
Or was he someone reborn like her?
---
"Lady Ardent," the professor called out suddenly, breaking her thoughts. "Would you care to summarize the Rise of the Fourth Empress?"
Evelyne stood smoothly.
"She was remembered not for her kindness, but for the choices she made when no kindness was left."
A pause. The professor blinked.
"Well said."
Elisse looked at her with shining eyes. "You're amazing, Evelyne."
Evelyne didn't smile. She couldn't. Not when the past was now scratching at the edges of the present.
---
After class, Zane Elcross stepped in front of her in the corridor.
"Another letter?" he asked, voice light, but his eyes sharp.
Evelyne raised a brow. "Are you intercepting my mail now, Sir Zane?"
"No," he said. "But I notice things. Like how you looked… shaken this morning."
She said nothing.
Zane's voice lowered, his hand brushing hers—barely.
"If anyone's trying to hurt you, I'll stop them."
Evelyne stared at him.
And walked past without answering.
---
That night, alone in her room, she lit a candle and unfolded the letter again.
She flipped it over.
And saw, in the lower left corner, something faint.
A sigil—burned in with heat, not ink. A symbol she hadn't seen in years.
A phoenix rising from ash.
The mark of her executioner.
---
To be continued…