Boris came into the room hours later. Tatianka had already left.
He looked at his wife, his witch wife. Dead. Gone.
A strange, heavy feeling gnawed at his chest, it was a feeling of guilt, sadness and regret.
Ignoring the feeling, he picked up the jar from the table and turned to leave.
Suddenly, the blood inside the jar began to glow.
He froze.
Zhanna's body, her dead body, was glowing too!
What was happening?
Then he heard them, voices. All speaking at once. Whispering chants. But above them all, one voice rang clear.
Zhanna's.
"Boris! I will pay you back for all you've done! You deserve worse than death!"
Boris stumbled backward, heart racing. Goosebumps rose on his skin, literally.
He tried to run, but his body refused to move. Something was holding him back. Something unseen.
Suddenly, he felt a shock run through his arm—electric, burning. He dropped the jar.
It shattered.
Blood spilled everywhere.
As the liquid touched the floor, the force holding him loosened. Boris could move again. Without thinking, he bolted for the door. He grabbed the handle…
BANG!
An invisible force slammed him against the wall, it was more like a wave pushing him against the wall.
His head hit hard.
Darkness.
When he opened his eyes...
He rose up from his chair, awake. Pavel was running towards him. "Your highness, the artist is waiting for you- to take your portrait," Pavel said.
Boris remembered instantly, he needed to send a portrait to his bride to be- so she could see his face. What's that her name again? Zhanna! He didn't even know who she was and he never cared to know all he wanted was to get to the throne and the black magician said that she was the key.
As he was about to leave, he turned to look at where he was sleeping…A chair! At the stables! It was still early in the morning. Had he slept there all night?
Weird, right? What was even weirder was this feeling that he had. Something big happened, it felt so real, something…he couldn't remember.
"Oh well" He sighed and decided not to dwell on it because the more he thought about it, the more he got confused.
---
In Koldunova, Zhanna's hometown, things were even weirder.
Zhanna woke up with a gasp. "I'm back!" she said involuntarily.
"What?" Zhanna was confused. She wasn't in heaven, she was in a room. And this was not just any room; it was her room back in Koldunova, her hometown. It still had the same faded paint, creaking bed, cracked mirror- of course, they were all still there.
But who carried her back here?
It was then Zhanna remembered she was wounded, or supposed to be wounded rather, because there were no scratches on her arm. Strange.
Maybe she's actually in hell, although it looked like her room.
"But I didn't do evil when I was alive," she said to herself.
"You killed," her subconscious reminded her. "You killed innocent people for that man... Boris."
The name alone was able to trigger her hate. She blindly trusted him only to be used, accused, and killed. Well played, Boris, well played.
Zhanna hit her leg on the bed as she walked. The bed creaked, and she felt the pain.
Wait, she was alive? Really? She hit her leg again, harder this time... the pain was real.
This was definitely a mirage, because there was no way she could still be alive, transported back to Koldunova (her hometown), and have no bruises or injury after the event that happened earlier.
It was almost like she had gone back in time.
Wait... gone back in time.
Could she have… transmigrated?
Had heaven given her another chance?
Zhanna got excited. She needed a way to confirm it. Her look! She could check whether she looked the same, and if she looked younger, she had truly transmigrated.
---
Vika, Zhanna's handmaid, was just about to enter Princess Zhanna's room with supplies to get the princess' bath prepared when she heard a scream. She scrambled in, panicking. She was responsible for the princess' welfare, and if anything bad was to happen to Zhanna, something bad would also happen to her, but hers would be worse… much worse.
Vika thought it was an emergency, only to find the princess squealing in excitement while looking at her reflection.
Vika couldn't help herself and rolled her eyes, so much for the rush.
"Good morning, Princess..." Vika was still talking when Zhanna leaped towards her and engulfed her in a hug.
"I've missed you so much," Zhanna whispered.
Vika's appearance had just confirmed that indeed she had transmigrated.
Vika had been killed by Tatianka for allegedly stealing expensive jewellery, and she had witnessed Vika's death firsthand.
It was pure torture. Zhanna couldn't remember what made her forgive Boris for allowing Tatianka to do so.
Vika was shocked.
Had the princess gone mad?
No, this wasn't supposed to be a question, the princess had really gone mad! First it was squealing at her look in a mirror now this. She needed to call the psychiatrist, she couldn't just ask the princess if 'she was okay?'
"Pardon me, princess. May I be excused?" Vika asked and, after receiving a nod of confirmation, bowed her way out of the room.
Zhanna squealed immediately Vika left. The heavens had given her another chance! This time, she wouldn't marry Boris- she was sure of that.
She had transmigrated! She had a chance to rewrite her story. She could repay Boris for all he had done "Or you could avoid problems and live your remaining years on earth in peace" Her sub consciousness said.
There was a point there. But, knowing Boris, he wouldn't take it lightly if he found out that his wife was missing and not just any wife- her! (Whom he always referred to as his key to the throne).
Here's what she'll do- she'll crash Boris dreams of becoming the king by making sure it doesn't happen, run away from Boris, her stepmother Tatianka and everybody to a land where no one knows her- a land of peace.
Vika's knock snapped Zhanna out of her thoughts. The door was suddenly pushed open. Knowing Vika she'd never do that…Oh, it just had to be her- Darya!
Queen Darya is Zhanna's stepmother, the witch? The one who requested for Zhanna's blood? Yes, all her.