Isadore woke with a start tearing at her sheets in a moment of panic before she realised where she was. With a sigh she fell back on the soft pillows raising her hand to cover her watering eyes. Something caught her attention causing her to bolt upright. On the back of her hand where there was nothing before, she saw a bck tattoo like mark. It was in the shape of a crescent ?? moon with a butterfly ?? inside the curve of the moon. She knew it was a stigma but it wasn't any of the common ones she knew of.

  In this world, a stigma was a mark that appeared when a person was blessed by mana. All living beings contained mana, some more than others, it was essentially the life force. However, only those who developed a stigma could harness that life force into magic. It had always been viewed as strange that as a Nightshade she had no stigma but now that would change. She thought she should inform her brother but there were more urgent matters at hand. She wrinkled her nose at the unpleasant odour coming from her body and quickly rang for the maids.

  She found her brother Ilia in the library surrounded by mountains of documents. Even though he was in his final year at the Academy, he had to keep the Duchy running with their father at the border. He often had dark circles under his eyes but she had always taken him for granted in the past. She would definitely make ammends to this dark Knight who always stood by her side. She pstered a smile on her face and called out to him.

  "For this to happen when father is at the border"

  Ilia said with a frown as he held her hand and inspected the stigma. As expected, he knew what it meant. Ilia wasn't just powerful among the Duke's children, he was a genius in the Empire. The Academy was just a formality for someone like him. Also the Duke wanted him to have as normal a life as possible.

  "The Pestilence stigma hasn't appeared since the time of our founding ancestor. His brother who was consumed by hatred developed the stigma Pestilence and caused mayhem across the 5 Kingdoms. This stigma is only known to our family and the Imperial family"

  She had never heard of it but there were many things she was ignorant of.

  "The crescent ?? is the "Monarch of Shadows" the ability to control chaos and the void. It is also something possessed by the founding ancestors. No one in this family can find out until father returns. I must also take you to the Emperor"

  She hid a smile hearing his words. She had been wondering how she could see the Emperor without attracting attention but the opportunity was just presented to her on a golden ptter. Still it seemed her stigma would bring much trouble, it was inconvenient since she wanted to move secretly but there was nothing to be done about it.

  She wore gloves on her hands to hide the stigma. It was made of basilisk hide though it looked like ordinary leather. Her maids changed her into a white dress made of ce with tiny pearls sewn on the bodice. Her curly bck hair was braided into a crown at the front with more of the pears sewn into it. The scent of peaches wafted from her skin unlike the usual rose scent she carried. It was a small detail but Ilia noticed and gave her a searching look. She didn't notice his attention as she was busy trying to recall the past.

  The Pace wasn't a pce you could visit arbitrarily unless you had the Emperor's token like her brother did. They were made to wait in a private room until a servant came to fetch Ilia leaving her alone. Not that she minded she could finally think clearly without worrying about maintaining polite conversation.

  The Emperor was an enigma and very little was known about him. The incident of his death was also shrouded in mystery but she learned ter that it had been an assassin disguised as his favourite concubine. She killed him in the act of lovemaking so the Imperial family tried to keep it quiet. He took the assassin with him but she used the void essence which ate away at his life force. There was no saving him. Trouble was, whe knew nothing of the Emperor, only his womanising tendencies. How would he react if she suddenly accused his favourite concubine?

  The door of the drawing room opened and a maid entered.

  "His Eminence has requested to see you"

  She said while bowing. Isadore took a deep breath and got to her feet. It was time to change history.