ᴡᴍᴍᴀᴘ: ᴏɴᴇꜱʜᴏᴛꜱ

Soulmates.

Where LP! Athy wakes up, eager for the second time in her life, after meeting her father- because today was the day she would see the name of her soulmate written somewhere on her body. 

She doesn't feel a burning, not even a tickle, but she breathlessly waits a while before she rushes off to the bathroom to search for something on her body.

Anything.

She finds herself gasping, hand to her mouth as she blushes to her ears, biting her lip in excitement as she sees elegant strokes of the name: Ijekiel Alpheus just on the inside of her elbow.

Ah. Ah!

What fate has bestowed upon her! 

She wants to rush off to the Alpheus estate to ask for Ijekiel, to see if he felt the same as she did when she discovered their fate. 

But it all comes crashing down when Jennette introduces him as her fiancé and she can't bear to meet his eyes as she mumbles a greeting before turning away.

He didn't want her as his soulmate. Of course, he didn't. 

She had been so delusional to think that if it were destiny, he would welcome her with open arms. 

She doesn't see how his eyes follow her hand tucking her hair behind her ear, nor the little blush to his cheeks as he watches her leave.

She dies, and Athanasia de Alger Obelia's name turns so white on Ijekiel's arm, that he can't even make out the letters anymore. He grieves openly, and people wonder why. 

Why was the young Alpheus so lost after the death of the abandoned princess when his soulmate was obviously the lovely princess?

How could he come out and say that his soulmate, his true love, was the princess who had been prosecuted by the very people who encouraged his engagement with Jennette?

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Wmmap! Version where Athanasia finds herself staring at her arm in disbelief when Ijekiel's name appears at the crack of dawn just when she's setting down the documents for the day because she doesn't remember this setting in the novel, and if it were true, why didn't Ijekiel marry Athanasia instead of the lovely princess?

She decides to hide it with long sleeves, but from a princess who wears beautiful dresses that usually show off her skin, especially in the warm days of Obelia, people naturally wonder as to why.

The moment she learns about soulmates, suddenly she could hear it often in her everyday life, like seeing something pop out after learning about it for the first time. 

From the knights training on the grounds to the maids who talk about their loves.

She hunts for Diana's name on her father on their daily walks and teatime breaks but fails to see it. He was practically showing his entire body, why couldn't she see it? 

Had it been Penelope Judith? Was that why they had been engaged?

She reads about soulmates from a dusty tome in the back of the library where she finds the names turn white to represent the death of one half, and she sits down heavily onto a chair.

She finds magic to hide it and returns to wearing more dresses that show off her arm again, and whispers die down.

She wonders if she should ask Lily who her soulmate was, but thinks it was too personal a question, even if she was like her mother in her heart.

Then what about Felix, who was still unmarried? She couldn't. 

But she sees him one evening tucking away a worn-out letter into his breast pocket, and how his hand tightens into a fist at his side. When he walks by, she sees traces of tears. 

Ah.

She meets Ijekiel for the first time after seeing his name on her arm and she can't help but feel confused as to how she must feel. Weren't they doomed never to fulfill such a destiny?

Ijekiel nervously rubs at his arm as he watches the princess walk towards him, and he wonders, how do I bring something like this up? 

His majesty would think his father had faked it to get him into the Imperial family. He bites his tongue as she reaches him.

Was their love too, doomed from the start?