But the unease in my heart turned out to be a premonition come true.
A rebellion broke out on the border. Orion, along with members of his maternal family, submitted a joint petition, requesting that Rowan be sent to the
front lines.
On the surface, it was framed as a way to help the future king build his reputation. But clearly, their intentions were far from noble.
I couldn’t rest easy, so I decided to go with the army.
Rowan, distressed for my safety, arranged a comfortable tent for me and assigned ten elite guards to protect me around the clock.
Still, I wanted to contribute. So I volunteered at the infirmary, tending to wounded soldiers.
The days were hard, but they were fulfilling.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye. With the journey back to Asteria drawing near and everything seemingly calm, I finally allowed myself to relax.
One day, just after I had finished bandaging the last soldier, a familiar figure burst into my tent.
“Claire, I finally found you.”
I froze in shock. In just six months, how had Orion become so haggard?
What was he doing here?
www
His clothes were tattered, no better than a beggar’s. His face was unshaven, dark circles marked his eyes, and bruises bloomed beneath them.
His voice was hoarse.
“Claire… after you left, I had a dream–a long dream…”
“In it, you wore a crown and married me. You became my wife. But I…”
He trailed off, unable to finish. Then he slapped himself across the face with brutal force.
I was too stunned to speak. How did he know what had happened in our past life?
Then I saw it–the rune on the back of his neck. It was an Asterian curse sigil.
And it all made sense.
He has been cursed by one of the Asterians.
He recounted his experiences from the past half–year, face etched with torment.
Since I left, he had locked himself away in his chambers, drowning himself in alcohol. He ignored palace affairs. The king scolded him publicly as a useless disgrace. The entire court turned its back on him.
Waverly Serena, still his wife in name, had been abandoned in his indifference. Even the maids dared to trample on her. Eventually, she lost the child she was carrying.
She never understood why the man who once loved her deeply now refused to even look at her.
She blamed it all on me, spreading rumors that I had cursed Orion, clouded his mind, made him pine for me day and night.
But over time, even her slanders couldn’t soothe the growing bitterness and loneliness in her heart. She finally took a reckless step–having an affair. A night servant caught her in the act.
The royal family couldn’t tolerate such disgrace. They fed her poison and announced to the public that she had died of complications from a miscarriage. Orion remained trapped in his dreamlike stupor. By the time he stumbled to me, he was already a dying man.
A few days later, he passed away quietly in his sleep.
Only then did the rune on his neck begin to fade.
“Father, aren’t you going to come out?”
I had already recognized the curse–it was my father’s work.
In this life, he and Orion had no personal feud. For him to resort to such a ruthless spell, there could only be one explanation: Father had been reborn too.
Chapter 8
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He was avenging the tragedy of our previous lives.
When his familiar figure emerged from the shadows beneath the trees, I couldn’t hold back my tears.
In our past life, I had heard the news of Asteria’s annihilation with my own ears. The grief had nearly destroyed me.
And now, Father stood before me, alive and well.
He pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Claire, you’ve suffered.”
Just those few words shattered the mask of strength I had worn for so long.
“Not at all, Father. As long as the people of Asteria are safe, everything is worth it.”
From him, I learned that Orion had sent assassins to eliminate Rowan amid the chaos of war.
It was Father who had secretly intervened.
He also cursed Orion secretly, forcing him to live through torment–to atone for the 800,000 Asterian lives lost in the last life.
I gazed at the small, lonely grave in the distance, emotions churning within
- me.
“Claire, are you really still thinking about him? Even after he’s dead, you’re still staring at his grave?”
Rowan’s voice was thick with jealousy and he embraced me from behind.
C
“Should’ve asked your father for a love spell,” he murmured against my hair, “to make your eyes see only me.
A turned in his arms with a laugh. “You foolish. No spell needed…”
”
My fingers laced through his, guiding his palm to rest where our child grew. “You’ve filled every corner of me–heart, sight, all of it” “Well… almost all, Since now we have our baby.”
For the first time in two lifetimes, my hands held everything I cherish. I ask for nothing more.
