Lina woke up to beeping in the background. She felt something sharp prick the top of her hand and groaned. Turning her head, her mouth felt like sandpaper and her vision was crusty. She tiredly rubbed her eyes, feeling like she had dreamed for an eternity. She couldn't raise her other hand, which seemed to be held down by something.

  When Lina blinked, she realized she was in a hospital room. Prior events of what happened flashed before her eyes.

  Lina announced her engagement to Kaden to her entire family, grandparents included. Her Grandmother, Rina, had summoned her to the main house where Everett was present and the two tried to corner her into a marriage with the Leclare family.

  Lina had realized how powerless she was. She was fed up with being controlled. She wanted power and informed her grandfather to announce to the world that Lina Yang was joining the Race of Heirs for Yang Enterprise. Shortly afterwards, Lina went to Kaden's office, where they shared a first kiss in this lifetime… then, she fainted.

  But from what?

  Lina vaguely remembered waking up in the hospital bed before, but then, growing unconscious again. Something triggered her.

  Horror dawned on her. Lina recalled what made her fall into a deep coma.

  Summer camp. A mental institution. Memories flooded her like a tsunami violently sweeping over skyscrapers.

  "Lina?"

  Lina was unable to process her name being called. She winced, grabbing her head. Her breathing grew heavy. The blurry images in her head began to clear up.

  "I remember everything," Lina murmured.

  "What?"

  Lina sharply raised her head. She blinked in clarity, realizing this deep sleep of hers must've been triggered by her brain healing itself. Her body needed sleep to recover.

  "I-I remember my childhood!" Lina exclaimed to whoever would listen.

  Lina slowly blinked. She realized the person beside her was Kaden. He looked like he had aged ten years. His hair was a bit longer, stubbled skin covered his unshaved face, his sharp features haggard, and his eye bags dark enough to rival pandas.

  "What happened to you?" Lina murmured.

  Kaden was seated by her bedside. She realized he must've watched her sleep for a long time, only to finally wake up just now.

  "You happened to me," Kaden stated.

  Lina felt guilty, but then, it disappeared. She remembered her first life as vividly as she remembered her childhood. Her eyes flashed with his betrayal. She glanced down, realized the reason she couldn't move her other hand was because he had intertwined their fingers.

  "You cheater!" Lina shouted at him, yanking her hand back. "You slept with Priscilla! Y-you vile—"

  "Dove," Kaden addressed.

  Kaden didn't believe his eyes. She remembered. She actually remembered. But the events after her death… how did she know? His eyes widened with the realization. She had been watching over him after her death.

  Through living one thousand years, he knew the truth behind her reincarnation.

  "If we're meant to be separated, why are we destined to reunite?" Kaden wondered out loud.

  The words stabbed Lina in the heart. Her lips trembled. She had loved him for one lifetime and would love him in the next. She wondered the same thing. Why did her heart only beat for him? Why did she fall so effortlessly for this man? His patience, his sass, his arrogance. She loved him all. He was a tyrant, but she turned a blind eye.

  "Are we fated to always have a tragic ending?" Lina asked him. "Am I fated to have you cheat on me less than a week after my death?!"

  Lina's voice rose towards the end. She could not help it. She was betrayed by his actions. She saw it. Her ghastly spirit lingered in the palace, for her death had not been avenged.

  "I saw everything," Lina spat out like poison in her mouth.

  Lina could not get the images out of her head. His powerful shoulders that moved on top of Priscilla's body, the clench of his muscles, his low groans, and his dazed expression.

  "You were dead," Kaden slowly explained like she was a child. "I was fed hallucinogens and an aphrodisiac at the same time! I thought it was you."

  Kaden lowered his gaze. "I thought you had finally returned to me."

  Tears filled Lina's eyes. She had betrayed him by giving herself to Atlan first despite being promised to him, for she was under the influence of an aphrodisiac. He had betrayed her second by engaging with Priscilla unknowingly, also under aphrodisiac.

  "The people around us are drama queens," Lina muttered, her heart throbbing.

  "I've never forgiven you for the two lives you took in one day," Kaden responded. His voice grew low with defeat in the end. "I've never forgotten your betrayal. Our unborn child. Your corpse on the battlefield."

  Lina's throat was clenched with emotions. She didn't want to believe she was with child. She didn't want to realize the pain. Or else, she'd truly break. She had been too consumed with stopping the war to realize her time of the month hadn't came at all. Or, she had too little appetite. She was gutted, but could not voice her pain.

  How could she?

  Lina didn't even know she was with a child.

  "I did tell you I had the fate of a Sacrificial Lamb," Lina whispered, for the sentence was so heartbreaking, she couldn't announce it loudly.

  Lina grabbed for his large hand. His fingers were nearly double her length. She admired his knuckles, with small faded scars.

  "And I still loved you, despite that," Kaden muttered. "You were the one worried about being the only person falling in love, but I was the one who fell the hardest."

  Lina let out a shaky breath. His words were a knife that twisted deep into her chest, gutting her poor heart. He loved her so much and she hated him so.

  Together, they were a couple that was never meant to be together, but through twisted fate or sweet destiny, saw each other across three lifetimes.

  "Let's put the past behind us," Lina declared.

  They had one thousand years to heal from their pain. No matter the time that passed, the wounds were fresh and festering, because they never addressed them. Now that the baggage was off their shoulders, wounds would become scabs and then scars, forever in the soul, never forgotten, but had been forgiven.

  "To a new lifetime then," Kaden muttered.

  Kaden linked their fingers together. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her tenderly, his gaze connected with hers.

  They had both betrayed each other. An eye for an eye until the world went blind. They were fools for love.

  "To a new lifetime then," Lina agreed.