IMPORTANT NOTICE: Emperors are addressed as “Your Majesty”, “His Majesty, the Emperor”, so pardon me if I had put the wrong words/call in some of the chapters as I was confused in the beginning. Please notify me to edit. Thank you!
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Chapter 01
"REMOVE your clothes, and let's talk."
She shuddered as his recognizable voice echoed in her ears. Her veins were jolted by voltage, which caused her to profusely perspire. Her eyes were dilated, and she was breathing quickly and erratically. He has infected her mind and body with the odor of eternal anxiety.
No, this could not be.
It shouldn't happen again.
How? How did she end up like this again? She was clearly avoiding him, so how did this happen? How is this happening?
Once is enough, twice is too much, three is extremely unbearable, and fourth... She doesn't understand anything anymore; she has never escaped him; no, she can't escape him; she will never get rid of him in all of her lifetimes. She had tried, but she always failed. She always tried, and yet she never experienced the taste of victory.
Because this is her fourth life already, and he has found her again.
THE palace is different, but the ruler is the same. He looks exactly like him and acts exactly like him. He may not know yet; he may not remember yet; he may not understand her wrath yet; but she remembers it all too well.
How she suffered due to his painfully disparate kind of love, how she became mad because of his obsession, and how she lost her sanity because of how he handled her It was not healthy; his way of loving is not good for her. That's why she ended up dying three times just to escape him.
Lady Beatrice, Lady Amandine, and Lady Cardine were her past lives. They did not die in the name of the Emperor's merciless sword. They did not die under his mercy and grace. They died due to his suffocating love. Or maybe it's what you call obsession.
They died in the events that happened after she was separated from the Emperor. It was hard. And now it's happening again. She's back; she tried her best to live away from him, but it seems like she was cursed, and they were cursed. Because whatever she does is completely useless, she never escapes him.
She never succeeded in escaping his palace; whatever his title was, "My King," "My Lord," or "Master," she had never escaped him in their past lives. And now it's freaking happening again.
She tried everything, from killing herself to killing the Emperor but she never succeeded. The span of time before she gets reborn is a decade. Her first life, she was so rebelious that she tried to kill the Emperor before she died. On her second life, she took revenge by killing the Emperor once again before she died but she never won. On her third life, she realized that killing him won't change anything, she'll just get reborn again and again so she tried to end her life but she was stopped. She was not successful once again.
Vengeance, rebellion, she had it all. But it was all useless. She found herself being reborn for the fourth time. And she's done doing anything, she is so done. She don't know how to escape, so perhaps ride the flow and let the heavens make her realize what she must do and what she could have done to stop the cycle.
She really tried her best to live as a simple lady, a runaway Orelia; she's even known as the rebellious lady of Orelia House to avoid the Emperor's path, but it simply backfired.
She's now Lady Blandine, and he's still an Emperor.
Emperor Magnus Vassily has found her. And her life is at the threshold of death again, barely hanging.
Blandine was born into a wealthy family; Lady Beatrice, Amandine, and Cardine all lived in luxury and royalty. And they all came from one family, the Orelias.
It was rumored that she was a clear reincarnation of the past ladies, and she couldn't deny that. Because it's true, and she remembers it all very well. That's why they all stumbled against the Emperor's will. They were all betrothed to the Emperor in all of their lifetimes, and all of them ran away. They rebelled to escape him, and Blandine, in her recent life, did it as well.
She ran away from the Orelia house, but his majesty, the Emperor, Magnus Vassily, had found her extremely defenseless against his authority. She was living alone in the woods, and only her brother Amias knew her location.
He brings her goods and supplies. And she was living well; her brother did everything to protect her. Until that day came, she just found herself kneeling at the mercy of her emperor. because the emperor himself made his way to find her. He destroyed her small house, burned almost half of the woods she tried to live in, and dragged her to his palace.
Just like what he did back then. She remembers it well;
"Your Majesty, forgive me. Your Majesty, please don't do this!" Lady Beatrice crawled to beg, the thing a royal and a lady must never do: get on their knees to beg, but the poor lady did: "Please spare me, Your Majesty! Don't do this!"
"Why did you run away? I told you, you won't get away from me! Stop triggering me, stop making me mad! I'll always find you, remember that!" His majesty exclaimed, "Bring her to my chamber and we shall have an intimate talk."
"No!" The lady protested. "I don't want to! I don't want to do anything related to you!"
The Emperor rolled his eyes, "I personally don't want anyone to see you, my love, but you're being stubborn. Want me to strip you here, then?"
Everyone in the place watched as the King showed his obsession to the lady with no mercy. No one could oppose, not even the Orelias. There was no single Orelia who came to rescue her at that moment. She heard the rumors about her brother being caged in a dungeon and tortured upon his majesty's order. And it's not new; this all happened, and she knew it would happen again. Amias will die a few days from now, and a month later, she will kill herself.
"Amias..."
But no, she promised to save Amias; she promised not to kill herself all over again. Because she knew it wasn't the right thing to do. If it were, she would not be experiencing it anymore. But it's all happening again. So killing herself or dying is never the answer; she needs to find out things.
But how... when he's starting to boil her loathe again? How? When will she lose her hopes again?
"Still being stubborn, huh? Fine, strip her now!" The Emperor commanded with furrowed brows and a displeased glare. Sitting on his throne above her in his majestic black robe that falls over the surface, with his beautiful servants around serving him nicely,
"How bold of you to run away from me. I'll make sure you learn from your actions, my lady."
The other servant, who doesn't belong in his nightly harem, moved and began to remove her already ripped clothes. She was obviously tortured before being brought into the Emperor's hall. The servants were told to tie her up, and they poured her algid water.
Well, she tried escaping again after being caught in the woods. What could she do? It's her life; escaping is her life. Due to the torture, she couldn't help but experience massive exhaustion. And now she's here. She has no strength to oppose, but she can't let this happen. She has to fight.
"Argh! You bastard!" She yelled and covered her body, "You, you can't do this! Please, no more! No more..." She begged the emperor on her knees, just like Beatrice, Amandine, and Cardine did back then.
Fuck, this is so similar, there's no difference at all. She's begging, and the emperor is giving her deadly glares for disobeying him several times.
Emperor Magnus just rolled his eyes and glared at the paused servants, saying. "If you don't take her clothes off in one snap, I will kill you all."
Blandine cried as the servants began to strip her. She thrashed against everyone, so she ended up being held by two large men while the lady servants ripped her robe.
"My lady, forgive me, forgive us; we still want to live."
Blandine couldn't help but to scream; she cried her heart out; she wailed upon the Emperor's mercy, "Please, please... Don't do this... Please..."
If she were to look in a mirror, she would not recognize herself. She's a total mess; tears, sweat, and saliva drip all over her face. She was always considered the most beautiful lady in the Empire, but not until the Emperor had enough of her disobedience.
"We are sorry, my lady."
The servants, including the men who were holding her, whispered; their eyes screamed sympathy. Everyone in the room was giving her sympathizing stares except for the devil sitting on the throne. His piercing glares could kill, and it's making her want to embrace death at the moment.
The Emperor once again had enough of her wails. He's always like this, annoyed and triggered with her cries but he definitely gives in a few moment. After rolling his eyes, he stood up from his seat and glared at the men holding her, saying, "Ha, fuck, stop stripping her. Fucking hold her gently and bring her to my chamber. Anyone who hurts her will die."
And by that time, both of the men holding her had dragged her out of the hall.