Three

Lila’s POV

The first thing I felt was warmth.

Not the suffocating heat of poison burning through my veins. Not the cold marble beneath my body.

Warmth. Just pure comfortable warmth.

Soft sheets surrounded me, and something tickled my cheek.

I frowned.

My fingers moved instinctively, searching for the wound in my side.

Nothing.

I touched my stomach, then my ribs, and then my chest.

Still nothing.

My breathing stopped. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

A familiar ceiling came into view. For several seconds, I simply stared at it.

I knew that ceiling. I knew the faint crack running along the corner. I knew that chandelier hanging slightly crooked above my bed. I knew the pale curtains that my mother had sewn herself because we couldn't afford the expensive ones sold in the market.

My heart began pounding.

I sat up and instantly felt the room spun around me.

I grabbed the edge of the mattress and waited until the dizziness passed.

"No..." My voice sounded strange.

Young. Healthy. Alive.

I looked down at myself. My hands were smaller than I remembered. My skin was smooth.

There were no veins darkened by poison. No blood. No wound. No signs that I had ever been stabbed.

I pushed the blankets away and stumbled out of bed.

The mirror stood against the opposite wall. I almost didn't recognize the girl staring back at me.

She had long wavy blonde hair falling messily over her shoulders. Her cheeks were fuller. Her eyes were clear, bright green.

There was no exhaustion beneath them. No deathly pallor. No scars.

I slowly raised my hand.

The girl in the mirror did the same. I touched my cheek. She touched hers.

My lips trembled. "This isn't possible."

I remembered dying. I remembered every second of it.

The Grand Hall. The crown. Clara. My mother being dragged away. Elias, looking at me. The poison. The darkness.

I remembered wishing for another life.

Has it been all a dream? A hallucination before death?

I looked around the room again.

No. This was real. Too real.

A soft knock came from the other side of the door.

I froze.

"Lila?"

My heart stopped. That voice. I knew that voice better than my own.

"Mama?"

The door opened and I watched my mother step inside. For a moment, I couldn't move.

She was standing there. Alive.

Her hair was tied loosely behind her head, and she was wearing the simple blue dress she usually wore around the house.

There were no tears on her face. No guards beside her. No chains around her wrists.

She looked exactly as I remembered her without the tears and pain in her eyes.

Before everything went wrong. Before I watched her disappear behind those palace doors.

"Lila?" She frowned. "Are you all right?"

I stared at her, then I ran.

"Mama!" I threw my arms around her.

She stumbled backward from the force of it.

"Lila!" Her hands automatically wrapped around me.

For several seconds, I couldn't speak. I pressed my face against her shoulder and breathed her scent in.

Lavender. The same scent I had forgotten I missed.

My eyes burned. "Mama..." My voice broke.

She gently rubbed my back. "What happened?"

I shook my head. Nothing made sense. I had so many questions.

How was she alive? Why was I here? How far back had I returned? Was this truly another chance?

Or was I dreaming?

"Did you have a nightmare?" she asked.

I pulled away and looked at her face. She had no idea. Of course she didn't. As far as she knew, I was still her ordinary daughter.

The timid girl who had spent years trying to make everyone happy. The girl who had loved her fated mate before even meeting him and especially after meeting him. The girl who had believed Clara was her sister and that she could be accepted by the others.

I swallowed. "Yes."

It was the only answer I could give.

My mother cupped my face. "It must have been a terrible one."

I almost laughed.

It was. It had been my entire life.

She brushed my hair away from my forehead.

"You've been restless all night. I came to check on you."

I looked past her. The room was still dark and moonlight entered through the curtains.

"What time is it?"

"Almost midnight."

Midnight.

My heart began beating faster. I looked toward the small wooden desk beside the window. There was something sitting on top of it.

A silver envelope.

My blood ran cold. I knew that envelope. I knew exactly what it contained.

I walked toward it slowly, almost cautiously.

My mother followed. "That arrived earlier."

I stopped in front of the desk. The envelope had the royal seal stamped across it. The crest of the Silvermoon Kingdom.

My fingers hovered above it. Tomorrow. The future Alpha King’s Ceremony.

The night everything had begun.

I had been naive then. Young. Stupid and in love. Desperate to finally belong somewhere.

Tomorrow was the night I would meet Elias not as the man I admired and chased for years, but something more. The night the Moon Goddess would reveal our fated bond. The night I would fall even more hopelessly in love with him. The night I would unknowingly take the first step toward my death.

I picked up the invitation, feeling my hand trembling.

My mother smiled. "You're excited, aren't you?"

I looked at her. "Excited?"

"Of course." She laughed softly. "You've been talking about the ceremony for weeks."

I had. I remembered.

I had spent days imagining what it would be like. The royal palace. The Alphas. The ceremony. And most of all…Elias.

I had known his name long before I knew his face. Everyone in Silvermoon Kingdom knew it.

Elias was the only son of the Alpha King. He was the Crown Prince. The future ruler of the kingdom.

He was admired by everyone. Strong. Handsome. Powerful. Untouchable.

And somehow, fate had chosen me.

Or so I had believed.

I stared at the invitation.

In my previous life, I had held this same envelope with trembling excitement. I had carefully chosen my dress. I had spent hours in front of the mirror. I had wondered what my fated mate would think of me. I had wondered whether he would love me just as much as I loved him. I had wondered whether I was finally going to have a family of my own.

The memories made my stomach twist.

I lowered the invitation.

My mother noticed the change in my expression.

"What's wrong?"

I didn't answer. I looked at the silver seal again…then I tore the invitation in half.

My mother gasped.

"Lila!"

I tore it again.

The sound of paper ripping seemed impossibly loud in the quiet room.

"What are you doing?" I continued until the royal crest was nothing but scraps between my fingers.

My mother stared at me. "But tomorrow—"

"I'm not going."

She blinked. "What?"

"I'm not going to the ceremony."

Her expression shifted from confusion to concern.

"Lila, you've been looking forward to this for months."

"I know."

"Then why?"

I looked down.

Because tomorrow, I will meet the man I once loved, I will learn he was my fated mate, I will begin a life that ended with my death.

But I couldn't tell her that. Not yet.

So I simply said, "I changed my mind."

My mother studied me.

She knew me well enough to understand that something was wrong.

"You've never changed your mind about this."

I looked at her.

Maybe that was the problem. In my first life, I rarely changed my mind. Once I decided to love someone, I loved them completely. Once I decided someone was family, I forgave them endlessly. Once I decided Elias was my destiny, I refused to see anything that contradicted it.

Not anymore. I had learned what blind devotion cost.

Everything.

My mother sighed. "You don't have to go if you truly don't want to." I looked at her in surprise. She smiled gently. "I only want you to be happy."

My throat tightened.

Those words hurt more than they should have, because in my previous life, she had said almost the same thing.

And I had ignored her.

I had chosen Elias. I had chosen the royal family. I had chosen a future that didn't belong to me.

Never again.

I stepped forward and hugged her.

She laughed softly. "You're unusually affectionate tonight."

I closed my eyes. "I missed you."

My mother pulled back slightly. "You've been in your room all evening."

I smiled. "Still."

She shook her head. "Go back to sleep. You have an important day tomorrow."

I almost told her that I didn't. That tomorrow wasn't important anymore but then I remembered something.

The ceremony might not matter to me. But Clara would be there. Victor would be there. And if I wanted to protect my mother, I couldn't simply run away without understanding what had happened in my first life.

I needed answers. I needed to know who had poisoned me. Who had framed me. Who had arranged my mother's arrest. And why Clara had been standing beside Elias with a crown on her head that was supposed to belong to me.

My mother kissed my forehead. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mama."

And she left.

The door closed but I remained standing in the middle of my room.

The smile disappeared from my face as I looked at the torn invitation scattered across the floor.

Tomorrow.

Everything would begin again but this time, I knew what to expect.

I walked towards the window.

Silvermoon Kingdom stretched beneath the night sky. The distant palace was visible beyond the hills, its towers glowing beneath the moon.

That was where Elias lived. That was where I had once dreamed of living.

I remembered walking through those halls. I remembered sitting beside Elias. I remembered waiting for him. I remembered the Luna crown.

Then I remembered Clara wearing it.

My hands curled into fists.

There was something I didn't understand. If Elias truly betrayed me, why did he look so confused when I died? Why did he look at me that night as though he didn't understand what was happening? Why did Clara smile at me like that? And why did she look so satisfied?

There had been something wrong. Something I hadn't seen before.

Perhaps I had been too blinded by love to question the truth.

I closed my eyes.

I wouldn't make that mistake again. I didn't need to rush into revenge. I didn't need to expose anyone tomorrow.

First, I needed to survive, then I needed to protect my mother and make sure she wouldn’t be accused of any crime.

Everything else could wait.

A strange calm settled over me.

For the first time, I wasn't afraid of tomorrow. Instead, I felt curious because tomorrow, Elias would meet the woman he remembered as Lila.

The shy girl who would blush whenever he looked at her. The girl who would spend years chasing after him. The girl who would eventually die for him.

But that girl was dead.

I opened my eyes.

The woman standing before the window was someone else. Someone who knew exactly what happened when she trusted too easily.

I glanced at the broken invitation, then I whispered into the darkness,

"Let's see what changes this time.”

That night, I slept peacefully and only woke up before sunrise.

For a moment, I forgot everything. Things felt normal again, then the memories returned.

My death and rebirth.

I sat up slowly.

My heart wasn't racing anymore. Instead, I felt strangely clear-headed.

I walked toward the wardrobe. Inside were the dresses I had owned. I remembered the white dress I had worn to the ceremony in my previous life.

It was simple and modest.

I had spent hours choosing it because I wanted to make a good impression.

I reached for it, but then I stopped.

No.

I pushed it aside and chose a dark blue dress instead. It wasn't extravagant. It wasn't meant to attract attention.

I simply liked it.

That alone felt unfamiliar.

In my old life, every choice I made had been about someone else.

What would the people think? What would Clara think? What would Elias think?

Today, I didn't care.

I dressed quietly.

When I finished, I stood before the mirror. The girl staring back at me looked young. Too young to carry the memories I had.

But I knew better.

I wasn't that naive girl anymore. Not really.

I lived. I loved. I died. And somehow, I had been given the chance to begin again.

I touched my reflection. "Don't waste it."

A knock came at the door.

"Lila?" My mother's voice.

I turned. "Come in."

She entered carrying breakfast. Her eyes immediately fell on my dress.

She smiled. "You look beautiful."

I smiled back. "Thank you."

She placed the tray on the table, then I saw her hesitate.

"Are you sure you don't want to attend the ceremony?" I knew what she was really asking.

Are you sure you're okay?

I walked toward her. "I'm sure."

She nodded. "Then we'll stay home."

I blinked. "You'll stay too?"

"Of course." She smiled. "If my daughter doesn't want to attend, why would I force her?"

I looked at her for a long moment.

In my previous life, I had spent so much time believing I needed Elias to save me. I had forgotten that my mother had always been there. Maybe I had already found the person I needed most.

I reached for her hand. "Thank you."

She squeezed mine.

And for the first time since I opened my eyes in this second life, I felt something I hadn't expected.

Hope.

Not the fragile kind I had once placed in Elias. Something stronger. Something that belonged to me. But before I could hold onto it for long, a distant howl echoed through the kingdom.

I looked toward the window.

The ceremony bells had begun ringing from Silvermoon City.

Everyone had gathered. And somewhere inside that palace was the man who had once been my entire world.

Elias.

Yesterday, I believed that I would have the beginning of our love story.

Now, it was the beginning of the life I intended to take back.