Chapter 2

The door slammed shut with a heavy bang, followed immediately by the sharp clink of iron locks falling into place.

The three of us stood there silently, staring at one another. None of us had the mood to admire the luxury of Princess Shirley's estate.

Bryson was the first to break down. He collapsed onto the floor, clutching his head as he let out a miserable howl.

"This is a curse! A complete curse!

"In the first life, I got greedy. I wanted to marry the princess and rise to the top in one step. What did I get?

"The princess really did wake up, but the second she opened her eyes and saw me, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. She ordered the guards to drag me into the royal fountain and drown me alive on the spot!"

Even as he mentioned the fountain, his legs shook.

Griffin shuddered too and instinctively touched his face.

"In my previous life, I actually listened to you," he said to Bryson. "I spent a fortune hiring some underground black-market doctor to give me a new face.

"The face of the most handsome man in the entire country.

"For the first year after marriage, things between me and the princess were actually great. However, when the baby was born, she only took one look before ordering the child and me beaten to death."

His voice trembled as he spoke.

"I secretly checked afterward. That kid looked completely normal. Don't all newborn babies look kind of the same? There wasn't any deformity or anything. So how did she decide whether the child was good-looking or not?

"And she actually killed her own child..."

The room instantly fell silent. Then both of them slowly turned to look at me.

I stayed curled up in the corner and let out a long sigh. "Don't look at me. I got it even worse than you two.

"In the third life, I never even wanted to go. The Queen sent people to drag me there by force.

"They pinned me down and forced me to kiss the princess awake. She did wake up, but on our wedding night, she suddenly went completely insane and ran out of the castle.

"In the end, she slipped and drowned in the lake.

"And then I was kept barely alive while they sliced the flesh off my body piece by piece. I died from the pain."

The moment I finished speaking, the room sank into complete silence.

Across all three lifetimes, every one of us had tried.

None of us got a good ending.

Still, the Royal Astrologer insisted that Princess Shirley's fated person was somewhere among the three Lynch brothers.

Unless...

Had our parents secretly fathered another son out there somewhere?

The problem was that our parents had already been dead for eight years. There was no way to confirm anything anymore.

I was still nursing a headache over it when Bryson sat up straight and started analyzing the situation seriously.

"Think about it carefully.

"I died because the princess thought I was ugly. Griffin died because of the child.

"However, Joseph's case was different."

The more he talked, the brighter his eyes became.

"In your life, the princess drowned because of her own accident. You were just dragged down with her.

"And what does that mean?" Griffin slapped his thigh so hard he nearly jumped to his feet.

"It means Joseph is special to her!

"If you had stopped her back then, if you'd kept her from falling into the water, maybe you would've lived.

"And don't forget, you were already her savior. You spent an entire month with her day and night!"

The moment he mentioned that month, the memories came rushing back so clearly that even then, I still could not forget them.

It was early spring.

The three of us had gone into the mountains near White Horse Abbey to gather herbs.

Behind the Abbey, I found a young woman dressed in men's clothing, covered head to toe in blood.

Bryson thought it looked troublesome and immediately wanted to leave.

Griffin was terrified of getting involved and kept urging me not to interfere.

For some reason, I just could not walk away.

I carried her home on my back and took care of her for an entire month.

At the time, she had lost her memory and had no idea who she was. She depended on me completely. Timid as a rabbit, she followed me everywhere I went.

It was not until three months later that I learned the truth.

The woman I had saved was actually the most noble person in the entire empire.

Princess Shirley Russell.

I thought we would never cross paths again for the rest of our lives. Then, out of nowhere, she came down with that strange illness.

Later, I heard that the Royal Astrologer had once performed a divination for her.

According to her original fate, she was supposed to die near White Horse Abbey.

It was because she met the three Lynch brothers and borrowed our fortune that she barely survived.

If she wanted to continue living, she had to find the one person truly destined for her among us and marry him. That was how this twisted entanglement across three lifetimes began.

Seeing that I still had not spoken, Bryson finally asked anxiously, "Joseph, what are you thinking?

"In the first two lives, Griffin and I wronged you. We shouldn't have taken your spot just because we wanted wealth and status.

"But we've already died three times now. That should count as paying our debt, right?

"And as for your life... Maybe it really was just an accident?"

At that, I only let out a bitter laugh.

"Then why did she lose her mind and run out on our wedding night? If she hurts herself again in the future, won't I still end up buried alongside her?

"Maybe I can save her once, but what about after that? Am I supposed to guard her every second for the rest of my life?"

As my words faded, I could clearly see the hope in my brothers' eyes slowly dying out.

However, the real problem was this.

Even I, the one who had truly saved the princess's life, still ended up dying horribly in the previous life.

So, what exactly were we supposed to do to survive this time?