Chapter 3

Early the next morning, the Royal Chamberlain came again to pressure us for an answer.

When he noted we were still indecisive, the last trace of a smile vanished from his face. His icy eyes looked less like he was staring at living people and more like he was examining three corpses.

My chest tightened instantly. I quickly lowered my head, panic filling my voice.

"Please calm your anger, Sir! Please!

"This matter concerns Princess Shirley's safety. That's exactly why we don't dare act recklessly.

"Since the Royal Astrologer claims the princess's destined soulmate is among us, then surely there must be some special connection between them.

"So... would it be possible to allow me to see Her Highness in person?"

The Royal Chamberlain frowned slightly, clearly losing patience already.

I hurriedly continued, "Perhaps the moment we see the princess, some kind of destined connection will reveal itself and show us who truly deserves this blessing.

"Otherwise, if we choose the wrong person and offend Her Highness, then we would truly deserve death."

After a long silence, the Royal Chamberlain finally let out an icy snort.

In the end, he led me to Princess Shirley's room.

The heavy carved wooden doors slowly swung open, and a strong scent of medicine and herbs immediately rushed out.

Princess Shirley lay quietly in the center of an enormous, luxurious bed. Layers of silk and velvet wrapped around her pale body. Even unconscious, the natural nobility radiating from her was impossible to ignore.

All the maids and servants had already withdrawn.

Inside the massive room, only the two of us remained.

Slowly, I walked to the bedside and reached out with slightly trembling hands, gently holding her cold fingers.

In an instant, memories crashed over me like a flood.

Those three months after she lost her memory had been poor and difficult, yet they were the happiest days of my entire life.

We had once sat beneath the roof together, listening to the rain.

We had planted flowers and vegetables side by side in the backyard.

Neither of us had ever confessed outright, but every shy glance and racing heartbeat whenever our eyes met had already said more than words ever could.

We had only been one final step away from crossing that invisible line.

However, just one day before I planned to confess my feelings to her, the royal carriage arrived outside our house.

A personal maid named Ann stepped down proudly from the carriage and ordered her servants to deliver a heavy wooden chest.

Inside, it was filled entirely with gold coins.

"This is the royal family's payment to the Lynch family," she said. "It is compensation for the month you spent caring for Princess Shirley."

She slightly lifted her chin, her eyes filled with unconcealed disdain.

"From this day on, you and Princess Shirley belong to entirely different worlds. I trust the three of you know better than to overstep."

At that moment, the feelings that had just begun growing inside my heart felt like they had been crushed beneath someone's heel.

In the end, I still could not stop myself.

While Ann was distracted, dealing with my two brothers, I secretly ran out to see Princess Shirley one last time.

At the time, she was just about to board the carriage.

The moment she saw me, her eyes turned red. Without a word, I placed a bracelet in her hand.

I had spent five entire days carving it by hand. On the inner side of the bracelet, I had engraved the white orchid she loved most.

She lowered her head and gently traced the bracelet with her fingers for a long time without speaking.

In the end, she only looked at me deeply once before turning and stepping into the carriage.

From that day on, we became people from two completely different worlds.

As the memory faded, my gaze accidentally drifted toward her left wrist.

The next second, my entire body froze.

Wrapped around that slender snow-white wrist was a simple bracelet that looked completely out of place beside her magnificent royal robes.

It was the bracelet I had given her.

The edges were visibly worn down. One glance was enough to tell it had been carried close to someone's body for years.

Which meant...

Even after regaining her identity and becoming the empire's untouchable Princess Shirley once again, she had never taken it off.

Something slammed hard against my heart.

Immediately afterward, an even more terrifying thought surfaced in my mind.

Why had I never seen that bracelet in any of the previous three lives?

In that instant, every seemingly unrelated death from our past lives suddenly connected together into one complete chain inside my head.

I left Princess Shirley's room in a daze and returned to the small courtyard.

Tomorrow morning… was the final deadline.

Bryson and Griffin were already pacing around the room in a panic.

The moment I stepped through the door, Bryson rushed over and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me desperately.

"Joseph! Say something already! You were gone forever. Did you figure anything out?

"If we still can't think of a solution, then let's just dig a tunnel tonight and run for it!"

"Run where?" Griffin collapsed hopelessly into a chair. "The place is surrounded by royal guards. There's no escaping!"

Both of them noticed something strange about me, primarily because I had kept quiet. I simply stood there like someone who had lost his soul, staring blankly into space.

Panic instantly spread across their faces.

"Joseph, what's wrong with you?

"Don't tell me you got scared stupid?"

However, in the very next second, I suddenly grabbed both their wrists tightly. My voice trembled slightly, yet it carried a firmness I had never shown before.

"There's no need to run.

"And there's no need to be afraid.

"I already know... who Princess Shirley's true destined person is."