Chapter 1

After ten lifetimes, I returned to the Celestial Realm, but I did not dare take even half a step into Empress Seraphina's palace.

I had once been an ordinary mortal. By chance, I saved Empress Seraphina after she was wounded in the war between gods and demons. I cared for her carefully for ten years, and feelings grew between us.

After Seraphina recovered, she brought my entire family to the Celestial Realm and swore she would marry me in repayment.

But that peaceful life did not last long. Just because I argued with Rowan Vane, my brother, Seraphina and my father cast me back into the mortal world to learn some manners.

Ten lifetimes of reincarnation.

In some lives, I was born disabled and died in misery. In others, I became pigs, dogs, and livestock, only to be slaughtered for meat.

In the end, I became the joke of the entire Celestial Realm.

"What are you standing there for? Get inside. If you make the Empress wait, she might add another lifetime to your punishment."

My father's urging came from behind me.

I turned and looked at his frost-cold face, and bitterness rose in my chest. Back in the mortal realm, he had been kind and gentle, always letting me cry, laugh, and act spoiled.

After we came to the Celestial Realm, everything slowly changed. Father became colder by the day, and his hunger for status only grew.

"You deserved your punishment. Who told you to run your mouth and steal credit for saving the Empress?" Father added.

In the past, I would have cried and argued.

Now, I only lowered my head in silence.

Ten lifetimes had crushed every thought of resistance out of me. They had ground down my nature until I even thought being a useless dog was fine.

At least a dog could survive.

Suddenly, the palace doors opened. A violent force dragged me into the hall and vanished in the next instant.

I crashed to the floor like a kite with its string cut. My soul, already battered by ten lifetimes of suffering, took the impact as if it were being torn apart.

Pain.

So much pain.

My cries echoed through the empty imperial hall, but no one cared whether I lived or died.

Father pretended not to see.

Seraphina sat on the throne that symbolized her place as the highest being in the Celestial Realm. Her expression was utterly indifferent, and there was not a trace of pity or compassion in her eyes.

She was like an iceberg.

It was hard to imagine that she had once called me a sun on the horizon, bright, unique, and irreplaceable.

"You are before the Empress. Why are you not kneeling?" Father snapped impatiently beside me.

Once, I had been stubborn and refused to kneel.

Now, I was obedient. I quickly dropped to my knees, knocked my forehead against the floor, and saluted.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

The hall stayed silent for a long while before Seraphina spoke.

"Raise your head."

I answered in panic, "I do not dare."

But a force turned into wind and lifted my chin by force. Only then did I see that Seraphina's brows were tightly knitted, and my heart immediately sank.

"Do you understand your mistake this time? Have you learned the rules?" Seraphina asked coldly.

"I understand my mistake.

"I have learned the rules.

"Please show mercy, Your Majesty, and spare me."

I pressed my forehead to the floor again and again, my whole body cold as if I had been thrown into an ice cellar. I was terrified of receiving an even harsher punishment.

The immortal officials around us whispered among themselves.

"Back then, Elias was so proud. He stood in this hall and would rather die than kneel. Now look at him. He is more obedient than a dog."

"Obedient? I think he is pretending. When force did not work, he switched to softness. He only wants the Empress to pity him."

"I agree. A leopard does not change its spots. Elias is still the same rotten thing who claimed someone else's credit and tried to replace the true savior as the Empress's husband."

They spoke so easily because they had never suffered it themselves.

If they had endured ten lifetimes of reincarnation, they would also keep their tails tucked between their legs every day, too afraid to utter a single complaint.