Lahat ng Kabanata ng REVENGE AFTER REBIRTH-THE LORD'S FORSAKEN BRIBE: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

Night settled heavily over the palace, thick with smoke that still drifted from the burning districts. Serina stood alone in the strategy chamber, hands braced against the war table as candlelight flickered across maps, letters, and scattered pieces of intelligence. She had sent everyone away Cassian to rest under guard, Damien to help secure the lower wards, and the generals to regroup. She needed one moment to think. One moment to breathe. But the silence felt wrong. Like the air itself was watching her. A soft knock came at the door. “Enter,” she said without looking up. Footsteps approached hesitant, too light for a soldier. When Serina finally lifted her gaze, she found Lira, her quiet, loyal attendant, standing in the doorway with a folded cloth. Or so Serina thought. But now… something was off. Lira had been with her since the early days of her rebirth. Steady hands. Soft voice. Never questioning, never faltering. Tonight she looked… sick. Her face drawn, eyes rim

Aria hadn’t slept. Not for hours. Not since Damien walked out of the throne room and left her kneeling beside the fallen crown. She sat alone now, curled in the dark corner of her chambers, eyes wide and unblinking. Her hair, usually arranged in perfect coils, fell wild across her shoulders. Her hands trembled in her lap, nails digging crescents into her skin. Cassian lived. Serina rose. The serpents abandoned her. Damien turned his back. Piece by piece, her world was collapsing. She could feel it, the walls closing, the floor tilting, her breath shrinking. The throne felt miles away, no longer a seat of power but a symbol of everything slipping through her grasp. She needed to act. She needed to reclaim control. And she needed to do it now. A knock sounded at the hidden door. Aria’s head snapped up. “Who is it?” A trembling voice answered, “It’s…it’s Renna, Your Majesty.” Renna. One of her maids. Barely sixteen. Loyal… or so Aria thought. “Enter,” Aria said. The gir

The war chamber was quiet. Too quiet. Maps lay scattered across the table grain routes, water channels, guard rotations all marked with Cassian’s sharp handwriting. The candles burned low, their flames bending with the draft from the open balcony. Cassian stood rigidly over the table, bracing himself with one hand. His breathing was steady, but every inhale carried a shadow of pain from the venom still inside him. Serina watched him silently. “You’re pushing yourself,” she said. He didn’t look up. “The serpents aren’t waiting for me to recover.” “And I won’t have you collapse again,” she said softly. A flicker crossed his eyes guilt, frustration, and affection tangled together. “I won’t collapse,” Cassian replied. “Not when the serpents are still moving.” He pointed at the map. “We were focused on the granaries,” he said. “But they abandoned them too easily. Very deliberate. They wanted us distracted.” Serina frowned. “Distracted from what?” He drew his finger

Toren didn’t answer at first. He stood frozen in front of the bars, his breath uneven, his hand hovering at his side where the ring of keys hung. Aria watched him closely, the way his jaw clenched, the way his eyes darted to her hand on his arm, the way guilt and desire warred behind his expression. She knew that look. She’d made stronger men crumble with it. But she couldn’t rush this one. “Toren…” she whispered, withdrawing her hand slowly so it didn’t feel like a demand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked so boldly. I’m just… frightened.” Toren shook his head quickly, almost stumbling over his words. “I-it’s not that. It’s just… I’m not supposed to-” Aria bit her lip gently, thoughtfully, and looked down at the floor. “That’s what everyone says,” she murmured, voice small and trembling. “No one is ever supposed to help me.” Toren swallowed hard. “That’s not what I meant.” She turned her face slightly away, letting her hair fall like a curtain. He couldn’

Toren returned the next night.Aria knew he would.Men like him lonely, earnest, unseen were predictable in the ways she needed them to be.His footsteps were soft, hesitant, almost guilty. The torch flickered down the hallway as he approached, casting his shadow ahead of him.“Toren,” Aria breathed as soon as he appeared, her voice a mix of relief and fragile joy. “I thought you wouldn’t come.”He swallowed, glancing around nervously.“I….my shift technically ended an hour ago. I shouldn’t be here.”“But you came,” she whispered.He nodded slowly.Aria stepped closer to the bars.“You stayed with me last night when you didn’t have to,” she said softly. “That meant something.”Toren’s face warmed with a shy, pained expression a man who hadn’t been meaningful to anyone in a long time.“I didn’t want you to feel alone,” he said.Aria lowered her gaze. “I haven’t felt safe since they locked me in here.”He tensed at that guilt and protectiveness stirring in his chest.“You’re safe with m