1 Her Death

Cold. I feel cold. I shivered as the cold wind from the sea touched my skin. My hands and feet were tied, preventing me to escape. My body is full of bruises and wounds. My face is just as messed up as my hair, and my nightgown is tattered and full of holes.

Two imperial guards are standing behind me, waiting for his command. In this situation, I have no other choice but to surrender to my fate and die. No matter how I think about it, I have no one to blame but him.

I raised my head and felt shivers down my spine as our eyes met. His dark tantalizing narrow eyes were staring at me as if he was looking into my soul. I started sweating and breathing heavily despite the coldness of the wind.

"Why are you doing this?" I said softly, weakened because of the torture I went through over the past few days. I trembled as he laughed at my question. "Why, you say? Isn't it obvious?" He said mockingly as if I was a monkey who can't even understand something so simple.

I kept quiet as I don't know why he was doing this to me. "Hmm... So you really don't know, huh?" He said as he took a step forward towards me.

He lifted my chin using his fingers and devilishly smiled. "You killed the love of my life. How could I ever spare someone like you?" He said as he looked me in the eye.

I could feel tears welling from my eyes. My heart is aching, and it hurts. It hurts so much knowing that he thinks I'm that kind of person. It hurts knowing that he's doing this to me just because of a simple assumption that I killed the woman he loves the most. And it hurts that he doesn't love me one bit.

"I... I never killed anyone," I said with a trembling voice, trying to prove my innocence. "I'll never believe anything that's said by a murderer," he said and took a step backward.

"Push her." Those two words that came from his mouth were enough to end someone's life—my life. I felt something warm on my back, I guessed it was someone's hand. I wanted to scream, but I didn't have enough energy to do it.

As I fell from the cliff, I slowly closed my eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm down even before my death. I guess this is it. This is where everything ends. My once perfect life became a total nightmare ever since the day I met that man—Vaughn Rosiello, the Emperor of the Rosiello Empire.

I've never imagined that my life would end like this. If I had not fallen in love with someone like him... If I had not agreed to our engagement... would my fate be different? Would I not suffer like this? Would I have lived longer?

If I had known that I would end up like this, would I have stuck with him? Would I still love him just like I do until now?

I have a lot of questions but none of them were not about him. At this point, he still occupies my mind. He's still the one I think of even though I'm dying... even though I'm falling.

Dying must be really painful, but that is nothing compared to the pain I'm feeling from dying with his own hands. I feel like I've already died countless times just because of the way he treated me for the past few days.

What did I do so wrong to deserve this kind of treatment? The only thing I have ever wanted from him was his affection towards me. I want him to hold me in his arms as we sleep at night. I want to get married to him because we love each other, and not because it would be beneficial to both of our empires.

This isn't what I wanted at all.

Before I fell into the water, I tried to breathe some air—a useless attempt to survive. Even if I say that I was completely prepared to die, I can't deny the fact that I still want to live.

As I sank into the water, I opened my eyes before I lost consciousness. The deeper I sank, the darker the ocean got as if I was completely devoured by the cold darkness.

I'm ashamed that my life had to end like this—wrongfully killed by the man I love the most. But at least I got to see his face before my last breath.

How... did things end up like this? I may not have been the woman you love, but you never treated me as badly as this. You treated me with care even if I'm not that important to you. You treated me sweetly, enough to make me a prisoner of something as beautiful yet as terrifying as love.

If I would be reborn, or if I can go back in time... I want to be able to stay by your side instead of being killed by you. I want to be the woman you adore so much instead of being the woman you despise. If I were given another chance... I would still choose to love you till death.

If I would meet you again, I'm sure I would still love you. I would still love you more than before… and I would do everything to make you happy. I would do all the things that I haven't done before. I will give up everything for you.

I can't take this any longer. The air that I had taken in has turned into bubbles, and I struggled to breathe. Even as my consciousness slowly faded away, the only person in my mind was him.

Emperor Rosiello— no. Vaughn Rosiello...

I still love you even after everything you have done to me.

Till I meet you again in my next life… Goodbye, my love.