He stared out at the crowd that was howling for his blood. They were in the Grand Plaza of Adrimore Empire, the place where the Goddess was believed to have first made her appearance, and gave her blessing to humanity. It seemed poetic that the antithesis of all her teachings would also be put down in this sacred place.
Through the mess of the populace, his eyes zoomed to a familiar shade of platinum blonde.
Everyone was cheering for his death. The people he had directly and indirectly hurt.
But not Ruthanne.
Not his soulmate.
In the midst of the noisy crowd, she was shining like a small candle in a dark night. Her green eyes were staring at him sadly. She seemed so familiar.... even when he barely knew her in this life, it felt like he knew her all of his lives.
The moment before his death, memories long forgotten flashed through his mind.
Rosephayne the wandering witch....
...... Rhodante the Queen of Nefeli, a small country that he swallowed in his curse...
... unreliable pirate Arancia...
.... Rosemary, a young sculptor of a small village.. who later became the most revered artist of the Luminous Age. Someone he never got to know.
and...
he remembered running past meadows, only for cautious green eyes to fix on him when she turned around.
"in my next life I'd be with you," Rachelle promised, with a frown in her eyebrows and looking at him as if waiting for him to say it's a joke. "if only you were a bit kinder..."
why was he only remembering this now?
The memories of his past lives always emerged too late, when he was already neck deep in whatever evil scheme in every life. When he tried to usurp the god of Justice Heliotrope in the second life. When he sacrificed lives of innocent women just to prolong his own. At this point he was already tired. If he aimed for power, power would bite him in the arse at the end. If he aimed for immortality, one way or another he would die at the end.
It feels as if he just never wins. He never does, not as the weak orphan Thorin. Not as the God Theseus, or even as King Ignatius.
Now that he aimed liberation.... for a fair world without destined partners— the fucking Goddess gives him a soulmate.
The soulmate that he somehow keeps evading the past five lives before.
he felt his throat constricting, and an ugly pain filling his hallowed chest.
Why? Why now?
Whenever he remembers the memories of his past lives, it had always been too late. King Ignatius, definitely loved Rachelle at the end of his life, and wanted to be with her in the next life.
Now that he was Thomas, he ended up loving her again.... only it was too late to realize. How many times he turned his back coldly on her he wonders.....
"Goodbye," He mouthed at her, before the blade was brought down and she crumpled down to the ground, holding her soulmark.
In other lifetimes, there was always this one guy she married. Randall, in their fifth life. Fyodor, the one Queen Rhodante married. Rosephayne also has a dead husband he vaguely remembers.
But in this life, there was no other guy.
"In the next life I'll be with you,"
Well shit.
Ruthanne, for the first time in six lifetimes— chose him.
He just hopes in the next life he'd emerge earlier before his descent to evil.
He promised himself, death was inevitable so he didn't need to be immortal for fear of being reborn again. Power isn't everything. He was no longer the weak little Thorin who was hellbent on revenge. He wasn't Theseus who hated humans and the ghost of Rosephayne.
"In the next life, I'll be with you— if only you were a bit kinder..."
a bit.... kinder huh?
YOU ARE READING
Darker than Blanc
Romance❝we were never in love, but oh God we could have been.❞ - It seemed as if they were cursed, living and dying, circling each other seven lifetimes only to always end up passing each other by. He was darkness. Thorin Scarcelli was an orphan boy, a kin...
