Vaelis took a slow breath, forcing her heart to steady. Lucien Voss’ words still hung between them, shifting the very foundation of everything she thought she knew.

"I’ve been reborn too."

She studied him, searching for any sign of deception, but there was none. His dark eyes held hers, unwavering, almost expectant—like he was waiting for her to catch up.

"Prove it," she finally said, her voice colder than she felt.

Lucien tilted his head, as if amused. "I expected a more creative demand from you, Vaelis."

"Then you don’t know me as well as you think," she shot back.

His smirk deepened. "Ah, but I do." He leaned forward slightly, his fingers tapping against the table. "You used to despise jasmine tea. You once called it 'the taste of wilted regret.' And yet, you ordered it today."

Vaelis stilled.

That was something she had said once—long ago, in another life. She had been seventeen, sitting on a garden terrace, making an offhand remark to someone she couldn’t quite remember.

Lucien continued, his voice smooth. "Or would you prefer something more... undeniable?"

He reached into his pocket and placed something on the table. A single silver ring, simple yet familiar.

Her breath caught.

She knew that ring.

It had been hers. Not in this life, but in the one before. A token she had lost on the night everything fell apart.

"Where did you get that?" she whispered.

Lucien studied her reaction carefully. "I’ve had it for a long time. I just needed to return it to its owner."

The weight of his words pressed against her chest. The ring, the memories, the way he looked at her—this wasn’t a trick. He had known her before.

But that didn’t mean he was on her side.

Vaelis clenched her fingers under the table, forcing herself to focus. "What do you want from me?"

Lucien leaned back, his gaze sharpening. "Nothing you aren't already involved in. You think you’re the only one trying to break free from this story?"

She inhaled sharply. "So you know."

"That this world is just ink on a page? That we were never meant to be more than background characters? Yes, I know." His voice lowered, carrying a dangerous weight. "And unlike you, I refuse to let it dictate my fate."

Vaelis narrowed her eyes, the unease twisting into something sharper. "Unlike me?" she echoed, her voice cutting through the space between them.

Lucien held her gaze, unfazed. "You’re still trying to play by the rules, Vaelis. You avoid the main leads, you try to outmaneuver fate—but in the end, you’re still letting the story dictate your choices."

Her jaw tightened. "And what exactly have you done that’s so different?"

He smiled then, slow and knowing. "I don’t run from the script. I rewrite it."

A flash of realization struck her. "You’re the one interfering in the business world. The sudden shifts in sponsorships, the new financial backers—you're reshaping the landscape."

Lucien shrugged, unbothered. "The story was never meant to revolve around me, but I’ve made sure it does now."

Vaelis exhaled sharply, gripping the edge of the table. "So that’s it? You think because you refuse to follow the original path, you’re the only one fighting against it?"

He didn’t answer, but the silence itself was confirmation.

Anger simmered beneath her skin. "You think I’ve been passive? That I’ve just accepted my role?" Her voice was laced with disbelief. "I refused to play the villain they wanted me to be. I built my own path. I fought for my own future. And you call that following the rules?"

Lucien’s expression didn’t shift, but something flickered in his gaze—recognition.

She wasn’t the naive girl he had expected.

Vaelis leaned in slightly, her voice quieter but no less firm. "You’re not the only one who remembers, Lucien. And you’re not the only one who refuses to be controlled."

For the first time, his smirk faded.

The air between them was tense, crackling with something unspoken.

This wasn’t just a meeting.

It was a battle of wills.

And neither of them intended to lose.

Lucien’s POV

Vaelis Cara had always been a mystery, even in the past life.

He remembered the first time he had truly noticed her—not as the villainess the story had crafted, not as the girl everyone whispered about, but as something more. A contradiction.

She had been standing in the garden of the Cara estate, half-hidden behind a wall of white roses, her hands clasped in front of her as she watched the ballroom from a distance. The laughter and music inside had no place in her eyes. She had looked like she didn’t belong—not because she lacked status, but because she had already accepted she would always be on the outside looking in.

Lucien had known then that she was different.

The story had called her cruel, but he had never once seen her act out of malice. Every calculated remark, every cold expression, every carefully measured move had been a shield. A girl raised in a house where love was a foreign concept, forced to survive in a world that had already decided she was the villain of someone else’s tale.

She had tried so hard to hold herself together.

Until the night it all came undone.

Lucien closed his eyes for a brief moment, remembering.

Vaelis had died alone.

Not at the hands of some grand enemy, not in a final act of vengeance, but discarded. Forgotten. A villainess whose only purpose had been to push the real heroine toward happiness before being erased from the story entirely.

He remembered the way she had looked at him in those final moments.

Not with hatred.

Not even with anger.

Just quiet understanding.

"You see it too, don’t you?" she had whispered, blood staining her lips. "This world… isn’t real."

It was the last thing she had said before everything faded to black.

And Lucien—Lucien had woken up in this life with those words burned into his soul.

He had spent years unraveling the truth, clawing his way out of the shadows of fate. He had built himself up, taken control, twisted the script into something unrecognizable.

But Vaelis…

She hadn’t changed.

Not truly.

She was still fighting, still carving her own path, still standing in defiance of the role she had been assigned.

Lucien opened his eyes, his gaze settling on the girl sitting across from him in this life.

She had returned.

And this time, he wouldn’t let history repeat itself.