The sound of my hand striking his cheek echoed through the ceremonial hall. Gasps rippled through the watching crowd, but I stood still, staring up at him. My breath came in short, uneven bursts, my fingers still tingling from the force of the slap. I hated him. I had to.

But then something shifted.

The room, the light, the air around me—it all felt... wrong. Not unfamiliar, but wrong. I blinked once, twice. My heart started pounding—not in anger, but in confusion. I could smell the incense burning in the golden braziers and feel the silk of my wedding gown against my skin. My eyes swept over the hall, the crowd, the banners—everything was exactly the same as I remembered.

And then it hit me.

This was our wedding day. The day he supposedly stole everything from me. The day I vowed to destroy him. The same day I slapped him, just as I had now.

But this wasn't a memory.

This was real.

My knees trembled under the weight of that truth. I could feel the veil over my head, the tight bodice of my ceremonial gown pressing against my chest. I had lived this day before. And yet... here I was, living it again.

He stood in front of me, unmoving. Watching me with those dark eyes that had haunted my dreams for years. Just as he had then. But now, I knew. Now I remembered everything—his diary, the scrolls, the truth he had tried to tell me before I condemned him.

My lips parted slightly, but no sound came. I couldn't speak. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was look at him, the man I had destroyed in my previous life, and realize that this time... I had a choice.