“I gave you my soul in my last life. In this one, I’ll settle for your crown.”
~
In my first life, I was the devoted Queen. I waited two months for my husband, King Lauren, to return from the front lines—only for him to walk through the palace gates with a beautiful young maiden by his side and a decree in his hand: ‘She would be the new Queen’.
And because of that evil beauty he brought to our kingdom, I died a discarded "nobody," executed for a crime I didn't commit.
But death didn't take me. It sent me back.
I woke up on the morning of his return. The crowds are cheering, the flowers are blooming, and my husband is about to humiliate me in front of the entire kingdom.
But he doesn't know I've changed. He doesn't know I've returned with a special skill that makes me the most dangerous woman in the room.
Before he can introduce his "New Queen," I hand him the one thing no one in this kingdom has ever dared to ask for: Divorce papers.
In our land, a Queen asking for divorce is an abomination punishable by stoning.
But Lauren thinks I’m bluffing. He looks me in the eye, tears my petition to shreds, and growls, “You are my wife. I will never stamp those papers.”
He thinks he is keeping me trapped. He doesn't realize he has trapped himself in a palace with a woman who knows every one of his secrets—and is prepared to burn his kingdom to the ground just to see him sign his name.
My goal is simple; I will make him fall... not in love, but to his knees.
Since he spent my first life making me cry. I’ll spend my second making him bleed.

By now five days had already gone into the month and I was fervently training.


The person Fredrick recommended to teach me to learn archery did his job well even when I was already remarkably good at shooting, which was still strange to me.


By now, I knew a few defense tricks I learnt from Bernard and even orchestrated my own. And while all this was happening, Lauren never came by to see how I was doing. I was grateful for it but somewhere, I wanted him to check up on me and insist that I let him train him.


I know I may not sound logical but I wanted to believe in him one last time. I wanted him to put in the effort to win me over.


We had not yet begun our training on how to duel because Bernard didn't know how it worked, especially how to yield a sword. He wasn't well versed in that and so were the others, leaving me at a huge disadvantage.


Chapter 39 - 26 days to the duel