Chapter 3
"It's my fault," Marcus said, his voice rough with emotion.
"I couldn't protect her," he whispered.
My father slapped Marcus hard across the face.
"Do you really think just saying it's your fault can make up for my daughter's life?" he shouted.
"Marcus, the Simpson family will never stand on the same side as you again. We are enemies now!"
Leila rushed out from the inner chamber and fell to her knees before my father.
"Mr. Chancellor, please don't blame Marcus," she begged, her voice shaking.
"It's all my fault. If it wasn't for me... Joyce wouldn't have ended up like this..."
Louis kicked Leila aside with his foot.
Louis barked, "Get lost!
"You don't get to talk here!"
Leila fell to the floor, her eyes full of helplessness and pleading as she looked at Marcus.
But Marcus just looked at my father in silence, not saying a word.
Marcus's mother rushed out and stood protectively in front of Leila.
"Mr. Simpson, don't overstep!" she snapped.
"Your daughter chose her own fate. What's that got to do with Marcus?
"She was nothing but a barren hen. Good riddance; now she won't be hogging the General's wife spot anymore."
My father was shaking with rage.
"Fine! What a fine General's Mansion this is!" he spat.
"Let's go!"
Louis and my father took my "body" away.
They said they wouldn't let a daughter of the Simpson family be buried in the dirty soil of the Eden family.
Marcus didn't stop them.
He just stood there, watching as my coffin was carried out through the gates of the General's Mansion.
His figure seemed so forlorn.
System: [Marcus's regret points +20.]
[Current total regret points: 30.]
I left the General's Mansion.
The system gave me a new identity: Sarah Hubbard, the daughter of a rich merchant in the Southern River Region.
My parents were gone, leaving me with a huge inheritance.
With my identity papers in hand, I got into the carriage heading south.
Everything in Aethermoor had nothing to do with me anymore.
The carriage slowly passed through the city gates.
I lifted the curtain and took one last look at the city I'd called home for twenty years.
Goodbye, Joyce.
Hello, Sarah.
A month later, I finally made it to the Southern River Region.
The place was absolutely gorgeous, crystal-clear lakes, rolling green hills, and the weather was perfect.
Using the gold I got from the system, I bought myself a lakeside mansion.
The house was huge and peaceful, almost like my own private sanctuary.
I bought out the largest silk shop in the Southern River Region and named it Cloud Brocade Hall. As expected, the Southern River Merchant Guild banded together to squeeze me out, calling me an outsider. Overnight, every local dye house cut off my supply. But I kept my cool; my father said those who carve out a new path survive on the chessboard. So I spread word that I was offering a sky-high price for a common herb called purple-stem eupatorium, stirring up the whole city and leaving my rivals utterly baffled. At the same time, I quietly sent my most trusted people to the Western Regions, spending a fortune to secure an exclusive cloud brocade dye.
At the launch of my new products, while my competitors were busy mocking me for only selling plain cloth, I stepped forward and demonstrated how purple-stem eupatorium could be used as a catalyst to unlock the full brilliance of the Western dye. The result? A stunning shade called "moonlit purple" was so gorgeous that it became the envy of the entire Southern River Region. This masterstroke, a classic case of playing the long game, not only shattered their monopoly but also made the name "Sarah Hubbard" a household legend in the Southern River business world.
I rarely thought about Aethermoor anymore.
Every now and then, the system would update me on Marcus's regret points.
[Marcus's regret points +5.]
[Marcus's regret points +2.]
His regret points were rising at a snail's pace.
Guess my death didn't really hit him that hard.
Or maybe with Leila by his side, he got over it pretty fast.
Honestly, that was probably for the best.
We were never meant to be in each other's lives anyway.
Everything changed the day I caught wind of some rumors from Aethermoor while walking down the street.
"Hey, did you hear? Marcus Eden, the Northern Pacification General, actually lost a battle on the frontier!"
"No way! Wasn't he unbeatable?"
"Seriously! They say he kept making mistakes on the battlefield and nearly got his whole army wiped out!"
"And that's not all. I heard he's been really sick lately, coughing up blood all the time."
I froze.
Marcus actually lost a battle?
Coughing up blood, too?
How could that even happen?
I traced my fingers over the faded seed bracelet on my wrist. Five years ago, I knelt outside the Guardian Church for three days and three nights, praying for Marcus. The pastor sighed and told me, "Young lady, do you realize that trading your own fortune for someone else's life is defying fate itself? Once you do this, your fates will be bound together, and there's no way to break free." Turns out, our destinies had already been entwined in a way I could never escape. Half of my life had already been given to him.
Back then, I hadn't even married him yet. I was just secretly in love with him.
When I heard he was on the brink of death, nothing else mattered anymore.
Turns out, our destinies were already tangled together back then.
I gave up my own luck just to save his life.
So when I died, his luck ran out too.
Wasn't that just ironic?