Chapter 1

By the time I was thrown into the isolated royal quarters, I was already a month pregnant.

The royal physician shakily spoke through the crack in the door, saying this pregnancy likely would not hold.

I only let out a cold laugh while my personal maid Grace cried her heart out.

Only I knew this child was Death’s last bargaining chip.

I lied to the tyrant, Richard Sinclair, and told him the baby belonged to him.

For the sake of this "only heir," he lifted me back to the top and reinstated me as queen, showering me with boundless favor.

To his last breath, he never knew I carried the reincarnation of his previous life sworn foe, Alexander Knight, the war god prince who commanded all realm forces and was poisoned by Richard himself.

Alexander and I had both been reborn, burning with the blood-deep vengeance of our previous lives.

When the isolated royal quarters doors were kicked open, I stared blankly down at a bowl of spoiled rice gruel, forcing it down my throat.

The huge bang made half the bowl spill, and when I looked up, I met a pair of dark, violent eyes.

It was Richard Sinclair.

Dressed in his royal robe, trailed by a retinue of trembling royal servants. He was like a storm cloud pressing down on this tiny, suffocating place.

"Victoria Sinclair, how dare you." his voice was ice-cold, each word ground out between clenched teeth. "You actually dared to get pregnant with a bastard."

I set the bowl down and rose slowly, smoothing the crumpled fabric of my plain court gown, gazing at him with unruffled calm.

I said, "Your Majesty, you must jest. In the isolated royal quarters , aside from the royal servant who brings meals every day, there are only rats and roaches.

"Even if I wished to bear a child, where exactly was I supposed to find a man?"

My unruffled calm only stoked his fury.

He closed the distance in three quick strides and clamped a hand around my chin, squeezing so hard and it felt like he would shatter my jawbone."Still lying to me? The royal physician already confirmed it. You're one month pregnant.

"Before you were thrown into the isolated royal quarters, I hadn't set foot in Serenity Palace for half a month. So tell me, whose child is this?"

The pain in my jaw made my vision go dark, yet I dared not show weakness. Because this was my only chance.

I looked him straight in his bloodshot eyes and said word by word, "You really don’t remember, Your Majesty?

"A month ago, after my brother returned in triumph, you held a banquet in the palace. You got completely wasted that night and you stayed at Serenity Palace that night."

Richard's pupils shrank sharply. It all came back to him.

That night, he had indeed been dead drunk and stayed in my palace. But he’d always been overly wary. Even drunk out of his mind, he’d never laid a hand on me.

Only him, me, and my late loyal maid knew the truth. To everyone else, the King had spent the night with his queen.

"Impossible." he cut me off sharply, though a flicker of doubt flashed in his eyes. "I never touched you."

"Is it that Your Majesty doesn't want to admit it, or doesn't dare to?" I let out a cold laugh, shook off his hand, and staggered back two steps, one hand lightly shielding my belly.

"You were blackout drunk that night. How can you be so sure nothing happened? If we didn’t share a bed, then how does Your Majesty explain my pregnancy?" I said.

I was betting on his suspicion, on how unsure he was of his own memory. More importantly, I was betting on his desperation.

He had ruled for five years and filled the palace with beauties, yet he still had no surviving child. It wasn't that the women couldn't give birth. It was that every child born died before turning three.

Everyone knew it was the result of vicious catfights in the royal quarters, and also the curse-like payback for his tyranny. He needed a son, an heir to silence all the murmurs across the royal court.

Richard stared at me hard, his gaze sharp as a hawk's, like he wanted to see every secret hidden inside me.

After a long while, he suddenly smiled, and that smile was cold enough to make anyone shiver. "Very well. Victoria Sinclair,I’ll take your word for it this once."

He turned and his voice rang through the entire courtyard of the isolated royal quarters. "By my decree, queen Victoria Sinclair bears the royal heir. She is to be removed from the isolated royal quarters at once and restored to her former rank.

"Call every healer from the Royal Infirmary to look after her around the clock. If even the smallest harm comes to her, every last one of their families will pay with their lives."

Behind him, a wave of "Yes, Your Majesty" thundered through the courtyard.

I watched his figure leave in a sweep of robes, then slowly sank onto the freezing floor, cold sweat soaking my back. Only I knew this baby wasn’t his at all.

The real father was Alexander, the war god prince who had fought Richard for a lifetime in our previous life, only to lose everything and die because the Seymour House turned against him at the final moment.

After being reborn, I saw him again at a family banquet.

Back then, we were still young, and the bloody tragedy of our previous life hadn't happened yet.

But the second our eyes met, we recognized each other.

That night, he cornered me beneath a corridor, his eyes red and his voice raw. "Why?"

I had no answer.

In our previous life, my father had believed Richard's lies and betrayed his pact with Alexander at the most critical moment, which was what led to Alexander's total defeat.

After that, Richard pinned the charge of being too powerful on my family too, and had every last one of us executed.

We’d both lost everything.

That night, we barely said a word to each other. We only drank, cup after cup.

In the haze of drunkenness, the regret of our previous life and the bitterness of this one twisted together and turned into an accident that could never be undone.

I had thought that in this life, he and I would have nothing more to do with each other.

I never expected fate to hand me such a "gift."

I gently touched my still-flat belly and said silently in my heart:

Baby, don't be afraid. Mom will protect you.

In this life, you and I will make Richard pay back every single thing he owes us, every last bit of pain included.