My older sister, Victoria, only ever wanted a normal life with a partner of her own choosing.

To get it, she gave up her eligibility for the Royal Consort Selection, passing the opportunity to me before leaving for the Northern Border.

Eventually, I became King Adrian Hawthorne’s wife. His Queen.

He protected me at every turn, elevating me to the highest seat in the kingdom. For a long time, I thought he loved me deeply.

Until the news of Victoria’s death in battle reached the capital.

Adrian coughed up blood the moment he heard. On his deathbed, he gripped my hand, his voice entirely broken.

"The only person I have ever truly loved in this life... is Victoria."

"The life she wanted, I couldn't give her from this throne. I had to let her go."

"Promising to protect you was the only thing I could do for her."

His final request was for me to bury Victoria in the royal cemetery, right beside him.

Only then did I understand. The glory and favor I had received for half my life was nothing but his twisted way of compensating for losing her.

When I opened my eyes again, Victoria was smiling, pushing the Royal Consort eligibility papers across the table toward me.

"Claire, do you want to enter the selection? To become the King's Official Consort?"

~~~~~

Victoria’s eyes were impossibly bright.

"I don't want to be the King's Official Consort," she said. "I just want to find one person and spend my life with them. But if you want to enter the selection, I’ll arrange everything. I'll make sure you're safe there."

Sunlight spilled through the window, washing over her radiant face.

I stared at her, my throat tight.

In my mind, the blood-soaked obituary from Fort Northwatch flashed before my eyes.

When I spoke, my voice trembled.

"Victoria, I don't want to be the King's Official Consort. And I don't want you to accept the royal arrangement either."

She blinked in surprise, then let out a warm laugh.

"Alright. Then neither of us goes."

She reached over and ruffled my hair.

"I’ll find a good man for you. You’ll marry with safety, dignity, and every guarantee you deserve."

As I watched her walk away, tears threatened to spill over my lashes.

She was only six months older than me, the eldest daughter from our father's first marriage. She was bright, brave, and fiercely independent. She loved shooting, off-roading, and the dangerous, expansive freedom of military life.

I was born from his second relationship. I was quiet, preferring embroidery and literature.

But Victoria never once made me feel lesser. She publicly and constantly insisted that we were both daughters of the Vale family, equal in every way.

In our past life, she gave me that eligibility because she genuinely believed Adrian would protect me.

But the monarchy swallows anyone without their own armor.

In that palace, I lost two children. I fell into the freezing Palace reflecting pool. I was poisoned three times.

Every time, Adrian promised he would handle it.

But he never truly cleared out the political companions backed by the noble factions, nor did he dismantle the toxic royal etiquette and power trades. As long as I was alive, he always had other political interests to weigh.

I died of illness at forty.

Remembering his dying words—If only I had convinced her to accept the royal arrangement—I closed my eyes.

Victoria was too good for that world. I would never push her into the King's state-sponsored political consort system again.

Early the next morning, I was summoned to the palace.

Adrian sat in the King’s private study. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed all the attendants.

I raised my eyes and met his gaze.

It only took one look. I knew instantly that he had come back with his memories, too.

His eyes were exactly the same as they were on his deathbed—resentful, obsessive, masking an unhinged desperation.

"Your Majesty. You sent for me?"

Adrian offered a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Are we really going to play dumb, Claire?"

"You remember too, don't you?"

I lifted my chin.

"Yes. I remember."

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.

"Then why didn't you help me convince Victoria to accept the royal arrangement?" he demanded. "I treated you well in our past life. You became Queen. You had everything. Is this how you repay me?"

I took a slow, deep breath.

"Victoria makes her own choices. No one decides for her."

"Then why did you refuse to become my Official Consort?"

I looked at him, suddenly finding the whole situation laughable.

"Your so-called care meant losing two children under your protection. It meant falling into the Palace reflecting pool in the dead of winter, and being poisoned three times."

"Every time something happened, you said there were too many factions involved. You said your hands were tied."

The study fell deathly silent.

Adrian stared at me, his expression fracturing to reveal the obsession he could no longer suppress.

"You blame me?"

I took a half-step back.

"In our past life, I accepted the royal arrangement because I didn't know you were in love with my sister."

"In this life, I know."

"And I have already lost enough. I will never marry you again, and I will never return to this palace."

"Please let us go."

"Let me go, and let Victoria go."

Adrian lunged forward, his hand snapping around my wrist like a vice.

Pain shot up my arm. The color drained from my face.

"And if I don't?" He crowded into my space. "Claire, did you really think getting a second chance meant you could defy me?"

"I am the King. I have never been denied what I want."

I trembled from the pain, but I didn't break eye contact.

"The more you push her, the more she will despise you."

"She wants a lifetime with one partner. You can't give her that."

"As long as you wear that crown, you will never be able to give her that."

He glared at me, his chest heaving, before finally releasing my wrist.

When he spoke, his voice was terrifyingly hoarse.

"In our past life, I told you to bury her in the royal cemetery, next to me."

"Did you do it?"