I didn't answer Cael right away. My hands were still clenched, my pulse still racing from the chase. The moonlight spilling over the garden paths felt colder than it should have—like the night itself was watching.
"They were trying to poison the King," I finally said, my voice low. "But that's not the worst part."
His gaze sharpened. "Go on."
I pulled the folded threat from my pocket—the same one I'd received days ago. "Whoever's behind this…" My fingers tightened around the paper. "…they know me. Too well."
Cael's brow furrowed. "You think they targeted you?"
"No," I said slowly, piecing it together in my mind. "I think they targeted the King to start a chain of events—one that ends with me on the execution block. It's how it happened last time."
The words tasted like ash. I hadn't meant to tell him so much, but the memory of my first death surged inside me, raw and choking. Every humiliation, every betrayal, every cold stare from the crowd—it all began with a disaster at court. Just like this.
System Alert:
Main Quest Branch Discovered — The Saboteur's Plot is Linked to Your Past Execution.
Failure Consequence: History Repeats.
A shiver ran through me. This wasn't just palace intrigue. This was a script—one I had already lived, and one someone wanted to see play out again.
Cael stepped closer, lowering his voice. "If what you're saying is true, you're not just in danger—you're the keystone to whatever they're planning."
I met his gaze steadily. "Then we need to find them before they rewrite my death."
Somewhere beyond the hedge maze, laughter echoed—light and careless. But to me, it sounded like the opening notes of a funeral march.
Not this time.