Chapter 3 Reloaded

Kaelia

What just happened?!

I looked around with wide eyes. Where am I? How am I in the attic?

Flashes of all that had happened began to play in my head. 

My hands flew to my neck.

No rope. 

I was alive. 

I looked down at myself. I was dressed in smooth white silk—a wedding dress. No longer the rough orange prison uniform. 

Why was I in a wedding dress?

Then, a knock interrupted my thoughts. 

“Kaelia, are you ready?" Victoria's sweet and innocent voice echoed from outside the room.

My emotions flipped instantly. 

From pain to fear, as I recalled, 

" I am you, Kaelie. And if you don't get it right this time, we are all doomed.” The words echoed in my head.

" Welcome to rebirth cycle five.”

Five?

This was the fifth time! Every time I mess up, every time I got it wrong, I died. 

Fear gripped me. 

Then the door flew open, and I saw Victoria walk in. She was dressed in a gold colored gown, red heels, and her hair was wrapped so beautifully. 

Same outfit she wore on my mating ceremony to Steven. 

The day I married him. 

Anger rose up within seconds— from fear to anger!

My eyes turned sharp. Burning with hate. Heart filled with pain. 

Victoria! 

My fingers clenched into the soft fabric. 

Steven. 

My husband and my younger sister.

“Sis, you look stunning!" Victoria’s soft voice pierced through my thoughts. Her eyes glowed, like she was genuinely happy for me. 

For a moment, I couldn’t move. My feet felt rooted to the ground as memories of her smile—no, her smirk—flashed before my eyes.

My gaze hardened. 

I saw beyond the innocent face. I saw the ‘Victoria’ who was intertwined with my husband on my matrimonial bed, naked and wishing me dead. 

My fingers dug into my palms.

"Steven is going to be completely mesmerized!” She beamed, walking closer to me. 

“Thank you," I replied softly, my voice calm. 

“Let's go?" She asked, stretching her hand for me to take. 

I held it carefully as she walked me out of the attic. 

" I know you're nervous. Don't be, okay? I'm with you, sis.” She held onto me tightly. “Everything will be perfect.” 

I sneered. 

Perfect indeed. 

So you could betray me again. Then, Steven, and I die for the fifth time. 

Never

Never again.

Soon, we got to the altar. 

Steven stood erect on the stage with pride, in his gold and white suit. His dreamy eyes I had fallen completely for, shone the moment he saw me walk in, and Victoria giggled. 

It made me wonder if it was me or if it was her he reacted to. 

In my past life, I had blushed.

But now… all I felt was rage. 

Then, I saw Alpha Gabriel in his wheelchair as I walked closer to his son. Our eyes met. My heart skipped, but at the same time, it relaxed. 

He wasn't dead.

He is alive. 

Throughout the ceremony, I was absent-minded. I hardly knew what was going on as my mind was deep in thought. 

Does that mean Alpha Gabriel had died four times as well due to my stupidity?

My breath hitched at the thought. 

I looked back at him. His gaze was on me as well, yet he had an unreadable expression on his face. 

“Kaelia Joshua, do you take Steven Gabriel Thomas as your husband and Alpha, forevermore?" 

Silence. 

Every eye was on me. 

Steven's wide smile was gradually reducing with every second I delayed. 

I allowed the silence to stretch a little more. 

" Kaelia?” Steven called. 

I looked up at him, and with a sharp tone, I replied with one word. 

“No." 

Loud and weighty.

Gasps, wide eyes, murmurs. 

And like that, the entire hall turned into a market square. 

" What the fuck is the meaning of this?!” Steven barked at me. 

I didn't flinch. 

I stared back at him, dead in the eyes, my voice was steady.

" You heard me, Prince Steven, No!" 

Disbelief washed over his expression. He looked back at the audience, at my father and stepmother. 

“Are you crazy?!" Father roared from where he stood. 

I smirked as I turned to meet his gaze, “No, sir." I replied, “I'm completely sane. I have never been in my right mind as I am now." 

My words angered Father so much that his veins popped. 

"You'd better apologize and do the right thing now, or I disown you this minute!” 

Cameras flashed from every angle. 

I nodded and turned to Steven. With a loud voice, I declared,

“I, Kaelia Joshua rejects you, Prince Steven, as my mate!”

The shock on Steven’s eyes was satisfactory. This was the first right thing I had done since my rebirth.

The whispers grew louder and wilder. 

But that wasn't all the surprise I had up my sleeves or under my skirt today, as I announced louder, with a smirk,

“And I, Kaelia Joshua...”

“...accept Alpha Gabriel as my Alpha,”

I turned my eyes from Steven to meet his father’s intense gaze, my lips curved slightly,

“...my mate and my husband."

The crowd went still.