Reborn To Change My Fate

Chapter 351 - Three Hundred And Fifty

Derek gently set her down on the soft mattress. He arranged the thick pillows behind her back so she could sit up comfortably against the wooden headboard. Then, he pulled a heavy wooden chair close to the edge of the bed. He sat down facing her. He reached out and took both of her warm hands in his own.

Derek took a deep, shaky breath. He looked down at their joined hands for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before he looked back up into her eyes.

He narrated everything.

"After you closed your eyes in that dark alleyway," Derek began, his voice low and heavy with the painful memory. "The King’s personal guards arrived immediately. They arrested Prince Liam on the spot. He did not try to fight them. He was in shock because he thought he had won."

Marissa listened closely, her heart beating a little faster.

"Two days later," Derek continued, "there was a massive trial in the Great Hall of the royal palace. The Chancellor read all of Liam’s crimes out loud to the entire court. They read about the massacre of the Thompson army. They read about how he sold state secrets to our enemies. They read about his treason."

"What happened to him?" Marissa asked quietly.

"He was sentenced to be executed in five days," Derek stated plainly. His eyes showed no pity for the dead Prince. "When he heard the verdict, Liam completely lost his mind. He went mad right there in the court. He laughed and screamed that the throne belonged to him. The guards dragged him away to the darkest cell. Five days later, his head was removed from his shoulders. Liam is dead, Mari. He can never hurt us again."

Marissa let out a long breath. She closed her eyes for a second, feeling a massive weight lift off her chest. The monster was finally gone.

"And the King?" she asked, opening her eyes. " How did he feel?"

"King Alistair realized his own failures," Derek explained. "He saw the evil his son had done, and he realized his own cruel laws had pushed the western region to join Liam’s rebellion. The guilt was too much for him. He stood up in front of all the nobles and abdicated the throne. He stepped down completely."

Marissa’s eyes widened in shock. "He gave up the crown?"

"Yes," Derek nodded slowly. "He passed the throne to me. He declared me the new King of Eudora."

Marissa was stunned by the political news, but Derek’s face did not look happy or proud. His face looked incredibly sad. His voice dropped to a rough, painful whisper.

"But none of that mattered to me," Derek confessed, his voice breaking slightly. He squeezed her hands tighter. "Because the royal physician told me you were dead. The poison on Liam’s arrow stopped your heart. I lost my entire world in that alleyway."

Marissa felt a cold chill run down her spine. She stared at him, realizing the absolute horror he had lived through.

"I put you in a cold stone room," Derek narrated, tears forming in his dark eyes. "I filled a coffin with ice and salt to preserve your body. I sat on the freezing floor and cried like a child. I thought my life was over. But then, I met Lord Colton, the Governor of the West, in the royal dungeon."

Derek explained the magic carefully. "Lord Colton told me about the forbidden arts. He told me that magic could bring a soul back to a body, but it required an equivalent exchange. A life for a life. He offered to sacrifice his own life for yours, if I promised to change the laws and protect his people when I became King."

Marissa covered her mouth with her free hand. She was completely shocked. A man she had never met had died to give her a second chance at life.

"I brought your body to the courtyard," Derek continued, wiping a stray tear from his cheek. "Colton drew a pentacle in the snow. He cut my hand so my blood could anchor your soul back to this world. He chanted a spell, and lightning struck him from the sky. He died instantly. And the magic passed into you."

Derek gently touched her warm cheek with his fingers.

"The magic brought the warmth back to your skin. You started breathing again," Derek said, his voice full of awe and lingering fear. "But you did not wake up. You slept for a whole month, Mari. Thirty long days. I sat by this bed every single night. I talked to you. I held your hand. I was terrified that your mind would never return."

Marissa stared at him. Her mind struggled to process the massive weight of his words. Her husband had bled for her. He had made deals with forbidden magic. He had waited in agony for thirty days, not knowing if she would ever open her eyes again. The sheer scale of his sacrifice and his pain was overwhelming.

She looked at his tired, handsome face. She saw the deep lines of exhaustion around his mouth. She saw the shadows of a terrible nightmare still lingering in his dark eyes.

Marissa reached out with both of her hands. She gently framed his face.

"You must have suffered a lot," Marissa said, her voice thick with emotion. She began stroking his cheek softly with her thumbs.

Derek closed his eyes. He leaned heavily into her warm hands, letting out a long, shuddering sigh. Just feeling her touch washed away a month of terrible, lonely terror.

"I’m sorry," Marissa apologized. A warm tear rolled down her face and dropped onto the blankets. "I am so sorry I left you alone to deal with all of that."

Derek quickly opened his eyes. He reached up and gently grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from his face just enough to kiss her palms. He shook his head firmly.

"No," Derek said, his voice completely serious and determined. "I’m sorry. I didn’t protect you well enough. I should have never let Liam’s arrow reach you. I failed my most important duty."

He leaned forward and rested his forehead gently against hers.

"I am so happy you are back here with me," Derek whispered into the quiet room, breathing in the sweet scent of lavender on her skin. "Nothing else in the world matters."

They stayed like that for a long moment, sharing the same air, finding peace in the simple fact that they were both alive and together.

Then, Derek pulled back slightly. A thoughtful, curious expression crossed his face. He looked deeply into her dark eyes. He remembered the very last words she had spoken to him in the snow, right before the poison took her.

"Mari," Derek said softly. "Before you died, you said something strange. You said this was your second life. That you were reborn. What did you mean?"

Marissa froze. She had guarded this massive secret carefully since the very first day she woke up in her body. She had never planned to tell anyone. But looking at Derek—the man who had literally defied the laws of nature and death to save her—she knew she could not hide anything from him anymore. He deserved her absolute, unfiltered truth.

Marissa took a deep breath. She nodded her head slowly.

"It is true," Marissa confessed softly. "I have lived this life before."