Rajah Gokad Netu was a man of imnse strength and unyielding power.
With hundreds of wives and concubines, he prided himself on treating them all with equal affection, a balance that spoke to his charisma and authority.
He was a master of timing, knowing exactly when to bestow lavish gifts and when to administer stern punishnts, always matching the gravity of the occasion.
Woe to anyone who earned his disappointnt, for Rajah was not a man to let offenses slide.
He harbored a long mory and a fierce resolve, ensuring that those who crossed him learned, often painfully, that he was not one to forgive or forget easily.
And this very truth made Althea panic.
The emotions swirling inside her were a tangled ss, and she wasn't sure how to untangle them.
She opened her mouth again, but the words refused to co. Her eyes fluttered closed for a mont, as if to gather herself, but the weight of the past pressed down on her.
If she had tried to speak like this before, if she had dared to expose such weakness, the consequences would have been disastrous.
In the past, such a mistake or disrespect would have led to a harsh slap, or worse—sothing so torturous, so soul-crushing, that the re mory of it made her tremble with fear.
Even among his wives and concubines, the Rajah was unyieldingly harsh—often the harshest of all. There was one infamous instance where a concubine of his betrayed him by sleeping with another man.
The Rajah's fury was swift and rciless. He decreed her punishnt to be death by a thousand cocks—a fate as cruel as it was grotesque.
It was an ugly, humiliating death, spoken of in hushed tones and serving as a grim reminder of the Rajah's unforgiving nature.
Althea's hands shook as the terrifying recollection of that past life surged through her mind, sending a cold shiver down her spine.
Ross noticed the way her body tensed, the way her eyes glazed over with distant mories. His expression softened, and he stepped closer to her, his voice low and comforting, as if trying to soothe the pain he knew she was reliving.
"It's okay, Yumi. This isn't the past. You have a new life now. And I… I'm not the sa as I was before either. As you know, just like you are now Althea Quinn, I too have inherited the life experiences and values of Ross Oakley. We've both changed in our own ways," he reassured her, his tone gentle but firm.
There was no trace of the bitterness or anger that might have been there in another ti. Only warmth and understanding.
"I just thought that you still loved ," he continued, his words reaching her, though his voice held a faint sorrow, as though he was trying to co to terms with sothing that hurt him too.
"After all, you were the one who sought out, who woke from the fog of our past life. You awakened my mories of everything we once shared." His eyes t hers then, intense and filled with an unspoken longing.
"Ti and distance can change so many things, Yumi. And maybe love—love sotis fails the test. It's hard to know for certain."
There was a long pause, the weight of his words settling heavily between them. Ross's face softened, a quiet sadness replacing the strength he had shown earlier.
With a deep, almost imperceptible sigh, he took a step forward and embraced Althea once more. Slowly, carefully, he leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, his hands lingering on her shoulders for a mont longer.
His touch was tender, almost as if he were trying to reassure her, yet there was a sense of finality to it—like he was letting go of sothing precious, sothing he knew he could never reclaim.
Althea remained silent, her eyes wide as she looked at him, unable to find the words to speak. The ache in her chest deepened as Ross turned away, his back now facing her.
The distance between them began to grow with every step he took, and with each step, her heart seed to break just a little more.
She wanted to call out to him, to stop him, to explain everything she hadn't said, but the words felt stuck, lodged in her throat like a stone.
Her hands trembled at her sides, and for a mont, she felt utterly helpless, as though the room had closed in around her.
Every muscle in her body scread at her to do sothing—anything—to make him turn back, to make him stay.
But the truth hung in the air, unspoken but palpable: Ross was walking away, and no matter how much she wanted to stop him, she didn't know if she could.
Her chest tightened, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she stood frozen in place, watching his silhouette grow smaller with every step he took.
The distance between them, both physical and emotional, stretched farther than she ever thought possible.
It was as if sothing had shattered between them, sothing irreparable, and she was left standing in the wreckage, unable to reach him.
Her mind raced, replaying the monts they had shared, the love they had once known.
But now, that love felt fragile, as if it were slipping through her fingers like sand, and she was powerless to hold on to it.
The overwhelming sorrow threatened to consu her, and yet, she couldn't find the strength to move. She couldn't bring herself to call his na, to beg him to stay. Read new chapters at empire
In the silence that followed, Althea felt the weight of everything pressing down on her—her past, her life with Robin in the present, and the complex, tangled relationship she had with two n from different tis.
It all seed to close in on her, the burden growing heavier with each passing second.
In the end, Althea knew she had to make a choice.
And she had to make it fast, before Ross stepped out the door and, perhaps, out of her life forever.
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