Chapter 98: Fate · Future - Three (I)

How much must one endure to truly grow? 

The answer varies, for life is a tapestry of myriad experiences. 

For Seraphina Marlowe, the answer is… steeped in cruelty. 

Where does this cruelty lie? Not merely in the fact that she lost everything, but in the cruel reality that the majority of her suffering was self-inflicted. 

Otherwise, Seraphina would not have indulged in battle and slaughter during her long exile, recognizing her mistakes as she grew, choosing to numb herself because of this realization, and growing once again through this numbness.

Finally, after personally ending the life of the person she wronged the most in this world, and receiving that admonition and restraint, she was reborn. 

Fate, with its cruelty, sliced her flesh, hacked her bones, and finally reshaped her into the form of an emperor, the shell of a tyrant. 

"Is this... my future?"