The night was eerily quiet over the Royal Palace.
Amelia stood alone on the palace balcony, the cool breeze rustling her silk nightgown as she gazed out at the moonlit horizon. Her children had long since fallen asleep, their dreams untainted by the shadows of the past.
But Amelia couldn't sleep.
Tonight… she felt something in the air. A strange pull, as if the past was calling her back for one final reckoning.
She turned, and the world shifted.
One moment she was standing on the balcony.
The next—she stood in a vast, endless white space.
"Am I… dreaming?" she whispered.
A soft echo answered her.
"Amelia…"
She turned slowly, and her heart clenched despite everything.
There he was.
Ethan Blake.
Or rather… what was left of him.
His once commanding presence had been reduced to a hollow, translucent version of the man she once loved and hated. His face was pale, eyes dark and sunken, and yet—those eyes still searched for her with a desperate, haunted longing.
"Why… are you here?" Amelia asked coldly, her arms crossing over her chest.
Ethan fell to his knees before her, just as he had in the cathedral so many years ago.
But this time, there was no audience. No cameras.
Just them.
"This is my punishment," Ethan rasped. "Endless regret. Endless torment. But the heavens… they're crueler than I imagined. They told me my fate isn't sealed yet. That it rests… with you."
Amelia stared down at him, her face unreadable.
"And what is it you want, Ethan?"
Ethan's voice cracked, raw with a thousand lifetimes of regret.
"Just one word. One word from you, Amelia… and I can either pass on to peace… or be cast into eternal suffering. You… hold my final judgment."
The weight of those words hung in the air.
Amelia turned away, her eyes misting over as old memories surfaced—
The night she knelt in front of him, her wedding dress torn and bloodied.The day he walked away as she screamed his name in the rain.The night she gave birth alone, tears and agony her only company.
And then…
The years of building herself back up.
Becoming the Queen the world now revered.
Raising her children into kings and queens without him.
She turned back, eyes like sharpened blades.
"You want forgiveness, Ethan Blake?"
He nodded frantically, his hands clutching the hem of her gown like a drowning man grabbing at the last lifeline.
"Please… just set me free. I beg you."
Amelia took a deep breath and stepped closer, crouching before him until their eyes met at the same level.
Her fingers gently lifted his chin, forcing him to look directly into the eyes of the woman he destroyed.
Her voice was low. Deadly.
"Look at me, Ethan."
He did.
"Do you feel the weight of every tear I shed for you?"
He nodded, his tears falling freely.
"Do you remember every moment you turned your back on me when I needed you most?"
"Yes…" he choked.
Her eyes turned colder.
"Then remember this too—some sins… are unforgivable."
She stood up, her figure glowing with unshakable power.
Ethan's face crumbled as he broke into sobs, his hands clawing at the ground.
"Amelia… please… anything but this…"
But Amelia had already turned away.
And as she took her final step back into the waking world, her voice echoed through the endless void—
"Rot in your regrets, Ethan Blake. For eternity."
The light shattered.
Ethan's spirit was ripped apart, his final cry lost in the void.
And with that, his soul was cast into nothingness—erased, forgotten, a nameless ghost bound forever to the memories of the happiness he could never reclaim.
The Next Morning…
Amelia stood once again on the palace balcony, the morning sun bathing her in golden light.
Aiden and Aaron joined her, their expressions calm and knowing.
"Did you sleep well, Mother?" Aaron asked with a faint smirk.
Amelia turned toward them, her smile serene and final.
"I did," she said softly. "For the first time in years… I feel truly free."