Caius-
The fire crackles softly, casting flickering shadows against the oak trees. The night air is cool, the forest around us quiet, save for the occasional rustle of leaves and the distant call of a nightbird.
I sit with my back against a tree, keeping watch. The world is not as peaceful as it seems. Danger lurks beyond the trees, waiting, always waiting. I cannot afford to lower my guard.
But tonight, my attention is not on the unseen threats beyond our campsite. It is on *her*.
Eloise sleeps a few feet away, curled beneath a thick blanket, her face bathed in the soft glow of the dying fire. For the first time since she arrived in this world, she looks... at peace. No furrowed brows, no troubled thoughts clouding her expression.
I stand, moving toward her without thinking, drawn to her in a way I cannot explain. Carefully, I kneel beside her, pulling the edges of her blanket up to cover her better. The nights can be cold here, and she is not used to them.
As I do, I allow myself a moment—just one—to truly *look* at her.
Her face... her voice... even the way she speaks and moves...
She is *her*.
She is my wife.
She just doesn't remember.
The realization has burned in my chest since the moment I saw her. At first, I denied it. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. And yet... the more time I spend with her, the more I *know*.
This is not the first time.
This is not the first life.
I have lived through this before. I have watched the cycle repeat, over and over again, trapped in a fate I could not escape. And every time, she is there—always her, always *Eloise*, even if she does not know it.
In every version of my life, she finds her way back to me.
And in every version... she *dies* for me.
I close my eyes, memories surfacing like ghosts in the night.
I see her, standing before me, shielding me with her own body as the enemy's blade strikes true. Her blood stains my hands as she smiles—*smiles*—and whispers that she would do it all over again.
"I won't let you do it this time," I whisper, my fingers tightening around the fabric of her blanket. "This time, I'll be the one to protect *you*."
This time, I will break the cycle.
I will not let fate take her from me again.
Even if she never remembers who she was. Even if she never remembers what we once were.
She is *mine*.
And I will not lose her.
###
Eloise -
The journey continues, but this time, it is different.
Caius doesn't just lead me through the world I created—he leads me through *his* life.
We travel across vast landscapes, through forests and valleys, through towns and ruins. Each place holds a piece of his story, and for the first time, I begin to see the *man* behind the legend.
At first, it is the lighter memories. Small fragments of a past that, in another life, might have been peaceful.
He brings me to a quiet village on the outskirts of the kingdom, where the fields stretch endlessly and the air smells of fresh earth and wildflowers.
"This was where I was born," he tells me. His voice is distant, but there is something in his expression—a softness I have never seen before.
I watch as he crouches beside an old wooden fence, his fingers trailing over the worn wood.
"My mother used to bring me here," he continues. "She loved this place. Said the world always seemed gentler in the countryside."
I see it in his eyes—the boy he used to be. The boy who ran through these fields with laughter in his voice. The boy who believed the world was kind.
But that boy is gone now.
I don't have to ask what happened. I already know.
His mother died.
And everything changed.
###
Caius-
I don't know why I bring her *here*.
The estate looms before us, cold and hollow, untouched by time. The home I once lived in. The house that should have been filled with warmth and family, but instead held only *ghosts*.
Eloise says nothing as we step through the broken gates. I can feel her gaze on me, studying me, waiting for me to speak.
I don't want to.
But I do anyway.
"My father never looked at me after my mother died," I say, my voice flat. "Not once."
The words taste bitter on my tongue, but I force them out.
"He had other sons. Stronger sons. Smarter sons. I was the weakest of them, the smallest, the one no one expected anything from."
I remember the cold stares. The way my father's hand never rested on my shoulder. The way my brothers never called me by name—only insults, only reminders that I did not belong.
I should not care anymore.
But some wounds never close.
Eloise steps beside me, looking up at the towering estate. Her expression is unreadable, but there is something in her eyes—understanding. As if she knows what it is like to be unwanted.
As if she knows what it is like to be *forgotten*.
I swallow hard and look away.
"I left when I was twelve," I tell her. "I joined the knighthood to escape this place. To prove that I wasn't worthless."
I exhale slowly, the weight of the past pressing against my chest.
"I never came back."
And I never planned to.
Until now.