Ten Lifetimes of Judgment

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I was the man the Celestial Queen had sworn to marry.

But on the eve of our wedding, she listened to the venomous lies of my brother, Damian, and with a flick of her wrist, cast me down to the mortal realm. My sentence: to endure ten lifetimes of suffering on the wheel of reincarnation.

After endless torment, I finally clawed my way back to the Celestial Realm. The moment my eyes met her icy gaze, my very soul trembled, and I scrambled to confess the sins I had never committed.

My Queen, this wretch knows his error.

This wretch never should have defied my brother. You and he are the ones who truly belong together. My heart my heart belongs to a swine-beast from the lower worlds

Later, when I severed my own Celestial Core and willingly descended into the Underworld, the Celestial Queenthe woman who had hated me to the bonehumbled herself. She led the entire celestial host to the gates of the Underworld to beg for my return.

Ten lifetimes. After ten lifetimes, I stood once more in the Celestial Realm, yet I didn't dare take a single step toward the Queen's Elysian Palace.

I had been a mere mortal. By a twist of fate, I found the Celestial Queen, gravely wounded after a cataclysmic battle between gods and demons. I nursed her back to health, caring for her tenderly for a decade, and in that quiet solitude, a love bloomed between us. When she recovered, she brought my family and me to the Celestial Realm, vowing to marry me as a reward for saving her life.

But that peace was short-lived. A petty argument with my brother was all it took. The Queen and my own father cast me back into the mortal world to learn my place.

Ten lifetimes of agony.

I was reborn as a cripple, wasting away in despair. I was reborn as a pig, a dog, destined only for the butcher's block.

I became the laughingstock of the Celestial Realm.

What are you waiting for? Get in there. Don't keep the Queen waiting, or she might add another lifetime to your sentence.

My father's voice, sharp and cold, prodded me from behind.

I turned to look at his face, a mask of frosted stone, and a bitter ache bloomed in my chest. I remembered him in the mortal worlda kind, gentle man who indulged my every whim and tantrum. Since entering the Celestial Realm, everything had changed. He grew colder by the day, his heart consumed by ambition and a lust for power.

You deserved every moment of your punishment, he added, his voice devoid of warmth. It's what you get for running your mouth and trying to steal your brother's glory for saving the Queen.

Once, I would have screamed, cried, and fought back. Now, I just lowered my head in silence.

Ten lifetimes on the wheel had extinguished every spark of defiance in me, grinding my spirit down to dust. I'd even come to believe that being a pathetic, cowering dog was a good thing.

At least it meant I would live.

Suddenly, the great doors of the palace creaked open. A violent, unseen force ripped me from my feet, dragging me into the hall before vanishing just as quickly. I crashed to the marble floor like a puppet with its strings cut. My soul, already fractured from the cycles of rebirth, screamed in protest, threatening to shatter completely.

Pain.

A white-hot, blinding pain.

My cry of agony echoed in the vast throne room, yet no onenot a single soulcared if I lived or died.

My father acted as if he hadn't seen a thing.

And there, upon the throne that marked her as the supreme ruler of the heavens, sat Isabella, the Celestial Queen. Her expression was utterly indifferent, her eyes barren of pity or compassion.

She was a goddess carved from ice.

It was hard to believe she had once told me I was like the radiant sun, unique and irreplaceable in all the realms.

You are in the presence of your Queen. Are you not going to kneel? my father's impatient voice snapped in my ear.

Once, my pride would have refused. I would have stood, defiant to the last.

Now, I was the very picture of obedience. I scrambled to my knees, pressing my forehead to the cold floor. This wretch greets the Queen.

The silence in the hall stretched for an eternity before her voice, cool and distant, finally broke it. Raise your head.

Fear coiled in my gut. This wretch does not dare.

But a gentle gust of wind, a wisp of her power, forced my chin upward. I saw her brow furrowed in a tight knot, and my heart plummeted.

Have you learned your lesson this time? Have you finally learned your place? Isabella asked, her voice dripping with frost.

This wretch has learned his lesson.

This wretch understands the rules.

I beg the Queen to be merciful. Spare this wretch.

I bowed again and again, my body trembling as if submerged in a frozen lake, terrified of what new punishment she would devise.

The celestial officials surrounding the throne began to whisper amongst themselves.

Look at Ethan. So proud before, wasn't he? Stood in this very hall and swore he'd die before he'd kneel. Now he's more obedient than a whipped dog.

Obedient? It's an act. When defiance failed, he turned to groveling. He's just trying to win the Queen's pity.

I agree. A leopard can't change its spots. Ethan is the same worthless fraud who tried to steal his brother's glory and manipulate his way into the Queen's bed.

Their words were easy, spoken from a place of safety and privilege.

If they had been forced to endure what I had, they too would live every moment with their tails tucked between their legs, terrified to even breathe wrong.

Isabella seemed to believe their poison. She lifted a hand, and a wave of force slammed into me, sending me flying across the hall. I collided with a massive pillar and crumpled to the ground, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

The world swam in a haze of pain. I was close to losing consciousness.

Even so, I forced myself to push up onto my elbows and plead with her. My Queen, after ten lifetimes, I finally understand. I will never again stand between you and my brother.

My heart belongs to a swine-beast from the lower worlds.

I beg you

Before I could finish, Isabella shot to her feet, her eyes blazing with a sudden, sharp fury.

I froze, too terrified to continue.

A swine-beast? You dare dishonor the heavens with such filth? Guards! Drag Ethan out and give him three hundred lashes from the divine whip! she commanded, her beautiful eyes narrowed into cruel slits.

No!

My Queen, have mercy! Please, just this once, forgive me I kowtowed desperately.

But Isabella was unmoved. My father stood by, silent, allowing the guards to drag me from the hall. They bound me to the great Sky-Piercing Pillar and the divine whip began to fall.

My blood soaked through my grey tunic, painting it crimson.

My shrieks echoed through the plaza. I fainted multiple times, only to be jolted back to consciousness by buckets of icy water.

After three hundred lashes, I was cut down and lay in a heap on the cold stone like a broken animal, unable to summon even a sliver of strength. A bottomless, bitter sorrow flooded my heart.

What had I done?

What had I ever done to deserve this endless torture?

Ten lifetimes, and you still haven't learned. You truly are a lost cause, my father sneered, stepping carefully around me as he passed. Walk home yourself. I don't want your foul luck rubbing off on me.

I had no tears left to cry.

It was I who found Isabella, bleeding and broken. It was I who had never told a lie in my life. It was I who had given her my whole, honest heart.

So why, after a single sentence from my brother claiming my deeds as his own, did she and my father believe him without question?

After ten lifetimes, I still couldn't understand.

A long time passed.

I finally managed to gather a sliver of strength. I pushed myself to my feet and staggered forward into the biting wind. After a few steps, my legs gave out. As I started to fall, a pair of gentle hands caught me.

I turned my head and saw a woman in emerald-green robes. It was Aurora, Isabella's junior celestial sister.

I was only in seclusion for three hundred years, she murmured, her eyes filled with a pained confusion. Ethan, how did you become this?

For the first time since my return, someone showed me an ounce of concern.

The old Ethan would have poured out his heart, desperate for someone, anyone, to listen to his story and believe his innocence.

But now, I could only manage a bitter smile. I committed a grave sin. I was sentenced to ten lifetimes on the wheel.

People change. I had learned that lesson all too well. My father, my brother, Isabella they had all changed. I couldn't trust anyone anymore, terrified that any word I spoke would be carried back to my tormentors, earning me even more pain.

A grave sin? Aurora's brow furrowed. I have been in the Celestial Realm for a long time, and I have never heard of anyone being sentenced to ten lifetimes. Your very soul is on the verge of dissipating. She clearly wanted to know more.

I didn't dare speak. I just lowered my head.

Never mind, Aurora sighed softly. Let me take you home. She placed a small, glowing pill in my mouth and then, before I could protest, lifted me into her arms and took to the sky.

The warmth of her soft embrace was so foreign, so unexpected, that it left me stunned. I felt a faint heat rise in my cheeks.

Aurora, I managed to say, you should put me down. Being seen with me will only bring you trouble.

This time, she remained silent.

I didn't know what else to say. The pill she'd given me was already working its magic. I could feel my fractured soul knitting itself back together, and the searing pain in my body faded to a dull ache.

When we arrived at my family's estate, my parents and Damian were at the dining table, laughing and talking. The entire residence was draped in crimson banners and silks. It seemed Damian and Isabella's wedding was imminent.

No wonder she had been so cruel to me in the throne room. She was proving her devotion to my brother.

The moment Aurora landed with me in her arms, my father's chopsticks clattered to the floor. Ethan! he roared, his face a mask of fury. How dare you! You are a condemned sinner! How dare you allow the celestial Aurora to carry you! Get down! Get down at once! Don't you dare soil her robes!

My mother quickly chimed in with her agreement.

Damian said nothing, but a flicker of jealousy and resentment burned in his eyes.

I still couldn't understand why he hated me so much. He was an orphan my parents had taken in, and they had showered him with love and affection. I had always treated him as my true brother. When Isabella brought us to the Celestial Realm, I made sure he wasn't left behind. And in return, he stabbed me in the back.

He claimed it was he who had found the wounded Queen. He claimed that for the first three months of her coma, it was he who had cared for her, even using his own blood as a magical catalyst for her medicine.

The truth was, the night I brought Isabella home, Damian was disgusted. He forced me to move her to a ruined temple deep in the mountains, where I cared for her in secret.

But Isabella believed his every lie, and my parents sided with him completely.

It's no matter, Aurora said, waving a dismissive hand. She glanced around at the celebratory decorations, her voice laced with meaning. No matter what terrible crime Ethan has committed, you are still his family. You shouldn't treat him with such contempt.

Celestial Aurora, you don't know the whole story, my father said, rushing to pull her aside to list my supposed transgressions.

I didn't bother to argue.

Ethan, you be a good boy now that you're back, my mother said, dragging me towards the back courtyard. You should learn from your brother.

I just nodded, not daring to even look at Damian, afraid that the slightest thing would displease him and he'd run to Isabella with another complaint. Another round of whipping was the last thing I needed.

My room was stark and bare, containing only a bed. Not even a table.

But compared to my life during the reincarnations, it was paradise. When I was an animal, I had no bed, only the filth of a pigsty or a sheep pen. When I was lucky enough to be reborn human, I was a disfigured outcast, abandoned at birth, forced to sleep on the streets.

So now, lying on this simple bed, I was content. The moment my mother left, I collapsed onto the mattress.

I was so tired. I fell asleep almost instantly and, as I always did, dreamed of my childhood.

A time without a care in the world.