THE CHOOSEN ONES

In the glittering, snake-infested court of Ignis, where power was a double-edged sword and loyalty a rare gem, Selanthia Amaris Nyxveil stood as a legend cloaked in infamy. Known by many names—*The Hound of the Emperor*, **The Cursed Sword*, **The Witch of Nyxveil*, and *The Abandoned One*—she was a weapon forged by duty and sharpened by betrayal. For forty long years, she served as the Emperor’s blade, cutting down threats to the throne with ruthless precision. Yet, behind the cold steel and the icy gaze, Selanthia harbored no love for the crown or the vipers who surrounded it. She was a woman bound by fate, not choice. At 48, weary of the endless machinations of the court, Selanthia chose to retire. With no family to call her own, she left behind the gilded cage of Ignis for the simplicity of the countryside. Her dreams were modest: to bake sweet treats, tend to chickens, lose herself in books she’d never had time to read, and find solace in the quiet rhythm of church prayers. A peaceful, ordinary life—a stark contrast to the blood-stained path she had walked for decades. But fate, it seemed, had other plans. Just 28 hours into her newfound tranquility, Selanthia’s life was brutally cut short. Poisoned and attacked in the dead of night, she breathed her last beneath a cold, uncaring sky. Her final thoughts were not of vengeance or regret for the life she had led, but of the life she had never known. She wished for love, for a kind and handsome partner, for children whose laughter might have filled the void in her heart. She wished she had never taken up the sword, that she might have written a different ending to her tale. Yet, death was not the end. Selanthia awoke not in the afterlife but in a world both familiar and strange. Perched high in a cherry blossom tree, she was greeted by the voice of Rina, her long-dead confidante. Now, thrust into a bewildering new reality, Selanthia must unravel the threads of this strange second chance. Is this a cruel jest of the gods, a dream spun from her dying regrets, or something far more sinister? And why, of all people, THAT MAN—who disappeared without a word— is acting all weird? As the petals of the cherry blossoms fall around her, Selanthia finds herself caught in a web of mystery, romance, and perhaps, redemption. But in this enchanted new life, where nothing is as it seems, can she unravel the twist of life brought forward by THAT MAN? Or will the shadows of her past rise to claim her once more?