They called her the Crimson Witch of the Empire.
Lady Seraphina Vale stood on the execution platform, her red gown fluttering in the wind like the blood she had spilled. The crowd chanted her name, not with reverence, but with hate. She had earned every jeer, every stone, every curse.
Betrayal. Deceit. Cruelty.
Those were her legacy.
She had framed and innocent girl for treason. Crushed a duke's family under false charges. Manipulated the emperor's court like a puppeteer with no heart.
But as the axe gleamed above her, Seraphina finally treambled - not in fear , but in regret.
"If I could go back ," she whispered, " I would make it right."
A brilliant light consumed her .
When she opened her eyes, she stood barefoot in a void of stars, face -to-face with a glowing figure cloaked in divine robes.
The being spoke without moving it's lips.
"Seraphina Vale. Do you seek redemption?"
She fell to her knees, voice cracking.
"Yes .... I do ."
"Then this is your contract," the Divine Arbiter said, unrolling a scroll of golden light, "You will return to the moment before your greatest sins. You will change fate. Redeem the lives you shattered - especially his. Do so, and your soul may find peace. Fail... and you shall vanish from existence."
Seraphina touched the scroll. It burned with painful truth.
Then darkness took her once more.
She awoke gasping in her old bed chamber, drenched in sweat.
The sunlight streaming through the curtains was wrong - it was too bright, too familiar.
A knock at the door.
"My lady," said her maid, " your carriage is ready for the imperial ball."
The ball.
Today was the day she had framed Lady Evelyne for theft, triggering a cascade of political riun. The first thread in the tapestry of destruction.
Seraphina stood. Her voice came out hoarse.
"Cancel the carriage. I won't be attending."
The maid blinked in shocked. "But.... my lady?"
"I said cancel it."
There was no time to waste. She had four names in her head - four lives she had save. And one of them belonged to the man who would never forgive her.
Her first act of redemption was small.
Lady Evelyne wide - eyes and confuse d, stared at the sealed envelope Seraphina placed in her hand.
" This moves your innocence,"
Seraphina said quietly, " Hide it. Use it when the accusations begin."
"Why.... would you help me?"
"Because I was strong. And I intend to fix what I've broken."
Evelyne's eyes filled with tears - but said nothing. Not yet. Trust would come later.
The hardest task still lay ahead.
Duke Caius Renhart - the man whose sister Seraphina had falsely accused, whose lands she'd had seized under imperial law. A man she had turned into an enemy with her ambition and cruelty.
Now, she watched him from the garden wall as he sparred with his knights, a sword glinting in the sunlight.
He hadn't changed her presence, his eyes narrowed like steel.
"Lady Seraphina, " he said , voice colder than winter. "I didn't realize snake walked in daylight."
" I came to apologise, " she said bowing her head ."
"For what ? Poisoning my sister's reputation? Burning my estate on false orders? You'll need a longer scroll."
" Yes," she said treambling. " For all of it."
He scoffed. " You think sorry changes anything?"
" No. But I have to start somewhere."
He turned and walked away.
But he hadn't drawn his sword.
It was something.
The Emperor grew suspicious. Seraphina's sudden kindness, her refusal to manipulate, her open apologise - these were not the weapons of the court's most feared tractician.
He ordered her eliminated in secret.
That night, cloaked assassins scaled the walls of the Vale estate.
They weren't after her .
They were after lady Evelyne - now protected under Seraphina's name.
She heard the footsteps in the dark moved without thinking.
The blade meant for Evelyne sank into Seraphina's shoulder.
She collapsed in the marble hall as blood spilled across her gown. Her vision blurred, and pain faded into numbness.
She smiled.
She had protected someone. For once, her hands were clean.
"Not this time, " she whispered.
A pair of arm's caught her before she hit the floor.
"Seraphina " Caius's voice sharp, Afraid.
She blinked up at him.
"You come...."
"Why did you take the blow?" he demanded, furious and broken.
"Why?"
"Because.....if I lived again.... I promised I'd protect what I once destroyed."
Her eyes closed.
Darkness fell.
She awoke not in pain but in peace.
She stood in field of silver flowers. Warm wind. Bright sky.
The Divine Arbiter appeared once more.
"You fulfilled your contract. Your soul may ascend."
Seraphina swallowed. "And Caius?"
The Arbiter nodded behind her.
She turned.
Caius stood there, alive - eyes rimmed red, face full of everything she thought she'd never deserve.
" You didn't die," she whispered.
" No . But I would have traded places if you had."
She ran to him.... He didn't hesitate.
The Divine Gate behind her vanished.
She didn't need paradise.
She had already found it - in forgiveness.
THE END.
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-By NAMITA MURMU