Chapter 707 --707

Chapter 707: Chapter-707

Suddenly, a chilling, unnatural blue glow flared in the center of Heena’s irises. The light shifted and deepened, bleeding into a vibrant, ethereal, and terrifyingly luminescent purple. To the primitive, superstitious mind of the Empress, it looked as though Heena had just ripped off her human disguise to reveal a literal, soul-devouring demon from the underworld. The glowing purple light cut through the dim shadows of the dungeon, reflecting off the damp stone walls.

The Empress gasped, her remaining courage instantly evaporating as she scrambled backward, pressing her back flat against the far wall of the cell as if trying to merge with the stone.

But Heena and the System knew the truth. It wasn’t demonic magic. It was just a cheap, low-level holographic light projection the System was beaming directly over her pupils from its digital UI toolkit. It was entirely fake, but the people of this ancient world had absolutely no concept of holographic technology, making it the ultimate tool for psychological warfare.

Heena looked at the cowering Empress, her glowing purple eyes pinning the ruined woman in place like a butterfly on a mounting board.

"Let me tell you exactly what happened in your past lives," Heena said, her voice echoing with a slight, synthetic distortion the System thoughtfully added for dramatic effect. "In every single timeline, you realized you were never going to be able to control the Marquis Vanguard. My grandfather didn’t care about your gold, your imperial favor, or your threats. He was a brick wall your ambition kept crashing against."

Heena took a slow, deliberate step forward.

"So, in those past lives, you tried to kill him," Heena continued, the glowing purple light casting long, monstrous shadows across the cell. "But when you tried to assassinate the Old Master, you realized a terrifying truth. You couldn’t easily rip his roots out. His military legacy was too deep, his generals too loyal. Killing him outright likely caused a military uprising that tore your perfectly crafted court apart."

The Empress whimpered, her eyes wide with absolute horror. Heena was reciting her deepest, most desperate failures perfectly, tearing apart the hidden history of her resets.

"So, you got lazy," Heena smiled, a cold, merciless expression. "In this life, you decided to take the coward’s route. You orchestrated a marriage to plant that greedy, pathetic pawn inside the Vanguard house as my so-called mother. You figured you couldn’t kill the grandfather, so you would let the mother kill the granddaughter instead. You ordered her to poison me, hoping to sever the bloodline, throw the Vanguard house into grief and chaos, and let the family destroy itself from the inside out while you kept your hands perfectly clean. Right?"

The Empress couldn’t speak. She could only stare into those glowing, unnatural purple eyes, realizing with absolute, crushing certainty that she had never been the chess master. She had spent twenty years meticulously setting up a board, only to have Heena flip the entire table and set it on fire.

Heena let the silence hang for a moment, savoring the absolute destruction of her enemy’s ego.

"You played a good game, Miss Reborn," Heena whispered, the purple glow slowly fading from her eyes as the System deactivated the hologram, leaving her dark, human eyes looking back at the broken Empress. "But you invited a professional to the table. And the game is over."

The Empress stared up at the woman standing on the other side of the iron bars, her mind fracturing under the sheer weight of the impossibility before her.

She had lived through this timeline so many times. She had seen every possible permutation of Seera Vanguard. In her first life, Seera had been a docile, easily manipulated noblewoman who died quietly in the inner courts. In her fourth life, Seera had grown into a brilliant but dangerously naive strategist who the Empress had successfully framed for treason. In her ninth life, Seera had been a fierce, loyal general who bled to death on a foreign battlefield defending the Emperor’s borders.

In every single world, the Empress had seen a different version of the Vanguard heir. So, in this current life, when the sickly Madam Vanguard suddenly started making ruthless, uncharacteristic political moves, the Empress hadn’t questioned it too deeply. She simply assumed that the changing circumstances of the timeline had forced a new personality out of the girl.

But looking at the creature standing in front of her now—with her cold, hollow eyes and her impossible, world-breaking knowledge—the Empress felt a primal, suffocating terror.

This was not Seera Vanguard. This was not a variation of a human soul.

"Who..." the Empress croaked, her bloodied fingers gripping the iron bars so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Who the heck are you?"

Heena looked down at the ruined woman. The flickering lamplight caught the sharp, predatory curve of her smile.

"You guys are really something, huh?" Heena said, her voice dropping into a tone of mild, clinical fascination. She crossed her arms, leaning casually against the damp stone wall of the corridor. "Have you ever stopped to think about where this ability comes from? This miraculous chance to be reborn, again and again? Who or what was actually handing you the keys to time itself?"

Heena chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "No, of course you didn’t. You guys were always too busy with your own narcissistic nonsense, genuinely believing that the universe was bending to your will because you were some destined protagonist of the world."

"I did not ask for this!" the Empress spat, her voice cracking in a desperate, ragged defense. "I did not ask to be reborn again and again!"

Heena’s expression didn’t shift a millimeter. She looked at the Empress with a terrifying, absolute calm. "But you didn’t reject it, right?"

The Empress froze, her ragged breathing stuttering to a halt. "What... what the heck do you mean I didn’t reject it? It’s not like I could stop it! It just happened!"

"Come on, Empress," Heena sighed softly, staring through the metal bars. "Do you think I am a fool? Or are you?"

The Empress flinched. A deep, instinctual flash of fear flickered in her bloodshot eyes. She tried to hide it, but the panic was undeniable.

Heena caught the micro-expression instantly. The warlord’s dark eyes narrowed into freezing, lethal slits.

"Save that pathetic victim act for someone else," Heena commanded, her voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "When a person’s grievance is truly real—when they are genuinely trapped in a cycle of time against their will—their eyes carry a very specific kind of exhaustion. They do not shine with the arrogant, calculating greed that yours do."

Heena pushed herself off the wall, stepping right up to the iron bars until her face was mere inches from the Empress’s.

"Let me guess," Heena murmured, her words slicing through the damp air. "A voice in the dark. A great, otherworldly being that spoke directly to your mind right before you died the first time. It told you that you were special. It whispered that you were its ’favorite,’ and that was why it was graciously giving you the chance to reset the board and try again."