Zhan's pov

Time passed in a blur, I didn't know for how long I held Yibo's body, but long enough for his breathing to stop, long enough for his body to go cold, long enough till my hands started to ache.

I did not kill Yibo, I just killed myself, I annihilated myself, I killed my soul, my heart, I just butchered my conscience, and I was holding the dead body of my lover, my soulmate.

I felt like my life had lost all meaning, all hope had died, I had no future, no life, not without Yibo.

I was nothing without him.

I gently let go of his body, he was not groaning with pain anymore, he was not struggling anymore, he looked like he was at peace, free from the pain, he looked serene.

I gently caressed his face before I got up, and walked out of the room, I was met with Ziyi and Haoxuan, "Lord..."

I looked at them and smiled, "I want you both to do a task for me."

"What is it, Lord?" Haoxuan asked.

"Haoxuan, I want you to go to my home and give some document to the emperor and Ziyi, I want you to go to my home and give the rest of the documents to my brother.

They looked at me with some confusion but I just smiled at them and said, "I just want to finish off my work as soon as possible so that I can spend more time with Yibo. Help me with that."

The two nodded before they went their way, I saw them leave and once they were out of the house, I ordered all the servants to vacate the house, then I went straight to the kitchen and grabbed all the containers of oil and poured oil everywhere.

I went to my room and poured oil all over the room and over myself before setting everything on fire, this was the house I had bought for Yibo, I wanted to live with Yibo here, I wanted to marry him and move here, I wanted to make this house a home.

But this house is nothing but a coffin of our love, the death place of our love, our future, our dreams and now I was seeing it burn. This house never became our home, it became our grave.

After setting everything on fire, I went back to Yibo and sat beside him, I grabbed my knife and brought it near my neck, the cold metal touched my neck and I pressed it a little and started to slit my throat.

The smoke started to fill the room, the fire was spreading and I was becoming dizzy because of smoke inhalation, I pressed the knife harder and harder and blood poured out, but suddenly a light flashed in front of my eyes and I felt my body falling to the ground.

The next time when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a familiar place, the place where I had gotten another chance, the place where I was given another life, another chance to fix my mistakes.

I immediately got up and looked at the woman standing in front of me, she looked the same, beautiful, radiant, dazzling, untouched by any impurity, untouched by any despair. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotions when I saw her.

Goddess Ankh.

"Goddess." I spoke, she looked at me with warmth and love, as if she was looking at her own child, "Hello Zhan."

"Why am I here again?" I asked.

"Because I had to stop you from killing yourself."

"Why, Goddess? What's the point of living anymore? I completed my task, I gave the kingdom a new ruler, I eradicated the evil tyrants... and I lost my love!"

"No dear... your work is still not done."

"What do you mean?"

"Just giving the nation a new ruler is not enough, you have to help that new ruler reform the nation, to form and enforce new rules, you need to be by his side as he brings a new era, you have to serve the kingdom.

You still need to serve the people, be a bridge between the crown and the people, you still have to fight off the nation's enemies and make it the most powerful nation."

Tears slipped from my eyes as I kneeled before her, "but Yibo won't be there, Goddess, he won't be by my side.... I will be alone... I..."

"My child... I am sorry. But the moment you agreed to go back, your life didn't remain yours, your life now belongs to the people, to the nation, to the crown... and most of the time people like you are alone."

"Goddess please... spare me some mercy... please don't do this cruelty to me, please don't force me to live without Yibo, please don't make me live with the fact that I killed my lover with my own hands, Goddess please."

"Zhan." she spoke again, "when I asked you if you were ready to go back or not... what did you say? I had warned you that it would be tough, that you might end up alone. I warned you that life would not be easy... but you agreed to everything... you listened to my warnings and you still went back. You should have thought about this."

I cried harder.

"I cannot bring Yibo back, he is already dead, but I can help him find peace, Yibo will not suffer anymore, and he will meet you again, but not anytime soon.

Once you finish your work in your life, you will see him again, I promise."

I cried harder and harder, I joined my hands in front of her but she just hugged me tightly, "I am sorry my child, but you cannot die. You have to live."

I wiped my tears and spoke, "alright... I will live... but Goddess can I ask something else in return?"

"What is it?"

"Please lift your curse from the Wang family."

She gave me a gentle smile and nodded, "alright. I will do that. Now you may go back."