Chapter 78
She was reborn. Not in a poetic, metaphorical way. Not in the way influencers reinvent themselves after a scandal.
No.
She woke up in a hospital bed with someone else’s name stitched into her wristband.
Larissa Reyes.
The name felt foreign in her mouth. Heavy. Like it belonged to a girl who had lived recklessly, laughed loudly, loved dangerously.
So what happened to the original Larissa?
Did she die the day she woke up?
She did not understand why she came back.
She lived a fulfilled life with Alaric, her father, mother, and her siblings.
The memories in her head were vivid now. They weren’t even broken.
They were layered.
There were flashes of halls, empires, strategy—of being powerful. Feared. Respected. A woman who moved nations with a signature.
Then she remembered a room filled with intricately carved chests bound in brass, holding ceremonial robes and imperial regalia. To the side, a low lacquered table displaying a jade incense burner shaped like a coiling dragon.
Beside it, a sword rested on a stand of polished ebony—the emperor’s blade never more than an arm’s reach away, even in sleep.
Tapestries hung along the walls, depicting past victories—battles frozen in thread and gold leaf. Each one was a reminder: this room did not belong to a man alone. It belonged to a dynasty.
And then there were shadows of another life entirely.
Not the polished banquets and carefully curated smiles of an empress.
This one was darker. Sharper. Brutally efficient.
Black dresses tailored to move like a second skin. Fabric that concealed blades against her thigh and a gun strapped along her inner thigh. Heels modified for silence.
Jewelry that wasn’t jewelry at all—poison capsules hidden in hollow pendants, diamond rings that doubled as garrotes.
Red dresses for the nights when the kill required proximity. Red for distraction. Red for desire. Red for the split second when a powerful man forgot that beauty could be lethal.
She remembered the weight of them more vividly than she remembered her own birthday. The metallic scent of gunpowder. The recoil that traveled up her arm like a familiar handshake.
It was chaotic in her memories.
She remembered walking away before the screaming started.
No running. Never running but calm steps, chin lifted and lipstick untouched.
She wasn’t a chaotic killer.
She was commissioned.
Precise. Expensive.
The kind of assassin governments denied and billionaires feared.
And what unsettled her most wasn’t the violence.
It was how natural it felt.
Her body remembered angles. Escape routes. The exact distance required for a clean shot. The way her pulse never spiked—just steadied.
Those weren’t Larissa Reyes’ memories. Larissa was just a woman raised by a farming family in the countryside —plain and simple.
They were the memories of a woman who had been weaponized.
A woman who didn’t survive by chance but by calculation.
And if those shadows were real p>
Why did she remember things that didn’t belong to the same timeline?
“Hey, Larissa,” Yannis said, snapping his fingers gently in front of her face. “What are you spacing out for p>
His voice was calm. Controlled. Too controlled.
“And what did you mean earlier when you said you understand p>
Lara slowly pushed herself up from the chair.
She looked into his eyes.
They were blue.
Not just blue—arctic. Sharp and piercing, like they could dissect truth from lies without anesthesia. She hadn’t noticed before how striking they were. How dangerous they could be if they wanted to.
“I don’t need to chase the past,” she said quietly. “It already happened p>
Her voice surprised even her. It carried weight. Conviction.
“I have to live for the future p>
Because whatever life she had lost—whatever identity had burned away in that accident—one truth was rising like smoke from the ashes:
She wasn’t ordinary. She wasn’t random.
She had once shaped outcomes.
She had once changed history.
And somewhere deep inside her chest, something ancient was stretching awake—not with memory p>
“Good. Good.” Yannis nodded while glancing at the monitor, though his eyes flickered back to her face as if measuring something unseen.
“What do you remember about your life before the accident?” he asked casually, but his fingers stilled against the clipboard.
Lara paused.
A woman in a seductive red dress flashed across her mind. Crimson lipstick. A smirk sharp enough to cut glass. The scent of expensive perfume and danger.
They were not like the shadows that lingered in her mind after hypnosis.
The image felt like a memory and a warning at once.
For a second, she considered telling him.
But instinct whispered NO.
“None,” Lara replied smoothly.
Yannis studied her for a beat too long.
“Don’t worry,” he said finally. “Memory recovery can be gradual. You should revisit places you used to go. See people who were close to you. Emotional triggers help p>
Emotional triggers.
Interesting choice of words.
He reached into his leather briefcase and pulled out a hardbound blue book.
“I prepared this for you,” he said, handing it over. “I hope it will help you remember p>
She took it slowly. The cover was simple. Elegant. Expensive.
“Thank you, Doctor Fenn,” she said. “I don’t understand why you’re helping me this much p>
Yannis hesitated. Just for a second.
“I’m a doctor. You’re my patient. It’s my obligation p>
The answer was textbook. Too textbook.
“Your consultation fee is extremely high,” Lara continued. “I can’t afford it p>
He didn’t blink.
“I told you before. I’m invested in your case. It’s… unique. You intrigue me. I’ve waived the fee p>
Intrigue. That word again.
Lara opened the book. It wasn’t just a biography.
It was a curated life. Her life.
Photographs of her as a child. School awards. Field Trips. A teenage Larissa in an army uniform, seriously looking at the camera.
But something was off.
All the photos centered on her.
Only her.
“Why are these all me?” she asked, flipping through page after page. “Where are my friends, my parents p>
Yannis adjusted his watch—a subtle movement, but she caught it.
“I’m still compiling those. I’ll give you the second book once it’s complete p>
Second book.
Who creates a multi-volume memory archive for a patient?
“I hope you remember who you really are soon p>