Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 309: LIFE_Give And Take

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Right before every one of the dark witches, the Rosa witch slowly began to absorb her powers. The wind picked up around them until they couldn’t see through the dirt and clutter of things that swirled around the woman standing amidst purple lights. The light enveloped her, and when it finally went down, she stood in the middle of the ruins in a flowing purple robe, with her red hair flying wildly around her.

Her eyes had turned purple, and a purple flower mark shone on her chest. The mark of Rosa was so powerful that any one of the dark witches whose eyes fell on it by mistake burst into dust. Her face was cold as she swept her gaze around them. She stood protectively in front of Lucian.

Elara gritted her teeth as her witches began to back away. She pushed herself off the ground. "Bind her down with your dark powers, fools!" she ordered them, but none of them dared move to obey her.

Many of them had not lived in the time when the witch with the Rosa powers had ruled, but they’d heard many stories about her. Even if they had not heard about her, the way their kind had burst into dust for just looking at her mark was enough proof that they were no match for her.

She was like the mother of all witches, a queen, a goddess of witches. Many began to run for their lives, but none of them made it far before she set her wrath upon them. They began to burst into black dust.

Elara watched in angry horror as the army of witches she had gathered at her side turned to dust. This was unacceptable. She couldn’t fail her son like this. She had to kill them all and avenge him!

With that thought, she grabbed her sword and moved at flashing speed, using her night creature strength, believing the Rosa witch was too distracted killing the dark witches to notice her. She was going to stab her when she felt her limbs freeze in place. No matter how much she tried to move, she couldn’t.

Ave turned her purple eyes to the night creature. "You have crossed all limits, Elara. I once killed your father, sealed away your kind—wasn’t that enough to make you repent and be different from your ancestors? You have sinned and hurt me, and yet you hurt the man I love and my family."

Elara laughed. "You hurt my family first, you swine! You took my father away from me, killed my son and brother, and you expect me to remain quiet about it? How does it feel to lose everything, Rosette?"

A bitter smile graced Ave’s lips. "It’s the worst feeling anyone could bear."

Elara laughed crazily at those words. Even if she died today, she was certain the Rosa witch would be miserable because one thing was for sure—she could never use her powers to revive everything. It would go against everything the Rosa witch stood for. They were equal now.

"Elara, don’t rejoice yet. I am not the same Rosa you read about. For my family and my husband, I will go against everything that is right. And for everything you have caused me, I will finish what I was unable to finish centuries ago."

Elara didn’t get the chance to even digest what was said before she heard the crumbling walls that separated the night creatures’ world from the human realm groaning in the distance. She didn’t need to see to know—the witch was destroying their world completely, killing every one of the night creatures that still lay in their coffins, awaiting her to awaken them. She had failed them.

"No! No! You can’t do that to me! How dare you!" she screamed crazily as she tried to move, but she couldn’t. There was a loud explosion that shook the earth and made the birds go rampant in the sky.

The night creatures’ world was gone.

"You brought this upon yourself, Elara. You have sinned enough." With that, Ave raised her hands, and fire-like light flashed from them and enveloped Elara. She screamed in agony as she burned alive, her screams turning into the sound of flesh and bones burning into ashes.

Everything suddenly went silent. The palace stood half-burnt, with bodies lying all around her. There were no signs of life in the Pendragon palace—everything lay in ruins. Even the sky was gloomy, and a thick fog began to cover the earth.

A tear rolled down Ave’s face.

Lucian’s groan made her turn to him. She dropped to her knees in front of him and pulled his head into her lap. His face was covered in blood, his once-powerful body now limp and broken. His eyes were barely open as he gazed up at her.

"Aveline..." he managed to say, his voice a mere whisper. Tears rolled down the sides of his cheeks, mingling with the blood that stained his skin. Even saying her name seemed to take a toll on his dying body. He swallowed hard, and her vision of him blurred as tears welled in her own eyes. She shook her head. "Don’t say anything, love. Don’t talk," Ave cried softly.

"I... I’m sorry," he rasped. "I failed to protect you... I failed you in every way that mattered..." He tried to lift his hand to touch her face one last time, but his limbs had long since lost their strength. His fingers twitched, but they never reached her.

"If... If I ever get the chance to live again..." He shut his eyes tightly and opened them again. "I would choose you. A thousand times, I would choose you. In every life, in every world, it will always be you." His lips trembled as more tears slipped down his face. "I love you, Aveline. So much that even death cannot take it from me. And I hate... I hate that this is where we part."

His breathing grew shallower, and his grip on life weakened. "I promised you the world, yet all I gave you was pain. I wanted to build a future for you, for us... but all I’ve done is leave you alone in a broken one." His voice cracked, and for the first time, Ave saw something she had never seen in him before—regret, helplessness, and sorrow so deep it shattered what was left of her own heart. freewёbnoνel.com

"Forgive me, love..." His voice barely made it past his lips now. "Forgive me... for everything..."

Ave sobbed, her entire body trembling. She knew what she had to do to make everything right, but she feared it would never be completely right, as they would still be apart. "No, no, no... you’re not leaving the world yet. Lucian. Listen to what I have to say..." She cradled his face, pressing her forehead against his. "Listen to me, please..." She sobbed brokenly.

"Do you recall the day I told you I spoke to the moon goddess, but I couldn’t remember?" She smoothed her hands over his cold face, where his eyes had already begun to close, his body growing colder and lifeless in her arms. "I remembered yesterday. I remember every single bit of it, and my past life with you as Rosette."

He was no longer listening, his body already lifeless in her arms. But she kept talking, tears streaming down her cheeks, her heart squeezing painfully in her chest.

"She wanted to kill you, and once you die in this lifetime, there will be no other one for you, Lucian. It’s your tenth lifetime after your curse. I want you to know this even after I am gone—that I did this because I love you. I made this deal because I can’t bear to let you perish completely without ever enjoying your life. I love you so much... and I hope you can forgive me once this is over..."

With those words, she leaned down and pressed her lips against his forehead. Then, she slowly eased away from him and placed his head down on the ground.

Rising to her feet, Ave looked around the ruins one last time and then back at her husband. She swallowed hard, and with tears still welling in her eyes, she raised her hands and closed her eyes.

A soft glow emanated from her fingertips, expanding outward. Slowly, the broken palace began to mend itself—the shattered roofs lifted, the scorched walls rebuilt, the lingering smoke in the sky cleared, and the thick fog dissipated. The ground, once soaked in blood, healed as if the battle had never happened.

Inside the palace, the dead stirred.

A breath. A twitch of fingers. A sudden gasp.

One by one, bodies began to rise. Wounds closed, torn flesh knitted back together, and lifeless hearts started to beat again. Confusion spread as those who had once been lost returned to life.

"I... I thought I was dead!" The words echoed from every direction, gasps and sobs filling the air as people stumbled to their feet, looking for their loved ones.

Even the were-people who had been poisoned opened their eyes, their bodies rejecting the toxins that had killed them.

Through the chaos of the miracle, Rylan sucked in a sharp breath as his eyes snapped open. His chest, where a sword had once been buried, was now whole. He staggered upright, dazed, before his memory came rushing back as he recalled fighting many dark witches who had managed to take him down. His eyes locked onto the glow illuminating the palace grounds. He didn’t need to think twice—he knew exactly who had done this.

"Aveline..." He ran, his heart pounding with dread.

And then he saw her.

Ave stood in the middle of the palace grounds, bathed in the same purple light that had revived them all. But something was terribly, terribly wrong.

She was fading.

Her form had turned translucent, the light she had given to others draining the very essence of her being. The edges of her body flickered, breaking apart like dust in the wind. When she lifted her face and saw them all staring, a soft, bittersweet smile curved her lips—her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"Aveline! Don’t!" Rylan shouted, his voice breaking as he sprinted toward her.

And that was when Lucian woke up.

The purple light wrapped around his broken body, knitting every wound, healing every fracture, and pulling him back from the brink of death. His amber eyes slowly opened, hazy at first. A deep frown creased his brow as his memories rushed back to him, and for a fleeting moment, he didn’t understand why he was still alive.

Then he heard it.

Her name. Screamed in despair.

Lucian turned sharply, his gaze locking onto Rylan, who was running toward something—no, someone. His heart clenched as he followed his brother-in-law’s line of sight.

And then he saw her.

His wife.

She was floating, her body barely clinging to this world, the last remnants of her form slipping away like grains of sand in an hourglass.

Lucian’s breath caught in his throat. His body moved before his mind could catch up, pushing himself up with raw desperation. He ran faster than he ever had in his life to reach her floating body.

"Aveline!" His voice cracked as he reached for her.

She tried to move toward him, but her feet never touched the ground. She was weightless, untethered—drifting away with each step he took closer to her. She wanted to reach out and hug him and tell him how glad she was he had not died like that. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and would give anything to have another day with him. To bask in his warmth and laugh with him again. But she couldn’t do any of that. Her time with him was over...

"No. No, no, no, no, no," Lucian whispered in panic, his hand stretching toward hers. She was only inches away, but the closer he came, the farther she seemed to drift.

Terror clawed at his chest, suffocating him.

"You can’t do this," he choked out, shaking his head furiously as tears burned his eyes. "You can’t give me life only to take it away all over again!"

Ave blinked, tears slipping down her cheeks as she gazed at him with nothing but love.

"I had to," she whispered. "You deserved to live, my love. All of you did. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Thank you," she said to every one of the Pendragon royals she had come to love as her family, who now stood watching her with tears in their eyes.

Lucian shook his head violently, his breath ragged. "Not without you!" His voice was raw, breaking apart with every word. "Damn it, Aveline, not without you! I don’t want to live without you!"

His fingers brushed against hers for the briefest second—just a fleeting moment of warmth.

Then she slipped through them like sand.

Lucian’s eyes widened in horror as her form shattered into glowing fragments, scattering like fireflies into the wind. The light swirled, rising toward the heavens, until nothing of her remained.

Lucian fell to his knees, his hands still reaching for someone who was no longer there. His body trembled as he let out a broken, gut-wrenching sob.

She was gone.

She had saved them all.

And in doing so, she had left him behind.