Reborn before my betrayal

The copper taste of poison was still burning my throat when I opened my eyes.

I wasn't lying on the cold stone floor of my treasury, bleeding out.

I was standing.

The blinding lights of the Grand Pavilion hit me like a physical blow. The roar of the banquet hall, the clinking glasses, and the fake laughter of the court echoed in my ears.

“Drink up, brother,” a familiar, hated voice urged from my left.

A heavy hand dropped onto my shoulder.

It was Julian.

Ten years younger. Unscarred. He was smiling warmly, waiting for me to raise the gold chalice in my hand.

The wine inside smelled of sweet plums and nightshade.

In my first life, I drank it. I choked on my own blood, watched my brothers seize my throne, and died hearing them laugh over my corpse.

But time had just hit rewind. Ten years had vanished in a single breath.

Julian’s eyes narrowed slightly at my hesitation. "Is something wrong, brother? You haven't touched your cup."

"Not at all," I whispered.

I looked Julian dead in the eye. I didn't scream. I didn't draw a blade.

Instead, I tilted my wrist and poured the poisoned vintage directly onto his expensive, polished leather boots.

The dark red liquid splashed over his feet, staining the pristine leather like fresh blood.

The surrounding lords went dead silent. Julian's fake smile completely froze.

"My apologies," I said, handing him the empty, golden cup. "I've developed a taste for blood instead."

Julian's eyes flashed with a lethal, terrifying sharpness. His fingers twitched toward the hilt of his concealed dagger. "Kaelen," he hissed, his voice dropping into a register meant only for my ears. "You just made the worst mistake of your life."

I didn't answer. I turned my back on the Crown Prince and walked out of the roaring pavilion.

But I knew the rules of this imperial court. My family didn't tolerate defiance.

I hurried through the winding marble corridors of the Azure Palace, heading straight for my private chambers. My heart hammered against my ribs. I reached inward, desperately trying to summon the massive, ocean-like pools of mana I had possessed at my peak as Emperor.

Nothing.

My current twenty-year-old body was completely unawakened. My meridians were empty, save for a pathetic, flickering spark of raw energy at the base of my core. Physically, I was completely defenseless. A lamb walking among wolves.

The moment I stepped inside my darkened bedchamber and slammed the heavy oak door shut, a cold shiver ran down my spine.

The scent of sweet plums and nightshade was already inside the room.

Clang.

A faint metallic sound echoed from the shadows near my canopy bed. Three figures stepped out from the darkness, clad in full black leather armor, their faces obscured by skull masks.

The Emperor's Shadow Guards. Julian's personal assassination squad.

"His Highness the Crown Prince sends his regards, Third Prince Kaelen," the lead assassin whispered, drawing a long, jagged shortsword that hummed with a lethal dark aura. "You were supposed to consume the poison quietly at the feast. Since you refused, we will have to make your passing a bit more... violent."

I stumbled backward, my back hitting the locked door. My weak, unawakened body couldn't fight three elite assassins. I had no weapons, no guards, and no mana.

The lead assassin lunged, his blade slicing through the air straight toward my throat.

Death was inches away. Again.

But as the freezing steel grazed my skin, my Emperor's memory unlocked something buried deep inside my dormant bloodline. I didn't need a massive mana pool. I knew the forbidden, world-ending incantation that used the user's own life force as a catalyst. A dark art I had mastered at the end of my previous life.

I gripped the assassin's incoming blade with my bare hand, letting the steel slice open my palm.

"In my last life, I died bleeding," I snarled, my blood bursting into a terrifying, unnatural black flame as it touched the sword. "But this time, I ignite the fire."

The dark flames violently traveled up the blade, wrapping around the assassin's arm. He screamed in pure agony as his flesh began to turn to ash.

The other two assassins froze in absolute horror as the entire room began to shake, suffocated by an ancient, forbidden pressure erupting from my tiny, unawakened core.