Chloe shook her left wrist while replying. "The blue strings on my wrist, what are their use though?"
She looked curious. Her thumb rubbed over the faintly glowing lines without her realizing it. Ten of them. Always ten. _Why does it feel like they're watching me back?_
"They are souls. Souls that had accompanied you in all your lifetimes willingly.
They burned themselves to become strings to accompany you.
It will be hard to remember the last two because you were muddle-headed in your last life."
Chloe nodded thoughtfully. She looked at everyone before she said, "I feel like I haven't been reborn for twenty-two years but an hour.
My soul is exhausted and painful.
You should put all the things that can make me remember anything from my past when I'm emotionally unstable.
I'm trying to fight with fate. If it knows that I'm back, our fate will be like the other lifetimes." She looked at them calmly, but her fingers were gripping the edge of the table until her knuckles whitened. _If they figure it out too early, we're dead. All of us._
"Mother and father, you need to stay strong and support the kingdom, not like the last lifetimes where Ava snatched the kingdom and forced you onto the streets, being spit on.
We have three years for everything to end.
To know whether we will start another lifetime or we will win in victory, but I hope it is victory."
She took a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. _Three years. That's nothing. That's everything._
She looked at Alex and Nathan. "I will speak with an entertainment company to give you roles, or the new me will help you get roles if you guys will ask her for them."
"Larry should materialize himself in front of the new me in these three years."
"What should we do now?" the queen asked. Her voice was steady, but her fingers trembled in her lap. _She's scared. She's always been scared for me._
"As always, mother, behave like you don't give a damn about your daughter Chloe.
Dad should stay indoors.
Silence and Thomas, as always, you are the secret weapons.
Cassen and others should try to build their own power in their own fields.
Larry should continue brainwashing the new me with novels while making her gain world faith.
You don't need to worry about Ava for now. She has spies by her side.
We are doing everything secretly, but deadly."
"What is everything? I don't get it," Alex asked. His mind wasn't used to thinking this big.
Chloe sighed and rubbed her temples. _How do I explain a war against fate without sounding insane?_
"There is no 'everything'. There is you and your damn life to fight for.
There is no novel, but there is the real fucking world.
Ava is reborn, and her powers are at their peak—more than mother's.
The idea of novels and systems is what we invented. It's fictional, not reality.
We are fighting the world's fate, the heavens, and with all honesty, we are fighting with an entity like a God or gods. Let's say it's like constellations.
We need wits this time round.
We lived our first life carefree, that's why we died painfully.
We tried to change in the second life, but our actions were detected and we were forced to act accordingly.
We tried following the plot in our third lives, and the ending was worse than all—tragically.
But in this life, we need to be the victors by shaping our own ending."
Her eyes were cold now. _No more mistakes. No more 'we'll figure it out later'._
"Your time is limited. How are you going to do so?" Nathan's eyes narrowed. He didn't like plans that were about 'trust me, it will work'.
Chloe met his stare without flinching. "I had already texted Nillan. She knows what to do.
The others, I'm sure the new me will know what to do.
Dylan, you need to go to school—no compromise.
Cassen already has a business in his name."
Chloe looked at Lenox before saying, "You should stop behaving the way you usually do. You don't have any powers in this continent, let alone this country.
You should find out what you're interested in the next one week before asking the new me for help."
She looked at everyone. "Any other thing? I still have around thirty minutes."
"How will Nillan contact us or the new you about our profession?" Cassen's voice was heard.
Chloe smiled when she heard his cheerful tone. It cut through the tension like a blade through fog. "You don't need to worry about Nillan. She knows what to do.
And all of you—if you have any problem, feel free to contact her.
I did start a group long ago that has all the professionals all around the world.
You guys will be tagged in, but not now."
Looking at everyone who looked like they understood her, she stood up and started hugging her mother, then her father.
"Some of you, this hug is one of a year. Savor it to your heart's content."
As she hugged her mer husbands, they really took advantage of her by kissing her. She didn't push them off. _Let them have this. It might be all we get._
She went to sit down after her parents and the two mers, Silence and Thomas, had left. The room now felt emptier.
Chloe leaned on Larry's shoulders while wrapping her hands around his waist before sleeping soundly. The exhaustion hit her all at once, like a wave she'd been holding back. _Just five minutes. That's all I need._
Thirty minutes later, Chloe stirred. She blinked her eyes to adjust to the light. She felt like she had slept for a long time.
She raised her head to the sleeping blue-haired mer. Her hands moved to his stomach before squeezing slightly.
When Chloe felt their sturdiness, she squeezed again and became playful.
Chloe was busy squeezing and feeling the mer's abs when her hair was tugged.
She felt the pain that snapped her fully awake. Chloe looked at the mer who, in his laziest voice but with restrained emotion, asked while biting his lips, "Mmh, was it enjoyable?"
A handsome villain?
Chloe gulped rudely. The beauty was hard to restrain herself from.
"Tehihihi, who are you, beauty?" Chloe looked at him unblinking while laughing stupidly.
She started to remember all the lines she'd read in love letters she once stole, or lines she sometimes sneaked from dating partners back on campus.
She knew she was looking a mess, but for now, she wanted to put a beauty in her harem.
She brushed her hair aside and, with a wink, smiled seductively. "You know, beauty, you are meant to be worth someone extraordinary."
Chloe fidgeted with her hands anxiously when all the lines had evaporated from her brain. What was left were all the cheesy lines she felt awkward about.
Chloe thought she was over with forgetting important things on important occasions.
One time on Earth, she'd visited a church. When it reached singing time, she'd forgotten all the memorized church songs.
"You are the only fish in the ocean and the only person in my world to be burned by my sun.
From A to Z, I choose U, and I, with love as our law."
Chloe eyed him before closing her eyes and shouting,
"You look insanely and typically mine,
For you, I can sweep my harem clean,
Let's be together even if we mine,
It will be a thrill when we drink wine."
With a loud _pfft_, the room erupted.
Chloe opened her eyes in embarrassment. Looking at her husbands who were laughing loudly, she became embarrassed times two.
She looked at her dream husband expectantly. Looking at his beautiful smile, she was dazed for a moment before smiling sheepishly.
She really was hopeless.