The air was thick with the scent of burning timber as Emperor Lián Huang returned from battle, his heart heavy with loss. The once-majestic palace was now a funeral pyre, its charred remains a testament to war's brutality.

"Where is the Empress?!" His voice demanded an answer from the cowering knights, their armor smeared with soot.

A veteran knight stepped forward, head bowed. "Your Majesty, they were too fast. They have taken her."

Fury and despair twisted his expression as he strode through the smoldering ruins. His sword glinted as he pushed through the acrid smoke. He found her lying on the road, her body contorted in agony.

He rushed to her side, his heart breaking. "My Empress!" he turned her over, only to find blood trickling from her lips. She had been poisoned. Her body trembled violently in his arms.

He held her tightly, desperately wishing to take her pain. "Forgive me... I failed to protect you," he whispered, drawing his sword. "Shhh... just close your eyes... sleep tight, my beloved." he stroked her hair one last time, with a shattered heart, he stbbed the sword right into her heart, ending her suffering. She closed her eyes forever in his arms, His cries of sorrow echoed with the flames around them.

After laying her beneath a tree, he sought vengeance. Alone, he cut through hundreds of enemies, his eyes hollow, his empire crumbling around him. Then he returned to her resting place, he vowed, "In another life, I will find you. My heart will always choose you, again and again... You're the only one I love... my beloved Empress."

With that, he drove his sword into his own chest, dying beside her, their fingers intertwined, refusing to be separated by death.

"And that is how the story goes. Do you understand now?" I asked, adjusting my glasses as you nodded. I couldn’t believe I had just shared our tragic past life with you, my Empress. In this life, we’ve found each other again... then why can't you remember me yet?