Evelyn stared at the glowing text, her fingers twitched a little.
Evelyn was staring at the floating blue panels before her, her sharp gaze unwavering. The glowing text shimmered softly in the dim room, yet to Cassy and Gerald, who stood beside her, nothing was visible. All they saw was their princess gazing at them with unsettling intensity.
Cassy and Gerald exchanged nervous glances neither had an answer to what had captivated their princess so completely.
Cassy hesitated, then took a small step forward. Her voice was soft but cautious.
Cassy: "Princess… Your Highness?.. Your Highness.."
No response.
She swallowed, trying again, her voice more urgent.
Cassy: "Your Highness?.. Your Highness.."
Evelyn blinked at the repeated calls, finally breaking out of her trance. The panels vanished instantly as she looked away.
Evelyn: "Ah. Yes..."
Evelyn murmured, her voice distant.
Cassy bit her lip, her worry deepening.
Cassy: "Are you feeling unwell? Should I summon the royal physician?"
Gerald, ever the dutiful knight, straightened at the suggestion, already preparing to leave and fetch the physician.
But Evelyn raised her delicate hand, halting him in his tracks.
Evelyn: "There's no need."
She said, her voice quiet but firm.
Evelyn: "I'm fine."
Cassy hesitated. Evelyn looked anything but fine. Her already frail frame seemed even weaker after days of unconsciousness, her normally piercing eyes were dull, unfocused. there was a distant, almost haunted look in her eyes.
Cassy: "Then… should I bring you something to eat?"
Cassy offered gently.
Cassy: "You haven't eaten in days, Your Highness. Even a little broth—"
A long pause stretched between them before Evelyn gave a small nod.
Evelyn: "...Alright."
Relieved that the princess had at least agreed to eat, Cassy turned to leave. But before she could step away, Evelyn spoke again.
Evelyn: "Wait."
Cassy immediately stopped, looking back.
Cassy: "Yes, Your Highness?"
Evelyn's gaze was unreadable.
Evelyn: "How long was I unconscious?"
The question caught Cassy off guard, and she glanced at Gerald before answering carefully,
Cassy: "Seven days, Your Highness."
Seven days.
Evelyn absorbed the information in silence. Her gaze drifted towards the window, her expression unreadable, distant.
Then, she asked the question that made Cassy and Gerald completely freeze.
Evelyn: "…Did the Empress came to see me?"
Silence.
Cassy stiffened, her breath caught in her throat. Her fingers curled into the fabric of her skirt, and she struggled to find the right words—anything that wouldn't wound the little girl before her.
But no words could soften the truth.
Cassy: "…No, Your Highness,"
She admitted quietly.
For a moment, Evelyn didn't react. Then, slowly, a smile touched her lips. It was small, wry, almost as if she had expected nothing else.
Evelyn: "I see,"
She murmured.
Evelyn: "That's fine."
The words felt wrong. Nothing about this was fine. But Evelyn simply turned away, dismissing them.
Evelyn: "You may go."
Cassy bit her lip, hesitating—her heart ached for the princess. But in the end, she bowed her head, unwilling to meet Evelyn's gaze and quietly stepped out. Gerald followed, his armored boots clicking against the marble floor.
The door closed with a soft click, and the sound of their retreating footsteps faded into the distance.
Left alone, Evelyn remained motionless for a long while before slowly rising from her bed. her bare feet touching the cold marble floor. The room felt empty, suffocating.
She walked to the window, resting her fingers against the glass as she gazed out at the empire beyond the palace walls.
Her palace was tucked away at the empire's boundary, a forgotten place, barely part of the imperial grounds.
Beyond the walls, a grand city stretched far and wide, bustling with life. But to Evelyn, it was distant—blurred and hazy, much like her lingering headache.
From here, a forgotten place, barely part of the imperial grounds. Beyond the walls, a grand city stretched far and wide, bustling with life.
And yet to Evelyn, from this forgotten corner of the palace, it all felt so… distant—blurred and hazy, much like her lingering headache.
Then—
Ding…
Ding…
The familiar chime echoed through her mind and before her, glowing blue panels flickered into existence once more, their presence almost suffocating.
[ Congratulations, Host. You have successfully absorbed all of your past memories. ]
[ System » E.L.S. « has been reactivated and at your service once again. ]
Evelyn's eyes darkened.
Evelyn: "Shut down."
she ordered coldly. Her voice was sharp and unwavering. The panels flickered once before vanishing on command.
She exhaled, pressing a hand to her temple as memories flooded her mind—memories of lifetimes she didn't wanted to remember.
It's not my first life.
Not second.
Nor the tenth.
I've lost count. 88th? 98th? Or 100th? I don't even remember.
My name...My name... it's lost to me now, a mere whisper of the past. It has slipped away from me, a forgotten relic of a past that feels increasingly distant.
But the beginning— I remember it all too well. It is seared into my consciousness, relentless, unyielding and unforgettable.
The moment when everything changed, when my world was torn apart, marking the start of endless suffering. The pain that followed has never allowed me to forget that wretched, irreversible moment—etched into my very soul, where it remains, never to fade.
Once, I was a powerful CEO, leading a company my father entrusted to me. But greed and betrayal tore everything apart.
My own brother—my blood—sold me to a group of twisted researchers in exchange for wealth after driving the company into ruin.
They experimented on me, injected me with unnatural substances, searching for power beyond human limits. I was their subject—a caged animal subjected to ceaseless agony.
They kept injecting my body with strange liquids and syringes, each one bringing excruciating pain that made me wish I could die just to escape it. They strapped us down with electric belts around our waists, preventing us from moving or even attempting to escape.
I was not the only one but they didn't survive the madness of those experiments- they died, their screams blending with the silence of the others. Each day felt like a brush with death, a never-ending cycle of torment. And yet, it continued—relentlessly—for two long years.
Two years of torture. Two years of pain so excruciating that death would've been mercy. I was the only alive.
Then, one day, they brought out a strange object—neither stone nor fruit, but pulsating with an ominous energy. Their discussion was hushed, frantic.
" we only have one chance? Should we really use it?"
"We've studied it for years but found nothing."
"It's an order from above. If we succeed, we'll earn a large sum of money."
I barely heard them, drifting in and out of consciousness. But then they injected the liquidized form of the unknown object into my body.
At first, a surge of power— feeling of strength unlike anything before. Then—
Pain.
Unimaginable pain, as if my very soul was being torn apart.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't scream. My body burned from within, and then—
Silence.
My heart stopped. My blood ceased to flow.
I died.
Or so I thought.
Then, without warning, my senses rushed back to me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in an unfamiliar place, inhabiting a new body. Suddenly, a blue panel appeared in front of me, glowing softly with clear words.
[ Eternal Life System Activated ]
[ Host:?? | Current Status: Reincarnated ]
I stared at it, confused. A blue panel was floating in the air before me. What it meant, I had no idea. But the words stayed in my mind, persistent and unshakable, marking the beginning of something I wasn't quite ready for.
I was no longer in my tortured body. It was twenty years later— a new life, a different body, and an unnatural system embedded within me.
My soul had survived—but not my humanity.
Thus began an endless cycle. Reincarnation after reincarnation, life after life.
Life after life.
Death after death.
And so the cycle continued, relentless and unyielding. No matter how I perished—whether through battle, accident, or some other cruel twist of fate—I would always return, trapped in this unending loop.
And then I realized something terrifying—
They had succeeded.
Those twisted researchers who had experimented on me, who had driven me to the edge of death—had succeeded.
This system, the Eternal Life System, wasn't a coincidence.
I had gained something unnatural.
A power that bound my soul to this eternal cycle of reincarnation.
My body could die a thousand times, but my soul could never fade.
And I hated it.
It wasn't my body that endured—no, my body withered and died time and time again. But my soul, my very essence, persisted through it all while my body continued to die, again and again, in countless lives.
At first, I had tried to find purpose, to find something meaningful. I embraced every life I was given. In one life, I was a police officer, in another, a doctor, a successful actress, a designer, and a painter. I worked as an employee, a game developer and even a great programmer.
There were lives where I was a gangster, a mafia boss. Each life I lived was filled with the pursuit of new experiences, each new identity a chance to release the suffocating boredom of endless reincarnation.
I sought out new experiences—sometimes ridiculous ones, to break the tedium. One of my attempts was cooking, something I was utterly terrible at. But with time and perseverance, I found myself excelling at it. I entered cooking competitions, and to my surprise, I won many of them. It was a distraction, a fleeting enjoyment that gave me a sense of achievement, but even that eventually lost its charm.
As the years passed, I began to grow tired. Exhausted, even. I was exhausted, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I had lived so many lives that they all began to blend into one giant blur.
The thrill of new beginnings and fresh starts had faded, replaced with a hollow emptiness. I didn't care about fame, riches, power or accolades. I had tried everything, and yet nothing could fill the void that had grown inside me.
Eventually, the thought of continuing this never-ending cycle of reincarnation became unbearable. I tried suicide. I thought that maybe this time, death would be the end. But no, the result was always the same.
No matter how I lived, no matter how I died—I always reincarnated again.
Now, i fully understand the meaning of the System.
Eternal Life.