Long Yifan slept peacefully that night, smiling in his sleep as if he was dreaming about something wonderful.
Well, technically, he was indeed seeing a good dream where he was pressing Gu Jin under his weight...
But on the other side of the mansion, Gu Jin was tossing and turning in her bed. Her sleep was anything but peaceful. Fınd the newest release on novel·fıre·net
Dark clouds swirled in her dream, and before she knew it, her body was pulled into another world.
She felt her feet touch a cold stone floor.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing on a huge circular platform surrounded by nothing but endless clouds.
Nine tall pillars stood at the edge of the platform, each one covered in strange glowing runes.
On the circular platform sat a strange throne, and on that throne were figures who seemed blurry to her.
They were watching, or to be precise, looking toward a particular throne with malice and anger in their eyes.
Gu Jin’s heart pounded. She had been here before... or at least, it felt like she had. The dream she had last time suddenly flashed in her mind.
Suddenly, a voice boomed across the space, so loud that the ground itself shook.
"It has happened again. Another mistake... another crime committed by the goddess of justice. Can, at this point, she even be called goddess of justice?"
Gu Jin froze. Goddess of justice? Who was the goddess of justice? And where was she?
Another voice spoke, colder and sharper than the first.
"She has committed too many sins. It is only fair that she experiences pain beyond imagination. Only then will she understand the meaning of justice."
The words made Gu Jin’s heart tighten with pain and she felt a strange urge to retort.
She raised her hands and covered her ears. "Stop..." she whispered. "Stop talking..."
But the voices did not stop.
"The goddess of justice once destroyed an entire kingdom," one figure said.
"That kingdom was home to a group of mages who had caused suffering to countless innocents. And for that reason, she decided they all deserved to die. But in doing so, she killed millions, among whom was the heaven’s child that was supposed to change the fate of many!"
Gu Jin frowned slightly; the faint accusation in the tone tugged at her heart.
"She also killed a saint-level mage who was destined to save humanity a century later," another voice added. "He caused wars and chaos in his youth, yes, but he was meant to change. And she robbed humanity of its savior."
More accusations followed, one after another.
"She wiped out an entire city just to bring peace to the ghosts of those who had been wronged."
"She always acted from emotion, never from balance."
"She is no goddess. She is a biased fool."
Gu Jin fell to her knees. A raw ache spread across her chest; she kept on muttering in a voice full of conviction.
"She wasn’t wrong..."
"Enough!" A thunderous voice echoed, silencing the constant chattering, "Goddess of Justice, do you feel any guilt?"
"No..." Gu Jin muttered unconsciously.
"No." A firm, detached voice with no remorse sounded.
"Very well," the thunderous voice spoke again; this time it was laced with slight rage and a dark promise. "What punishment shall we give her?"
"Let her live 999 mortal lives," one of the figures said.
"Let her experience every kind of pain...loss, betrayal, despair...until she understands what mortals feel."
"Yes," another agreed. "Let each life be worse than the last. Let suffering carve itself into her very soul."
Gu Jin’s body trembled. She wanted to scream, to fight back, but the truth was... she had felt as if she had heard those words before.
Many times. And deep down, something inside her knew they were not just words. They were her reality.
And then a theory slowly formed in her mind.
Maybe... she really was that so-called goddess of justice.
Maybe she had already lived countless painful lives.
She remembered flashes of being killed in a previous life, or, to be precise, her life in a parallel world, where Long Yifan had approached her and loved her openly, but she still died in the end.
There was also her previous life, where she lost everyone she loved in a mafia world.
Another memory appeared where she had watched an entire mermaid kingdom fall apart in at the entrance of a temple located in City S.
She clenched her fists. "So this is what you call justice?" she shouted.
"Letting evil live because of what it might do in the future? Letting innocents die for the so-called greater good?"
Her voice echoed across the white space, but the figures did not respond.
"If this is your version of justice," she whispered coldly, "then I want no part of it."
Suddenly, everything shattered like glass.
Gu Jin gasped and sat up in her bed, her heart pounding loudly in her chest.
Sweat clung to her skin, and her hands were trembling.
But this time, something was different.
Her eyes were calm. Cold. Determined.
Maybe she didn’t have every memory yet, but she had enough to understand the truth.
The dreams weren’t dreams at all.
They were fragments of her past.
And the so-called punishment of 999 lives... she was living it.
She stared at the ceiling.
"If they think my justice is flawed," she whispered, "then I’ll never return to them."
She doesn’t deserve to live in a place filled with idiots who can’t even understand what justice means.
The next morning, Lady Ling entered the room.
When her gaze fell on Gu Jin, a glint flashed in her eyes, which she quickly masked with a calm expression.
"You are awake," Lady Ling said softly. "The time for your trial has come."
Gu Jin rose from the bed calmly.
But inside, she felt strange, like she was watching the world from a distance.
The emotions that had once controlled her felt weaker, almost like they were fading away.
Now she understood why. It was because of everything she had suffered. Her heart had simply grown numb.
"I am ready," Gu Jin said.
Even though she knew that she was supposed to suffer in this life too... she will make sure to fulfill her duty.
She walked out of the room deeply immersed in her own thoughts when a faint whiff of vanilla wafted into her nose.
Lifting her head, her red eyes crashed into sapphire ones.
Long Yifan was waiting outside with a bright smile. When he saw her, his eyes softened.
"Good morning," he said cheerfully. "Did you have any good dreams?"
Gu Jin looked at him quietly. And then, a memory flashed through her mind, a voice filled with raw rage shouting,
"If the goddess of justice is leaving, I will go with her!"
She blinked and stared at Long Yifan more intently.
Could it be... He had once been part of that world too? Had he followed her into these mortal lives?
But if that was true, why wasn’t he there in every life? Like the mafia one?
She didn’t know the answer. But one thing was certain: she felt no resistance toward him anymore.
His presence felt right, natural. Like he was meant to be there.
Long Yifan tilted his head. "Are you alright?"
"I’m fine," she said softly. "Let’s go."
They followed Lady Ling through the ancient temple grounds until they reached their destination.
The land stretched out before them, blackened and cracked.
Rivers of lava flowed beneath the surface, glowing faintly through the gaps.
Above them, the sky was covered with strange, moving eyes, thousands of them, blinking and watching as if alive.
"This..." Long Yifan whispered. "Even after seeing it once, I am still not accustomed to it."
"It’s alright. After staying here for a year, you will get used to the scenery." Lady Ling’s nonchalant voice echoed.
She raised her hands and began chanting.
Her voice was calm, filled with reverence.
The words were ancient and sounded mysterious, and to Gu Jin’s shock, she understood them perfectly.
It was the same language she had heard in her dreams... the language of the gods.
"If the divine realm still exists," Lady Ling prayed, "and if we are not abandoned, then let the heavens show mercy. Grant me the power to seal these curses, even if only for a moment."
Light gathered around her, forming a barrier that pulsed with holy energy. The next second, all the eyes slowly vanished from their vision, and a crack in space appeared just a few meters away.
Gu Jin’s gaze was distant.
"Are you ready?" Lady Ling asked.
Gu Jin nodded slowly. "Yes. Let us begin."
Long Yifan glanced at her, sensing something had changed.
The walls around her heart had fallen.
Her eyes looked older now...like someone who had lived a thousand lifetimes.
But what delighted him the most was... she wasn’t resisting him anymore. Did the constant intimacy make them closer?
If that’s the case, then he needs to be more proactive.