Rebirth: The New Bride Wants A Divorce-Chapter 455: You are the reason why it all started
Kathrine blinked—and the house was gone.
The familiar walls, the chandelier, the polished floors that had once felt like a cage all dissolved into darkness. Not the gentle kind. This darkness was thick, heavy, pressing against her skin like cold fog.
"Kathrine?" she called, her own voice echoing back at her.
No answer.
The ground beneath her feet felt uneven, damp. She took a step forward, then another, her heels clicking too loudly in the silence. It felt like a tunnel, but there were no walls she could properly see—just shadows folding into more shadows.
She turned around. Something moved behind her.
"Who’s there?" her breath hitched.
The shadow shifted again, stretching unnaturally, as if it didn’t belong to any real body. Every time she tried to focus on it, her vision blurred, her head throbbing.
Kathrine started walking faster. Then running.
Her heart pounded violently in her chest as the darkness swallowed every direction she turned. Left, right, straight—everything looked the same. Endless. Trapped.
"Please," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "Please, I just want to go home."
But there was no home anymore.
She kept running, her breath ragged, her mind spiraling. Images flashed through her head like broken glass—her parents’ faces, the wedding dress she had once hidden in her closet, the ring she had imagined on her finger.
’Daniel’ Her chest tightened painfully.
I was supposed to be your wife. That was my dream.
Kathrine continued to run while the shadow followed closer. She could feel it. Hear it.
The footsteps slow and deliberate as if it was playing with her.
Kathrine spun around and backed away, her back hitting something solid.
A wall. No—worse. A dead end.
She pressed her palms against the cold surface, panic surging through her veins.
"No... no, no, no..." she whispered, shaking her head violently.
The footsteps stopped behind her but she didn’t dare turn.
"Please," she cried, her voice breaking completely. "I don’t have anything left. You don’t need to do this. I’ve already lost everything."
She said thinking it was someone her father had offended. Kathrine had lost everything with Hugo losing his empire and Roseline going crazy after Anna’s deadth.
Things she thought were in her control had flipped against her leaving her with nothing but with people running after her for money asking her to clear her father’s debts.
Kathrine thought she had finally begged the person into believig her until the silence broke and she heard the voice.
"Everything?" the person asked finally seizing her attention.
Hesistantly she turned only to find her eyes going wide at the sight of the man standing before her.
He was there—but his face was wrong. Blurred, shifting, like her mind refused to allow it to exist clearly.
"My family is gone," Kathrine sobbed. "My future is gone. The man I loved chose someone else. My life... my life is nothing but a mistake."
The figure tilted his head.
"You still have one thing left."
She swallowed hard. "What?"
"Your life."
Her stomach dropped. She shook her head desperately. "You don’t understand. I don’t want it anymore. Not like this."
The person moved closer. And that’s when the words fell. Flat. Cold. Final.
"Daniel is dead."
The world seemed to crack open. "What?" she whispered.
"Gone," the man repeated. "Just like Anna."
Kathrine’s legs gave out beneath her. She collapsed to the floor, her hands clutching her chest as if her heart might tear itself free.
"No... no, that’s not true," she cried. "He can’t be dead. She promised—he was supposed to be with me. He was supposed to choose me."
Her voice turned into hysterical laughter through tears.
"I waited. I sacrificed everything. I destroyed people for him." Her eyes widened in horror at her own words. "I ruined everything for him."
The man said nothing.
Kathrine covered her face with trembling hands.
"Anna is dead because of me," she whispered. "If I hadn’t been so desperate... if I hadn’t pushed so hard... she would still be alive."
Her breathing became erratic.
"I wanted her gone. I wanted her erased from his life. And now I’m the one erased instead."
She looked up at the blurred figure, mascara streaked down her cheeks, blood vessels burst in her eyes.
"So if this is my punishment," she said weakly, "then just tell me why. Why me? Why now?"
The man took another step forward.
"Because you have nothing left to protect you."
Kathrine laughed brokenly. "You’re right. There’s no one coming for me. No one even remembers me."
She closed her eyes.
"I betrayed everyone. I betrayed myself. I even betrayed Anna." she mumbled only to feel something hit hard on her head.
Kathrine opened her eyes just in time to see the shadow move. Pain exploded in her skull. A sharp, blinding impact.
She screamed as the world tilted violently, warm liquid pouring down the side of her face. She collapsed onto the ground, her vision splitting into darkness and light.
The last thing she heard was her own whisper, barely audible.
"You are the reason why it all started."
Then everything went black— or at least, that was what she thought, until she felt the presence walk away.
Kathrine believed her life was over. But she was still alive.
Alive long enough for the flames to reach her. Alive long enough to scream for help.
No one came. No one listened.
"I’m sorry, Anna," she sobbed.
"If there is any way I can repent for what I’ve done... I would do anything to make things right."
Those were her last words before she finally embraced death. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
...
"Ha—"
Kathrine snapped her eyes open and found herself back in her office, her chest heaving as if she had just been pulled from drowning.
That dream—from her past life—had returned again.
And no matter how hard she tried, no matter how desperately she searched her memory, she still couldn’t remember the face of the man who had killed her.
Kathrine was still struggling to steady her breathing when the door to her office flew open and Roseline stormed inside.
"How dare you, Kathrine?"
