# **THE SIXTH LIFE**
### *A Romance-Fantasy Novel*
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## **Chapter One — The Sword Behind Her**
Blood covered the ground.
It ran between the cracks of the stone courtyard, gathered beneath fallen bodies, and stained the boots of the girl standing in the middle of it all.
She could barely breathe.
Her silver hair was soaked in crimson.
Her hand trembled around the sword she was holding.
She didn't know whose blood covered the blade anymore.
Hers?
Someone else's?
It no longer mattered.
The world around her had become strangely quiet.
Too quiet.
Then—
**step.**
Someone was behind her.
Lunara froze.
She knew those footsteps.
Her fingers tightened around the sword.
Slowly, she turned her head.
A familiar figure stood behind her.
Her brother.
For one brief moment, their eyes met.
There was no hesitation in his expression.
No regret.
No mercy.
Lunara's lips parted.
“...Why?”
The answer never came.
A sharp flash of steel pierced through her back.
Her body jerked.
Her eyes widened.
The blade emerged from her chest.
Warm blood filled her mouth.
Her fingers loosened.
The sword slipped from her hand.
**Clang.**
She fell to her knees.
The world tilted.
Her vision blurred.
She could hear someone breathing behind her.
Someone she had once trusted.
Her hand pressed weakly against the wound.
“Why...?”
This time, the word was barely a whisper.
The sword was pulled from her body.
Pain exploded through her chest.
Her strength disappeared.
She fell forward.
Darkness swallowed everything.
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