The darkness that enveloped her consciousness was supposed to be peaceful. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Aria Delforde allowed herself to close her eyes without expecting the shrill ring of an alarm, a sudden mission update, or another unfamiliar world waiting behind the cosmic veil.
She floated weightlessly within the endless white expanse of the Retirement Void, the mythical sanctuary where weary transmigrators dreamed of arriving after completing every assignment given by the ruthless Transmigration Bureau.
She had earned this absolute peace through centuries of tireless service. Across kingdoms, post-apocalyptic wastelands, ancient cultivation realms, interstellar empires, and modern cities, she had lived thousands of distinct lives.
Her flawless record boasted three thousand one hundred and twenty-seven successful missions with a zero percent failure rate. Every single role she assumed demanded heavy sacrifices, and every mandatory farewell carved another permanent scar into her weary soul.
She had been a powerful empress, a brilliant doctor, a lethal mercenary, a revered saint, a reviled villainess, a beloved queen, and even a nameless peasant. Now, the endless cycle of deaths and rebirths had finally concluded, and she was truly free.
A gentle, melodic voice echoed through the pristine white space.
[Congratulations, Senior Transmigrator Aria Delforde.]
[Retirement Protocol Initiated.]
A small, genuine smile appeared on Aria's lips as the weight of a thousand lifetimes slowly dissolved from her shoulders.
"Finally..."
She stretched her aching arms lazily, letting out a soft sigh of pure relief.
"I can sleep for a hundred years."
A soft laugh escaped her lips as she considered the endless possibilities of her eternal rest. Perhaps afterward, she would create a small, comfortable house beside a quiet lake inside this pocket dimension. Maybe she would finally plant flowers that did not require magical properties to survive.
She could read novels she never had the time to finish and watch colorful sunsets that did not hide impending natural disasters. These were simple, mundane things. They were things that ordinary people took for granted every single day.
The pristine white world around her shimmered peacefully, reflecting her newfound tranquility. Then, a sharp, deafening crack split the endless sky like a glass bottle shattering against concrete. Aria frowned deeply, her instincts immediately putting her on high alert.
That is definitely new...
Another loud crack followed in rapid succession. Then another followed, louder and closer than the last. The once-stable retirement void began to tremble violently, knocking her off her feet. A deafening, mechanical alarm suddenly exploded throughout the empty space, piercing her eardrums.
[ERROR.]
[ERROR.]
[CORE ANCHOR INSTABILITY DETECTED.]
"What?"
The solid ground beneath her feet dissolved into sharp fragments of glowing glass.
"What do you mean, instability?"
No logical answer came from the automated system interface. Instead, hundreds of crimson warning windows burst into existence around her, casting an ominous red glow over the white horizon.
[Emergency Protocol Activated.]
[Retirement Authorization Revoked.]
Aria's relaxed expression froze completely, replaced by a cold, sharp anger.
"Excuse me?"
The crimson windows multiplied exponentially until they covered the entire sky like a plague.
[System Damage: ninety-eight percent.]
[Reward Vault Corrupted.]
[Mission Archive Locked.]
[Soul Anchor Compromised.]
Aria's heartbeat quickened as she recognized the critical nature of the system logs.
This cannot be a joke.
She reached out a hand toward the nearest digital screen, intending to force an override. The moment her fingertips brushed the glass, the window shattered into a million glowing crimson particles.
A familiar, digital mechanical voice tried to speak directly into her mind, but every sentence dissolved into static.
[Host... Ar...ia... ple...ase... ru...n...]
Run?
Aria stood her ground, her mind racing through the thousands of survival scenarios she had mastered. The Retirement Void had never been attacked in the history of the Bureau. She could not comprehend who could possibly possess the power to reach this isolated sanctuary.
The entire pocket dimension shook violently as if it were an eggshell being crushed by a giant fist. A colossal black fissure tore directly across the heavens, weeping tendrils of absolute darkness into the white space. Beyond the jagged tear in reality, something massive looked back at her.
It was not a person, nor was it any creature she had encountered in her thousands of missions. Two enormous golden eyes stared down at her, eyes so ancient that they made the birth of galaxies seem entirely insignificant.
In thousands of dangerous lifetimes, it's the first time a primitive fear gripped Aria's heart. The giant eyes blinked slowly, and then the entire Retirement Void collapsed inward.
Everything became a blinding, painful white. A single line of text appeared before her failing sight just as her consciousness began to slip away.
[FINAL EMERGENCY MISSION GENERATED.]
[Mission Target: Desmond Blackharth.]
[Objective: Save your broken marriage.]
[Failure Condition: Permanent Soul Deletion.]
What marriage?
Before she could form the words to voice her question, an irresistible gravitational force seized her bare soul. The entity hurled her through the bleeding rift into an unfamiliar world.
The last thing Aria heard before losing consciousness was the broken, trembling voice of her system companion.
[I am... sorry...]
Then, a heavy, suffocating darkness swallowed her whole, pulling her down into the unknown.
The sensation of returning to a physical body was always jarring, but this time felt exceptionally brutal.
Aria gasped, her lungs burning as they suddenly expanded to take in cold, heavy air. She opened her eyes to darkness, though her adjusting vision quickly mapped out the unfamiliar surroundings.
She was lying on an enormous, king-sized bed covered in dark silk sheets. The air in the room was freezing, smelling faintly of expensive cologne and old mahogany wood.
Where am I?
A violent wave of foreign memories suddenly crashed into her brain, causing a sharp pain behind her eyes. She clamped a hand over her forehead, enduring the forced data transfer without making a sound.
The body she now inhabited belonged to a twenty-seven-year-old woman who shared her exact name, Aria Delforde.
This version of Aria was a disgraced, washed-up actress whose reputation had been utterly ruined by scandals. Worse still, she was currently trapped in a cold, contractual marriage with a powerful, reclusive man.
Her husband was Desmond Blackharth, the hidden billionaire and CEO of Blackharth Holdings. Aria sat up slowly, swinging her legs over the edge of the high mattress. The cold marble floor chilled the soles of her bare feet instantly.
She glanced around the massive, shadow-drenched bedroom, realizing she was in the infamous Blackharth family mansion. According to the host's memories, this house was little more than a beautiful, gilded prison.
Her marriage to Desmond had been a forced arrangement, born from a scandalous night that neither of them publicly spoke about.
For years, they had lived under the same roof as absolute strangers, maintaining a distant, freezing dynamic. A tiny, faint chime echoed inside her mind, sounding incredibly weak and distorted.
[System 001 online. Syncing with host soul. Current status: severely damaged.]
Nova, is that you?
Aria called out mentally, waiting for the familiar, energetic AI that had accompanied her through thousands of worlds. The response she received was slow, accompanied by the annoying hum of digital static.
[Yes, Host Aria. I survived the collapse, but my database is completely corrupted. All high-tier rewards, weapon vaults, and medical items are currently locked.]
Aria gritted her teeth, stood up, and began to pace across the dark bedroom.
What about the mission parameters? Why was my retirement revoked for a romance mission?
The system paused, its processing units clearly struggling to compute the request.
[Unknown. The system only retains the core mandate. You must repair this broken marriage with Desmond Blackharth. If the target divorces you or if your marriage fails, your soul anchor will dissolve completely.]
Aria stopped pacing, looking toward the large frosted window that overlooked a dark, snow-covered courtyard.
A forced marriage with a cold billionaire is standard novel fare, but that entity in the void was not normal.
She remembered those terrifying golden eyes that had shattered reality itself. There was a deeper mystery hidden within this specific world, and she was determined to uncover it. If she had to play the part of a desperate wife to survive and find answers, she would do so perfectly.
She was, after all, a veteran transmigrator who had mastered the art of acting across three thousand lifetimes. A soft, hesitant creak from the bedroom door broke the silence of the night. Aria turned her head sharply, her sharp reflexes causing her to drop into a defensive stance instantly.
A small, hesitant shadow stood in the narrow opening of the door, illuminated by the dim hallway light. It was a little boy, no older than five, clutching a dark plush crow tightly against his chest. This was Azeri Blackharth, her five-year-old son who had been neglected by the original owner of this body.
The boy stared at her with large, intelligent dark eyes that held a heartbreaking amount of caution and loneliness.
The little boy looked painfully thin beneath his oversized pajamas. His fingers clutched the worn plush crow so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, as if it were the only thing that had never abandoned him.
"Mother?"
Azeri's voice was trembling slightly in the freezing draft of the hallway. Aria looked at the small child, feeling a sudden, unexpected warmth bloom in her chest. The original Aria had been unstable and distant, leaving this genius child starved for genuine maternal affection.
She lowered her defensive stance completely, her expression softening into something gentle. She stepped across the cold marble floor, kneeling down until she was at eye level with the lonely heir of the Blackharth empire.
"Yes, Azeri. I am here."
Azeri's eyes widened.
For five long years...
It was the first time his mother had ever smiled at him.