The 'Royal Psycho' within Sofia completely took over. Her tears instantly morphed into a demonic, bone-chilling laugh. As Dimitri reached out to embrace and soothe her, Sofia moved with lightning speed, snatching Dimitri's own Golden Revolver from the bedside table.
There was no hesitation, no mercy. Sofia pulled the trigger directly into the center of Dimitri's chest.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three bullets tore through Dimitri's powerful frame. His body crashed against the floor-to-ceiling window, shattering the glass into a thousand shards as he slumped to the floor. The white rug and the floor where the phoenix was etched were now submerged in Dimitri's thick, crimson blood.
Sofia began to laugh like a maniac, clutching the revolver. She knelt beside Dimitri's bleeding body, still laughing hysterically. Splashes of his blood were across her face, but her eyes held no remorse—only a primal, twisted satisfaction.
"Now you are mine, Dimitri! Now no one else can touch you! Didn't I tell you I don't know how to live without you? So I killed you, so you'd be imprisoned inside me forever!" she screamed through her laughter, rubbing his lifeless hand against her cheek.
She pressed one final kiss to his bloodied lips and then placed the barrel of the revolver against her own forehead. Her laughter didn't cease. She whispered, "Viktor and Alia think they won. But the real victory belongs to us, Dimitri... we will rule hell together."In the midst of Sofia's demonic laughter beside Dimitri's corpse, a mechanical sound suddenly erupted from a corner of the room. A voice message began to play on Dimitri's discarded phone. It was Ricky's voice. But the sound was broken, weak, and choked with blood—it was clearly a last message recorded moments before his death.
Ricky's Last Voice:
From the speaker came the sound of Ricky's ragged breathing:
"Sofia... Dimitri... if you are hearing this, know that I played the final move. You thought it was over just because Viktor and Alia left? No. By dying at my own hand, I've left a gift of hell for the both of you. Sofia, you don't love Dimitri; you are just addicted to power. And Dimitri, you thought you could cage a Phoenix? Before leaving, I injected such poison between you two that you wouldn't stop until you destroyed one another. Goodbye, my friends... see you in hell."
The message ended with the sharp crack of a gunshot from the other side, followed by total silence. Ricky had already ended his life, but before he went, he planted the seed of murder in Sofia's mind.
Sofia froze, the revolver still in her hand. Her laughter died instantly. She realized that what she had done wasn't an act of strength—she had walked straight into the trap Ricky had laid. Ricky knew exactly how to trigger her.
She looked down at Dimitri's lifeless body. The madness in her eyes turned into an infinite void. Dimitri was dead, Ricky was gone. Now, in this palace, only the stains of blood and Sofia's crushing loneliness remained.The revolver slipped from Sofia's hand and crashed to the floor. After hearing Ricky's final voice, her inner madness shattered into a million pieces. She collapsed onto Dimitri's lifeless body, her screams echoing through the silent palace.
"Ricky! How could you do this? As my ex-boyfriend, how could you manipulate me into murdering my present?" Sofia shrieked in agony.
Clutching Dimitri's blood-soaked chest, she wailed— "You knew, Ricky! You knew how much I loved Dimitri! You knew he was my life! You made me commit this sin? Even in death, you didn't set me free!"
Sofia realized the truth: Ricky had never moved on. Driven by a vengeful jealousy, he had orchestrated this masterstroke so that Sofia would spend the rest of her life as a prisoner of her own guilt. Ricky knew that once she killed Dimitri, she would never be sane again.
She pressed her forehead against Dimitri's cold one, whispering through her tears, "Dimitri, come back! I was blinded by the poison Ricky fed me. I didn't want to kill you... Ricky destroyed us both, Dimitri!"
The morning light grew brighter outside, but in Sofia's life, there was only the curse of the darkness Ricky had left behind.Four years have passed. Sofia now resides in a secluded yet magnificent mansion in the heart of frozen Siberia. Outside, the world is buried under bone-chilling snow, but inside, the palace breathes with dark luxury.
Sofia is no longer the Major from the battlefield; she has transformed into a mysterious empress. She sits elegantly on a velvet sofa in her vast drawing room. Three handmaidens stand behind her with bowed heads, their eyes reflecting a mix of terror and absolute loyalty toward her.
In Sofia's hand, there is no longer a revolver. Instead, a vibrant red snake is coiled around her arm. The blood-colored serpent glides slowly over her pale skin, as if it were a natural extension of her body. There are no more tears in Sofia's eyes only an ice-cold void. Ricky and Dimitri are both gone, but Sofia has emerged more lethal than ever.
She gazes at the snowfall outside the window, gently stroking the snake's head. Dimitri's Blue Phoenix tattoo still rests upon her chest, but it has turned as cold as the Siberian winter.The youngest handmaiden standing behind Sofia spoke up, her head bowed low. Her voice trembled because she knew that mentioning men in front of Sofia was like playing with fire.
The maid whispered, "Mistress, I have heard that a handsome new boy has arrived in this frozen land of Siberia. The townspeople are saying he carries a strange, royal aura about him. He is no ordinary man."
Sofia continued to stare at the falling snow through the window. A cold, thin smile played on her lips at the maid's words. The red snake in her hand suddenly coiled tighter and hissed, as if sensing a new presence.
Stroking the head of the serpent, Sofia spoke in a calm yet heavy voice:
"Handsome? For four years, I have seen nothing but dead souls in this Siberian frost. No 'prince' comes to this desolate wasteland for pleasure. He must have a purpose."
She rose from the velvet sofa, her long black silk gown trailing across the floor. She turned toward the maid, her eyes piercing and sharp.
"Go, find out. Is he a shadow of my lost past (Ricky), or a reflection of my dead present (Dimitri)? If he is truly as beautiful as they say, invite him to my palace. My red snake hasn't tasted fresh prey in a very long time."It was exactly midnight. The massive main doors of the Siberian palace groaned open, and a tall silhouette stepped inside, accompanied by a gust of the freezing blizzard.
Sofia sat in her throne-like chair, the red snake coiled around her arm. She didn't blink as the stranger approached with slow, deliberate steps. A thick cloud of smoke obscured the man's face. In his hand, he held the same thick, expensive cigarette exactly like Dimitri's.
As the man stepped into the light, the red snake hissed violently, sensing a predator. Sofia's heart skipped a beat. Those broad shoulders, that gait, and the scent of that particular tobacco... everything was hauntingly familiar.
The man took a long drag of the cigarette and exhaled slowly, locking his eyes with Sofia's. His gaze held the same demonic depth. He spoke in a low, gravelly voice:
"Four years is a long time, Sofia. Has your red snake still not learned how to bite?"
Sofia stood up, her legs trembling beneath her silk gown, though she fought to hide it. She whispered, "Who are you? Dimitri died, poisoned by Ricky's games. Are you a ghost rising from the grave, or is this a new trick from the devil?"
The man smirked that same soul-shattering, dangerous smirk. He stepped closer, blowing a puff of smoke over the Blue Phoenix tattoo on her chest.
"The Phoenix never dies, Sofia. It rises from the ashes. I've come back to see is the mark of my bite still on your neck, or has the memory of Ricky erased it?"