Dinner was a sordid affair, Richard Von Crois, being the goblin he was, kept making passes at me, trying to place his hand over mine every chance he got and rubbing his leg against mine under the table.

Don't punch him in the face, don't punch him in the face, don't punch him in the face...

"Of course, Miss Rose! Have I told you about how Richard runs his own clothes production line?" The goblin father asked, glass of synthetic red wine in hand, he was sitting next to my very uncomfortable father who was finally realizing just how stupid he was.

I drew out a fake smile, "Oh, yes sir, It's the Crois brand isn't it? Quite a few of my friends speak of your products highly!" The perfect response, there was nothing wrong with a bit of false praise.

"Of course it popular with young women! The maiden's heart is not something that many understand..." Richard butted in as I blanched internally.

Anymore and I was going to puke and this place seemed too fancy for me to puke in.

We were sat in a private booth in an already exclusive restaurant, with so many chandeliers that the very novelty of chandeliers became nonexistent, the table was covered with a blue velvet cloth that was worth more than what my dad made in a year, salt and pepper shakers made of steel had actual salt and pepper in them and to top it all off, the chairs were cushioned and the napkins soft.

In a time where even air was scarce, this place was the definition of extravagant.

Charles let out a laugh, "Of course Richie, I've heard all about your adventures, but enough about us, I'm sure miss Rose has heard it all!"

No, I've not, nor do I want to, because I don't give a rat's ass about you or your stupid son to keep up with every snip of gossip surrounding you.

"Yes, yes, instead, tell us about yourself Rosie..." The goblin asked with a disgusting toothy smile on his face that gave me goosebumps.

"Oh, I'm nothing special really, just a normal school girl you'd see everywhere!" I announced, taking a sip of water out of a gold rimmed wine glass.

"Ah, humble as ever..." The goblin pointed out as I slowly placed the glass down, refusing to make eye contact, "...I've heard that you're at the top of your class! And your speech on freedom of thought last year? Marvelous! Just Marvelous! Don't put yourself down Rosie, you're special! A one of a kind woman!"

The waiters came over and placed our food on the table, I stared at the honey covered pancakes in front of me, suddenly feeling nauseous at even the thought of eating.

"It's true..." Charles agreed and looked at my father, "Miss Rose is a spitting image of her mother at her age isn't she?" He asked as dad flinched before nodding.

"...Sometimes she reminds me too much of Maria..." He agreed, looking down at his plate of freshly cooked chicken and then at me, with a far off look in his eyes.

Richard nodded along, "It's a shame about Maria, truly, she was a miracle worker! Father and I both know just how much Eden was affected when we lost her to that damn rotted!"

My mother's death wasn't something that I felt comfortable as a topic to be had over dinner.

"I truly do regret not forcing her to take a guard everywhere..." Charles shook his head as if in shame.

I poked at the stack of pancakes with a fork.

Richard turned his ugly head to me, "Your mother was amazing Rosie, you take after her in more ways than you can imagine..."

Even without looking at him, the smile that I knew was on his face made me sick to the core.

"Indeed! I would love it if you could come work with me when you graduate...that is if I'm still alive by then!" The General announced, laughing at his own joke.

"I'm sure Rosie would be glad to have that offer father!" Goblin junior spoke for me, my dad didn't dare open his mouth, his eyes were on his dead chicken.

"I'll think about it sir..." I told the old man.

"You should decide soon! How long do you have left in school? A year or something?"

"Six months sir." I answered.

"Exactly father's point! The early bird takes the worm after all...you should decide soon Rosie..." Goblin junior placed his slimy hand over mine as I stared down at my still untouched plate.

"I'll let you know as soon as I decide sir." I said with finality as the General nodded.

"You'll do well under me, perhaps much better than your mother..." He finished, taking a bite out of his steak.

Richard picked at his previously untouched pasta, as if he had only now gotten permission to eat.

My father stared at the plate in front of him, possibly wondering if it'd suddenly come back to life and break out dancing.

I stared at my stack of pancakes.

I still had to go tie up a loose end with that blonde bastard.

Pushing down my nausea, I cut through the stack with a knife and took a bite, feeling like I was eating ash.

Charles Von Crois placed down his fork as Richard immediately stopped eating and followed suite.

My plate was already empty by the time they were done with their food and dad hadn't touched his, instead taking to staring at it throughout the dinner.

"That was a good meal." Goblin senior announced as goblin junior nodded along

Charles turned to face my father, noting the untouched plate but saying nothing of it, "I think we should have that talk I mentioned before Jules..." He turned to look at me and his son.

"Why don't you both go for a walk together? You young things wouldn't really be interested in what we old men are gonna be talking about..." Charles pretty much ordered as Richard stood up.

Young? The goblin? He was closer to my father's age than mine! And I'd rather be caught dead than with him!

"Come on Rosie, I was hoping to spend some time with you alone!"

I turned to dad, hoping for even a modicum of support, but my father merely nodded, grim.

Standing up, I followed after the goblin, sure, go out with the middle aged stranger alone in the night, nothing can go wrong, great advice dad.

It was cold outside.

The moonlight refracted on the glass dome and dissipated before it even reached the ground, the streetlights didn't have a single flicker to them as they lit up the streets.

"Ah, beautiful night isn't it?" Richard asked, taking in a deep breath of stagnant air as he crossed the street to look over a railing.

The security guards followed after us, staying just out of reach that they couldn't hear anything he said and just close enough that they could rush in if I tried to push him over into the artificial river that was built as an attraction.

"It's like any other night." I offered, I looked at my phone, eight fifteen, if I wanted to get to where the blonde bastard was, I'd need to leave right now.

Richard let out a snort that reminded me of squeaking machinery that hadn't seen proper care in decades.

"Ah, Rosie, your spunk is what makes you so cute!" He exclaimed as I felt bile rise up to my throat.

"Why do you care? I'm sure you've got women lining up to warm your bed." I spat out, glaring at the man.

Richard smiled at me, almost gloating, "Ah, but none of them are you, Rosie...you're special after all...one of a kind, I've been keeping an eye on you, ever since I saw your performance in that play, what was it? the sleeping beauty? Ah, I was enchanted with you..."

I swallowed, I could feel my heart in my throat, that was five years ago...just how long had this creep been following me?

"And of course, that little magic show you put on three years ago, I was there too..." I stepped back from the creep, ready to make a run for it.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, clenching my fists.

Richard cupped my cheeks, wide smile on his face as he gushed, "Oh, you misunderstand Rosie...I want you, all of you! I'm sure our fathers are talking about it right now! Of course, you should finish school first! Education is important for someone of your position!"

He was too close for comfort, I needed to get out of here, "...Of what position? As far as I know, I'm just the daughter of a museum director." I didn't like where this was going, of every possible moment of this day I had went through, this was definitely the worst by far.

"Ah! That's where you're wrong Rosie, after all...we're going to get married soon, and since father is going to be prime minister, you'll be the prime minister's daughter-in-law! There's going to be a lot expected out of you!"

Married? To this vile creature? No, I'd rather die, in fact, I'd just jump right off of this railing into the river I was planning to push him into.

"I'll never marry you." I announced.

"Ah, Rosie, you misunderstand me, I wasn't proposing! If I was proposing, it'd be much more grand! And besides, you can't refuse me, there's nothing else you could do!" He stated as if his words were an undeniable truth of the universe.

I let out a shuddering breath as I pushed his disgusting hands away.

"I'm leaving, I never want to see your disgusting face ever in my life again." I warned the man as I slowly stepped back, I felt dirty, as if no amount of cleaning could get the filth off of me, I wanted nothing to do with him.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"We both know you don't mean that Rosie! No need to be so embarrassed, we'll both soon bare our true selves to each other after all! But it's what makes you so cute! Ah! I can't wait to have you all to myself!" He called after me as I turned and ran.

I didn't want to look at him, I didn't want to breathe the same air as him, nausea hit me as I wanted to shove myself into a hole and cry to death.

But no! My stupid, stupid! Unfair life! Could never be that simple! I ran into an alleyway, pulling up a map on my phone, I knew where he was, I just needed to get there in less than ten minutes.

Just what more would it take to make sure my dad would live past this day?

Was he even alive after what I just said to that disgusting creep?

I shook myself off of those thoughts, almost tripping on a pothole.

Three minutes before he left, I ran faster, picking up the hem of my dress, why did I even have to wear this ugly piece of garbage? I bet that creep sent it to my father and he, like the gullible idiot he was, just told me to wear it and be pretty for the damn monsters.

Panting, I steadied myself with the railing of the bridge that I had seen him come to, the blonde bastard standing in the middle raised an eyebrow at me, then smiled.

"So you did come..." He noted, turning towards me as I walked up to him.

"You covered your tracks well, going into all those alleys...I lost track of you..."

"You must have a lot of experience sneaking around..." He jibed.

"...Why did you call me a rotted?" I asked, getting to the point, I could just jump back if I messed up.

"Because it'd piss you off, obviously...regardless of how much ever you might sympathize with a rotted, no one would want to be compared to them." He said in a matter of fact tone that pissed me off more.

"What does all of that even accomplish!" I asked, getting impatient, how much longer was he going to waste my time?

"By all of that? What do you mean specifically? Me insulting you...or me planning an assassination attempt on General Von Crois?" His blue eyes glinted in the dim light as his smile looked terrifying.

I froze, "It was you?" I asked, my voice was almost inaudible to even me.

"It was me." He confirmed as he inched closer.

"I can have you arrested you know..." I warned, raising my phone up warningly.

"Oh? If it was that simple, you would have already bought them here wouldn't you? Miss time traveler?"

The grin on his face sent a chill up my spine, where had I messed up? What did I do that he...I admitted to knowing about the assassination attempts...it was stupid! Why did I make such a rookie mistake?

I clutched my hands together and stepped back, the wind rushed out of my throat as I stood at the bridge again, panting.

I walked forward as the blonde bastard raised an eyebrow, "So you did come..." He noted, turning to face me.

Saying nothing, I glared at his emaciated face, I couldn't make any mistakes this time.

"...and here I was, thinking you didn't take offense to being called a rotted."

"Why were you at the exhibit? As far as I know, you weren't on the invite list..."

He smiled, walking in closer, "Interested are you? Well, you should already know by now that I was there to make sure that General Von Crois made a fool out of himself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"..." He said nothing, instead choosing to stare into the distance.

"...Why did you want the general to make a fool out of himself?" I tried again.

He walked to the railing, and leaned over it, "See that building over there?" he asked, pointing into the dark at the other side of the bridge.

"What building?" I asked, walking closer.

"See that light over there? that's a tower, it's the tallest place in this part of the city..." He explained, I leaned over the railing, trying to see what he was pointing to.

There were tram tracks underneath, the garden's public transport system, there was much debate going on about whether it was still efficient to have it up and running, after all, the fuel costs to operate it outweighed whatever little convenience it provided to the common folk.

I spotted the tower he was talking about, in the mass of unlit buildings, the tiny light atop it shone through the dark.

"...it's Iris's lighthouse, it's the only place with working electricity in the slums..."

I looked at him, "What does that have to do with anything?" I was confused, why even bring this up?

The bastard smiled, as he shoved me, the railing I was leaning on suddenly broke apart, throwing me into free fall onto the tram tracks.

I quickly clasped my hands together and shut my eyes.

When I opened them, I was staring straight into the eyes of the blonde bastard, breathing haphazardly, as my heart pounded against my chest.

"You alright there?" He asked, faking concern after trying to murder me, just wonderful, I ran away from one monster to meet another.

The sociopathic bastard shook his head as I said nothing, yet again, he walked over to the railing.

I stayed behind, I did not want to fall to my death again.

"...See that building over there?" he asked, pointing to the same building again.

"It's Iris's lighthouse right?" I asked as the blonde bastard stiffened for a moment, then, he turned to me, sly smile on his face.

"You can travel through time can't you?" he asked, as I cursed, of course the bastard had fed me fake information, did he already suspect that I could jump through time?

I clutched my hands together and stepped back for the third time.

Wind rushed out of my lungs as I stared back at the blonde bastard's sharp blue eyes.

"What?" I asked him, as he shook his head.

"I thought you were frozen into shock by that declaration...I was just kidding of course..."

I raised an eyebrow, "Again, you have a horrid sense of humor."

The blonde bastard smiled, "It's too late to fix me now...and to answer your question, I was there to watch the general, I'm quite invested in his career you see, I've seen all of his past speeches and I didn't want to miss such a career defining one..."

I frowned, what was he trying to achieve by lying? "Then why did you leave midway?" I asked him.

"Ah, well, that was because I already knew what he was going to say next, after all, all of his speeches have the same pattern, shouting himself hoarse halfway through, breaking out into a rant about the opposition despite saying that he won't...that kind of thing." He said, disinterestedly, waving it off without a thought.

"...So why insult me? Why did you expect me to come here?"

"I didn't insult you, again, it was a joke, also, I didn't expect you to come here...I wanted you to come here, after all, how else would I figure out how you foiled the assassination attempts on his life?"

"What assassination attempts?" I asked, letting him know I knew about them would only lead to him figuring out that I could travel through time.

"You don't need to act ignorant, I'm sure you knew about it, after all, you were the one who changed the schedule weren't you?"

"The entire event was managed by my father, I..." The bastard cut me off before I could finish, "Your father who has a specific itinerary for unveiling that he hasn't changed in years?" He asked, why in the world did he know so much about the event? Just how long had he been planning this?

"He wanted to do something special since the general was attending." I offered, it was the excuse that I had given to the confused investors and it satisfied them enough.

"So, he'd change the entire event to center around the general instead of the exhibit?" I froze, He should know exactly why I changed the event! after all, it was his fault in the first place!

"Someone stole the exhibit, so he had to change it last minute." I explained, the only reason that I had changed it up so much was because of the damn teddy bear! it got stolen every single time I went through the day despite whatever I did, so instead, I let this bastard take the damn bear he wanted so badly.

The blonde bastard smiled, ear to ear, "But they didn't!" He announced, "How could they have gotten past the nigh indestructible safe that the exhibit was inside?"

"I don't know, someone probably had the number of the safe..." I muttered out, it was a sorry excuse, even I didn't know the password to the safe, there was no way they could ever know it, my dad was mum about it even when he was near blackout drunk.

"One, eight, one, two...your mother birthday was it? I never gave the two the number, the bear is still in the safe..." I froze, that sounded like something dad would do...how the hell did this bastard keep cornering me?

"...Of course, that begs the question, how were you so sure that someone would steal the bear?" I glared at the bastard as he didn't even flinch, "I suppose there's an easy answer for that, isn't there? Miss time traveler?"

I clutched my hands together and jumped back again, this time to before he got in a word.

"So you did come..." he announced, as I bit back an insult.

"What do you want?" I asked.

The bastard grinned with glee, "How many times have you lived this same moment?" He asked, as I froze, I hadn't even said anything, how in the world did he already know?

"Let me guess, five? perhaps six...of course, you're wondering just how I know aren't you?"

I stood still as he rambled, "It was the question you asked you see, you asked me what I wanted, I never said I wanted you to come here, not this time at least, but you already knew I wanted something from you, so of course you'd ask, after all, it would sound like an usual response to my initial statement to anyone else..."

I bit my lips as I jumped back again, back to the basics, I couldn't let him get the upper hand, not again.

"So you did come..."

I was tired of hearing him repeat the same thing over and over again.

"...and here I was, thinking you took no offense to me calling you a rotted..." He walked over to the railing and looked at the tower again.

"see that building over there?" he asked, pointing to the same building as before.

I nodded, "It's called Iris's lighthouse...it's the only thing with working electricity in this part of town..."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked him, I had to be careful, I couldn't afford to make a single mistake, not with him.

"The better question would be, what did you expect to hear from me?"

"A proper apology." I announced, technically, I was here to make sure that he lost all suspicion that I was a time traveler but I couldn't say that to his face, could I?

"Too bad, you're not getting one from me...not after you allowed the damn general to gloat about drafting children to fight in a war." There was a dangerous glint in his eye.

"Excuse me? I'm not some kind of seer, I can't just predict exactly what he was going to say on that stage."

"But you could do something better...you already knew what he was going to say, didn't you? after all, you've already gone through this day multiple times..." He suggested, there was no proof for it, there was no way he could know that I could time travel...

"Are you hearing yourself? Something like that only exists in fiction..."

"If that were the case, no rotted would exist, humanity would not be stuck inside these glass domes." He argued.

"I thought you calling me a rotted was a joke?" I warned him.

"...You're on your eighth loop...no seventh, we both know that, so, either, we can have a proper conversation, or you can go back in time and try to convince me you're not a time traveler again..." He announced with a sigh.

"...you knew all along didn't you?" I asked, glaring him down.

"...I probably confirmed it during the second loop..." With a sigh, he began to explain.

I clutched my hands together again and took a step backwards, I saw his eyes widen as he rushed towards me but I was already back at the start.

"So you did come..."

I glared at him without saying a word.

"...and here I was, thinking that you took no offense to me calling you a rotted..." he announced.

"Why were you at the exhibit? As far as I know, you weren't on the invite list..."

He smiled, walking closer, "Interested are you? Well, you should already know that I was there to make sure that General Von Crois made a fool out of himself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, repeating myself

"..." He said nothing, the same as before.

"...Why did you want the general to make a fool out of himself?"

He walked to the railing, and leaned over it, "See that building over there?" he asked, pointing into the dark at the other side of the bridge.

"What building?" I asked, walking closer.

"See that light over there? that's a tower, it's the tallest place in this part of the city..." Iris's lighthouse, I already knew.

"...it's Iris's lighthouse, it's the only place with working electricity in the slums..."

I looked at him, "What does that have to do with anything?"

The bastard smiled yet again, as he shoved me, the railing I was leaning on to no surprise, broke apart, throwing me into free fall onto the tram tracks.

I didn't do a thing as the bastard suddenly caught me by the wrist, grunting as he barely held on to the railing.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU PUSH ME?" I asked, half out of frustration, half as an half hearted act.

The bastard faced me with a strange look, "...I imagine that a young girl ending her life immediately after a meeting with the General's son would be quite ruinous to his public image..."

I looked at him, how the hell did he know about that?

As if reading my mind, he explained, "It's the general's habit to have dinner with his hosts after every successful event...as for your meeting with his son, well, he's a well known womanizer and since you weren't following me like I expected you to, I went to the general's favorite restaurant and waited there...I'll assume I'm better at sneaking around than you..."

"When did you find out?" I asked, biting my cheek, just what would it take for him to give up? Why did I even have to go through with this in the first place?

"...When you came to this place. There was no way you could have known where to come...the only explanation was that I led you here in a previous timeline..." His voice was utterly calm, betraying no emotion as he stared me down.

I blinked back the tears that welled at my eyes, "Just what do you want from me?" I cried out, I was tired of this day, I was tired of him, why did I even bother trying so hard?

"...Rotted usually need a specific physical stimulation in order to use their abilities...judging by the fact that you haven't already jumped back yet, I'll assume that you need your left hand to do it...this is your eighth or ninth loop isn't it? Let's have a proper conversation..." He offered.

Talk? With the very bastard who caused my father to die so many times? The bastard who got me stuck with the damn general's son? I'd rather die! Didn't he want that too? If I died, he'd get what he wanted! The damn general's reputation would be ruined and I wouldn't have to marry his shitty son!

Why did it even matter if I lived or died anyway? What was the damn point? I was tired of this, I didn't want to keep on doing this, how many more times would I have to push myself to the limits?

"Screw you." I spat out as I pulled my hand free of his grip and fell to the tracks, I closed my eyes, bracing for the pain and waited for the sweet release of death that oddly seemed more comforting than life.