Chapter1

I snapped my eyes open. The sickening crunch of my shattered spine still echoed in my head. I bolted upright off the floor. Outside, thunder roared, and a flash of lightning illuminated the cramped, musty apothecary cabin. I looked down, staring intently at my own hands.

No gaping, bloody holes pierced my wrists. No rotting flesh hung from my collarbone where the dark vines had mangled me. I was alive.

I had returned to the exact day before I was drained of my golden blood and thrown into the death ward.

Thump. Thump.

A heavy pounding struck the door.

"Aria..." A feeble male voice slipped through the crack beneath the door.

It was my fiancé. The man who purportedly suffered a lethal ambush at the border and was now drawing his last breaths.

In my past life, on a stormy night exactly like this, I had lost my mind the second I heard his plea. I had ripped the door open and dragged his blood-soaked body inside. Without a second thought, I had slashed my own wrists, feeding him mouthful after mouthful of the pure bloodline capable of healing any wound. I thought I was saving my lover, my future husband.

And the result? He drained me dry, only to fake his own death and vanish. When he finally reappeared before me, he was wearing the immaculate uniform of a Duke. Using his true identity—Kael, the older twin brother—he looked down at me as I was pinned to the floor, framing me in front of the entire empire's nobility for murdering his poor younger brother to steal his fortune. The dying knight I had sacrificed everything for was none other than Duke Kael himself, playing a part.

"Aria... please... save me..." The voice outside grew even fainter. His acting was flawless. Absolutely perfect.

I swallowed hard, but I didn't move toward the entryway. Instead, I pivoted and walked straight to my alchemy workbench. A heavy wooden basin sat on the surface, filled to the brim with toxic runoff from yesterday’s failed experiment. A sickly green sheen shimmered on the water's surface. Even a droplet the size of a fingernail could instantly melt human flesh down to the bone.

I picked up the basin.

"Aria, I'm so cold..." The jagged, heavy panting was pressed right against the crack of the door.

Holding the basin, I walked to the door, step by step. I lifted my foot, hooked the heavy latch with my boot, and kicked it upward. The moment the door swung open, a figure collapsed forward with practiced precision, sprawling right at the edge of my boots.

"You finally opened the door..." He was caked in mud and rainwater. That strikingly handsome face, identical to the one in my nightmares, was deathly pale. A forged, fatal wound stretched across his chest, staining my threshold crimson. He struggled to lift his head, reaching out a trembling hand to grab the hem of my nightgown. "I knew... you wouldn't abandon me..."

"I certainly won't abandon you." A cold smile crept onto my lips. I hoisted the basin of venomous waste and violently hurled the entire thing directly into his face.

The vicious hiss of corrosion erupted instantly, accompanied by a thick plume of blinding, acrid white smoke. The gag-inducing stench of forcefully melted flesh mixed with the metallic reek of fake blood. It was absolutely sickening.

Without a shred of hesitation, I raised my boot and stomped down hard on the hand that had just tried to grab my gown.

"If you're going to die, do it further away."

"Don't dirty my porch."

With that, I kicked him squarely down the stairs.

Slam! I shoved the heavy door shut. With a sharp clack, the heavy iron chain locked into place. The cabin fell silent once more. The only sound left was the torrential rain battering against the roof.

I casually dropped the empty steel basin at my feet.

Under normal circumstances, any living creature doused in an entire basin of acid would be writhing in the mud, screaming in absolute agony. But outside my door, there was no movement. Aside from the driving rain, the silence was eerily unnatural.

A second later, the air pressure inside the cabin plummeted. The oil lamp on the wall flickered violently twice before completely snuffing out. Through the gaps beneath the door, wisps of black, abyssal mist began to seep in, instantly swallowing whatever light remained in the room. The temperature dropped to absolute freezing.

Then, a low chuckle echoed from the other side.

It was the voice of the Dark Duke, Kael.

The pile of "mangled meat" that had just been lying in the mud seemed to have stood right back up. He pressed himself against the wood.

"How fascinating, Aria..." the man murmured, his voice dropping to a dangerous baritone. "It seems my little bird has grown some incredibly sharp claws."