Chapter 1

"Happy anniversary, darling. Look what I brought you." My husband's snow-white python once felt like proof of his love—until I remembered dying with it wrapped around my throat. In my past life, I doted on that "gift" for an entire year, never once suspecting its true nature, while my husband and daughter quietly counted down the days until I stopped breathing. Reborn on the very night he presents that same box again, I swear this time will be different.

——

"Happy tenth anniversary, darling. Look what I got you."

My husband, Declan, stood there in his bespoke suit, wearing that signature affectionate smile of his.

In his hands rested a black velvet box.

My hands flew to my throat as I gasped for air.

It wasn't until I felt the frantic, pounding pulse beneath my fingertips that the realization hit me: I had been reborn.

My gaze snapped back to the box in Declan's hands. In my previous life, today marked the beginning of my absolute nightmare.

Inside that box was an albino ball python. It was pure, snow-white, its scales shimmering with a pearlescent luster.

Declan had told me gently that it was a rare morph, a symbol of our pure, flawless, and unchanging love.

In my past life, even though cold-blooded creatures made my skin crawl, I swallowed my fear and accepted it simply because it was a gift from him.

I even fed it myself and set up the most luxurious terrarium for it.

But little did I know, it was no symbol of love. It was Declan's first love—a shapeshifter named Serafina.

For an entire year, Serafina fed on my blood to regain her human form at night.

She slept with my husband right in my own bed while I was dead to the world.

When I was finally too weak to even get out of bed, that white python coiled itself tightly around my neck.

Even now, I can vividly recall the agonizing sensation of my previous death.

The freezing scales constricting, the air growing suffocatingly thin.

I struggled to cry for help, only to see my sixteen-year-old daughter, Ivy, leaning against the doorframe. Popping her chewing gum, she asked Declan, "Daddy, is she finally dying? That limited-edition sports car gets transferred to my name tomorrow, right?"

Declan just kissed her forehead tenderly and smiled.

"Of course, my little princess. Everything is ours now."

The phantom agony of suffocation still lingered in my throat, but I forced myself to stay calm.

Because I had been reborn.

I was back at the ultimate turning point of my fate.

"Lyra? Do you not like it?" Declan asked, noticing my prolonged silence.

I looked at him and smiled.

"No, I absolutely love it." I stood up, reached into the box without a second thought, and pinched the white python right behind its head.

Clearly caught off guard by my rough handling, the python instinctively tried to coil around my wrist.

But my fingertips quietly channeled my family's ancestral binding curse. In an instant, it went as stiff as a board.

Declan’s expression faltered as he tried to pull my hand away.

"Careful, darling, it's fragile..."

"Since this is the 'eternal love' you’ve gifted me, I think I should give it the perfect resting place."

I cut him off with a smile, turning to the butler standing nearby.

"Send Mr. Howard in."

Declan froze.

"Howard? The avant-garde artist? What did you call him here for?"

"For our love, of course."

A few minutes later, Howard and his team wheeled in a massive, transparent glass tank.

This was no ordinary glass. It was alchemical bulletproof glass, laced with cold iron powder.

The tank was filled with a thick, viscous liquid that shimmered with a faint silver glow—a custom preservation fluid concocted from liquid silver, mountain ash extract, and high-density resin.

To a shapeshifter, liquid silver was a lethal poison that would burn their very soul, while cold iron completely sealed away their magic.

"Lyra, what the hell are you doing?!" Declan’s voice cracked, losing its composed edge.

"Making a live resin specimen," I replied casually, dangling the violently thrashing white python right over the mouth of the tank.

"Didn't you say it symbolizes eternity? Living creatures age and die. Only as a specimen can it truly be eternal."

"It will be forever entombed in this crystal-clear resin, displayed right in the center of our living room."

"No!" Declan lunged forward, desperately trying to snatch the python away.

I simply sidestepped and let go. The white python plunged straight into the thick, silver liquid.

The fluid instantly swallowed it whole.

I watched clearly as, the second it made contact with the silver, violent, agonizing spasms erupted beneath its scales.

It opened its jaws to scream, only to swallow more of the soul-scorching toxic resin.

Stripped of its ability to shift and with no way to escape, it could do nothing but remain wide awake as the lethal poison slowly ate away at its marrow, inch by agonizing inch.

"Lyra!" Declan roared, his eyes bloodshot. He slammed his hands against the glass, staring in sheer horror at the writhing python inside.

"Whatever is the matter, darling?" I looked at him, feigning pure innocence.

"Didn't you just say you wanted our love to remain perfectly unchanged? Look how beautiful it is now."

Declan stood completely rigid, forced to choke down every ounce of his rage.

"It... it is beautiful. But, don't you think this is a bit too cruel?"

"Cruel?" I let out a soft chuckle. "What's a little sacrifice in the name of eternity?"

"Wouldn't you agree, Declan?"