Chapter1

To stop my younger brother from being killed, I decided to stay by Caleb, my childhood friend who had grown into a top‑tier noble.

Sure enough, he still loved me. He took me in bed for seven days and seven nights, unwilling to let go.

The black silk sheets still held the lingering warmth of our tangled passion.

I woke from bliss only to find shackles clamped around my wrists and ankles.

Liquid cold iron, the deadliest poison to the Fae of Light clan.

“Ahh!” Agony tore through my nerves instantly. The moment the cold iron touched my skin, a sizzling sound echoed, just like concentrated sulfuric acid splashing onto raw flesh.

Caleb stared down at my contorted face in pain. “You put on quite a show.” He tugged at his tie and spoke from above. “But your pain means nothing compared to how you took my parents from me!”

I tried to crawl toward him, reaching for the hem of his trousers.

“Caleb… I didn’t kill them… The one who saved you back then was actually…”

Before I could finish my sentence, a knife‑like pain stabbed deep in my throat. A silencing spell’s magical contract backfired abruptly, cutting off my voice entirely.

“Save your breath, monster,” Caleb said. He threw a soiled towel onto my face. “Seraphina has been suffering from severe morning sickness today. The doctor says her vital signs are dropping. The baby needs your ‘sustenance.’”

Caleb stepped closer. The tip of his knife sliced open my chest, revealing my Life Core Crystal beneath my skin and flesh.

“No… Caleb, please… don’t take my crystal, I’ll die!” I shook my head desperately, tears splashing onto the sheets. Ignoring my ankles, where cold iron corrosion had exposed white bone, I thrashed wildly.

“You’ll die?” Caleb let out a cold laugh. He forced the blade along the gaps in my flesh, scraping harshly against my Life Core Crystal. My eyes widened sharply, my vision fading in waves.

A faint ting echoed.

A thumb‑nail‑sized chunk of crystal, glowing with rich golden light, was pried completely free.

A gory, hollow wound burst open in my chest right away. My once‑brilliant golden blood gushed forth like a broken dam, soaking the entire bed. Without replenished magic power, I had at most three days left to live.

Carefully, Caleb picked up the crystal with tweezers and placed it inside a sterile glass vial. Staring at the shimmering crystal, his icy gaze softened for a split second, as if he could already see his unborn child.

“Drag her down to the basement,” Caleb ordered, not sparing a single glance at me, barely clinging to life. “Don’t let her filthy blood contaminate the upper floors.”

The floor of the underground cold storage was covered in permanent frost, reeking of sharp rust.

Two bodyguards threw me onto the ground. A rusty metal bucket and a tattered rag crashed down before me.

“Clean up the blood on the floor,” a bodyguard said coldly before turning to lock the heavy iron door.

I lay sprawled on the ground, using nearly all my spiritual power to barely stop the heavy bleeding, which only delayed my fading into stardust ashes.

Through the ventilation duct, I heard classical symphonic music playing.

It was Seraphina’s Baby Shower today.

“Let us raise our glasses to Lord Caleb and Lady Seraphina! May their child bring them endless blessings!” the master of ceremonies’ loud voice drifted through the duct.

Then came Caleb’s voice.

“Thank you all.” His tone was low, gentle, and full of deep devotion—exactly the same as three years ago, when he had held me in that dark hidden cave and sworn to protect me for the rest of his life.

In the basement, I dragged my legs, burned down to exposed bone by cold iron, slowly crawling forward. I gripped the tattered rag, enduring the searing agony of having my core crystal torn out, and wiped my own noble golden blood with slow, sluggish movements.

Suddenly, a harsh beam of light flooded the basement, accompanied by sharp, imposing high‑heeled footsteps clicking steadily: tap, tap, tap.

I lifted my head.

Seraphina stood before me in her haute‑couture gown, looking every inch a true queen. Her stomach was slightly rounded, and hanging around her neck was the vial holding my Life Core Crystal.

I could sense it—she was not pregnant at all. An inescapable stench of dark witchcraft hung thick in the air.

“You cleaned up nicely, monster,” Seraphina sneered, curling her red lips. She suddenly lifted her foot hard.

She stomped straight down into the fresh, bleeding hollow wound in my chest.

I arched violently in agony, golden blood splattering across her shoe.

Seraphina wrinkled her nose in disgust, only to twist her foot brutally half‑way inside my raw flesh.

“Caleb’s knife work is so gentle, he didn’t kill you outright,” Seraphina leaned down. Her red‑polished fingernail flicked the core crystal at her chest, greedy cold light glinting in her eyes. “But this tiny shard of stone is far from enough to feed my hunger.”

I gritted my teeth and glared at her fiercely.

Seraphina lowered her voice.

“Tomorrow night, I’ll have them bring the blind little boy Caleb is keeping locked away. I wonder if the primeval core crystal of a ten‑year‑old Fae child can complete the evolution of my bloodline.”

My breath stopped completely in that instant.

Elian!

She was going after Elian!