Chapter 3

Fenris and I had barely stepped into the grand hall of the Crown Prince's estate when the doors behind us burst open with brutal force.

I stopped in my tracks.

Rosalind swept in with a full contingent of royal guards, shimmering silk cloak billowing, chin impossibly high. Those violet eyes—so like my own—blazed with arrogance and provocation.

But my gaze slid past her smug face and locked onto the necklace at her throat.

A Star Blood Crystal, wrapped in mithril.

My breath caught. A sharp phantom pain twisted in my chest.

In my past life, I'd infiltrated the Abyss Frontier alone for this top-tier blood crystal—one that could stabilize primordial spirit veins. The scar where an abyssal beast tore into my lower back still remained, a grotesque reminder.

I'd placed it around Cyprian's neck with my own hands. He'd looked at me with tears in his eyes, saying I was the only light in his dark existence.

Now that so-called "only light" hung brazenly around my half-sister's throat—a token of their treacherous alliance.

"Aveline! Have you lost your mind?"

Rosalind strode up to me, her voice shrill. "You were always so obsessed with Cyprian, weren't you? Your whole life, you never let me have anything. But now? I took your precious Fox-Therian without even trying!"

She paused deliberately, glancing back at Fenris standing silently beside me, then let out a mocking laugh.

"Look at what you've settled for—some chained, broken excuse for a Dragon-Therian who's completely mad!"

Rosalind stepped closer, lowering her voice to a venomous whisper. "What can you do besides stand here and take it? Father's health is failing fast. The day I claim the throne, the look on your face will be absolutely priceless!"

A cold smile curved my lips. Rosalind remained as foolish as ever.

The ending from my past life replayed vividly in my mind. When Cyprian had stood atop mountains of corpses for his final coronation, Rosalind had been just as gleeful, watching me grovel on the ground.

She'd crowed triumphantly, "Cyprian, doesn't the almighty Crown Prince look just like a dog now?"

The next moment, Cyprian's dark magic dagger had pierced straight through her heart from behind.

I still remembered the madness and contempt in his eyes as he looked at me.

"Filthy thing." He'd kicked Rosalind's convulsing corpse aside, his pitiful facade melting completely into manic euphoria.

"She was nothing but a pawn to me, and she actually thought she'd sit on the throne? Why should you people be born into power? If it means grinding you all beneath my heel, what's a little emotional manipulation and scheming?"

Cyprian craved absolute power, and that path inevitably led to massacre and defiance of natural order. The past life had ended in tragedy, but in this one, I still had cards left to play.

I looked at Rosalind, still running her mouth, and the killing intent in my eyes deepened.

"What are you smiling at?!" She flinched at the cold fury in my gaze, her voice rising in anger.

CRACK!

The sharp sound of a slap echoed through the hall.

I'd struck with full force. My palm shattered Rosalind's pathetic magical shield like glass, and the sheer impact sent her flying backward. She crashed onto the marble floor in a heap.

"You dare hit me?!" She clutched her swelling cheek, her face contorted with rage, instinctively planting her left hand on the ground to push herself up.

I gave her no chance to recover.

I closed the distance in three strides and brought the hard heel of my boot down onto her supporting hand.

I didn't hold back. I ground down with every ounce of my weight.

The sickening crunch of bone accompanied Rosalind's piercing shriek. Tears burst from her eyes instantly.

"Calling you 'sister' is a courtesy afforded by royal breeding—not permission to run wild on my property."

I stared down at her, my heel crushing her fingers mercilessly beneath my boot. "That blood crystal? Nothing but trash I threw away. You actually thought it was precious? You and that scheming lapdog of yours deserve each other."

"Break her legs!" Rosalind screamed at the guards, her voice raw with hysteria.

Several guards immediately drew their swords, blades gleaming with lethal intent as they charged toward me.

I didn't even blink. My foot remained planted firmly on Rosalind's hand.

WHOOOM—!

Suffocating pressure erupted behind me without warning.

The two lead guards had no time to react. An invisible wave of force launched them backward into stone pillars with bone-breaking impact. They coughed up blood, their swords shattering into fragments.

Heavy chains rattled as Fenris stepped forward, angling himself in front of me.

Aside from that initial burst of dragon's might, he used no magic—didn't even remove the restraints binding his power.

He simply stood there. Warm blood slid from a crack in his scales and splattered on the floor. His dark gold slit pupils regarded the remaining guards as if they were already dead.

The guards' legs gave out. Weapons clattered to the marble. Not one dared move.

I pressed down hard one final time, then sent Rosalind sprawling with a brutal kick.

"As for that throne you mentioned."

I stared coldly at her trembling form, each word sharp as a blade. "I'm the Starlight Crown Prince by divine right. With that pathetic excuse for a brain and your conniving boy-toy, what makes you think you can take anything from me?"

Terror flooded Rosalind's face. She looked from me to the nightmare standing at my side, then let her guards drag her stumbling body through the doorway.

The hall fell into deathly silence.

I stared coldly at the gaping entrance.

That last statement hadn't been a lie.

In my previous life, even at the height of my infatuation with Cyprian, I'd never once neglected my duties as Crown Prince. I'd fulfilled every responsibility meticulously.

Yet Cyprian, poisoned by resentment over his lowborn origins, blamed me for every injustice he'd suffered.

"Why are people like you born into power while insects like me get trampled into the dirt? Why should I endure endless humiliation? All you power-mongers deserve to die!"

When he betrayed me in that past life, his expression had been savage beyond recognition. "If someone born to the highest position can be you, why can't it be me? I can play these power games too!"

I'd lain there in a pool of my own blood, desperately asking him why. He'd only laughed with manic glee:

"Aveline, only absolute power lets me crush everyone beneath my heel! That destiny should have been mine from the start!"

He'd had ambition, yes. But his brutal methods were fundamentally at odds with the will of this continent's people.

Someone like that could never wear a crown securely.

Just like the foolish Rosalind.

This time, I would completely rewrite the tragic trajectory they'd carved in my previous life.