Chapter 1

Tags: Shifter Romance, Rebirth, Revenge, Sisterhood, True Power

To consolidate power and purify their bloodlines, the Phoenix and Dragon clans had intermarried for generations.

I was merely an adopted daughter in the Phoenix clan—a lowborn nobody anyone could step on.

In my past life, the Dragon Clan’s crown prince chose me. He spoiled me endlessly, convinced I would bear him a supreme Golden Dragon heir.

But the day I laid a pitch-black egg, he flew into a rage, smashed my egg into pieces, and devoured me alive.

After wiping his bloody mouth, he turned right around to propose to my pureblood sister, Seraphina, swearing they were fated mates.

Seraphina killed him with a single blast of phoenix fire.

Only after I died did I learn the truth. Seraphina had always known his Dragon Core was fractured. He could never sire a talented child.

When I opened my eyes again, the Dragon crown prince was standing right in front of me, reaching out his hand...

"Freya, I fell in love with you at first sight. Will you be my bonded mate?"

I heard that familiar voice, dripping with fake devotion, and saw that slender, hypocritical hand.

I was reborn. Back to the exact day of the Mate Choosing Ceremony.

This time, I was going to make them pay.

Standing in front of me was my husband from my past life.

Damian, the crown prince of the Dragon Clan.

By all rights, he should have chosen Seraphina, the true-blooded daughter of our clan chief. They were supposed to be the ultimate power couple.

Yet somehow, he bypassed her divine bloodline and picked me—an adopted stray.

A girl whose true form was nothing more than a common Rainbow Pheasant.

In my past life, I actually believed he loved me.

After the wedding, he showered me with royal luxury. But the moment I laid a dark egg, he tore me apart and devoured my flesh.

He shattered my egg right before my dying eyes.

Then he crawled back to Seraphina, claiming they were destined soulmates.

Seraphina killed him on the spot.

It was only in death that I realized Seraphina had also turned back the clock. She had made a completely different choice this time around.

And Damian had too.

I had done nothing wrong. I simply took the man Seraphina threw away!

Why did my baby and I have to die?

I didn't understand. Even now, the unfairness burned in my chest.

The Dragon Clan was divided by scale color: Golden Royals, Fire Reds, Azure Winds, Frost Whites, and Dark Abyssals.

Golden dragons held the purest royal blood, while dark dragons were seen as tainted outcasts.

I could understand his fury at seeing a black egg, but I could never forgive what he did to me.

I carried that child with all my strength.

And in the end, I wasn't even left with a whole corpse.

I would never let that monster share my bed again.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Seraphina, who stood right beside me. "Seraphina, do you still want him?"

I had asked the exact same question in my past life.

"He might be a dragon prince, but I'm the daughter of the Phoenix clan chief. I don't beg," Seraphina replied coolly, exactly as she had before. "Besides, if he likes you, you should take him."

Her answer confirmed everything. I was definitely back.

I nodded, turned toward Damian, and met his gaze head-on.

"Prince Damian, you courted Seraphina for years. Now you suddenly claim to want me. What kind of joke is this? What does that make me?"

I refused to walk down that bloody path again.

I was done being anyone's stepping stone, and I would never let my future child die twice.

When my words fell, Seraphina stared at me in pure shock.

Across the room, Damian’s jaw dropped.

Neither of them expected my refusal.

Damian’s face darkened instantly.

I knew exactly why he was furious. He considered himself a supreme royal dragon. A lowborn adopted girl like me should have fallen to her knees in gratitude.

Rejecting him in public was an unforgivable insult.

"Watch your mouth, Freya!" Clan Chief Alden snapped, his voice trembling with anger. "He is the Dragon crown prince. Who gave you the right to say no?"

Seraphina narrowed her eyes, studying me with a sharp, thoughtful look.

I knew I had no real standing here, but jumping into the same fiery pit twice? Never.

I bowed slightly toward Alden. "I respect Seraphina too much to betray her. If Damian can discard her on a whim just because of his title, where does that leave the dignity of our Phoenix Clan?"