Chapter 1

On the high platform, Lyra Vane was radiant, dazzling in a magnificent ceremonial gown that outshone even my own wedding dress.

Except for a full queen’s diadem, her attire and the surrounding rituals were practically identical to a new Consort Queen’s.

In stark contrast, I was still in my full battle armor, dust-stained and disheveled, with fresh, unhealed scars on my hands. I looked more like a mere subject than a royal consort.

My sudden interruption of the ceremony seemed to shock Queen Aethelred more than me. She blurted out, “You’re not dead yet?”

All the questions, all the hurt, choked in my throat, unable to escape.

The gazes of the entire assembly turned to me, and in that instant, I felt like I was standing utterly alone against the world.

Seeing my silence, Queen Aethelred waved for someone to escort me away to rest, while her other hand clasped that of her ‘true love,’ Lyra Vane. Lyra Vane lowered her delicate fan, a smirk playing on her lips as she smiled at me.

How dared this child of a disgraced traitor provoke me so openly?

I drew my sword and pointed it directly at her, eliciting a sharp shriek.

Chaos erupted in the great hall as guards dragged me out, half-coaxing, half-forcing.

I watched as Lyra Vane, tucked safely in Queen Aethelred’s embrace, smugly raised an eyebrow at me.

As fireworks burst into bloom outside my chambers, confined within the palace walls, I felt the first stirrings of doubt.

Was the one I loved truly so despicable? Or was it me who wasn’t good enough?

Yet she had once been so gentle. When we first met, I had fallen into the river, and she, heedless of danger, had rescued me.

Those dark eyes, filled with the sparkle of a starlit night, were an incomparable memory.

Daisy’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Alright, My Lady, you’ve told that story for eight years now. I could recite it by heart.”

I was about to retort when urgent alarm bells suddenly rang out from beyond the palace walls. Assassins had infiltrated the palace!

“She’s in danger!” I grabbed my sword, not even bothering to change, and scaled the high walls in just my sheer nightwear, rushing to Queen Aethelred’s aid.

There were far more assassins than I imagined. By the time I reached Queen Aethelred’s private chambers, I found it littered with fallen guards.

A blade flashed directly at Queen Aethelred’s throat; I rushed forward to block it. Turning, I saw Queen Aethelred comforting Lyra Vane, who was nestled in her arms behind me.

Distracted for a moment, my left arm was pierced. More assassins quickly arrived, and I gradually found myself overwhelmed.

“Aethelred! Call the guards!”

Silence stretched behind me. I looked back, and Queen Aethelred was already at the chamber door, Lyra Vane clutched in her arms, fleeing.

A cold dread seized me. I looked down to see blood dripping from the sword impaled in my chest.

As I fell, I thought I saw Queen Aethelred shouting something from a distance. The world plunged into darkness, but through the fading silence, a furious female voice echoed in my ears:

“Who told you to hurt her?!”