Chapter 1
“Heiress, hurry up and draw your blood!”
The pain of being trampled by countless beasts still made me shudder.
But when I opened my eyes, I found myself back in my chambers.
The sacred beast’s attendant held out a porcelain bowl containing a dagger, glaring at me impatiently.
I felt disoriented.
Until Jade, my handmaid, gently reminded me: “My lady, the ceremony begins in two hours.”
“The sacred beast needs to partake of your essence before the ritual.”
I suddenly snapped back to reality.
This was amazing - I had truly returned to the day of the ceremony!
“No!” I shouted, snatching the dagger and throwing it to the ground.
“What sacred beast?”
“It’s nothing but a parasitic bloodsucker!”
The attendant flew into a rage.
“How dare you! The sacred beast is our clan’s divine protector.”
“As the heiress, it’s your duty to nourish it. How can you speak so disrespectfully?”
I let out a cold laugh.
The sacred beast was a small golden dragon.
It had hatched on the day of my birth and was chosen as the clan’s divine guardian.
Legend said it could protect our clan’s fortunes.
But the beast was weak and could only survive by feeding daily on the heiress’s essence.
In my past life, I had cut my wrist every day to feed it.
I gave not just my blood, but a portion of the power I had worked so hard to cultivate each day.
Yet despite all that, it had betrayed me!
I was the heiress with the purest bloodline. My mother was the previous heiress of the Western Seas, my father the king of the Eastern Seas.
But on the day of my ceremony, the sacred beast had denounced my bloodline as impure, causing me to fall from grace.
Why should I show any courtesy to such an ungrateful creature?
“Disrespectful?” I picked up the dagger from the ground and coldly stared at the attendant.
“You talentless sycophant, you only have your current status because you serve the sacred beast.”
“What right do you have to lecture me?”
“Get out!”
“If you dare speak to me like that again, I’ll have you executed on the spot!”
The attendant fell to his knees, terrified.
He wanted to argue but couldn’t get a word out.
Just then, a gentle voice drifted in: “The attendant is only doing his duty, sister. Why are you so angry with him?”
I clenched my fists tightly, my nails digging into my palms.
A graceful figure appeared before me.
It was Rose.
The mastermind who had stolen my identity in my past life!
At this moment, Rose was smiling sweetly as she helped the attendant up, speaking to him in a soft, soothing voice.
Then she looked up at me, her eyes alluring.
She spoke in a considerate tone: “Sister, you shouldn’t be so hard on the servants.”
“It will only invite gossip if word gets out.”
I laughed coldly inside and retorted: “If I really enjoyed bullying servants, I wouldn’t have allowed you to manipulate things behind my back all this time.”
Rose’s smile froze.
She wasn’t of our clan’s bloodline, and had once been nothing more than a lowly servant girl.
Later, she saved my father’s life and was adopted as his daughter.
Suddenly elevated in status, she became the clan’s second princess, with a reputation for being kind and magnanimous.
Yet she secretly had all the servants who knew of her past killed.
Rose’s expression twisted for a moment before quickly returning to normal. She smiled and said: “Sister, you should draw your blood soon. Don’t make things difficult for the attendant.”
She held out the dagger to me.
I sensed something was off.
In my past life, before the ceremony, Rose had been as meek as a mouse, never daring to challenge me.
Now she was repeatedly provoking me.
And she seemed oddly insistent on me drawing blood for the sacred beast.
Could this be related to why I had transformed into an ugly black serpent in my past life?
I made a mental note to be cautious.
Pretending to be reluctant, I took the dagger and coldly stared at Rose and the attendant.
“What? Are you going to watch me draw blood?”
Rose and the attendant had no choice but to leave the room.
I turned to my handmaid Jade and whispered: “Jade, do exactly as I say.”
Half an hour later, a bowl of blood was handed to the sacred beast’s attendant.
The blood was golden, infused with my spiritual essence and power.
Pressing the wound on my wrist, I snapped impatiently: “Now get out!”
The two finally left.
As they were leaving, thinking I was out of earshot, Rose muttered: “Enjoy it while you can!”
“When you turn into an ugly black snake, heh…”
I was shocked.
So Rose had been reborn as well.
Realizing this, I felt a bitter taste in my mouth.
For countless years, I had diligently cultivated my powers, never slacking off or harboring ill intentions.
But why?
After suffering such an unjust fate and tragic death in my past life, I had finally been given a second chance.
Yet my enemy had been reborn as well.
Was the heavens truly so unfair?