Chapter 1

Orion Blackwood, the crown prince of the Divine Realm, brought back a mortal woman, declaring he would break our engagement and marry her.

The queen reassured me, "You need not trouble yourself over a mortal woman. At most, she and Orion share a fleeting, meaningless affair."

The mortal, unable to bear the humiliation, leapt into the Eternal Void.

Her soul was completely destroyed.

A thousand years later, at our wedding, Orion succumbed to darkness, killing his own parents and wiping out my entire clan.

He said, "This is what you owed her."

When I awoke, I was back at the moment before Orion announced he would break our engagement.

Seeing Orion so determined to marry the mortal woman, I turned to the queen and offered my advice.

"Since His Highness loves her so much, Your Majesty, perhaps you should let him do as he wishes," I said.

Orion believed the woman he married would become the future queen, not knowing that the man I wed would rule the Divine Realm.

*****

I never thought my wedding would turn into a mass funeral for my whole clan.

Just like nobody ever expected the dignified Crown Prince of the Divine Realm to fall into darkness.

The reception was only halfway through, and the guests hadn't even had their fill of joy yet.

The man who'd just been holding my hand so tenderly suddenly pulled away, his expression full of loathing.

"That's enough, Aurora. This charade is over," he said coldly.

I couldn't make sense of it, but unease crept into my heart.

In the blink of an eye, he was consumed by darkness, right before everyone's eyes.

The entire hall was plunged into a stunned silence.

I managed to ask, "Why?"

He shot me a cold glare. "If you hadn't insisted on keeping the engagement, Lila would still be alive."

He sneered, "You wanted to be Crown Princess, the future Queen of the Divine Realm? Well, I'll make sure you never get what you want."

He added, "Lila is dead, and you'll all be buried with her!"

I couldn't fathom where he found the audacity to say such things. Even after succumbing to darkness, countless powerful gods and immortals surrounded him, many far stronger than him.

But I understood soon enough.

It turned out he had tainted the wedding wine with Hexbane Elixir.

Hexbane Elixir was distilled from the essences of greed, malice, desire, corruption, sloth, and envy drawn from all three realms. For gods and immortals, it was the most insidious poison ever conceived.

Everyone's divine powers were suppressed, leaving them utterly powerless to resist.

"If I hadn't been waiting for this day, do you really think I would've kept up the act with you for a thousand years?" he sneered, shooting me a mocking look.

A hollow ache filled my heart.

So the wedding I'd dreamed of was just his ruse, a ploy to massacre the Divine Realm.

He massacred all the immortals, then killed King Lucian and Queen Selene.

He announced that anyone who ever tried to come between him and Lila had to die, especially me.

But he didn't want my death to be that simple. That was why he left me for last.

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Aurora, I know your Winged Kin are everything to you. That's exactly why I want you to watch. Watch as I destroy every last one of them."

I tried to hold him back, pleaded with him desperately, begging for mercy.

"Orion, I'll call off the wedding, just let the Winged Kin go! This is between us. It has nothing to do with them! Please, Orion..." I begged, my voice trembling.

But he was completely unmoved.

Of course he was. He'd already succumbed to darkness. He could slaughter his own parents, let alone spare the Winged Kin.

That day, I could only stand there and watch as a rain of blood stained the Divine Realm crimson.

"Aurora? Aurora?" Someone called out, their voice pulling me back.

The coppery tang of blood vanished, replaced by billowing clouds and ethereal melodies drifting through the air.

Everything was serene and idyllic, so perfect that it almost felt unreal, as if everything that had happened before was just a fleeting dream.

But deep down, I knew it hadn't been a dream.

I found myself once again a thousand years in the past, before Crown Prince Orion had even faced his trial.

Queen Selene sat above everyone, watching me with concern. "Aurora, what's wrong?"

I shook myself out of it, managing a faint smile. "I'm alright, Your Majesty. Didn't mean to make you worry."

Selene seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then said, "Speaking of which, Orion should be back any day now, shouldn't he?"

At the sound of Orion Blackwood's name, my fingers froze for a moment.

But Selene didn't seem to notice my slip and continued, "Once Orion returns, your wedding should be put on the agenda."

She smiled, a teasing glint in her eyes.

But this time around, I wasn't going to marry Orion.

Because I knew that in three days, Orion would come back from his tribulation, and he wouldn't be alone. A mortal woman would be with him.

She was his true love.

The one he'd slaughter his own parents for, the one he'd annihilate my entire bloodline for.