Chapter 1

I was the noble Golden Dragon Divine Consort, yet I gave birth to a blue-green dragon of an impure bloodline. My husband, Crown Prince Devlin Drake of the Dragon Clan, even slew our child with his own hands to preserve his exalted sovereign dignity.

After he imprisoned me in the icy Mystic Crystal Palace, he watched resentfully as my half-sister gave birth to a "pure-blooded Golden Dragon" for his younger brother to great fanfare and glory. I died amidst endless torment and resentment. However, the heavens took pity on me and gave me a second chance at life. I came back to life on the day of my childbirth.

This time, as I caressed my belly, feeling the unique life misunderstood by the whole world pulsing within me, I swore to myself. Devlin Drake and my "beloved younger sister" Lyssa Arden, I would make you two repay a thousandfold… Nay, ten thousandfold what you two owed me and my child with the future of the Dragon Clan.

*****

An excruciating pain that almost tore my soul apart suddenly dragged my consciousness out of the chaotic darkness.

Wasn't I already dead? I remembered I died in the Mystic Crystal Palace. My blood had been frozen solid by the ancient ice, and I had suffered biting cold day and night until my soul withered away and crumpled to ashes.

The last thing I saw before death was Devlin. The man I once loved so deeply, clad in his luxurious princely robes, was cradling an infant bathed in a golden glow in his arms. That was the child my half-sister, Lyssa, gave birth to, sired by Devlin's younger brother Aphoph.

That was the so-called "pure-blooded Golden Dragon" descendant. The entire Dragon Clan was joyously celebrating the birth of that child.

But my newborn son, Inigo, had blue-green scales. He had already been slain by Devlin himself. As Devlin was the Crown Prince of the Golden Dragons, a blue-green dragon son was an abominable disgrace to him.

"Idaia, you are unworthy to be my wife, and even less worthy to give birth to my heir!" Devlin's words cut me even more deeply than the bone-piercing ice of the Mystic Crystal Palace.

*****

Hatred welled up in my chest like molten lava until it almost engulfed me.

Suddenly, a surge of extreme pain tore through my body, and a guttural scream of anguish escaped my lips.

"Your Divine Highness, push! The baby is almost out!" A woman urged me in a frantic, trembling voice.

I struggled to open my eyes and saw the familiar dome of the royal chamber above me, etched with elaborate golden dragon motifs. Several midwives and maids gathered around my bed with anxious, worried faces.

This sight before my eyes… I had come back to life, and today was the day I gave birth to Inigo.

"Waaah!" A loud, shrill cry filled the air, and with it, my whole body went limp as if every ounce of strength had been drained from my body. My child was finally born.

With a racing heart, I fought to sit up. I was overjoyed at the realization that I had been given a second chance at life, yet I was also filled with overwhelming terror.

"W-What... what is it?" My own voice was so hoarse it was barely more than a whisper.

One midwife was holding the tiny newborn, but her whole body was shaking uncontrollably. Her quivering lips could not utter a single word.

One braver maid leaned closer for a look. Almost immediately, she fell to her knees with an ashen face. "Your Divine Highness... it's... it's..."

She didn't have the courage to say it either. But I knew all too well.

I propped myself up with all the strength I could muster as my eyes locked onto the baby wrapped in a golden silk towel. A corner slipped down to reveal a small patch of scales.

That patch was not the brilliant gold that Devlin and I possessed, but blue-green, like freshly sprouted bamboo after the rain, or the waters of a spring lake.

This was my precious Inigo.

I felt as if an invisible hand was crushing my heart. The pain was so unbearable that I could hardly breathe. In my previous life, those blue-green scales were the harbinger of doom for him.

"What's going on?" The doors were flung open with brute force, and Devlin Drake barged in, exuding a threatening, ominous air. His strikingly handsome face was stormy, and his tone was overflowing with impatience. His sharp gaze swept past everyone before landing directly on the infant in the midwife’s arms.

When he caught sight of those blue-green scales, the flicker of hope in his eyes transformed instantly into a raging inferno of anger and incredulous humiliation.

"A blue-green dragon?" he hollered through gritted teeth. Every syllable seemed to be dripping with venom.

The atmosphere in the bedchamber became chillingly tense at once. All the maids and midwives prostrated themselves on the ground and held their breath in terror.

"Devlin," I spoke softly but with enough clarity to break the iciness that held everyone in a death-like grip.