Yan Shui

I was the legitimate first daughter of House Griffith, but my father shattered my Dragon Core, turning me into a worthless "Dragonless." I thought my family still cared, until my half-sister Gale visited me in the dungeon to feed me the "Soul's Extinction" poison. As the poison burned away my very soul, she stood in her royal gown and laughed. "Your fiancé has been with me for months," she smiled, twisting the knife. She revealed that my own father had orchestrated my downfall because he didn't want a weak daughter tarnishing his name. Even my little brother had been brainwashed into believing I caused our mother's death. My entire family had conspired to erase my existence, ensuring nothing was left of me to even fade into memory. I writhed on the filthy straw, my vocal cords severed by the poison, unable to even scream. Why? I was the daughter of a legendary Dragon Marshal, yet I was treated worse than a stray dog. As darkness swallowed me whole, my eyes burned with a hatred so intense it felt like magma. If there is another life, I swear I will make them beg for a death as simple as this. The pain vanished. I gasped and opened my eyes. I was back in my bedroom at age fifteen, on the exact day my sister sent a drunken noble to ruin me. I didn't cower. I picked up a heavy iron poker from the hearth. My revenge starts now.

I was the Gold-Tier Fixer of the syndicate, promised to the lethal Underboss, Dante. We had bled on the same battlefields to conquer the eastern seaboard. But ever since he took in his new mentee, Mia, I became invisible. For three years, he canceled our Mafia Blood Oath seventeen different times to be by her side. On our third engagement anniversary, he rushed home at noon not to see me, but to grab a bespoke diamond necklace for Mia's birthday. When he finally returned late at night, he tossed a cheap, last-minute duplicate purse on my table. "I need you to step down from your position as Gold-Tier Fixer and give the title to Mia," he said, his voice laced with absolute entitlement. "Let her have it." Before I could even respond, Mia called about a minor security issue, and he immediately headed for the door, swearing we would finally take our vows the next morning. I stared at the two identical bags sitting untouched in my closet, realizing every gift he ever gave me was thoughtless garbage compared to the treasures he showered on her. I had spent eight years smelling of unscented soap just to please him, yet he let the heavy scent of Mia's roses soak right into his collar. I was a fool squandering my talents on a man who had already buried our vows. The next morning, I didn't go to the sanctuary. I dropped my resignation papers on the Capo's desk, permanently blocked Dante's number, and boarded a one-way flight to Paris. This time, I chose to build an empire for myself.

I was the top commander of a black-ops military program. After slaughtering my way through a hellish mission, I reached the extraction helicopter, trusting my second-in-command to watch my back. But the moment our hands locked, he didn't pull me up. Instead, he plunged a syringe of lethal neurotoxin directly into my neck. He aimed his gun at my chest, coldly stating that I was too dangerous to live. My lungs stopped, and I died in a pool of my own blood. But the endless blackness suddenly shattered. My consciousness violently forced its way into a new, broken shell. I woke up in a freezing alley, soaked in muddy rain. This body belonged to seventeen-year-old Eliza Wyatt. A massive wave of foreign memories crashed into my brain. Her own younger sister had just stood at the top of the stairs with a mocking smile, watching street thugs beat Eliza to death. "Take good care of the Wyatt family's eldest daughter. Tonight is the night she finally disappears." The endless humiliation, the cold stares of her family, and the brutal betrayal by her own blood flashed before my eyes. Why was this fragile girl treated like garbage and pushed to her death by the very people who should have protected her? I looked down at my pale, trembling hands. The top commander was dead, but in this bleeding shell, Eliza Wyatt was very much alive. I picked up a switchblade from the bloody puddle and stood up in the storm. It was time to hunt.

The rain was a solid sheet of gray as the black SUV rammed into my car, sending me spiraling over the guardrail. As the glass shattered and the world turned upside down, a searing pain ripped through my chest before everything went cold and dark. I didn’t stay in the darkness. My spirit hovered ten feet in the air, watching the steam hiss from my mangled sedan. I followed the magnetic pull of my soul back to my family estate, expecting to find them devastated. Instead, I found my stepmother, Florene, and my sister, Kassidy, pouring vintage champagne and laughing in the drawing room. "To the end of the nuisance," Florene said, her eyes gleaming with greed. "The trust fund unlocks at midnight. We're finally rich." The betrayal cut deeper than the metal that killed me, but the real shock came at my funeral. Hiram Tyson—the cold, masked husband I’d spent three years fearing—collapsed over my closed casket. He unbuckled his silver mask, revealing a face ruined by scars, and sobbed a name I hadn't heard since childhood. "I'm sorry, Angel. I thought keeping you at arm's length would keep the darkness away." He wasn't the monster I thought he was. He was the boy I had saved at the orphanage years ago, and he had been protecting me in silence while my own family plotted my murder. I reached out to touch him, but the world exploded into a blinding white light. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in a casket. I was back in our bedroom, feeling the heavy weight of Hiram’s arm across my waist. The calendar on the nightstand read September 14, 2023—exactly one year before the crash. I looked at the silver mask resting on the table and felt a cold, hard determination settle in my chest. This time, I wasn't going to be the victim. I was going to be the villain in their story and burn their world to the ground.

For thirteen years, I waited for my fiancé, Brandon. Our marriage was blocked ninety-nine times by his family's board, or so he told me. Each time, he'd accept a public corporate penalty, playing the martyr for our love. But on the day of the 100th vote, I overheard the truth. The board had approved our marriage every single time. He was the one sabotaging it, fabricating issues to appease his manipulative adopted sister, Kendal. That night, at a "surprise party," he kissed her with a passion he hadn't shown me in years. When I later confronted him about her lies, he shoved me. I fell, my head splitting open on the coffee table. As I lay bleeding on the floor, he didn't help me. He stood over me, protecting his crying sister. "Apologize to Kendal, Averi." That's when I finally saw him for the weak man he was. I wiped the blood from my face, walked out of the life we built, and accepted the marriage proposal from his biggest rival.

I faked my death to escape a husband who despised me. I gave his dying mistress my kidney and my life force just to ensure he' d be safe. I thought I was finally free, until he showed up at my animal shelter five years later. Hudson Holland spent a decade making me feel small, culminating in a public humiliation on our tenth anniversary. He didn't know I had uncovered a plot against his life that only my complete disappearance could stop. So I vanished. I left behind a suicide note, a burnt wedding ring in a fiery bus crash, and a healed Adaline by his side. He was supposed to be happy. Instead, he spent years hunting for ghosts, consumed by a regret I no longer cared about. When he finally tracked me down to the coast, I looked him in the eye and told him I' d rather be dead than be his wife again. I told him to leave and never come back. But when a violent gang broke into my sanctuary to hurt my animals, Hudson didn't hesitate. He threw himself in front of a knife to save a scruffy terrier I loved. Now, the man I swore to hate is bleeding out in my arms. And I have to decide if I' m going to let him die.

After three years as his secret, I finally got the fairytale wedding I'd always dreamed of. My husband, Addison Parker, was finally free from his family's control, and he chose me. Carrying his twin babies, I flew across the country to surprise him on a business trip, only to overhear him talking to his best friend. "She's too sweet," he said, his voice casual. "Like chewing gum that's lost its flavor." His words shattered my world. The man who knelt at my feet, tears in his eyes, promising me forever, saw me as nothing more than a bland convenience. The betrayal was so absolute, so cruel, that I walked into a hospital the next day and terminated the pregnancy. When he found out, his love twisted into a dark obsession. He locked me in our penthouse, a prisoner in a gilded cage. "I could give you something," he whispered, his eyes gleaming with a terrifying light. "Something to make you forget. To make you happy again." He planned to drug me, to erase my memories and my pain, turning me into his perfect, smiling doll forever. But he underestimated me. I had a plan of my own.

The sterile office felt colder than usual as Commander Davis slid a folder across the table, marking a point of no return. "Ava Mitchell, this is your last chance to back out." My once-vibrant life was about to become a calculated disappearance, replaced by the clandestine world of Agent Nightingale. I was ready to vanish. Or so I thought. Six years of playing the devoted wife to Ben Carter, a tech CEO, had hollowed me out. His "savior," Leah Thompson, his childhood sweetheart, had wormed her way into our home, and my son, Leo, idolized her as "Auntie Leah," making me feel like a prop in my own life. The breaking point arrived on a rock-climbing trip. Ben's dismissive tone, Leah's triumphant smirk, and Leo's words, "Mommy, please? Auntie Leah isn' t afraid," shattered any remaining hope. In that moment, I knew I had to escape this gilded cage. I walked away from the mountain, leaving behind the screaming, the accusations, and the life that was no longer mine. Back home, I systematically erased Ava Mitchell: my lawyer drew up divorce papers, I liquidated my assets, shredded photo albums, and even gave up my parental rights to Leo, blocking a tearful Ben and my son' s heartbroken cries. The pain was physical, but it hardened into an unbreakable resolve. Then came the messages, the perfect family photos of Ben, Leo, and Leah at the school play, Leah wearing my anniversary necklace. My old life was being replaced, piece by piece, before Ava Mitchell was even officially "dead." The final blow came from an "Eternity Locket" that revealed Ben and Leah's relationship wasn't gratitude, but a long-con, a conspiracy to "get rid of me" that predated our marriage. The hurt, the sadness, the grief of a failing marriage burned away, replaced by an ice-cold, razor-sharp rage. They wanted to get rid of Ava Mitchell? Agent Nightingale would make sure they regretted it.

My name is Ethan Hughes. I was a decorated Army Ranger, but PTSD brought me back to civilian life, seeking quiet stability with my brilliant fiancée, Sabrina, and my childhood best friend, Anthony. One night, the medication for my PTSD hit harder than usual, a thick fog pulling me under. Then, a sharp, chemical scent - gas. Through the haze, I saw Sabrina, methodical, setting up the apartment. And Anthony, watching her from the doorway. "Is it done?" he asked, his voice low. "I've planted the data trail," Sabrina replied, grabbing my laptop. "It'll look like he downloaded the files and then, overcome with guilt, decided to end it. A tragic story of a damaged veteran." My mind screamed. They were framing me for treason. My fiancée. My best friend. As the gas thickened, Anthony' s cold eyes met mine, devoid of friendship. "He'll be the perfect scapegoat, Sabrina. No one questions the actions of a man with PTSD." Rage burned, but my body was useless. I was trapped, listening to them discuss my staged suicide, my betrayal. My father, the real hero, would have saved Sabrina's. But here I was, drowning in their lies. Then, black. I woke, paralyzed, a machine beeping. Overhearing Sabrina confirm I was in a medically induced coma, the narrative set: "Troubled veteran... committed treason." They had even altered security footage. Buried alive. What kind of nightmare was this? And who could possibly believe me, trapped in a dead body, with no voice?

As a scholarship recipient from the Harrison family, MIT grad Ava Chen built her career in their tech company, Harrison Innovations. Her groundbreaking AI project was poised to save their struggling empire, and tonight, at the Innovation Summit, she expected to be named CTO and celebrate her triumph. Instead, on stage, her husband, Ethan Harrison, embraced a visibly pregnant Brittany Miller, declaring her his partner and "the future of the Harrison family." My world shattered as Ethan, his face cold, publicly shamed my "career focus" over family, implying my infertility, while Brittany, his mistress, feigned sweetness. The board, including Ethan' s parents, dismissed my dire warnings about fiscal collapse, then allowed my mother-in-law to slap me, screaming, "You barren wrench! You deceived us!" Brittany, a bitter junior I barely remembered, then piled on lies, claiming I stole her AI and seduced professors just to get ahead. Ethan smashed my phone, destroyed my life's research, and forced me to sign papers, all while Brittany ground her heel into my hand. My career, my marriage, my reputation – all publicly executed. How could my entire life, built on dedication and gratitude, be so brutally annihilated by such cruel lies and baseless accusations? The injustice of it all, the sheer malice, left me frozen in disbelieving agony, consumed by an unbearable humiliation. As I lay broken, my shattered phone, miraculously, began to ring. It was Marcus Thorne, CEO of Thorne Dynamics, and his call was about to expose the Harrisons' true desperation and offer me an unlikely lifeline.

Chloe did it again. Another boyfriend stolen, another round of humiliation in our family chat led by Aunt Linda' s fake sympathy. My own mother just sighed and told me to "try harder next time." This was the pattern, my glamorous cousin Chloe, making sport of my relationships, taking whatever, or whoever, was mine. But this time, as news of her latest conquest spread, a cold certainty settled within me. This time, it wouldn' t be another defeat. This time, I was ready. The object of her latest desire was Ethan, my new boyfriend, whose existence I' d deliberately kept quiet until now. He was everything she craved: charismatic, successful, irresistible. I "accidentally" let slip details about him to my mother, then watched, anticipating, as the news inevitably reached Chloe. Her audaciously casual message arrived soon after: "Heard you have a new toy, cous. Mind if I check him out for you?" My stomach twisted, but not with dread – with grim, calculating satisfaction. Years of quiet resentment, fueled by her casual cruelty and relentless need to diminish me, had finally solidified into a singular, unwavering purpose. She thought she was still playing her same old game, but she had no idea the depth of the trap she was about to step into. Ethan, with a hidden, dangerous secret I' d discovered months ago, wasn't just another man for Chloe to steal. He was the linchpin of my meticulously crafted revenge. This cycle of humiliation was about to end, but not the way Chloe expected.

They had been engaged since childhood, but she didn't remember him at all. Sophie, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, lost her first kiss to Aaron, the legendary CEO in the city. She was the one tugged at his heartstrings and ignited his desire, but she already forgot him and their engagement. Now that she remembered nothing about him, he decided to take this as their new start. Dealing with his rival in love, setting up love traps, and limitless adoration... He would win her heart back with all his might.

Lillian woke in a werecreature universe as a total loser. Good news was that women ruled here and could take multiple mates, yet she still ended up as the one everyone looked down on. Compared to her talented sister at every turn, she watched her first match get stolen and her next four mates reject her without mercy. The first mate was the King of Succubine himself. On their very first meeting, he warned Lillian that he was only staying long enough to recover from his injuries-and that there could never be anything between them. The second mate was a merman. He took one look at her and said he had no interest in a loser like her, tossing her some cash so she could break off their bond herself. The third mate was the progenitor vampire-over a thousand years old. He admitted to admiring her sister instead and made it clear he had no interest in a layabout like Lillian. Lillian cut every bond and chose her own path instead. But as she rose higher and higher, those same men returned, full of regret and begging her to look at them again. The fourth mate was a werewolf Lillian had rescued from an underground fighting ring. She thought he might actually stay-until he revealed himself as royalty. And of course, he wanted to break their bond for more power.

I woke up to the stench of rust and rotting flesh, no longer a master botanist who commanded life itself, but a D-class exile dumped on a wasteland planet. Memories that weren't mine flooded in. I was framed by my stepsister, betrayed by my fiancé, and banished by my own family to the Ashfall Peninsula to die. The original girl actually starved to death in despair. The moment I opened my eyes, a scavenger tried to smash my skull with a rusty pipe just to eat me. After I killed him to survive, I discovered a harsher truth: in this universe, plant seeds are classified as A-level strategic resources, completely monopolized by the Imperium. But the universe had a sick sense of humor. A mandatory background scan suddenly triggered a galactic broadcast: I, the exiled trash, was a perfect genetic match for the Imperium's top war hero, General Alexander Orr. The family that ruthlessly erased my existence instantly saw me as a golden ticket. My cheating ex-fiancé was dispatched to drag me back, furious that his "property" was matched with someone else. They all thought I was still that weak, naive girl they could manipulate. But as I held the pure, glowing Life Source Crystals I had secretly extracted from the scrap heap, a cold smile crept onto my face. "I didn't come here to die. I came here to build an empire." I turned my back on the galactic broadcast and stepped into the deadly wilderness.

I gave Kaelen Sterling everything. My fortune. My family's trust. Even the military secrets that should never have left my father's hands. He swore he loved me. Then he used me to destroy my entire family. My father was beheaded for treason. My brothers died on the battlefield. My sick mother coughed up blood until her final breath. And the fortune my mother had saved for me became the stepping stone Kaelen and his precious "savior," Jacqueline Byrd, used to climb into the highest circles of the kingdom. When there was nothing left to steal, Kaelen locked me inside an abandoned manor and set it on fire. Through the flames, I saw him holding Jacqueline in his arms. She was pregnant with his child. And she was wearing silk bought with my mother's dowry. "Burn it all," Kaelen said coldly. "Leave no trace." I died screaming his name. Then I opened my eyes. I was twenty again. Kaelen had just returned from the battlefield after being declared dead for two years—and standing beside him was Jacqueline, looking fragile and innocent as ever. "She saved my life," he told me. "You will accept her." In my last life, I did. This time, I slapped him across the face. Then I burned our marriage contract. They all thought grief had driven me mad. They had no idea I remembered everything. Every betrayal. Every secret. Every scandal that had not happened yet. I knew which noble houses would fall. I knew which princes would rise. I knew the hidden weaknesses of the people who would one day control the Dragon Court. And they had forgotten something else. I was never just a wealthy heiress. I knew herbs. I knew alchemy. I knew how to survive a royal court where one wrong move could cost an entire family its head. Kaelen wanted my fortune. Jacqueline wanted my place. My stepmother wanted my mother's power. And the men above them wanted to use House Croft as another piece on their board. Let them try. I died once as their pawn. This life, I will take back my family, my fortune, and every drop of blood they owe me. And when I am finished, I won't just survive the Dragon Court. I will rule it.

After working herself to death, Hannah woke inside a werecreature novel as a doomed villainess with five mates her father had captured and forced into bonds. Worse, the original Hannah had abused them so badly they were destined to rebel and destroy her. Determined to survive, she planned to flee to her father, sever every bond, hoard supplies, and start over. But her escape took an impossible turn. The serpent, merman, lion, fox, and icy priest who should have hated her suddenly refused to let her go-each claiming her as his. Hannah could only stare. Weren't they supposed to want freedom instead of her?

On my wedding day, I caught my fiancé in my stepsister's arms. She was pregnant with his child. And instead of begging for forgiveness, Damian Harrison laughed in my face. He admitted he had always planned to marry me, dump me in some forgotten country estate, and keep my stepsister as the woman he truly loved. So I burned my wedding veil in front of the entire Harrison family and walked away. That should have been the end of it. Instead, Damian's mother sent armed men after me. Why? Because I was a Dragonless nobody from the borderlands, and in her eyes, humiliating a Harrison was a crime worse than her son's betrayal. I had no dragon blood. No powerful family willing to protect me. Not even my own father would risk offending the Harrisons for my sake. If I wanted to survive, I needed someone they feared more than they hated me. So I returned to the Harrison estate and made an outrageous demand. I would marry Damian's uncle. Gideon Harrison-the legendary Dragon Lord, the kingdom's greatest war hero... and a man everyone believed was dead. Perfect. As his widow, I would outrank the man who betrayed me, become his aunt by marriage, and gain enough power to make every Harrison who humiliated me regret it. I signed the marriage pact without hesitation. Then a knight burst into the ancestral hall with impossible news. Gideon Harrison was alive. My dead husband wasn't dead. He was being brought home.

I knelt on the cold stone of the Dragon God Altar, waiting to marry Lord Harper Carney. It was my only chance to escape the gilded cage of my family. But when Harper finally arrived, he wasn't alone. His arm was wrapped tightly around my cousin, Hettie. Right in front of the entire court, he coldly announced that our marriage was a mistake. Hettie leaned into his embrace, wearing a triumphant smile while playing the innocent victim. The assembled nobles openly jeered at me. They mocked my greatest failing—that I was a worthless "Dragonless" born without the inner fire. My own father was furious, not at them, but at me. He demanded I go to Hettie's estate and beg for her forgiveness. When I refused, he threatened to cut off all my funds and revoke my only job at the Royal Scribes' Office. I was publicly abandoned, stripped of my dignity, and left with absolutely nothing. I didn't cry, and I didn't scream. Why should I be the one to apologize when they were the ones who betrayed me? For years, I had endured their abuse, treated like a pawn to be sacrificed at will. But looking at their smug faces, my despair turned into cold resolve. I took off my betrothal coronet and dropped it at Harper's feet, publicly nullifying the contract myself. I thought I would have to face the ruin alone, until a mysterious, powerful man with burning golden eyes stepped out of the shadows. "Marry me," he said. "I will be your shield, and we will crush them together."

I knelt on the cold marble floor, waiting to be inspected like a piece of livestock by the Dowager Duchess. As a powerless "Dragonless" girl, I was selected to be a breeding vessel for Lord Gideon, the notoriously cruel heir of the Carlisle family. But his wife, the famously "virtuous" Lady Helena, would never allow a threat to her position to live. In my previous life, shortly after I was chosen, Helena accused me of being unclean. She forced me to kneel in her lavish courtyard and copy the sacred dragon scriptures using my own blood as ink. When my fingers were mutilated and my body completely drained, she threw me into a damp dungeon to rot and die, while my adoptive family happily counted the gold they got for selling me. I died in agonizing pain, suffocating in the dark. I never understood why my mere existence warranted such sadistic torture from a high-born lady, or why my life was treated as nothing more than disposable, worthless property. Opening my eyes again, I was back in the Duchess's inspection hall, listening to her cold footsteps approaching. "Are you clean?" This time, I wouldn't just be a passive victim waiting to be slaughtered. I was going to actively seduce the cold-blooded Lord Gideon, turn the "Living Executioner" into my personal shield, and step over Helena's hypocritical mask to win my absolute freedom.

Lyra endured a level-eight gene-tearing labor entirely alone in a cold, sterile medical pod. Her legal partner, the revered S-grade Commander Kaelen Vane, was nowhere to be found. Instead, the room's holographic screen broadcasted him spending ten million star coins to buy a smile from her adopted sister. As Lyra nearly died draining her mental energy to save their newborn cub, the nurses openly mocked her as a useless E-grade piece of trash. Kaelen had never touched her, treating her very existence with absolute disgust. When he finally called, it was only to throw money at her and demand she stop throwing a tantrum. "Without my protection, do you think you and that half-beast mutt will survive three days?" For a year, she had swallowed his psychological abuse, believing she was just an unwanted orphan. But why should she endure this pathetic, one-sided marriage just to be treated like dirt? When a routine blood test shattered the lab's max-level analyzer, the truth was revealed: she wasn't an E-grade failure, but the universe's only SSS-grade Starfall Princess. As her ultra-powerful royal family blockaded the planet with a fleet of star destroyers, Lyra took the divorce papers and her newly assigned S-grade dragon fiancé to the tribunal. It was time to make Kaelen watch his precious empire burn to ash.

My engagement to Kile, the heir of House Golden, was witnessed by the Duke himself. I thought my days as a helpless orphan were over. But right before our wedding, he coldly informed me that my status was being revoked. I was to enter his family as a lesser consort. The title of primary wife was being given to his lover, Journey. She hid behind Kile, wearing a spotless white dress and trembling like a fragile lotus. "Cassie, please don't blame him, I can live without a title," she cried, playing the perfect victim. Kile shielded her, glaring at me with pure disgust, shouting that I was being completely unreasonable. The next day, the entire Elder Council cornered me in their grand hall. They told me that as a "Dragonless" nobody, I should be immensely grateful for any scrap they threw my way. They all stared at me, waiting for me to swallow my pride and accept a lifetime of humiliation. They thought I was entirely broken. They thought I had no backing and no choice but to bow down to their cruelty. Instead, I looked straight at the Chief Elder and smiled. "I refuse to be a lesser consort," I announced clearly, watching Kile's smug expression freeze. "But to preserve our families' dignity, I will fulfill the contract." I looked right into Kile's shocked eyes. "I will marry your dead older brother, Lord Ayden."

For three years, I poured my entire merchant family's fortune into helping my husband, Ethan, awaken his dragon soul and become a Dragon Knight. But on the very night we celebrated his knighthood, he brought a noblewoman named Blanca into our home. He coldly announced that the King had granted him permission to take her as a second wife, claiming my merchant blood was no longer worthy of his new status. When I unlocked the estate's hidden ledgers, the devastating truth finally hit me. My massive dowry hadn't just funded his knightly training. Ethan and his entire family had been secretly funneling my gold to Blanca for months, paying off her family's debts and buying her lavish gifts. They had drained me completely dry, expecting me to quietly manage their bankrupt household as an unpaid servant while Blanca enjoyed the title of his wife. When I demanded to dissolve our sacred marriage contract, his family just laughed in my face. "You're a Dragonless woman! Where would you go without the protection of House Franks?" Ethan mocked. They were so certain I would swallow the humiliation. They truly believed a discarded, penniless woman had absolutely no cards left to play. So, I tossed the matron's ring onto the empty ledgers and walked out the door. Taking only my mother's last hidden relic, I boarded a carriage straight to the capital. It was time to cash in a dangerous favor with Gideon Carlisle, the terrifying Dragon Lord of the North.