Chapter 2

The golden light blazed so bright that everyone shut their eyes for a moment, and when it faded, Cecilia stood revealed before them all, radiant with a breathtaking presence.

The stepfather went to her, overjoyed.

"Cecilia, you—you've finally cultivated into a golden phoenix?"

Cecilia nodded with a smile and pulled her mother into her arms to comfort her.

Then, in the lowest of whispers against his ear: "Father, don't worry."

"Your daughter will take back every last thing that was stolen."

The stepfather nodded, well satisfied.

"But whether I can marry Greg Driscoll still depends on your help."

"Rest easy. Your father will do everything he can to win it all back for you."

Yolanda came over too, glowing with the pride of a mother whose daughter had risen at last.

"What are you two whispering about?"

The stepfather turned to look at her. "It's nothing!"

But his face was heavy with worry, as if something weighed on him that he could not say.

Yolanda looked at Cecilia, then at the stepfather.

"What is it, really?"

"Mother."

Cecilia laid a hand on Yolanda's arm and spoke in a coaxing, wheedling tone.

"Now that I've cultivated into a golden phoenix, by rights I should be married to the crown prince of the Dragon Clan as his wife."

"But the Dragon Clan will only accept my sister, whose bloodline is pure, and not me, a crossbreed. Even though I'm a golden phoenix now, and even though I'm carrying his child…"

By the last words her voice dropped lower still, and her face flushed red.

"What? Did you just say you're carrying a child?"

Yolanda stared at Cecilia, utterly stunned, and the stepfather quickly stepped up to shield her.

"Yolanda, this is all my fault. I didn't watch over her closely enough…"

"No. It isn't our fault."

"Greg and I have loved each other for a long time, and we've been kept apart."

"My sister used her position as eldest princess to press me down, and I didn't dare fight back."

Yolanda's fury flared. "That unfilial girl truly treated you like this, and to think I still carried guilt over her."

"Set your heart at ease. Since you're carrying Greg's child, I'll find a way to make the Dragon Clan take you in."

At once she sent a trusted attendant to carry word to the Dragon Clan, summoning Greg over.

My heart was already dead as ashes, and yet I still held a thread of hope in Greg.

I hoped the one who had drained my spiritual power was not him.

I quickly hid myself so no one would find me.

Before long, Greg arrived.

And my heart only sank further into desolation.

The Phoenix Clan lay a good distance from the Dragon Clan, yet Greg had come in so short a time. It meant he had been here in the Phoenix Clan all along.

A bad feeling rose up in me.

But the jade pendant at his waist was our betrothal token. If he didn't love me, he wouldn't still be wearing it.

"Greg, you've come."

"Answer me. Is the child in Cecilia's belly yours? Do the two of you love each other?"

My heart clenched and I held my breath, waiting for him to speak.

He did not give Yolanda an answer right away. Instead he walked over to Cecilia, took off his cloak, and draped it around her.

"I'd think you already guessed, from the moment I helped you drain the spiritual power out of Ruby Flores."

My eyes flew wide as I stared at Greg, and every drop of blood in me froze in that instant.

I could hardly believe it. So it truly was Greg who had drained the spiritual power from my body, to help Cecilia cultivate into a golden phoenix.

"Things have come this far. There's nothing to do but marry Cecilia."

The worry vanished from Cecilia's brow at once. But the stepfather, thinking of me, feared I might cause trouble.

"Yolanda, what if Ruby refuses?"

"Hmph. She can't stir up any waves."

"Because the way she is now, she can't even beat a lowly servant."

I, who had been fiercely proud all my life, truly could not deal with even a single servant now.

No one could grasp the depth of my grief, precisely because the ones who caused it were the people I loved most dearly.

"Yolanda, this… isn't it a little cruel to her?"

"What does she have to feel wronged about? With her standing as eldest princess of the Phoenix Clan, who ever dared bully her?"

"Now it's settled. The scales are finally even."