Bride of the Sealed Coffin

Everyone said I’d been born with a black pearl clenched between my lips.

My father thought I was a bad omen.

After abandoning me at the convent behind the old family chapel in the hills, he left me there to fend for myself.

On the day I was supposed to take my vows at eighteen, I overheard several elderly nuns gossiping.

“It’s all because of that ancestor who died centuries ago. That’s why the family has to find him a bride, so his bloodline can continue.”

Just as the words fell, my stepmother walked in.

She grabbed my hand affectionately, acting unusually warm.

“Nina, come home with me. I’ll introduce you to a handsome man.”

The nuns instantly panicked, all of them shaking their heads furiously in protest.

Meanwhile, I happily clung to my stepmother’s arm and swayed back and forth.

“Is he more handsome than Ethan York?”

My stepmother froze for a second before nodding frantically.

“Yes! He’s much more handsome! And taller too!”

“Perfect.”

I flashed a carefree grin, wearing the picture of harmless innocence.

But the moment I lowered my head, my fist quietly tightened.

It was time to take back my golden pearl.

I grew up in the convent ever since I was born.

It was called Shadowveil Abbey, rumored to have been built to suppress a demon lord.

Back when my mother was still alive, she came to visit me every single day.

Her life had visibly grown harder over the years. She had not bought herself a single new outfit in ages.

Whatever little money she had left in her pocket always ended up spent on sweets and little pastries for me.

My mother once whispered to me that when I was born, she had seen it with her own eyes:

“My precious girl, you had a golden pearl in your mouth. Your grandmother said that pearl had an extraordinary origin. It would bless my little girl with wealth, peace, and a safe life.”

But when my father brought the pearl to the family chapel to give thanks to the Divine Lord, it turned black again the moment he opened his hand.

That very night, a fire broke out in the family’s treasury.

The family patriarch rushed to the old family chapel in a panic, dropping to his knees to pray for protection before carrying out the family’s traditional fortune reading.

The moment the result appeared, his face turned deathly pale.

He was furious and immediately summoned my father.

“Our lord is displeased about the black pearl!”

Not only was the pearl taken away, my father was also forced to kneel in the family chapel for seven days and seven nights.

Because of that, he failed to make it to a major tech convention in Silicon City as part of Stockholm’s business delegation, losing a fortune.

After that, my father dumped me at the convent for good.

Later, my mother passed away, and my father remarried.

When my stepmother entered the family, she brought along a girl around my age.

Only after asking did I learn she was also my father’s biological daughter.

My stepmother visited me often.

Every time she came, she was covered head to toe in gold and jewelry, dressed in a different designer silk gown my mother had never even touched in her lifetime.

My stepmother’s favorite thing to do was casually tossing stacks of cash into the donation box with fingers overloaded with ten gold rings.

Then she would turn around and bark orders at the nuns arrogantly.

“Quit feeding her so much! She’s only five-three and already looks fat as hell!”

Fortunately, the nuns were kind-hearted.

The nuns nodded obediently in front of her, but secretly kept making sure I was properly fed.

I lifted my head and saw the word “Stockholm” hanging high above the stone archway.

This was my first time stepping through the gates of the family estate.

“Mr. Stock Sr., I brought her back,” my stepmother said as she smacked my back hard before lowering her voice into a command.

“Hurry up and greet the family patriarch.”

The hit shoved me stumbling half a step forward.

When I steadied myself, I saw rows of men and women standing on both sides of the hall.

Sitting directly ahead was a man in his sixties dressed in a long black robe, his calm presence carrying an unmistakable air of mysticism.

He slowly turned a black rosary through his fingers, his calm expression somehow making his gaze even more intimidating as he looked me over.

Before I could speak, he shook his head first.

“She won’t do. Tonight, your daughter still has to be sealed inside our lord’s crypt.”