Chapter 2

After shaking off those two revolting people, I went straight to the Beast King's hall.

I'd barely stepped inside when three tall, broad-shouldered figures caught my eye.

Victor Crane, Louis Mercer, and Domi Voss — Kael's three half-blood bastard brothers.

While Kael had been spending his days in Ivy's company, these three, all younger than him, had quietly taken on the heaviest military and administrative burdens of the royal city on his behalf.

In my previous life, I'd let Kael's lies keep me away from them, deliberately keeping my distance. But now, looking at their straight backs, I couldn't stop the memory from surfacing: the three of them cutting through a frenzied beast horde to reach me, covered in blood, fighting to drag me out, until they died there alongside me.

My eyes stung. I crossed the room quickly.

"Victor. Louis. Domi."

All three went rigid. The shock in their eyes was plain to see. After all, in every moment before this, I had been Kael's untouchable fiancée, a pure-blooded white wolf who had never once spoken to them with anything other than cold indifference.

I looked over the defense maps laid out on the table, clean, detailed, thorough. "You've done extraordinary work on the border perimeters. Not only did you patch the vulnerabilities, you accounted for the entire supply line. This is genuinely impressive — better than anyone else could have managed."

They worked hard to maintain their usual stoic expressions. But their ears turned red, and their tails were wagging in spite of themselves.

They made a quick, awkward excuse and practically fled, bowing as they went.

Watching their retreating backs, I became aware of a warmth stirring in my chest, something I didn't quite have a name for yet.

After they left, I came straight to the point.

"Your Majesty, I want to break off my engagement to Kael."

The Beast King frowned. "Vivienne, what kind of nonsense is this? Kael is pure-blooded dragon, my proudest son. Your union is the hope of the entire realm."

"But Kael's heart belongs to my stepsister, Ivy, not to me." I met the King's eyes steadily. "As your future Queen, I can't accept a husband whose heart is with another woman. And I won't destroy what they have, either."

The King blinked, caught off guard. His elderly attendant leaned in and murmured, "Your Majesty... what Lady Vivienne says is true. Prince Kael and Lady Ivy have been spending a great deal of time together. Last month, the armor you gifted to his highness — he had it delivered to Lady Ivy's chambers that very night. And yesterday, his highness cleared the entire Star Observatory Tower just because Lady Ivy mentioned she wanted to stargaze, all while Lady Vivienne was running a fever and had been left alone in the infirmary."

The King's expression darkened. He snapped: "Bring that boy here. Now."

The messenger came back looking uncomfortable. "Your Majesty... Prince Kael says Lady Vivienne is throwing another tantrum, and that he won't set foot in the hall unless she comes to his chambers and begs him on her knees."

The King's voice dropped to something dangerous. "Drag him here."

Several guards hauled Kael into the hall by force. The moment he shook them off, he rounded on me, finger in my face.

"Vivienne! Have you no shame? Running to my father over something this petty? Once we're married, I swear I will put you in your place and teach you how a proper wife behaves."

He was still operating on the assumption that I'd fall in line the same way I had before, that I'd choose him simply because there was no one else.

Something moved behind the Beast King's eyes, a heaviness that might have been disappointment in his heir, the son he'd invested so much of himself in, the son who shared his dragon blood.

Still, he wasn't ready to give up on Kael entirely. He tried to redirect. "Vivienne, Kael was wrong to behave this way, and I will punish him for it. But marriage is a serious matter. Think it through carefully. Your coming-of-age ceremony is in seven days — wait until then to make your official announcement before the whole realm."

"You'd better think very carefully about the consequences of crossing me," Kael sneered at me from the side. "Who in the whole Beast Realm is more worthy than I am? You'll come crawling back in the end."

I didn't bother responding to him.

What Kael seemed to have forgotten was this: whoever I chose became the next Beast King.

He had already lost that chance. Permanently.