Chapter 3

Lysander and Amelia fled in disgrace.

As she passed, Amelia glared at me through bloodshot eyes and snarled, "Don't get too cocky, Elena! You won't stay on top for long!"

They had been thoroughly humiliated, yet deep down they still considered me beneath them.

Sure enough, by the next day, rumors that Draco despised me had spread across the entire shifter kingdom!

Every street and alley buzzed with gossip.

"Did you hear? Prince Draco doesn't love House Ellison's younger daughter at all! He won't even show his face!"

"Lady Amelia is the lucky one. Prince Lysander raided the royal treasury for priceless jewels just to make her smile!"

"That's right! Prince Lysander even spent a fortune to book fireworks over the entire city, all to surprise her. Now that's true love!"

The rumors flew everywhere, painting Lysander as the perfect husband while dragging my name through the mud.

I listened to the gossip with complete indifference.

I knew every one of Lysander's cheap tricks. He loved playing the devoted husband with other people's money, but underneath it all, he was still a useless fraud.

Our two weddings were scheduled for the same day.

At the dress fitting and ceremony rehearsal, Amelia finally showed everyone how greedy she really was.

She marched into the royal chapel with an entourage and seized the designer gown and jewelry I had reserved!

Then she pointed to the raised dais at the heart of the chapel. "The place of honor belongs to us today!"

By tradition, Draco and I, as the heir and his bride, were meant to exchange our vows on that dais before he formally took the throne.

I stepped into her path. "Put them down, Amelia. What makes you think you deserve the place of honor?"

Amelia threw back her head and laughed. "Stop pretending, Elena! Draco doesn't love you. He may not even show up for the wedding! Sitting up there alone will only make you look pathetic, won't it?"

I knew she was hinting at how Draco had left during the ceremony in our previous life because of the war.

Lysander stepped forward, wearing his favorite peacemaker's mask. "Elena, my brother has never cared for pomp. Amelia does, and I intend to give her the best. Be gracious and give us the dais."

The nobles around us joined the nauseating guilt trip.

"Come on, Lady Elena. Prince Lysander loves Amelia so much. Just let them have it!"

"Prince Draco doesn't even care about you. Why cling to the seat of honor? Be the bigger person!"

Faced with this kind of guilt-tripping disguised as politeness, even the guards couldn't draw their weapons over it.

Amelia's smug grin said she was certain I had no choice but to cave.

"Who dares steal my woman's place?!" A deep voice rolled through the hall.

Draco strode into the hall!

The room fell dead silent! No one dared breathe. The nobles who had been pressuring me dropped straight to their knees.

Amelia's face went white. Lysander's legs nearly gave out.

"D-Draco, Your Highness..."

Draco didn't even look at them. He walked straight to me.

The lethal warrior's expression softened the instant he faced me, his eyes filling with warmth.

"Elena, I'm sorry I'm late."

With a wave of his hand, his guards brought forward an enormous crystal chest.

Inside lay a gown of shimmering crystal silk and a sapphire parure so brilliant it stole the breath from my lungs!

Beside it, the set Amelia had stolen looked like rags!

"I wasn't with you these past few days because I went to the polar ice fields myself to gather the materials for this gown."

Draco cast a dismissive glance at the dress Amelia clutched in her hands, contempt written all over his face.

"How could that piece of trash ever be worthy of my woman?"

Amelia stared from my radiant new gown to the one in her hands, jealousy burning so hot her eyes seemed ready to bleed! The comparison ground her pride into the dirt!

Then Draco turned his glacial stare on Lysander, every word a promise to protect me:

"And the place of honor? Neither of you deserves it!"

"A bastard too cowardly to set foot on a battlefield thinks he can covet the High King's throne? Hold your wedding at the bottom of the steps. Don't taint the place Elena and I will stand!"

His words flayed Lysander and Amelia alive. Neither dared answer; they slunk off to the side.

Every rumor that Draco despised me shattered in that instant!

I watched Draco standing in front of me, shielding me with everything he had.

He cared for no one else, yet somehow he had saved every ounce of tenderness for me.

Looking at his handsome face, lined with a trace of exhaustion, I suddenly remembered how he had died on the battlefield in our previous life.

I made myself a silent promise: Draco, I will not let that fate take you again!