Chapter 1

"Ella, Max and I truly love each other. Can't you just let us be together? We've already shared a bed. If I don't marry him, how could I ever marry anyone else?"

In a daze, I heard my younger sister Alice crying out.

Father stood nearby, speaking up in her defense. "Ella, maybe you could choose another fiancé instead. Alice just made a mistake in a moment of poor judgment."

He had always been biased toward Alice. After all, she was the legitimate daughter of his official wife, while I was merely the illegitimate child from one of his affairs.

I looked at Alice, who was kneeling on the ground. Though her face was streaked with tears and full of pitiful sorrow, the ambition and excitement in her eyes were unmistakable.

I knew then: she had been reborn too. And this time, she had made it to Max's bed before I did.

In my past life, I had chosen Max, the eldest son of the dragon clan, as my fiancé. I saw the elephant clan as cold-blooded and unfeeling, the leopard clan as frivolous and unfaithful, and the tiger clan as proud and arrogant. Only the dragon clan, known for their loyalty and devotion, seemed worthy of trust.

Six months after marrying Max, I got pregnant with our child. And then, I gave birth to a half-beast white dragon, our son Charles.

As the first half-beast child born from the human-beast union, Charles naturally became the next leader of the Human-Beast Alliance.

Alice, enamored by the tiger clan's beauty, had chosen their heir, James. But she didn't expect him to be a shameless womanizer, constantly entangled with other lovers.

Eventually, she contracted a disease because of him—one that left her infertile and scorned by the tiger clan.

She blamed me for her misfortune, jealous that I had lived a better life than she did. One night, she drugged me in secret and set a fire that burned both me and Charles alive.

At the memory, hatred surged in my chest. I wanted nothing more than to kill Alice right then and there and avenge Charles.

I clenched my fists inside my sleeves. The pain in my palms sobered me slightly.

Then I slowly nodded, masking my fury with a look of understanding.

"If Alice and Max truly love each other, I'd never stand in the way of their happiness."

Alice hadn't expected me to agree so easily. The tears she had squeezed out now hung awkwardly at the corners of her eyes.

"Alice, get up now. Hurry and thank your sister for stepping aside," Father urged, clearly relieved.

"Th-thank you, Ella!"

Alice beamed as she rushed out, eager to bring the good news to Max and the dragon clan.

"Girls really do grow up and slip away too quickly," Father joked. But when he turned and saw the cold indifference on my face, his voice faltered.

"Ella, among the eligible beast clan heirs, only two remain: David of the peacock clan and James of the tiger clan. I still think the tiger clan would be a better match—better looks, higher status, clearly superior to the peacock clan.

"Besides, Alice once said—"

I cut him off. "Father, I choose to marry David of the peacock clan."

To most humans, celestial bird clan were cold-blooded and heartless, and that prejudice extended to the peacock clan beastmen.

For thousands of years, no human had ever chosen to marry into the peacock clan. As a result, they had never produced a single ruler for the Human-Beast Alliance.

Eventually, they were cast out from the ranks of the five great beast families and reduced to the lowest tier of the beast clans, denied even the smallest share of resources.

But in my past life, as the fire consumed me, I saw a pair of emerald-green eyes—David's.

He tried to save me.

But the flames were too fierce, and he… could do nothing.