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CHAPTER 43

Author: GOLDEN TREE
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-13 13:55:43

THE FINAL RITUAL

“Blood may choose the crown, but only sacrifice earns the throne.”

The wind that swept across the mountain temple was cold and dry, laced with ash and history. It howled through the black pines like the voices of ancestors long buried, whispering oaths that had once crowned kings—and silenced traitors.

The temple stood atop a jagged cliff carved from obsidian, overlooking nothing but a sheer drop into mist and rock. Its white stone columns were cracked, stained with fire and blood, yet they stood tall—unchanging, like the Circle’s laws.

And tonight, for the first time in a century, the Circle had summoned the heiress to stand trial.

Not as a child of privilege.

Not as a pawn.

But as a woman who had dared to rewrite the bloodline.

To claim power, and love.

To choose both.

Chaewon stepped into the sacred chamber in ceremonial black. Her dress shimmered with strands of woven silver like lightning frozen into silk, clinging to her skin as though it, too, feared what waite
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  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 46

    THE TWIN PHOENIXThe wind slashed down the valley like a blade. Inside the bunker, the storm’s howls made the walls vibrate, but no one moved. Not yet.Jian sat on the couch, his knuckles white around the glass vial that might save his life—or drag him into a faster death. The incomplete serum glowed faintly blue in the dim light, mocking him.Chaewon watched him from across the room, arms crossed over her chest, the decrypted file folder held tight in her grasp. Her knuckles were white, too.“I need to go back,” she said.Han looked up from his monitor, his brow furrowing. “Back where?”“The Ash Institute.”Jian’s voice was quiet. “You think there’s more?”“There is more,” Chaewon said, stepping forward. “This file—” she held up the folder, shaking slightly, “—it’s labeled C-Alpha-Zero. That’s Euna’s genetic line. But it says Primary Sequence. That means there’s a secondary.”“You think… another child?” Han asked.“Not just think,” Chaewon said, flipping to the back page and throwing

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 45

    THE CHOICEThe wind howled across the mountain ridge line, battling the reinforced windows of the safehouse. Inside, the fire cracked in the hearth, casting orange light over Jian’s pale face.He was unconscious. His breathing was shallow. The bandages wrapped around his ribs were soaked through—again.Chaewon knelt beside him on the floor, pressing down with trembling hands, trying to slow the bleeding that refused to stop. Her jaw clenched, her vision blurred. She didn’t notice she was crying until her tears hit the sheets.“Don’t die,” she whispered. “Not now. Not after everything.”Euna sat nearby, silent. Watching. Not afraid, not confused. Just… still, almost too still. Like she’d seen it all before. Like she’d been trained to survive it.Hours passed. Han came and went, reinforcing doors, checking monitors, loading weapons. The fire crackled lower, the power flickered once. Then again, and still, Jian did not wake.Chaewon sat with her head resting against his chest, counting e

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 44

    BLOOD MOONThe moon loomed, vast and crimson, its light a bleeding stain across the fractured walls of the Phoenix Citadel. It felt like the sky itself had opened to watch them fall or rise—for the blood moon always demanded one thingChaewon sat on the stone balcony in her silk robe. She had applied special oils to her hair, and her hand throbbed from the Trial of Flame. She smelled of incense on her skin, but there was something under that.Behind her, Jian leaned against the doorway. No longer the cold tycoon, no longer a clone’s shadow—tonight he was just a man, watching the only woman he’d ever bled to breathe in silence.“You haven’t said a word since the ceremony,” he said quietly.Her voice, when it came, was like smoke. “They made me a queen with a knife to my throat. That’s not power. That’s possession.”He stepped forward. “You walked into fire and they bowed. They didn’t choose you because they had to.”“No,” she said. “They chose me because they fear me.”“And maybe,” he

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 43

    THE FINAL RITUAL“Blood may choose the crown, but only sacrifice earns the throne.”The wind that swept across the mountain temple was cold and dry, laced with ash and history. It howled through the black pines like the voices of ancestors long buried, whispering oaths that had once crowned kings—and silenced traitors.The temple stood atop a jagged cliff carved from obsidian, overlooking nothing but a sheer drop into mist and rock. Its white stone columns were cracked, stained with fire and blood, yet they stood tall—unchanging, like the Circle’s laws.And tonight, for the first time in a century, the Circle had summoned the heiress to stand trial.Not as a child of privilege.Not as a pawn.But as a woman who had dared to rewrite the bloodline.To claim power, and love.To choose both.Chaewon stepped into the sacred chamber in ceremonial black. Her dress shimmered with strands of woven silver like lightning frozen into silk, clinging to her skin as though it, too, feared what waite

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 42

    ASHES TO ASHESThe air tasted like storm and memory.Chaewon stood at the edge of the roof, the envelope still clutched in her hand, the ultrasound print fluttering in the wind. Below, the city blinked beneath the darkening sky — unaware that gods were still fighting above them.The coordinates in the envelope led to one thing: The lab. The last living extension of Project Ash.Jian joined her, quiet. Watching. “You’re shaking,” he said.“I’m not cold.”“You’re angry.” He voiced.Chaewon acknowledged. “I’m everything.”He studied the image in her hands. “That’s not her child.”“No. It’s a threat.” She turned to him, jaw clenched. “If she’s grown bold enough to taunt me with fake blood, it means she thinks I won’t act.”“Will you?” He asked.Chaewon’s eyes lit like embers. “I’ll burn her world down to the marrow.”They left that night. No entourage. No politics. Just the two of them — back where it began. Shadow to shadow. Fury to flame.The entrance to the lab was buried beneath a vin

  • The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage   CHAPTER 41

    BLOODLINES AND BETRAYALChaewon sat in the velvet chair beside the rain-streaked window, eyes unfocused as the screen in front of her played the press conference again. “I’m carrying Jian Lee’s child. And I plan to raise it as the last heir to the Phoenix Circle.”Seraphina’s voice—soft, calculated, immaculate—rang like a bell across every device in Asia.The press gasped.The investors stirred.And Jian…He was silent. The only sound in the room was Chaewon’s breathing—sharp, uneven.She replayed it again.Then again.And again.Until Jian finally reached out and closed the screen. “She’s lying,” he said.“I know.” Chaewon stood, wrapping the robe tighter around her body like armor. “She’s also convincing.”“She took a vial from the ruins,” Jian added. “The one coded with my clone’s neural base. That’s what she’s building her story around.”“A child that isn’t real,” Chaewon whispered.“It *is* real now,” he replied. “Because she’s made the world believe it.”She turned to face him f

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