Chapter 4

I froze. My mind went completely blank.

Has she lost her mind? What was she doing?

Right beneath the bridge was the "Chaos Storm" that led straight to the Abyss.

Down there, even a god's soul would be shredded to nothing!

Lyra was risking her own life just to frame me!

Before I could even react, a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky. Cassius turned into a flash of light and dived off.

I watched as Lyra used a tiny bit of wind magic to fight the violent winds, then collapsed pitifully into Cassius’s arms.

To make it look real, she let the Chaos Storm slice up her delicate skin.

Her magic was drained. Her face was pale.

"Cassius... it hurts..." She leaned weakly against his chest, tears streaming down her face. "I just wanted to ask why she’s doing this to me..."

Cassius carried her back up to the bridge. His eyes cut into me like knives.

"Guards!" he roared. "Pin this vicious bitch to the ground!"

Four guards rushed over and violently slammed me onto the steps.

"I didn't push her!" I struggled wildly. "The Sun God's Eye records all! Check the scrying record!"

"Records?" Cassius sneered. "You think I'd trust a lying whore?"

Lyra sobbed in his arms, weakly tugging at his armor. "Cassius, don't blame Selene... maybe she was just acting on impulse..."

Her fake mercy only made me look worse.

Cassius’s fury exploded.

"Impulse?" He looked at me with a savage smile. "Pushing someone off a cliff is an impulse?"

"I will have justice for Lyra." He looked down at me with cold disgust. “From now on, she can do whatever she wants to you to vent her anger.”

Lyra’s eyes instantly lit up.

"Then I want to cut the bond of fate between you and her!" she cried. "That way she'll finally stop clinging to you!"

My heart dropped. I shook my head frantically. "No! You can't!"

The bond of destiny between a god and a priestess was tied to the soul. Severing it forcibly was a torture worse than death.

"That’s against divine law!" I screamed. "You have no right to order such a punishment!"

"Divine law?" Cassius scoffed. "Why would I care about laws for a vicious rat like you? Besides, the bond can always be restored. Once you finally learn your place and admit your mistakes, I'll ask Father to bind us together again."

He summoned a pair of gleaming Golden Scissors and placed them into Lyra's hands.

The scissors glowed with a cold light, like they came from hell.

"No!" I thrashed wildly, but the guards pinned me dead to the ground.

Lyra stepped forward, a malicious glint hiding behind her teary eyes. "Too late."

She opened the Golden Scissors and mercilessly snipped at the invisible thread of destiny connecting Cassius and me.

The moment the blades closed, a wave of soul-tearing agony hit me.

It felt as if my very essence was being sliced apart. Every cut of the scissors brought an excruciating, unbearable pain that made me scream.

I was shaking from the pain, but I bit my lip and refused to beg.

Because in that moment, my heart completely died.

"It's not too late to admit you were wrong." Cassius stepped closer as Lyra paused her cutting, a sick thrill in his eyes. "Don't provoke me. I wouldn't mind watching you die all over again."

My blood ran cold. My pupils shrank.

Cassius remembered everything?! Just like me?!

In our past life, he watched my kids and me die without blinking.

In this life, he knew exactly what happened, yet he still ordered Lyra to torture my soul!

In that instant, my heartbreak curdled into pure, unbreakable hatred.

He gestured for Lyra to continue. "Are you sorry yet?"

"Beg for mercy, and we'll stop."

"I did nothing wrong!"

I glared at him, cursing through my teeth. "Cassius, may you burn in the Abyss for all eternity!"

His anger flared again. "Cut it all!" he commanded Lyra.

I shut my eyes, trembling as I waited for the next wave of agony to tear straight through my soul.

Suddenly, a deafening crack of thunder shook the sky.

"What do you think you're doing?!"