Semua Bab The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage: Bab 41 - Bab 47

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

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 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