Jianyu hadn’t spared me a single look since entering the hall. The moment he picked Meiyun without hesitation, I realized he, too, had been reborn.
My father, Lord Qinghe, was taken aback. He pointed at me and said, “Liuzhu is my legitimate daughter, her bloodline pure and noble. Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?”
Jianyu sneered, walking over to Meiyun and taking her hand. “What’s the use of noble blood? In this life, I love Meiyun alone. Bloodlines mean nothing to me.”
My father, moved by his apparent devotion, agreed on the spot.
“But, Meiyun as your principal wife—do you not wish to choose a secondary consort?” he asked, clearly trying to give me another chance.
The Azure Luan clan, though a lineage of ancient divine beasts, was still a step below the true Phoenix royal family.
Jianyu looked at me with undisguised disdain, as if I were something filthy. “No need. I will never take a concubine in this life. Meiyun alone is enough.”
Meiyun leaned shyly against Jianyu’s shoulder, casting me a taunting smile. She lowered her voice to mock me. “So what if you’re the legitimate daughter, sister? No one wants you.”
“When I give birth to the next heir of the Phoenix royal family, I’ll be the most honored woman among all the phoenixes!”
I ignored her, turning instead to the second prince. “Prince Liwei, will you choose me?”
Liwei raised his brows in surprise, clearly not expecting my proposal. Just as I thought he’d refuse, he spoke. “I would be honored.”
This time, it was my turn to be stunned.
In my previous life, Liwei had not chosen a bride. After Jianyu selected me as his principal wife, Liwei claimed he was too young to marry, and so my father gave Meiyun to Jianyu as a secondary consort. We married on the same day.
After marriage, both Meiyun and I became pregnant. Jianyu was ecstatic, believing it a sign from the heavens.
The Phoenix clan had always struggled with fertility, and the royal family even more so. The Phoenix Emperor decreed that whoever bore a high-ranking phoenix chick first would be the next Phoenix Emperor.
My father was the lord of the ancient Azure Luan clan, my mother a rare Rainbow Phoenix. Meiyun’s mother, on the other hand, was merely a peacock spirit. Jianyu placed all his hopes on me, convinced I would bear him a pure-blooded phoenix and help him ascend to the throne.
But when I laid a pitch-black egg, Jianyu’s face turned grim.
“Maybe it’s just the shell,” he said. “We’ll know for sure when it hatches.”
But when our son emerged, his feathers were as black as a raven’s. Jianyu’s hopes were shattered. In a fit of rage, he killed our child and locked me away in the Cold Palace.
From the Cold Palace, I heard that Meiyun had laid a dazzling rainbow egg, and Jianyu celebrated for three days.
On the day the egg hatched, the sky was filled with rainbow light, and the little phoenix’s feathers left everyone in awe.
“Our little phoenix heir!” they cried. “At last, the next generation is here!”
I never learned if Jianyu became emperor, because he killed me—one sword through my chest, all to make room for Meiyun as principal wife.
“How could the first phoenix heir of the royal family be born to a secondary consort? You should be grateful you died for a worthy cause.”
Hatred burned in my heart. If I was to die, I would take him with me. I detonated my core, reducing us both to ashes. I thought my soul would be destroyed, but somehow, I was granted another life.
Until my death, Liwei had never married. I wondered why he agreed this time.
Liwei removed a necklace from his neck and handed it to me. “This is a keepsake from my mother. Let it be our token of promise.”
The pendant was beautiful, and I cherished it instantly.
They said Liwei’s mother came from humble origins and disappeared from the Phoenix clan’s territory early on. Because of this, Liwei’s childhood was harsh.
I gently took his hand. “Though this is our first meeting, I promise to treat you well from now on.”
Jianyu scoffed, “His mother was just an ordinary phoenix, her bloodline inferior. You’d be better off as my concubine.”
“At least, when I become emperor, you’d still have a title.”
“If you stay with him, you’ll never rise above your station.”
Meiyun giggled behind her hand and cast Jianyu a flirtatious glance. “Sister would love to be your concubine, but you don’t want her.”
“Not that she has a choice. Once word spreads that you rejected her, who would still want her?”
I rolled my eyes and shot back, “If even a peacock’s daughter like you can get married, what makes you think I can’t? Worry about yourself!”
Meiyun’s face turned pale as she realized the insult, her finger trembling as she pointed at me.
Jianyu, with memories from his past life, was unafraid and arrogantly retorted, “Don’t worry, even if Meiyun’s blood isn’t as pure as yours, she’ll surely give birth to the next phoenix heir!”
He gave Liwei and me a contemptuous look, then left with Meiyun. Outwardly confident, he secretly moved up their wedding date.
Originally, both couples were to wed in a month, but Jianyu asked the Phoenix Emperor to move their ceremony to just three days later.
The rushed wedding left little time for preparations, and Meiyun’s face was stormy, though she dared not complain.
After the ceremony, Jianyu hurriedly dragged Meiyun off to “make an egg,” which I found oddly amusing.
I nudged the calm Liwei. “Aren’t you worried? What if Jianyu’s child is born first?”
Liwei smiled faintly. “A dragon begets a dragon, a phoenix begets a phoenix. Who knows what he’ll end up with?”
I pondered his words, sensing a hidden meaning.
Chapter 01
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