I had been engaged to Lucian Everhart, the young master of Medicine King Valley, seven times. And seven times, our engagement had been broken.

Seven years of devotion, yet each time the marriage contract reached my hands, his fisrt love, Evelyn Grace, would be poisoned, her life teetering on the edge of death.

Standing at the edge of a cliff, I stared blankly at Lucian Everhart, who now shed tears under pressure.

“This is the seventh time. Is our engagement truly so fragile?” Lucian Everhart pulled me into his arms, his voice low and hoarse.

“Isabelle, an engagement is just a formality. We can always hold the ceremony again. But Evelyn... she has only one life. She ended up like this because she took the poison for me.”

I forced a bitter smile. “Your tears will dry. Your heart will not break. But me?”

Seven broken engagements, my name had become a laughingstock. A joke. The woman who could never marry into Medicine King Valley.

The elder responsible for the marriage contract approached cautiously. “Girl… shall I prepare the contract?”

I shook my head.

“No need. I won’t marry.” Lucian, I reject both you and your role as the Medicine King Valley’s savior.

——

The seventh marriage contract had arrived. Red silk carpets lined the ground. Drums and gongs thundered in celebration. Seven years had passed. This time, they said, nothing would go wrong.

Then…

Thud.

Evelyn Grace collapsed before the altar, right in front of me. My heart sank. Here we go again.

The elders of Medicine King Valley dropped to their knees as one, their wails echoing to the heavens.

“Please, Young Lady, save Evelyn again! Have mercy!”

Lucian cradled Evelyn in his arms, bloodshot eyes locking onto mine.

“Isabelle! Your tears! Hurry!”

I stared at him, numb.

“This is the seventh time,” I whispered. “Is our engagement really so fragile?”

Still holding his “dying” disciple, his voice broke. “Isabelle, the engagement ceremony can wait. But Evelyn only has one life.”

Then his tone sharpened. “She’s in this state because she tested the poison for me. Your tears won’t run dry, it won’t harm you!”

‘Won’t harm me?’ I smiled bitterly.

The hall was packed with guests. Where once there had been admiration, now only ridicule remained.

“The Medicine King Valley farce is happening again.”

“Six broken engagements weren’t enough? Now there’s a seventh?”

“Isabelle is truly shameless.”

The elder inched toward me again. “Girl… the marriage… is it still on?”

I shook my head. “It’s off.” “I won’t marry.”

Lucian and your sacred title, I reject both. A soft stirring came from within me. Our child. A spiritual embryo nurtured with my flower soul power.

Evelyn slowly opened her eyes, her breath faint and voice weaker still.

“Lucian… the poison’s reached my bones. Normal tears won’t work anymore…” Her gaze shifted to me.

“Unless… the flower soul embryo is refined into a Soul-Restoring Pill.”

My pupils contracted. She wants my child?

Lucian’s gaze followed hers… and landed on my abdomen. Our flesh and blood. A silent struggle flickered in his eyes, then resolved into grim determination.

“Isabelle, we can create another spirit embryo. But Evelyn… she’s one of a kind.”

A bone-deep chill surged from my feet to my skull. He had made his choice. He chose her. He chose to kill our child. Gripping my wrist with brutal force, he growled.

“Obey me. Don’t resist.”

He dragged me toward the alchemy chamber.

“Young Master!” cried the oldest alchemist in the valley, his hair snow-white and face stricken with anguish. “You mustn’t! Forcing the spirit embryo out will destroy her flower soul, it will cost her life!”

Lucian shoved the elder aside, his temples throbbing. “I am the future of Medicine King Valley! It’s just a spirit embryo! Her body is strong enough, she can endure it!”

“You're mad!” I screamed, tears blurring my vision. The child inside me kicked violently, as if sensing death’s shadow.

“He’s moving!” I sobbed. “Lucian, he’s alive too!”

His hand froze above the array for a brief second. He looked at me. Pity flickered in his eyes.

For a moment, I hoped he might stop. But then he activated the array.

A golden light burst forth, blinding me. Agony tore through my abdomen, worse than slow torture. Piece by piece, the embryo was wrenched from me, fighting, resisting, clinging to life.

Blood poured like a river, soaking the array red. I writhed in agony, mouth spilling blood.

“Lucian…” I gasped, “you’ll regret this…” Darkness swallowed me whole.

When I awoke, the room reeked of elixirs. They had already refined my child into a pill. After taking it, Evelyn not only recovered, she had advanced in her cultivation.

She stood at the foot of my bed, her complexion glowing with vitality, like someone reborn.

I, on the other hand, was a hollow shell, too weak to even sit up.

“Isabelle,” she cooed, voice sweet enough to curdle blood, “Elder Thorne said that a flower soul body that’s carried a spirit embryo is an incredible tonic…”

She leaned in, greedily inhaling the scent of my body.

“Could you give me just a few more drops of your heart’s blood to stabilize my cultivation? It’d be such a waste to keep it all to yourself.”

I retched. Her expression darkened. She seized the jade bottle on my bedside and smashed it to the ground. Shards flew, slicing my cheek.

Then she picked up a sharp shard and pressed it against her own throat, shrieking hysterically.

“Isabelle! Why can’t you just tolerate me?! Why deny me this small favor?!”

“I’m dying and you’re still so selfish!”

“Help! Lucian! Isabelle is trying to kill me!”

Lucian burst into the room.

He gathered her into his arms, glaring at me.

“It’s just a drop of heart blood!” he shouted. “You’re a powerful flower spirit, why are you arguing with a sick girl?!”

Then he raised his sword and slashed open my chest. Blood dripped into a jade vial. I curled up, trembling from the pain. He moved to tend to my wound, but Evelyn clutched his sleeve, swaying weakly.

“Lucian… it hurts so much… I can’t go on…” She fainted in his arms. Without hesitation, he picked her up and left. Leaving me behind. Bleeding. Alone.

From the next room, I heard the gentle murmurs of his voice. He was comforting her. Protecting her. And I, like a used rag, was discarded without remorse. Only then did I see the truth.

Whenever a choice had to be made between me and Evelyn … I was always the one sacrificed. I used to believe he was a hero. The heir to Medicine King Valley. A man worthy of love. I was wrong.

I wanted to marry him, even when he kept rejecting me because of Evelyn. I never gave up.

But now, I’ve finally accepted the truth. My heart has completely died.

I tried to leave the valley many times, but was always turned away. His only telepathic response was cold and dismissive.

"Stop causing trouble. Evelyn’s spiritual energy is still unstable. She can't be separated from me."

I forced myself back to my quarters in the valley, listening to the Rain Pavilion.

As soon as I opened the door, I heard laughter, light, carefree, joyful. “Demon Bond, slow down, don’t bump into your mother!” Lucian’s voice was filled with rare tenderness. My heart clenched. Mother?

A pitch-black spirit beast with crimson eyes pounced forward, trailed by Evelyn’s soft, playful chiding.

“Lucian, Demon Bond is too naughty!” Her voice was light and sweet, nothing like someone sickly.

I stood frozen at the doorway, blood running cold. That very spot, where I had once mourned the child I lost, was now the playground of their beast.

My arrival silenced the room. Lucian’s expression instantly turned frigid. Evelyn covered her nose theatrically.

“Oh my! Sister Isabelle, why are you back? You just lost your spirit embryo, you’re cursed!”

Then she picked up a basin of foul-smelling black dog’s blood, used for exorcisms and dumped it on me. It soaked my hair and clothes, the rancid stench making my stomach churn.

The blood seeped into my unhealed wounds, sending waves of searing pain through my spirit body. I crouched on the ground, trembling. Lucian merely warned her.

“Evelyn, be careful. The floor’s wet, you might slip.”

Not a word of concern for me. Not even a glance. I tried to stand, shaking. But then Evelyn whined again.

“Lucian, Isabelle looks so terrifying. Demon Bond’s scared to come near her!” The black spirit beast was indeed cowering in a corner, its red eyes flickering with fear.

Lucian’s voice was stern when he addressed me, “Isabelle! Evelyn and Demon Bond will be staying here. You’ll be responsible for her daily needs and use your spiritual energy to nourish Demon Bond every day.”

I was stunned. This was my home.

“You must inspect Demon Bond’s waste every day,” he continued coldly. “If its spiritual energy is unstable, report immediately. Also, wash Evelyn’s ceremonial robes daily. Maintain the exact temperature of her medicinal baths. No mistakes. And...”

I cut him off. My voice was low, yet sharp like a blade, “Lucian, am I your fiancée? Or your hired spirit beast caretaker?”

Before the words even settled in the air, Evelyn let out a wail and grabbed the dagger from the table. She slashed her wrist dramatically.

“Wuwuwu... I’m such a burden... I shouldn’t exist... I’m dragging Lucian down...!”

Blood gushed from her wrist. Her face turned ghostly pale. Lucian rushed to her, snatching the dagger and pulling her into his arms.

“Evelyn! Are you insane?! Why would you hurt yourself like this?!”

Then, without hesitation, he slapped me.

A blast of spiritual energy struck my face, slamming me into the wall. My soul trembled.

He roared.

“Isabelle! Do you even have a heart? One word from you could kill her!”

Blood trickled from the corner of my lips as my cheek swelled. “I only asked one question…” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“One word is too much!” His eyes were full of hatred. “Look at you! you’re like a resentful ghost! You frighten Evelyn!”

He shoved me out the door. The autumn wind pierced through my thin clothes. And…

Bang!

The door slammed shut in my face.