The Unwanted Northern Heiress Shines Again

Elaine Serrano POV:

"Elaine, take off the ancestral Dragon-bone ring of House Castro. Brittaney is my true Fated Mate, and from today on, you will step down and serve as a lowly personal maid."

Bang. The heavy oak door of my bedchamber was violently kicked open.

The freezing, ruthless voice of my husband, Lord Brian Castro, shattered the silence of the night.

I sat before the mirror in a delicate silk gown, looking at my own reflection. Just a few moments ago, I had opened my eyes to find myself reborn—brought back in time to the exact night Brian returned from his year-long war, the night I had prepared to offer myself to him as a welcome-home gift.

In my previous life, I was foolish enough to let my love for him blind me. When he shattered my heart with his cruel declaration, I had cried, begged, and eventually swallowed my pride, accepting the humiliation of becoming his lowly personal maid just to stay by his side. But my pathetic compromise only led to a horrifying end: they drained every last copper coin of my dowry, butchered the loyal servants I brought from my homeland, and finally, Brittaney burned me alive in a freezing dungeon with her dragonfire!

Now, looking at the man I had once loved with all my heart, I felt nothing but a sickening wave of pure disgust and a bone-deep thirst for vengeance.

He strode in, but he wasn't alone. Next to him stood Brittaney Kirk, a tall, striking female Dragon Knight. Brian's arm was wrapped tightly around her waist. His deep blue eyes, looking at her, burned with a raw, fiery devotion he had never, ever shown me.

"She is the new Lady of this Dragon Court," Brian declared, his gaze shifting to me with absolute zero warmth.

He paused, clearly waiting for my hysterical breakdown, my tears, and my desperate pleas.

But I simply sat there, my face as calm as a frozen lake.

My utter lack of reaction seemed to irritate him. A flash of annoyance crossed his handsome face. He closed the distance between us in two large strides. His large, calloused hand gripped my jaw with bruising force, forcing me to look up into his eyes filled with pure, unadulterated repulsion.

"Are you deaf, or just too stupid to understand?" he snarled, raking his gaze over my silk gown with a vicious sneer. "Did you really think a cursed Dragonless like you could keep me? Let's be honest! The only reason I married you was because you used your family's wealth to force my hand! Look at yourself—a cold-blooded Earthbound who can't even produce a spark of dragonfire. Hugging you is like hugging a freezing corpse!"

My fingernails dug so fiercely into my palms that warm blood began to drip onto the carpet.

"And don't look at me with that dead expression!" Brian tightened his grip on my jaw, his voice dripping with venom, deliberately weaponizing my deepest trauma. "What are you now? Your father and brothers were arrogant fools! Their bloodline was so weak their dragonfire was extinguished by the enemy, getting your entire family butchered like pigs! You are a jinx with a broken Dragon Core! Asking you to stay in my castle as a personal maid is an act of profound charity!"

A year ago, my father and six brothers died in battle. Shortly after, enemy spies infiltrated my homeland and brutally slaughtered my mother and the entire household of the old, the weak, women, and children! Simply because my father and brothers had been the strongest shield against the enemy nation, they annihilated my entire bloodline! Every single person was hacked with seventy-two sword strikes. Even my third brother's newborn son was butchered and dismembered so horribly his tiny body wasn't left intact.

Even in a second lifetime, hearing him weaponize my slaughtered family against me again made the maddening urge to kill scream in my veins. If looks could kill, Brian would have been torn into a thousand bloody pieces right then and there. But the phantom sensation of being burned alive by dragonfire flared in my bones, an agonizing reminder of what reckless anger would cost me.

I masked the lethal sharpness in my eyes perfectly. Patience, I told myself. Before I destroy them, I need to take back every single copper coin I own.

"Oh, Brian, please don't be so harsh on her," Brittaney sighed, stepping forward to wrap her arms around his waist from behind, deliberately pressing her breasts against his armor. She flashed me a condescending, venomous smile over his shoulder. "Elaine, please don't be sad. Since you have nowhere to go, you can stay. I loathe doing chores anyway. From now on, you can draw our bathwater, and... oh, you can wash our bedsheets every morning. It will give a fragile, magic-less thing like you a sense of purpose."

"What is all this screaming?" The harsh voice of my mother-in-law, Lady Icie, echoed from the hallway. She walked into the room, drawn by the commotion. She was wearing the expensive, gold-threaded silk I bought for her, yet when she saw me, her face twisted with absolute disdain.

"Have you no shame, Elaine?" Icie spat. "Brittaney is a true Winged warrior. Her fiery dragon breath cured my illness and brought me immense joy. You just smell of earth and death. It is the Court that feeds you! Brian is merciful enough to let you serve him. Learn to know your place and be grateful!"

Grateful?

When Brian left for war, Icie was dying. I exhausted my massive dowry to hire a Royal Dragon Healer. I, a Dragonless, used my own body heat to keep her warm through freezing nights. Every single bite of food these dragons ate, the chandeliers above their heads, the very castle they were standing in—all bought with my wealth!

And now, they were standing on the bloody corpses of my slaughtered family, calling me a freezing corpse, and demanding I wash their dirty bedsheets?!

In my last life, this injustice had suffocated me. But now, it only brought a bone-chilling, terrifying calm.

I slowly stood up. With agonizing slowness, I slid the heavy, ancestral Dragon-bone ring off my finger. The metal clinked sharply as I dropped it onto the table.

"If that is the Lord's command," I lowered my eyes, completely masking the lethal, venomous sharpness hidden in my gaze. "I step down."

Brittaney's lips curled into a victorious smirk. Brian let out a long breath of relief, letting go of my jaw and looking at Brittaney with deep affection. My complete surrender fully satisfied his arrogant Dragon pride.

Smoothing the invisible wrinkles on my silk gown, I gave them one last, perfect curtsy befitting a lowly personal maid.

But the moment I turned my back and walked out of the room, a twisted, bloodcurdling sneer finally broke through the fragile mask on my face.

Enjoy your Fated Mate, Brian.

I can't wait to see your arrogant Dragon pride shatter into bloody pieces. Let's see how deep your Fated Flame burns when you realize your glorious Dragon Court doesn't even have moldy scraps to eat... once I cut off every single penny of my money.