Cristin's POV:

Clang.

The heavy iron doors of the Obsidian Tower groaned open, piercing the dead silence I had endured for five days.

The blinding sunlight made me narrow my eyes. Standing at the entrance was Collin, dressed in an immaculate, gold-embroidered noble suit.

He wore that familiar, self-righteous smile, extending a hand toward me as if he were a merciful god forgiving a disobedient pet.

"Cristin," his voice was soft, laced with a nauseating condescension. "Five days in the dark should be enough to cool your temper. I hope you've reflected on your mistakes."

I stared at his outstretched hand. I recoiled as if he were something infectious, avoiding his touch completely.

His hand froze awkwardly in mid-air, the mask of gentleness on his face finally showing a crack.

"Cristin, what is it? Are you still throwing a tantrum?" Collin's brow immediately furrowed.

He sighed, his tone dripping with a self-serving weariness. "I know you feel wronged. But it was for your own good. You were acting completely feral, and I sent you here to protect you from making a bigger fool of yourself."

"Protect me?" I let out a cold, mocking laugh. "By locking me in an actual tower for the insane? What a brilliant display of your love."

My sarcasm made his face darken. "I thought you would be more understanding of my difficult position. I'm just trying to keep the peace!"

He paused, then adopted a tone of magnanimous persuasion. "Do you know how hard these five days have been for Ansley? She was terrified by your outburst, yet she still dragged her frail body to manage the Treasury for you, just to keep things running smoothly. She even begged me to release you early!"

Hearing this, a violent wave of nausea churned in my stomach.

My past self had been completely fooled by his lies.

But in my past life, during these exact five days, Ansley had used the Treasury's resources to buy off the elders and frantically spread rumors that I was a dangerous lunatic!

While I was locked in the dark, she was stealing my power and paving the way to send me to the execution pyre!

And now, this hypocritical Dragon Lord was standing before me, praising the woman who would eventually burn me alive, demanding my gratitude!

"She is so kind and forgiving," Collin continued, oblivious to the deadly venom brewing in my eyes. "When we get back, you should properly thank her. Apologize for your behavior, and we can put all this behind us and prepare for our mating ceremony."

I looked at his earnest, self-deceiving face, and the bone-deep hatred within me finally crystallized into absolute ice.

I decided I was done wasting my breath on this hypocrite. I walked past him, heading straight for the magnificent carriage waiting outside the tower.

Collin, thinking I had finally given in to his "reasoning," looked incredibly relieved. He hurried to catch up, intending to open the carriage door for me like a perfect gentleman.

But I stopped just before I reached it and turned to face him. We were so close I could smell the faint scent on him—the scent of a Dragon Lord, mixed heavily with Ansley's cheap perfume.

That scent once fascinated me. Now, it just made me want to vomit.

"Collin," I said calmly, my voice void of any emotion.

"Yes, my love? Are you ready to go home?" His smile returned, confident and arrogant.

I looked straight into his golden dragon eyes, speaking each word slowly and clearly, letting them strike him like fatal daggers.

"There will be no mating ceremony. There is no 'home' for us anymore."

His smile froze instantly. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean," I paused, a chilling smirk curling my lips, "I want to dissolve the contract. We are done, Collin. I reject you as my mate."

Cristin's POV:

My declaration of rejection hung in the air, sharp and absolute. Collin stared at me, his golden eyes wide with disbelief, as if I had just spoken in a forgotten, alien tongue.

But his shock only lasted for a second. In his arrogant mind, he quickly rationalized my words as just another desperate, extreme ploy to win back his attention.

I looked down at the bewildered driver and spoke coldly. "Take me to the Conrad estate. My business with the Dragon Lord needs to be settled formally, with our families as witnesses."

With a dark, grim face, Collin followed me and forcibly got into the carriage, sitting directly across from me. At his cold command, the bewildered driver quickly set the carriage in motion.

I leaned back against the soft cushions, my posture completely relaxed. I fixed my gaze coldly on the scenery flying past the window, treating him like an invisible, foul-smelling piece of trash.

"Cristin, what on earth are you doing? Is this your new game? Threatening me with the Rejection Ritual over a minor disagreement?"

"Doing? A game?" I turned my head, looking at him as if he'd just told the world's greatest joke. "I'm just stating a fact. Our engagement is over."

"Impossible!" he retorted sharply, his draconic aura flaring. "Our engagement was notarized by a Dragon God Ritual and is protected by the highest laws of the kingdom! It's not something you can just end with a few petulant words!"

I glanced at him coolly, my voice dripping with disdain. "Is that so? But as I recall, the Dragon God Ritual also provides for the absolute legality of a 'Rejection Ritual.' As long as one party officially proposes it and the other accepts, the marriage contract can be permanently voided."

Collin was speechless. He clearly hadn't expected me to be so knowledgeable about these ancient draconic laws. After all, the old me—the foolish, love-struck me—only cared about the roses in the garden and the gowns at the ball, always revolving my entire world around him.

He took a deep breath, trying a new tactic. His tone softened, putting on that hypocritical mask of affection. "Cristin, think about all these years of affection between us. Are you really going to throw it all away because of some trivial misunderstanding?"

"Affection?" I shot back, a harsh sneer escaping my lips. "Are you referring to the 'affection' where you comfortably enjoyed the massive financial support my family provided, all while you were intimately entangled with another woman?"

"I told you, it's not an entanglement!" My words violently stung his fragile ego, and his voice rose again. "I only have a responsibility to Ansley! Her father died saving my mother! I owe them a life debt!"

There it was again. That exact same, nauseating excuse.

Rage built in my chest, threatening to shatter my self-control.

I sat up abruptly, staring directly into his golden eyes, my voice trembling slightly with pure, unadulterated anger. "Collin Fleming, cut the crap with your ridiculous 'responsibility' argument!"

"You have a responsibility to her, so who is responsible for me? Who is responsible for the Conrad family?!"

I stared at him, speaking each word with razor-sharp precision. "When we got engaged, it was because your Fleming family's Dragon-crystal mines were on the verge of total exhaustion! You desperately needed my late father's wealth to keep your title! Do you have any idea how much of my family's liquid fortune I foolishly drained to fill your bottomless pits over the past five years?! I even broke my own mother's heart and severed ties with her just to defend your honor!"

"Now that your domain is stable and your mines are recovering, you don't need us anymore, is that it? Your so-called 'life debt' is just the perfect, noble excuse for your wandering affections and your parasitic betrayal!"

The color completely drained from Collin's face. He seemed utterly shocked that I would lay these dirty backroom deals out so bare.

These were the unspoken secrets among nobles. No one ever tore away the elegant facade so brutally, exposing the ugly truth that the great, arrogant Dragon Lord was essentially a leech feeding off his fiancée's dead father's inheritance.

His lips moved, but he couldn't form a single word to refute me. Because everything I said was the absolute truth.

Looking at his pale, defeated face, the fire in my heart finally found an outlet, turning into a sharp, incredibly satisfying thrill of revenge.

"For your 'responsibility,' you brought your mistress into my home and made me the laughingstock of the entire aristocracy! For your 'benefactor,' you locked me in a pitch-black tower for insane criminals!"

I leaned closer, my voice as cold and lethal as a blade. "Now, I'm done paying for your 'responsibility.' The heavy burden of the Fleming family is one that I, Cristin Conrad, will no longer carry. You and Ansley deserve each other!"

My words hit him like a heavy sledgehammer. He stared at me in shock, his eyes wide, as if seeing me for the very first time.

The coachman's voice cautiously came from outside. "My Lord, Lady Cristin... we've arrived at the Conrad estate."

Without giving Collin another glance, I pushed open the heavy carriage door myself and jumped out.

The familiar, magnificent iron gates of the estate were right in front of me. My heart twisted with a sudden, suffocating pang of guilt. This was the home I had abandoned.

Collin hurriedly followed me out, reaching out and trying to grab my arm, but I shook him off with extreme disgust.

"Cristin, wait! We need to talk!" His voice finally held a genuine trace of panic.

I turned, looking at him with absolute, freezing indifference. "There's nothing left to talk about. Get your three million gold coins ready, Collin. That is the exact price for ending our engagement and repaying my family's investments."