Chapter 1

My best friend and I spent ten years in the mortal realm accompanying two divine lords through their love trials. Just as their hearts finally opened to us, their deceased soulmate miraculously returned from the dead.

It turned out that Princess Celeste had been touched by their devotion and chose to descend once more.

“Since they came down for my sake, I shall be the one to guide them through their trials,” she sneered. “How dare you two lowly sprites covet my men?”

Devastated, we reported our failed mission to our superior, only to be told that we could not return to the heavens unless we died mortal deaths.

Later, Briony and I were slaughtered as sacrificial offerings for Celeste. Upon our deaths, we ascended directly into High Deities.

Elder Orin scratched his beard in confusion when he saw us. “How strange. The trial seems to have been yours all along.”

“Now, go down and drag those two fallen gods back.”

1

Briony and I were once minor spirits serving under Elder Orin, the divine matchmaker.

To earn our ascension to High Divinity, we accepted a mission to help two mighty gods complete their mortal love tribulations.

According to the Scribe of Destiny, I was tasked with healing Cyrus, the aloof and solitary High Chancellor.

Briony was assigned to Garrick, the ruthless young Grand General.

All we needed to do was rescue them from the lingering grief of their lost white moonlight. Once they embraced a new life, the gods would reclaim their divine thrones.

After ten long years of patience and devotion, we finally broke through their icy defenses.

We were ready to spend the rest of our mortal lives by their side.

Then, their beloved resurrected.

We were having tea at the Chancellor Manor when the news shattered our world.

Seeing Cyrus and Garrick return after a long expedition, Briony stepped forward with a warm smile to welcome them.

Garrick merely frowned and took a sharp step back, revealing the fragile woman behind him.

Briony froze in her tracks.

The moment I recognized her face, I rushed to Briony’s side and took her trembling hand.

I turned my gaze toward Cyrus.

Yet his eyes never met mine, because his entire world was already consumed by the woman standing before him.

I forced down the rising panic and curtsied with practiced grace.

“Greetings, Princess Celeste.”

Briony snapped out of her daze and curtsied as well.

Celeste, ethereal and delicate, suddenly lowered her head, looking utterly desolate.

“Before returning to the capital, I heard rumors that you two had taken wives,” she whispered. “I refused to believe it, but it is true.”

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, frantically clawing at her own skin as panic took over her features.

“I have been soiled in the wilderness,” she wept. “Neither of you wants me anymore!”

Without a second thought, both Cyrus and Garrick lunged forward to wrap her in their arms.

Their expressions were carved with pure, unadulterated anguish.

“Never, Celeste,” Cyrus murmured in a voice softer than spring rain. “I will stay by your side forever.”

I had never heard Cyrus speak with such tenderness.

As the realm’s High Chancellor, an icy detachment was woven into his very bones.

Even after a decade of devotion, I had only barely melted the thinnest layer of frost around his heart.

I used to whisper to Briony, wondering if his dead lover had taken all of his warmth with her to the grave.

Turns out, I was right.

Celeste’s return instantly turned Cyrus into a stranger I did not recognize.

Briony and I watched in silence as Garrick lifted Celeste into his arms and rushed her inside, with Cyrus following right behind.

Before leaving, both men cast a chilling glare in our direction.

Their eyes were filled with silent blame, as if our very existence had deeply wounded their beloved.