Chapter 1

On the day Darian married the Celestial Princess, I rose from the dark waters of the River of Forgetting to step into reincarnation.

Old Maeve asked me what would happen if the young demon prince missed his mother.

I shook my head. “He will not. He told me long ago that a mortal mother like me was his greatest shame, nothing compared to the divine princess his father intended to wed.”

“She is the true mother he always wanted.”

The Demon Lord had never cared for a powerless mortal wife either.

Diving into the wheel of rebirth would give everyone exactly what they desired.

As I drank the brew of oblivion, two desperate, heartbroken screams seemed to echo faintly in the distance.

01.

The moment the bitter elixir slid down my throat, searing agony tore through me like ten thousand blades ripping my flesh apart.

Yet even that blinding torment was nothing compared to the humiliation and heartbreak I had suffered.

Suddenly, a brilliant beam of golden light surged into my chest, shattering the seal on my locked memories.

I was never merely the Demon Lord’s lowly mortal bride.

I was Kendra, the Supreme War Goddess of the Celestial Realm.

Everything in my past life had merely been a mortal trial, a divine bet made with my late Grand Master.

Now, battered and covered in blood, I collapsed before the steps of my grand Temple of War.

As my trembling fingers brushed against the stone lion guardian by the gate, the ancient statue suddenly morphed into a small three-year-old boy who rushed to steady me.

“Mother!” he cried.

My head spun violently, and I waved a hand to push him away.

“I am not your mother.”

The little stone boy clung to my robe with fierce determination.

“I have guarded this gate for a hundred years, waiting day and night for your return. I tasted your divine heart-blood, so you are my mother.”

Looking into his pure, adoring eyes, a bitter ache tightened around my chest.

The child I carried for nine grueling months in the Demon Realm despised my humble mortal blood and refused to call me his mother.

Yet a stone spirit brought to life by a single drop of my blood worshiped me as his true parent.

Seeing his naive, chubby face, I knew he would be bullied without protection, so my heart softened and I carried him inside.

My martial uncle was already waiting in the main hall.

Seeing my bloody wounds, he sighed softly. “Kendra, after walking the mortal world, do you finally see clearly?”

All my agonizing memories with Darian flashed through my mind, turning into cold, lifeless dust.