

I was the second princess of the Phoenix Court. And I fell in love with a lowly black serpent. In my past life, just to be with him, I purposely picked that black serpent during the Sacred Bonding ceremony when we each chose our companion beasts. After that, we spent every night together. I didn't care what the whole clan thought. I was determined to marry him. But on our wedding day, that same serpent I'd given my heart to drove an arrow straight through me, killing me while I was three months pregnant. As I lay dying, I heard him hiss bitterly in my ear, "If it weren't for you, I'd have been with Seraphine by now. You should've died a long time ago." That's when I finally got it. All he cared about was power. And he'd been in love with my older sister all along—the sister who was next in line for the Phoenix throne. When I opened my eyes again, we were back at that same moment—the Sacred Bonding ceremony. Before everyone, he dropped to his knees and confessed he loved my sister. He begged not to be bound to me. The whole clan looked at me with pity. But I only smiled and pointed to a small white serpent resting quietly off to the side. That black serpent thought clinging to my sister would make him powerful. What he didn't realize was that only the one I chose would become the true heir to the Phoenix Court.

On the third anniversary of my sister's death, the person I trusted the most betrayed me for the ninety-ninth time. She always claimed that I knew nothing about men. She said she was only "testing" them for me. But I knew the truth... She was never protecting me. She was simply enjoying watching everything fall apart. I never expected her obsession to become this twisted. And I never thought she would sneak into my house in the middle of the night... She tie me to my own bed while I was asleep. Bianca: "If you want to win a man's heart, you have to give him exactly what he wants." Bianca: "Men are all the same. The more extreme you are, the more excited they become." Bianca: "And that rule applies to women too. If you want to learn... I can teach you." I forced myself to look terrified and furious. But deep inside... I felt nothing. Because this twisted woman named Bianca... Was exactly the person I needed. She would become my pawn. The key to uncovering the evidence that Matteo murdered my sister. Everyone knew Matteo as the powerful ruler of New York's underground world. A brilliant CEO. A man who seemed untouchable. But no one knew the monster hiding behind his perfect mask. He was obsessed with one thing... Immortality. And he was the one who killed my sister through his cruel experiments. Viviana: "Bianca, are you sure you can handle everything I do?" Fine. Then become my pawn. Bianca... Matteo... You two monsters were made for each other.

On my eighteenth birthday, the High King summoned the heirs of the four great clans—the Vampires, the Werewolves, the High Serpent Clan, and the Merfolk. He laid their portraits before me and said, "Choose one to be your bondmate." I did not hesitate. I pointed to Damon—the werewolf with no noble bloodline, born in a forgotten corner of the realm. The entire court erupted in disbelief. Everyone knew who I used to love. Alpha Iris—the heir of the most powerful Lycan bloodline. For seven years, I chased him with blind devotion. No matter how harshly he treated me, I never gave up. I confessed to him over and over, sometimes right in the royal court. I even performed a blood-binding ritual—slitting my wrist—to earn the right to marry him. In my previous life, I got what I wanted—I married him and we performed the mate bonding ceremony. With that union, he inherited the High King's resources and rose to become the ruler of all four clans. However, what I did not expect was that after our wedding, he turned around and marked my adoptive sister. My parents were furious and sent her away. From that day on, Iris hated me with a vengeance. He surrounded himself with women who all looked eerily like her. One by one, they came—each more vicious than the last. With his silent approval, they tore me down, piece by piece, until I was nothing more than a joke—no longer the queen I once was. The suffering pushed me into severe depression. Only suppressants keep my wolf form from spiraling out of control. Until one day, my medication was replaced with a slow-acting poison. He was the one who did it. I died alone, locked away in the cold palace, a child still growing inside me. However, fate gave me another chance. In this life, I would not make the same mistake. When the High King once again asked me to choose a partner for the marriage alliance, I chose Damon—the one no one ever noticed—without even blinking.
![[ENG DUB] The Phoenix in the Dust](https://acfs3.goodshort.com/dist/src/assets/images/pc/common/f901131c-default-book-cover.png)
Tyson Gray transmigrates into a beast taming world as the most humiliating thing imaginable: an F-rank little yellow chick, freshly discarded by the S-rank campus belle who wants nothing to do with him.What she throws away turns out to carry an ancient phoenix bloodline and a devouring evolution system that compounds with every creature he absorbs. He contracts with Esme Sutton, an E-rank beast tamer whose own contracted beast abandons her but whose potential is off every known chart, and the two of them begin climbing together. From small yellow chick to Cinder Hawk, to Inferno Crest, to Immortal Phoenix. Every opponent who looks down at them gets a front row seat to the correction.By the time the Demon Lord and the Wood family's schemes fully surface, Tyson and Esme are no longer something anyone can afford to underestimate. One phoenix, one tamer, completely undefeatable.

I was slowly dying from Silverthorn Wolfsbane, and there was only one cure—the Miracle Elixir. But my mate, Leo Ashford, bought it and gave it to my adoptive sister, Jane Smith. He did it because he thought I was faking my illness. I gave up on the treatment and swallowed a potent painkiller instead. It would kill me in three days by shutting down my organs. In those three days, I gave up everything. I handed over the fur manufacturing business I built from the ground up to Jane, and my parents praised me for caring about my sister. I offered to sever our mate bond, and Leo praised me for finally being sensible. When I told my son he could call Jane "mommy", he happily said that his new mommy was the best! I transferred all my savings to Jane, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. They were just pleased with my "better behavior". "Viola is finally not so bad." I wondered—would they regret it after I was gone?

I was slowly dying from Silverthorn Wolfsbane, and there was only one cure—the Miracle Elixir. But my mate, Leo Ashford, bought it and gave it to my adoptive sister, Jane Smith. He did it because he thought I was faking my illness. I gave up on the treatment and swallowed a potent painkiller instead. It would kill me in three days by shutting down my organs. In those three days, I gave up everything. I handed over the fur manufacturing business I built from the ground up to Jane, and my parents praised me for caring about my sister. I offered to sever our mate bond, and Leo praised me for finally being sensible. When I told my son he could call Jane "mommy", he happily said that his new mommy was the best! I transferred all my savings to Jane, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. They were just pleased with my "better behavior". "Viola is finally not so bad." I wondered—would they regret it after I was gone?

After graduating from a top university, Willa Lloyd founded her own company. But the Stanton Group crushed her business until it was on the brink of bankruptcy. To save everything she built, Willa got dragged into a series of ridiculous run-ins with the Stanton family…

My daughter, Ruby Pratt, has leukemia. She needs a bone marrow transplant—and fast. Out of everyone in the family, my husband, Dan Pratt, was the only match. I begged him for an entire month before he finally agreed to go through with the donation. But on the morning of the surgery, he went completely off the grid. I stood outside the hospital all day, waiting. No calls. No texts. Not even a shadow. That night, his childhood friend, Valerie Kinder, posted on Instagram. In the photo, Dan was holding Valerie's hand with one arm and carrying her young son with the other—on a beach in Lulabo City. The caption read: [Soaking up the sun! Dan cleared his whole schedule to join us on a month-long trek and we finally made it to the coast! My little boy said Uncle Dan made his ocean dream come true. Pure joy!] My heart splintered. While I was drowning in worry over my daughter, he was off playing happy family with them. I wiped my tears and typed a comment beneath her post: [Not 'Uncle.' From now on, he's your son's father.] That night, I finally got a call from him. "Babe, don't be like this," Dan said. "You're not being fair. "Valerie's son has been bullied at school for not having a dad. I couldn't stand seeing him hurt, so I took them on this trip. It was supposed to help him heal. "I'll catch the first flight back tomorrow and head straight to the hospital to donate the marrow. I promise." I hung up with a bitter smile. The next morning, Dan rushed into the hospital room. But all he found on the bed was a death certificate.

John Brooke has spent years doing construction work to put his girlfriend through school. The day she finally graduates, he shows up with a ring.She shows up with news that she's marrying his best friend. The whole humiliating scene plays out right in front of Luna Taylor, CEO of Taylor Group, who happens to be passing by. She sees in John something she rarely encounters— genuine goodness. On impulse, Luna proposes. He says yes. John's ex watches the man she discarded walk into a life she couldn't have imagined for him and realizes too late exactly what she threw away.

John Brooke has spent years doing construction work to put his girlfriend through school. The day she finally graduates, he shows up with a ring.She shows up with news that she's marrying his best friend. The whole humiliating scene plays out right in front of Luna Taylor, CEO of Taylor Group, who happens to be passing by. She sees in John something she rarely encounters— genuine goodness. On impulse, Luna proposes. He says yes. John's ex watches the man she discarded walk into a life she couldn't have imagined for him and realizes too late exactly what she threw away.