It was on our wedding night when my husband stole my heartblood to save his childhood sweetheart.

His lips were on my forehead as his dagger carved my chest open.

"Good girl. This is the last time, I promise," he breathed bewitchingly, his scalding tears dripping on my skin. "Once she's better, let's consummate our marriage."

That was what he said, but I had heard it countless times before.

In my despair, I used my last ounce of strength to tug on his sleeve.

He urgently drained my blood to save another woman, not even looking my way as he did.

What he didn't know was that it was my last drop of heartblood.

And I was going to die.

On our wedding night, I happily drank the wine Cain Liebert offered me and felt my strength leave me in an instant.

As I collapsed limply on the bed, Cain remained expressionless. He put down his glass and reached for my clothes.

The tips of his fingers were icy, leaving me shuddering.

Presuming this was the consummation rule, I did not resist, even giggling, "Do you have to be so impatient? I'm finally marrying you…"

Cain glanced at me but quickly looked away in guilt as he tore my clothes open.

I couldn't help flushing as I felt the coolness of my chest.

Before embarrassment sank in, however, I watched as he drew out a small dagger.

The pheromones in the air seemed to vaporize as my smile stiffened, and sweat started trickling down my brow.

I was all too familiar with that dagger—it pierced my chest nine times before, extracting my precious heartblood.

I grabbed Cain's hand and tried to push myself up right then, but couldn't find the strength.

All I could do was exclaim in panic, "What are you doing, Cain?!"

His hand stiffened. Pursing his lips, he lowered his eyes to hide the conflict in his gaze, "Yvette's sick again. I need your heartblood to save her."

My fingers clenched around his wrist as I couldn't help exclaiming, "I've already saved her nine times! Is she really that frail? What illness could it be that she needs my heartblood to live?"

Cain easily freed himself, frowning as he quietly said, "It's urgent—I will explain it to you when I save her."

"I know I'm doing you an injustice, but don't worry—I won't bother with her anymore after this. Once I'm back, I'll marry you again."

Seeing that he was determined, I cried out right then, "I'm not saying no, Cain. But I only have ten drops of heartblood, and you already took nine. I'll die if you take the last drop too!"

My words were earnest, but he sighed, clearly not listening.

"You don't have to be afraid," he told me instead. "And don't try to fool me—I know how precious heartblood is to members of the Wisteria clan. Be good now… This is the last time."

He leaned down, kissing my forehead before getting to his feet.

When he did, he did a double take as his gaze reached my chest.

It was riddled with holes—a gruesome sight of new cuts overlapping with old. On top of that, the wound from the last time he stabbed me had yet to heal.

As if in pain, he brushed his fingers over my skin as tears welled up in his eyes, and breathed quietly, "I know you've suffered for your loyalty to me, but I owe her. I'll come back to you and love you when I've repaid her—"

Flustered, I blinked even as I begged with a quivering tone, "I really can't give it to you, or it would kill me! I'm not lying—"

Shunk—

The icy touch of his dagger plunged through my chest before I could finish.

I screamed in pain, bean-sized sweat appearing over my brow as Cain extracted the last drop of heartblood.

All I could feel was my thousand years worth of training going to waste while my spiritual energies faded into the air unwittingly.

Plop.

Even as Cain pulled out his dagger with shuddering fingers, his tears trickled down my chest while he spoke in his emotionless, bewitching voice, "Be good. I promise this is the last—just give me time, and we can do this again."

As he put away my heartblood and started to leave, I withstood the agony in my heart and caught his sleeve with the last ounce of strength I had, breathing feebly, "Give it back to me now, or I'm really going to die—"

Even so, Cain never once looked at me as he hurried outside, mumbling to himself, "I owe Yvette. I have to repay her favor…"

His voice faded into the distance, while I lay immobile, too hurt to move.

As I felt my heart wilting, all I could think about was this:

If Cain was using my heartblood to repay Yvette's favor, what about what he owed me?

What would he repay me with?

I passed out for the longest time.

The agony of having my heartblood being taken out nine times was actually bearable. But this time, I felt like my life would be claimed too.

As the last Wisteria in existence, the blood in my heart was endlessly pure and a miracle essence to the rest of the world.

It was capable of even bringing the dead back to life, but I had only ten drops.

And with the ten drops all taken, I was now dying.

Suddenly, I had a dream of the moment I first met Cain decades ago.

It had already been centuries since I was taken in by the Bladelords when he was initiated. We felt a mutual attraction after getting acquainted, and fell in love.

While my mother warned me that I had a Bleeding Heart that was too innocent and vulnerable to deceit, I never believed her.

That was, until I overheard someone in the sect saying that they had taken me in just so they could claim my heartblood when they needed it… until Cain came at me with a dagger for the first time, thrusting it into my heart.

It was only afterwards that he told me that he had a childhood sweetheart—a mortal named Yvette.

She had given him a pill bestowed upon her by a sage so that he could gain transcendence and join the Bladelords, while she was left shackled by mortality.

Caught in disbelief, I had demanded at the time, "So you wooed me just for my heartblood?"

"Yes," he admitted to it boldly. "But I also truly fell in love with you. There's no way I can have a relationship with Yvette now either—all I feel is owing. Can you understand where I'm coming from, Crystal?"

At that moment, never had I despised my Bleeding Heart more than now, as I had understood and forgave Cain just because he begged.

Back then, I thought it was just one drop of heartblood anyway—I had ten, and it was no big deal.

And because I had kept telling myself that, my chest was eventually riddled with holes, as Cain would repeatedly take my heartblood for the strangest reasons.

Being run down by a carriage, her husband beat her half to death, and she almost killed herself after her husband died… there were times when I found the romantic relationships of mortals incomprehensible.

If she really loved someone so much, how were they able to marry someone else?

However, looking at it from another perspective, it was moving how loyal they were.

Nonetheless, it was after the ninth time Cain stabbed my heart that he proposed marriage.

I have heard the sisters of my cabal saying women who really fell in love were fools.

However, I remembered I was a fool ever since I fell for Cain, so I accepted his proposal.

And now, the Bladelords banished me—with my heartblood drained dry, my spiritual energies had mostly diminished, leaving me of no use to them.

When I left, I could hear my peers laughing at me.

"Just look at her—even her hair has gone white. She's not going to last a few years."

"How much more foolish can she get? Cain has already deceived her to no end, but she still agreed to marry him. And now, he ran away on their wedding night, thinking of her last drop of heartblood!"

"That said, he probably didn't know—he wouldn't be that cold otherwise."

"Who could tell? All men are the same. Only fools like Crystal Woods would believe in nonsense like love."

As I headed down the stairs, their voices faded into the distance until I couldn't hear them at all.

I never once looked back, because I was too ashamed to do so, remembering my mother's last words, "You're the last of the Wisterias. You must find good stock to revitalize the bloodline!"

The memory alone could make me hide. Not only did I fail to revitalize the bloodline, I was going to die.

I had failed my mother, and the Wisteria clan even more.

Sighing, I looked up at the skies as the thought suddenly struck me.

I wanted to see Yvette.

Cain had stolen my ten drops of heartblood and given them to Yvette.

In other words, I had saved Yvette's life ten times without even knowing what she looked like.

Descending upon the mortal realm, I found the cottage that Cain had once described to me.

That was the first time I saw her—a woman in her forties, taking out the laundry. She had wrinkles lining the corner of her eyes, dressed in tweed clothes. She looked ordinary.

However, she was also brimming with vigor, and there was no hint that death was looming for her—my heartblood must have worked wonders.

I stood outside, watching for a long while until I saw Cain stepping out of the cottage.

Dressed in all-white, there was a smile on his picturesquely handsome face as he dropped to a crouch, taking the laundry from her as he spoke gently, "I'll do it. You get some rest."

Yvette caught his hand, speaking in a melodious voice despite her age, "No, you don't know this stuff. You rest. I'll cook after I'm done here."

Cain sighed, staging silent for a while and said, "I should go soon. Crystal's still waiting for me."

Hearing that, Yvette dropped the laundry with a splash in the bucket, and exclaimed in panic, "Why? It's just been a few days. What's the hurry?"

Cain gently withdrew his hand from her grasp and lowered his gaze, "I must go. This is the last time we'll see each other—I have an obligation to do right by her after I marry her."

Yvette pursed her lips, tears welling up in her eyes as she choked with tears, "What about me? Don't you care about me? Could you have transcended if not for my pill? Would you have been able to meet her?"

Cain's brow furrowed and annoyance showed in his eyes. "I've saved you ten times. Isn't that enough?"

"No! I'm never letting you go!"

Yvette suddenly sprang to her feet in agitation, throwing herself into Cain's arms as she cried, "You despise me for being old, don't you? Because I'm not as beautiful as her?"

"I know we're never getting back together, and I know I was saved by her heartblood, but you have all the time in the world with her. All I ask is that you just spend a few decades with me—can't you do that? How long do you think I'll live?"

Cain turned silent for a long while, his annoyance fading from his eyes as he hugged Yvette back.

Perhaps convinced, he gently spoke in a quiet voice, "Alright, I'll stay with you."

Crack!

I unwittingly broke a branch beneath my foot, and Cain turned to frown at me almost at a split second.

I promptly hid behind a tree, my still bleeding heart pounding loudly!

However, Cain's eyes turned cool as ice as he chanted an incarnation and launched a blue flash at me.

I met his gaze for a split second before I dodged the flash, slipping and falling in a puddle of mud.

I could hear Yvette asking gingerly, "Who was that?"

Seemingly calm down, Cain's voice was tender, "Nothing. Just some white-haired hag—most likely another mortal."

My heart sank to the abyss as I realized he didn't recognize me.

With that, I left—to Mount Guileless, the border where the mortal realm met the immortal realm.

It took me a day to find an abandoned hut, where I lay and waited for my death. I could tell that it would collapse soon, which hopefully would bury me. Who knows, I might grow again if the heavens took pity on me.

Just a couple of days spent flat on my back, however, I felt the air stirring.

While I was just feeling puzzled, a wounded cultist barged in.

His robes were black embroidered with golden threads, and his long hair was tied into a high ponytail. He had the air of virtue, but there were specks of blood on it despite his noble appearance.

And if not for the dark lines that could vaguely be seen between his brows, I would have mistaken him for a bladesman.

As our eyes met, I remained silent as his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed in greed and surprise, "A Wisteria?"

Before I could answer, he pressed urgently, "Wait, are you dying?"

I followed his gaze as he looked downwards on my chest, and said quietly, "Yeah. Can't help you there—all ten drops of my heartblood was taken."

His gaze dimming in disappointment, the cultist clutched his wounded abdomen and sat in a corner.

"Who could be so greedy?" He asked, seemingly trying to start a conversation out of nothing. "Stealing all ten drops at once? They should be keeping you healthy so that you can regrow a drop before taking it again."

"Not at once," I replied flatly. "It was ten times."

The cultist's expression stiffened, sympathy showing in his eyes. "That's cruel. A demon?"

I shook my head. "No, my husband."

He turned silent, while something occurred to me.

Pulling a pouch out of my sleeve, I walked up to the cultist and poured a mess of pills and mystic items, telling him, "I'll be dead soon. No use keeping these around—check if there's anything that could save your life and use it."

He stared at me as if I was mad. "You're helping me? I was going to take your heartblood."

Then, he once again continued before I could speak, with a pointed stare on my chest, "Ah, a Bleeding Heart too. Shouldn't be surprised."

Not inclined to argue, I dropped the pouch and was going to lie down again when he called out to me, "Hey, do you want to live?"

I paused, and he continued before I could turn, "Why don't I help you with your revenge?"