In my previous life, I used the golden blood of the dragon to nurture my beast wife, Priscilla Slither. That was how she became the strongest fighter in the beast world.

But the first thing Priscilla did after becoming the young mistress of the Snake clan was enter the Secret Realm and find the Sacred Heart for her first love, Jasper Whiskers.

I didn't want Priscilla becoming the public enemy of the entire beast world, so I went so far as to use up all of my cultivated power just to stop her.

Jasper had a very weak bloodline. Without the Sacred Heart, he would definitely fail to evolve.

But Priscilla didn't blame me for my antics. Instead, she became even more lovey-dovey with me.

I thought Priscilla finally saw my efforts and realized how good a husband I had been to her. But as soon as she became the elder of the Snake clan, she had me skinned alive.

"Kael Vaxenroth, you're the reason behind Jasper's failure in evolution and eventual death after his lifespan ran out! You should've died a long time ago just to make it up to him!"

Just like that, I died in endless agony.

When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Priscilla insists on stealing the Sacred Heart from the Secret Realm.

This time, I want to witness how Priscilla and Jasper seal their own fates with their actions!

"Are you out of your mind, Priscilla Slither? If you remove the Sacred Heart, we will never be able to cultivate again, and the Beast Realm will be done for!" the beastmen cried angrily, surrounding her as they tried to stop her.

Priscilla didn't even blink. "Jas needs the Sacred Heart more than anyone else to cultivate and evolve. What's the matter with letting him use it?"

Jasper Whiskers, or Jas, was her supposed first love.

"That's not something you can take and use just whenever you want! You're the young mistress of the Snake clan! Even if you don't care about the other clans, you should still at least care about the future of the beastlings in the Snake clan!" someone cried out angrily and indignantly.

However, Priscilla attacked without warning a split second later, and several beastmen were sent flying. A handful of them even had their hearts ripped out completely, reverting to their original beast forms and dying on the spot.

Priscilla looked annoyed and impatient. "Who gave you the right to tell me what to do? I am the successor of the Snake clan! At worst, I'll just find something else to replace the Sacred Heart with after letting Jas use it!"

I couldn't stop myself from sneering and chuckling out loud at that.

The Sacred Heart was an incredibly rare stone that was impossible to come by even once in ten thousand years. All of the wealth and treasures accumulated by all beastmen over the millennia combined wouldn't even amount to a fraction of it.

So, how dare she, a mere young mistress of the Snake clan, speak with such arrogance as if it were just a walk in the park?

Priscilla was displeased when she heard me. She narrowed her eyes at me and demanded, "You have a problem with that?"

I retorted sarcastically, "No, of course not. You are the young mistress of the Snake clan, after all. How could I ever dare to object to your actions?"

She completely missed my sarcasm and went on to warn me. "Smart move. You know very well that I could replace you anytime I wanted if you were to act as clueless as the rest of them!"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything you say is absolutely correct," I said, unable to care less about what she did. I just turned and walked away.

It didn't matter much to me anyway because members of the Dragon clan could cultivate just by breathing. We didn't have to rely on the Sacred Heart for anything.

And yet, Priscilla still thought that I was a pitiful orphan with no clan to call my own. She thought I had only risen to power as her mate because of her status and identity as the young mistress and future successor of the Snake clan.

I knew that she thought of me as nothing more than a leech. It never occurred to her that she only managed to get to where she was today because of me. And yet, she repaid my kindness by killing me in my past life, causing my tragic death.

This time, I wasn't going to help her out anymore. I was going to watch her bring about her own demise instead.

Priscilla seemed very pleased with my sensibility and eagerly went forward to retrieve the Sacred Heart. All other beastmen who tried to stop her were either killed or heavily wounded in an instant. Even beastmen from her own Snake clan suffered the same fate.

"You're nothing but a bunch of trash! How dare you still try to stop me?"

Her face was dark and full of disdain. Actually, she could have just frozen their power to stop them without having to take their lives. Yet she didn't care and killed almost every beastman who tried to stop her.

With how ruthless and arrogant she was now, I was really looking forward to seeing what would become of her when the other beastmen learned of her horrible deeds.

I looked at the severed limbs scattered on the ground and felt a little uncomfortable. I thought of finding another place to watch the spectacle, but I'd only just moved a muscle when Priscilla immediately shot up to me, blocking me with a look of disgust on her face.

"You'd better stay out of my business if you want to continue being my good-for-nothing trash of a mate, Kael Vaxenroth! You have absolutely no right to get in the way of someone like me, the young mistress of the Snake clan!"

Trash?

If it weren't for "trash" like me, she would probably still be hiding around in some back alley and getting bullied by the other beastmen instead.

I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes. "I don't have any intentions to meddle in your business."

Priscilla scoffed coldly. "Did you really think that I'd believe you? It's bad enough that I always have to put up with your constant nagging, but I dare you to utter another word today. If you do, I'm immediately severing our bond!"

Her overconfident demeanor just made me nauseated.

However, we were bonded mates, which meant that I would lose all of my cultivation if I were to harm her.

I decided to just stay out of her sight so she'd stop bothering me. I didn't want to explain myself anyway, so I just nodded perfunctorily and went somewhere else to watch the drama unfold.

There was a threshold to entering the Secret Realm, and Jasper almost lost his life just trying to get in. The moment he saw Priscilla, he put on an aggrieved face and said, "Prissy! Do you think I'm destined to be a weakling forever just because I was born with an inferior bloodline?"

"Don't be upset. I promised you that I would help you and make you as powerful as me, Jas."

Priscilla then seized the Sacred Heart and placed it in his upturned palm, amidst the ferocious shouts and curses from the other beastmen.

There was a very short moment of silence in the Secret Realm. Then, screams of terror rang out.

"It's collapsing! The Secret Realm is collapsing!"

The Sacred Heart had been taken away, and now, the Secret Realm had collapsed, trapping everyone inside. They could only leave three years later after the force field completely dissolved away.

The beastmen in the Secret Realm were all on the verge of breaking down.

"I've only just reached adulthood and haven't even had the chance to cultivate yet! But now, I won't be able to cultivate anymore with the Sacred Heart gone. I don't want to regress into a beast!"

"How could she just take the Sacred Heart away and destroy the entire Secret Realm for a lowly rat-rabbit hybrid like him?"

"We're finished! We're doomed! We're all going to die!"

"Go to hell, both of you!"

I watched the scene unfold and felt the beastmen's despair and sorrow. However, Jasper, the main culprit behind it all, frowned upon hearing their cries and began complaining to Priscilla instead.

"Prissy! They're all yelling at me and cursing me to die! I'm so upset and unhappy, and I'm really scared of them now too!"

"Whoever dares to upset Jas deserves to die!" Priscilla declared, her eyes filled with murderous intent as her eyes darted around.

I watched their flippant attitude and couldn't help but smirk at them. At this point, Priscilla was the second-most powerful beastman in the Secret Realm, after me. If it weren't for that fact, I knew that the other beastmen wouldn't have hesitated to beat her and Jasper up for their attitude.

Jasper didn't forget to drag me into the mud as well.

"Look, Prissy, I think your husband is going to nag at you too."

Why was he still harping on me even though I'd already kept my distance from them?

I didn't want to pay any heed to those two idiots. However, Priscilla roared at me and said, "Don't you dare keep testing my patience, Kael!"

I was speechless at her words. However, I was even more curious about something else.

"Priscilla, you do know that the beastmen trapped in here are all the most outstanding youth from their clans, right? Aren't you the least bit afraid that their clan leaders will hold a grudge against you for hurting them?"

Priscilla burst out laughing. "Did you think I'm as cowardly as you that I have to be afraid of them? So what if their clan leaders stand before me today? I'd still kill them all without blinking!"

She really was so full of herself.

In the past, when she kept offending other beastmen left and right and even had assassins sent for her head, I was the one who cleaned up after her and protected her from the shadows without her knowing.

If it weren't for my protection, she wouldn't even be able to stand up to the young masters and young mistresses of the other clans, let alone the clan leaders themselves.

However, I hadn't even had the chance to say any of that when Jasper sighed and said, "Prissy, you know that I'm a very likable and lovable beastman. So, why are there so many of them laughing and making fun of me today?

"Do you think it's because Kael has been talking to them and purposely turning them all against me?"

At that, Priscilla flew into another temper and began screaming at me.

"Kael Vaxenroth! How dare you! Just wait till I kill every single one of the beastmen making fun of Jasper. I'll come for your throat then!"

Then, Priscilla killed every beastman in the Secret Realm who had been poking at Jasper. Fresh blood spilled out all over the ground littered with broken limbs and bodies.

No one else dared to say another word against them.

Priscilla's face was streaked with blood when she glared coldly at me.

"Kael Vaxenroth, I demand that you dig out your beast core and give it to Jas as your apology. If not, I won't go easy on you!"

If she was shameless enough to say that, then I was also shameless enough to ignore her.

"You know that I'll die without the beast core, right, Priscilla? What makes you think I'd obediently kill myself just because you said so?"

She just glared at me impatiently and said, "If you want to continue being my mate, then you'd better do exactly as I say. Or else, I won't hesitate to replace you. I have plenty of cultivation in me. I'll just give you some of it after you give him your beast core. You won't die."

Sure, I wouldn't be dead, but it would be an experience worse than death itself.

I was thoroughly disgusted by her words. "Then go ahead and replace me instead. I'm not doing any of that."

Priscilla frowned hard. "Don't you keep testing my patience, Kael! You're literally begging for me to strike you!"

So, she was telling me that she, a beastman who'd relied on my power to get to where she was today, was threatening to harm me?

Over my dead body. This was getting ridiculous.

However, Jasper didn't know that they were completely irrelevant in my eyes and continued fanning the fire.

"Prissy! I bet that Kael's just taking advantage of the fact that you can't lay a finger on him because he's bonded to you so that he won't have to admit to any of his wrongdoings. That's fine, though. I'll just suffer in the meantime."

His words successfully ignited Priscilla's fury once again.

"No way! I'll never let you suffer, Jas! I might not be able to lay a finger on him directly, but I can equip you with my cultivation power so that you can strike him to death instead!"

She then retrieved some of her cultivation and channeled it to him. Jasper was ecstatic and immediately began to attack me.

He went for the kill and aimed at my head.

However, I just remained rooted to the ground and didn't even move a muscle. A massive dragon emblem flashed behind me for a brief second, and Jasper was immediately sent flying to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The other beastmen who were still alive immediately guessed that I was a descendant of the Dragon clan, and their faces were filled with awe and respect.

However, Priscilla never noticed a thing.

"Kael! How dare you hurt Jas! Just wait till we're out of the Secret Realm. I swear that I'm going to break the bond between us as soon as we're out. We'll see if you can still act as ruthlessly and arrogantly as you are now!"

I chuckled sarcastically and said, "Well, then, has it never crossed your mind that it's you who's been feeding off my power and energy in our bond in the first place? I am a descendant of the Dragon clan, after all."

Priscilla just glared at me arrogantly with a know-it-all expression. "Don't think that saying that will change my mind about replacing you as my mate. I'm not that easily fooled, idiot!"

She felt incredibly sorry for Jasper, who had tried to kill me, only to have it backfire on him instead. She then ignored me and told him to hurry up and fuse with the Sacred Heart.

However, his bloodline was simply too inferior to directly fuse with the Sacred Heart. If he wanted to successfully fuse with it, then he had to devour exactly 100 beast cores from pure bloodlines.

Priscilla charged toward the other beastmen without hesitation. Before she began attacking them, she warned me, "You'd better stop pretending to be a saint. If you dare to interfere in my affairs again, I'm going to personally destroy you and scatter your soul across the realm!"

I was completely speechless. What had I even said to make her constantly nag at me like this?

"Go ahead and kill them if you want. You're going to be the one the other clans hold responsible for this, anyway. It's got nothing to do with me."

She scoffed coldly. "I know that you'd be the one worse off than me even if I were to die. I know you're just worried about me, but I'm not afraid of anyone. Stop being so fucking annoying and self-righteous, Kael!"

Did she not know who the self-righteous one really was here?

I laughed in anger and exasperation. However, Priscilla had already begun killing the beastmen and harvesting their beast cores.

I found it disgusting to watch her and decided to leave the area.

Three years passed, and hundreds of beastmen trapped in the Secret Realm died in her hands. Countless aspiring beastmen looking to cultivate and evolve had all been forcefully regressed as well.

However, Priscilla and Jasper showed absolutely no sign of regret or remorse for it. They tore off the deer beastmen's antlers, cut off the bear beastmen's paws, and more, until the entire Secret Realm was filled with nothing but the wails and lamentations of the fallen beastmen.

"Prissy! Prissy, I did it! I've successfully evolved!"

At the end of the three years, Jasper finally managed to evolve, and he was utterly overjoyed. Priscilla was excited for him as well.

"As expected! Such a strong, determined beastman like you is truly destined to be my husband and mate!"

She then turned to look at me with a piercing gaze.

"Kael Vaxenroth, you dared to defy my orders and upset Jas. Just wait till we're out of here, and I will immediately have you replaced as my mate!"

I just looked at her sarcastically and said, "Instead of throwing useless threats at me, why don't you start thinking how you're going to defend your and Jasper's pathetic lives?"

The force field soon dissolved, revealing the beastmen from various clans anxiously waiting outside.

The time for Priscilla's and Jasper's judgment had begun.

The Secret Realm had never been sealed for three long years before. And now that the force field was gone, the true state of the Secret Realm was finally revealed.

The ground was littered with the severed limbs of dead beastmen, puddles of dried red blood staining the earth, and calcified bones visible scattered here and there.

Besides that, the beastmen who had regressed into their original beast forms were all missing a body part or two. Elephants were missing their tusks, deer were missing their antlers, bears were missing their paws, and more.

It was just a horrible sight altogether.

The very few beastmen who still managed to retain their human form were filled with terror and unease. They were all emaciated with only skin and bones left.

The beastmen from all the clans could no longer hide their grief after witnessing the carnage.

"Who killed my grandson and dug out his beast core?"

"Who took away the Sacred Heart?"

The young beastmen sobbed as they revealed the harrowing truth, and all of the other beastmen were thoroughly enraged.

However, Priscilla and Jasper still remained perfectly calm even though they were the target of everyone's anger and fury.

She leaned against Jasper's shoulder and said disdainfully, "So what if this was all of my doing? It's always been a dog-eat-dog world in the Beast Realm. They have no one to blame but themselves for being such weaklings!"

It was all because I'd protected her too well in my past life that she turned out so arrogant and even dared to challenge everyone else in the Beast Realm.

This time, she was going to have to face the consequences for her arrogance and ignorance!

The leader of the Wolf clan, Conan Lupine, was particularly furious. He was the first one to step forward.

"You bitch! How dare you do such an outrageous thing to them?"

He was just about to attack when he was quickly stopped by a younger member of his clan who'd just escaped the Secret Realm. The pup's eyes were red as he said, "Mr. Lupine! Her mate is a descendant of the Dragon clan!"

At that, the other beastmen paled almost at once.

"The Secret Realm was sealed for three years, and we all saw the dragon emblem appearing in the sky at that time."

"But wait, haven't the Divine Beasts been extinct for nearly ten thousand years? How could a descendant possibly reappear in the realm again as the Snake clan's son-in-law?"

"We can never defeat a descendant of the Divine Beasts even if all of us beastmen joined forces…"

Everyone turned to look at me, their eyes filled with both fear and respect, yet also with pain and resentment.

Conan dropped to his knees before me, begging me to uphold justice. The rest of the other beastmen followed suit, with the exception of Priscilla and Jasper. Even the regressed beastmen also bowed their heads toward me in their beast forms.

When I saw what was happening, I felt my emotions surging and quickly made them get back to their feet. I went over to help Conan stand as well.

"Please get up, all of you! Priscilla and Jasper stole the Sacred Heart and harmed many beastmen. Their crimes are unforgivable. Whatever their fate is will be their own fault, and I will absolutely not interfere with it!"

I'd only just finished speaking when Jasper suddenly burst out laughing.

"Excuse me, Mr. Leech, but you know that you only managed to produce that dragon emblem because you've been feeding off Prissy's power the entire time, don't you? Who do you think you're trying to scare? And what's with you putting on airs now as if you're all that?"

Priscilla wrapped her hand around his arm and scoffed disdainfully at me.

"Even with our cultivation levels, Jasper and I still wouldn't dare to call ourselves the descendant of the Divine Beasts. Where did you even get the nerve to impersonate someone from the Dragon clan?"

I couldn't be bothered to argue with them.

"Idiots."

I looked forward to seeing if they would continue acting so cocky and arrogant when both of them were crushed later on.

Priscilla flew into a temper. "How dare you insult me? Wanna bet that the first thing I do as soon as we get out is break the bond between us?"

"Be my guest!"

Once the bond was broken off, the first person I'd kill was her!

Priscilla and Jasper were still not done berating and criticizing me, but I wasn't the least bit interested. I simply said to the other beastmen, "Go ahead and do whatever you want to them. You have my blessings."

Then, I walked out and left.

Behind me, the leaders of each clan began inching closer and closer to Priscilla and Jasper. I knew that their end was near.