His Unwanted Fiancée Is The Kingdom's Genius

Corrin Nolan POV:

I stood in the corner of the grand banquet hall, my eyes locked onto Jace-my husband of three years-as he intimately wrapped his arm around another woman's waist. He conjured a small, perfectly controlled wisp of orange dragonfire from his fingertips, using it to gently warm Elianna Rivers's goblet of wine before handing it to her. He looked at her with a soft, tender, and intensely affectionate gaze-a look he had never, not once, shown me in our entire marriage.

Elianna giggled, a high, breathy sound, and deliberately leaned her soft body against his arm as she tilted her head back to take a sip. As she moved, the chandelier's light caught a faint glimmer against her pale collarbone.

My breath stopped dead in my throat. The blood drained from my face.

Resting against her skin was a pendant shaped like a perfect teardrop, carved from pure, unblemished dragon crystal. It wasn't just any piece of jewelry. It was my mother's relic. It was the only tangible thing I had left of the woman who had birthed me, a sacred item I had foolishly entrusted to Jace for safekeeping. And now, he had given it away. It had become the sparkling symbol of their illicit, disgusting romance.

The crowd of laughing, sycophantic nobles surrounding them noticed nothing wrong. "Lord Jace and Lady Elianna are truly a match made by the Dragon-Gods!" a wealthy merchant cheered, his voice booming over the music. "Only a noble Half-Blood like her is worthy of standing by his side and aiding his ambitions. It's a tragedy he is legally shackled to that Dragonless peasant of a wife. She is nothing but a stain on the Davidson lineage, a useless weight dragging him down."

I didn't feel angry at their words; I only felt a deep, chilling emptiness.

Sensing my intense gaze, Elianna turned her head. She looked right at me through the crowd. Her manicured fingers drifted up, brushing deliberately and possessively against the crystal. She shot me a small, incredibly smug, and provocative smile. It was a silent declaration of victory.

I didn't hesitate. I stepped out of the shadows. I walked straight through the crowd, my heavy, purposeful footsteps cutting through the polite chatter like a blade. The nobles parted instinctively, their eyes tracking my plain gray dress with blatant disdain. I stopped right in front of the golden couple, my spine perfectly straight, my aura freezing cold.

"Miss Rivers," I said, my voice icy, loud enough for the surrounding nobles to hear. "The item around your neck belongs to me. Take it off."

Elianna gasped dramatically, immediately acting like a fragile, frightened deer. She shrank behind Jace's broad shoulders, deliberately pressing her soft breasts against his arm to stimulate his protective instincts. "Jace, I don't understand... why is Corrin being so aggressive toward me?"

Jace frowned. The familiar crease of annoyance appeared between his brows. He looked slightly guilty, but his pride quickly masked it with irritation. "Corrin, stop causing a scene and embarrassing me. It's just a small trinket I found in the vault. If you want a necklace so badly, I will take you to the capital tomorrow and buy you something far more expensive. Elianna really likes this one, just let her have it as a gesture of our friendship."

"Friendship?" A harsh, dry laugh escaped my lips. I looked at his defensive posture, shielding his mistress from his legal wife.

Before anyone could even blink, my body moved on pure instinct. I raised my hands. Slap! Slap!

Two crisp, perfectly symmetrical, and incredibly violent slaps echoed like thunderclaps through the grand hall. One struck Jace's left cheek, whipping his head to the side. The other struck Elianna's right cheek, leaving a bright red handprint on her pale skin. The entire banquet hall plunged into a dead, horrified silence. The music stopped abruptly.

While they were still reeling from the sheer shock of my physical strike, I lunged forward. My fingers hooked aggressively around the cold silver chain on Elianna's neck. I yanked hard. The chain snapped with a sharp metallic click, digging into her skin, and the heavy dragon crystal dropped safely into my palm.

"Ahhh!" Elianna shrieked, clutching her red, stinging cheek and her scratched neck. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at me with extreme, theatrical grievance. "Corrin, are you insane?! Why would you snatch Jace's gift to me and hit us? Please don't misunderstand, Jace and I are just bros! We call each other brothers! We are just good friends sharing a drink!"

I let out a laugh dripping with pure venom. "Bros? You rub your chest against my husband's arm, you look at him with eyes practically begging him to take you to bed, and you have the absolute audacity to call yourselves 'just friends'? You are nothing but a pathetic, home-wrecking mistress trying to act pure and innocent."

"How dare you speak to her like that!" Felicia, Jace's sister, marched over, her face twisted in absolute disgust. Her dress mimicked gold dragon scales, flaunting her status. "You jealous, uneducated peasant! Elianna is an independent, noble Half-Blood! How dare you strike her over a mere friendship gift? It's pathetic that my brother can't even have female friends without you throwing a jealous, hysterical tantrum!"

"Exactly! Look at your own status!" Caleb, Jace's sycophantic friend, sneered loudly, stepping forward to defend his Lord. "Lady Elianna is a wealthy noble. Why would she covet your cheap trash? You are just a gold-digging orphan with no background and low education. You probably made up that pathetic lie about a 'mother's relic' just to extort more money from Lord Jace! You are full of lies and jealousy!"

Jace rubbed his violently stinging cheek, his face flushing a dark, angry red. "Corrin, you are being completely unreasonable and childish! You have humiliated me in front of my guests. Apologize to Elianna right now, or there will be severe consequences!"

I looked at the man I had spent three years supporting in the dark, the man who was now threatening me to protect his mistress. I slowly raised the dragon crystal in my hand, my lips curving into a cold, self-deprecating smile.

"This piece of crystal might not even be worth a single bottle of the vintage wine you are casually drinking tonight," I said, my voice steady and echoing in the silent room. "But it is the most sincere memorial of my mother's love for me. It is a sacred relic of a fallen hero. It is not something for you to use to flirt with your cheap mistress."

I looked at Jace, who was still shielding Elianna with his body. My heart, which had held onto a tiny, pathetic sliver of hope for this three-year marriage, finally turned to absolute ash.

I looked at him with dead, freezing eyes, devoid of any love or anger. "Jace, do you even know what day tomorrow is?"

Jace POV:

I stood frozen in the banquet hall, my cheek still burning from Corrin's slap. I stared at her retreating back, completely bewildered by her final question. What day is tomorrow?

Caleb sneered, wiping spilled wine from his sleeve. "What is she talking about? She's probably just making up some pathetic excuse to get your attention, Jace. Next, she'll say someone died to make you pity her."

The words hit me like a spark. Died. I suddenly remembered a brief conversation from a week ago. Corrin had come to my study, her eyes red, and told me that her parents had passed away in a border accident. Their ashes were being escorted back to the capital on the eve of the Holy Flame Festival-which was tomorrow.

She had asked me to accompany her, saying her parents had always wanted to see her married. I had agreed readily at the time. I didn't want to break my promise, but doubt gnawed at my mind. We had been married for three years, and I had never once heard her mention these parents. Why would they suddenly appear right when Elianna was hosting her celebration? And who in the Dragon Court would bother escorting the ashes of an orphan's parents across the country?

It was obvious. Corrin was lying. She had fabricated this elaborate story about dead parents just to force me to spend the day with her instead of Elianna. She loves me so much she's willing to curse her own parents just to keep me, I thought, shaking my head. I wouldn't expose her lie. I would just humor her tomorrow morning.

Corrin POV:

The morning wind bit through my thin black mourning dress. I stood outside the massive iron gates of the Davidson estate for an hour. The sun had crested the horizon, blinding and cold.

Jace never appeared.

I pulled out my communication crystal and channeled a tiny bit of energy into it. A few seconds later, Jace's voice crackled through, sounding extremely impatient. "Corrin, what is it? Elianna had a sudden emergency with her estate's magic array. I have to help her. I can't go with you today."

A cold laugh escaped my lips. It was entirely expected. "So, you are going to let the deceased wait while you finish flirting with your mistress?"

"Oh, stop it, Corrin!" Jace snapped. "We both know it's just a made-up excuse anyway! What does it matter if I don't go? Stop being so dramatic-"

Before he could finish, a soft, delicate voice drifted through the crystal from his end. "Jace, I'm ready. Are you coming?"

"I'm coming," Jace replied, his voice instantly turning incredibly gentle.

Click. He cut the connection.

I stood there, my body turning entirely cold. It wasn't just heartbreak; it was a freezing, murderous fury at his blatant insult to my heroic parents. I resolved in that moment to sever every tie I had with this pathetic man. But right now, my priority was bringing my parents home.

I turned and walked toward the capital's military district.

Two hours later, the towering obsidian walls of the Dragon Guard camp loomed ahead. A massive silver crest of dragon wings gleamed under the sun.

Two guards stepped in front of the gate. "Military restricted area. State your business," the taller one barked.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a worn, scratched bronze badge. I held it up. "Former Griffin's Wing Vanguard, Corrin Nolan. I am here to claim the ashes of Gareth and Aethel Nolan."

The guard's harsh expression instantly dissolved into profound shock. He looked from the badge to my face, his posture stiffening into absolute reverence. "Wait here, please!" he said, his tone trembling with respect.

Moments later, the heavy iron gates groaned open. It wasn't just a single officer who came out. A line of heavily armored Elite Guards marched out in perfect unison, forming two rows. At the front was General Alaric, a high-ranking Half-Blood commander known for his ruthlessness. But as he looked at me, his eyes were filled with deep sorrow and respect.

"Vanguard Nolan," General Alaric said, his voice booming across the courtyard. "The entire camp has been waiting for you."

The soldiers around me didn't care that my dress was plain, or that I was known in high society as a "Dragonless peasant." In this military camp where true strength ruled, they knew exactly who I was. They knew the tactical genius and the hidden combat prowess I possessed.

I walked behind him through the training grounds to the Hall of Heroes. Alaric and two soldiers brought out a heavy obsidian urn.

Alaric took a deep breath. "Honor to the blood of heroes!" he shouted. He dropped to one knee, slamming his right fist over his left breast. All around the courtyard, every soldier dropped to one knee, offering their highest respect.

"If those aristocratic fools ever wrong you," Alaric whispered fiercely as he handed me the urn, "remember that the Griffin's Wing will forever be your shield."

I took the freezing urn. The moment the cold stone touched my chest, a surge of overwhelming grief and rage tore through my heart. The extreme emotional stimulation triggered something deep within my chest-something that had been dormant for twenty years.

A sudden, agonizing pain ripped through my ribs, feeling as if my bones were being crushed and my blood ignited into boiling lava. The Awakening.

I gasped, my vision flashing with pure, blinding gold. A terrifying, ancient presence stirred within my broken dragon crystal. The surrounding soldiers gasped as a faint, terrifying wave of golden dragon aura pulsed from my body, cracking the stone beneath my boots.

I gritted my teeth, tasting blood, and forced the violent power back down. I couldn't let it consume me here. I had to return to the Davidson estate, pack up my weapon blueprints, and leave that cursed family forever.

Corrin POV:

The heavy obsidian urn weighed like a physical anchor against my chest as I walked back through the massive iron gates of the Davidson estate. Every single step felt like carrying the entirety of my parents' heroic legacy. Yet, my mind was terrifyingly calm, operating with the cold, lethal precision of a veteran vanguard knight. Deep within my chest, my newly awakened dragon core-triggered by the agonizing grief I had experienced at the military camp-pulsed with a suppressed, violent golden heat. I had to keep it under strict control. I only needed to do two things: retrieve the complex siege weapon blueprints I had drafted over countless sleepless nights, and temporarily store my parents' ashes in my room before making my final, permanent departure.

When I reached the main house, the estate servants paused their sweeping and pruning. They stared at the black urn in my arms, pointing and whispering to each other, their eyes filled with blatant, unrestrained disdain. I ignored them completely.

I stepped into the grand parlor. Jace's mother, Dowager Lady Genevieve, and his sister, Felicia, were sitting comfortably on plush velvet sofas. They were sipping imported floral tea, both wearing lavish silk gowns heavily embroidered with gold dragonfire motifs, aggressively flaunting their Half-Blood nobility to the world.

Genevieve lowered her expensive dragon crystal teacup. Her sharp, calculating eyes locked onto the black stone urn in my arms, and her perfectly powdered face immediately contorted into a scowl of pure, unadulterated disgust.

"Corrin? Why on earth did you come back?" Genevieve snapped, her voice shrill and dripping with venom. "After the hysterical stunt you pulled at the banquet last night, you should have just stayed out on the muddy streets where you belong. You are completely useless compared to Elianna. She is a noble Half-Blood who can actually aid Jace's political ambitions, while you just cling to him like a pathetic, desperate servant trying to steal our wealth."

Felicia chimed in immediately, nodding eagerly. She pointed a manicured finger directly at the black urn in my arms. "Gods, what is that hideous thing? Don't tell me you actually went to a common graveyard to pick up some dirt just to get my brother's attention? You are so cheap and dramatic! Take that cursed, dirty thing and get out of our sight!"

I walked over to an empty marble side table and gently, reverently set the urn down. I turned to face them. My cold, dead gaze first locked onto Felicia, the suppressed golden fire in my veins flashing dangerously in my eyes.

"If you point that finger at my parents again, Felicia, I swear to the gods I will break it off," I warned, my voice dropping to a lethal, vibrating whisper. The sheer, predatory intent in my eyes made her instantly turn a sickly shade of pale. She gasped, her eyes widening in terror, and shrank back into the plush cushions, clutching her hand tightly to her chest.

With Felicia completely silenced, I shifted my attention back to Genevieve, keeping my tone completely flat, suppressing the golden fire trying to ignite in my veins. "To answer your question, my lady, these are the ashes of my parents. They were heroes who died defending the borders of this kingdom."

Genevieve snapped her silk fan open and waved it frantically in front of her nose, acting as if I had just dragged a rotting, plague-ridden corpse into her pristine parlor. "Heroes? Please, Corrin, stop dressing up the truth. They were just two common, low-class Dragon-kin who died in a meaningless border skirmish. Hundreds of them die every year like stray dogs. Bringing something stained with battlefield filth and death into my home... are you actively trying to pollute the pure dragon breath of the Davidson bloodline? Your parents were nothing but low-class cannon fodder!"

Her words sliced through the air like a serrated blade. In the past three years, I might have lowered my head, bitten my tongue, and silently endured it to keep the peace for Jace's sake. I had been heavily conditioned to swallow my pride.

But those dead, submissive days were over.

My newly awakened dragon core throbbed with a violent, uncontrollable rage. I didn't just stand there and take it. I took a sudden, incredibly swift step forward. Before Genevieve could even blink, I raised my heavy leather boot and delivered a vicious, full-force kick directly into the center of the heavy mahogany tea table.

Crash!

The massive table flipped entirely over. Genevieve's expensive dragon crystal teacups shattered into a hundred pieces on the marble floor, and the pot of scalding hot tea spilled directly over the lap and hem of her lavish silk gown.

"Ahhhhh!" Genevieve shrieked in absolute agony, jumping up like a scalded cat. She frantically brushed the hot tea and wet tea leaves off her ruined dress, her face red with pain and sheer fury. "Are you insane, you Dragonless rat?! Guards! Guards!"

I didn't back down an inch. I stepped right into her personal space, my eyes blazing with a suppressed, lethal fury that made her physically flinch. "My parents died protecting the borders so an ungrateful, useless, parasitic old bat like you could sit here drinking tea in peace. Say one more word disrespecting them, and I swear to the Dragon-Gods I will rip your tongue straight out of your throat."

Genevieve choked, her face turning a sickly shade of pale. She stumbled backward, tripping over the broken porcelain. For a second, she looked genuinely, deeply terrified of me. She had never, not once, seen me fight back.

"Mother! What the hell is going on here?"

Heavy footsteps pounded on the grand staircase. Jace rushed down, dressed in casual linen, looking as though he had just woken from a long nap. He paused at the bottom of the stairs. He took one look at the overturned table, the shattered cups, his mother's ruined dress, and me standing over her aggressively.

He didn't ask what happened. He didn't care why I was angry. He immediately rushed to his mother's side, wrapping a protective arm around her.

"Corrin, have you completely lost your mind?!" Jace roared, glaring at me with absolute disdain and exhaustion. "Why must you always throw a hysterical tantrum and attack my mother just because you're jealous of Elianna? You are so entirely unreasonable! You are a terror to live with!"

I looked at him. There was no guilt in his eyes for abandoning me at the military camp this morning to go comfort his mistress. There was no empathy. He was actively endorsing his mother's desecration of my parents' memory.

"Jealous?" I whispered, my voice dripping with pure, concentrated disgust. "Jace, your mother just called my heroic parents low-class cannon fodder. She called their ashes filth. And instead of defending the people who died for this kingdom, you blame me for reacting?"

Jace sighed heavily, aggressively rubbing his temples as if dealing with a misbehaving toddler. "Corrin, look at the mess you made. My mother is right to be upset. I know those are your parents' ashes, but you should not have brought them in here! You know she hates dirty things. You should have just left that filthy thing outside like she asked! Have you no respect for this household? Take your things and apologize to her immediately."

The last dying ember of my humanity regarding him snuffed out. He wasn't just a cheater; he was a coward with absolutely no honor.

I looked at the three of them, a sudden, violent wave of nausea hitting the back of my throat. "I will not apologize to trash," I said coldly.

I turned around and walked back to the marble table, placing my hands gently on the cold stone of the urn. I picked it up, ready to go upstairs, grab my blueprints, and leave this toxic house forever.

But Genevieve, suddenly emboldened by her son's physical presence and protection, stepped forward, blocking my path to the stairs. Her eyes flashed with a vicious, venomous light.