Reborn: the Dragon god’s Bride Chapter 09
Three days after Valdris revealed his true form, we stood outside Damien’s estate.
I could feel that magic mark Valdris had left underground, pulsing with angry energy.
He raised his hand. The earth split open.
“Stay close,” Valdris said quietly.
I held Ember tighter and followed the royal guards down the stone steps. Death and rot filled my nose, mixed with something worse I couldn’t name.
Guards were throwing up in corners, and one had col- lapsed against the wall sobbing. Parents rushed in be- hind us. A mother spotted her daughter chained to the wall and screamed, grabbing the girl’s skeletal hands.
“My baby! They said you died serving the dragon. god!” Her sobs echoed through the chamber. “They said you were a hero!”
The girl just stared at nothing.
Larents kept coming. The screaming got louder, the crying more desperate as more families found their daughters.
Valdris moved through the room, golden light flowing from his hands. Where it touched the girls, they gasped. Color returned to their faces. Not completely healed, nothing could undo years of torture, but at least they were breathing normally again.
“Thank you,” one girl whispered through tears. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
I couldn’t speak. My throat was too tight.
They brought Damien in. The families froze when they saw him, then rushed forward all at once.
“Monster!”
“You killed my daughter!”
Damien tried to run but he had nothing now. No magic. No wings. They tore into him with claws and teeth, and his screams echoed off the walls. I didn’t look away.
You deserve this. You deserve worse.
When it was over, Valdris collected what was left. Flames erupted around Damien’s soul.
You will burn forever,” Valdris said coldly. “Never dying. Never resting.
Damien’s screams faded as his soul was sealed away.
The High Priest came next. They showed everyone his memories, coordinating with Damien, taking bribes, selecting which girls to “sacrifice.” They stripped his scales off one by one and made him walk through the city naked while people threw garbage at him.
At the execution ground, they lit the pyre.
I watched him burn.
A week later, I found Isadora in the medical wing.
She looked young again after Valdris healed her, but her eyes were different. Older somehow.
“Sister.” She stood up quickly. “I wanted to ask something.”
“What?”
The girls from the basement.” She twisted her hands together. “Can I help them? I know what they went through.” Her voice cracked.
pulled her into a hug. “Of course you can.”
She sobbed into my shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I was so stupid. I wanted to matter so badly—”
“Shh.” I held her tighter. “You were used too. Damien to everyone.”
But you tried to warn me!”
And you’re listening now.” I pulled back to look at her, “That’s what matters.”
Two months later, she stood before a crowd of survivors.
“I was Princess Isadora.” Her voice shook. “I thought marrying Damien would make me special. Instead, he almost killed me. Just like he almost killed all of you”
The crowd was silent.
“But my sister didn’t give up on me.” She looked at me. “Even when I’d betrayed her. She saved me anyway.”
She turned back to the survivors. “I can’t undo what happened. But I promise: I will spend the rest of my life making sure no one else suffers like we did.”
The applause started slow, then built into something hunderous.
named her Equal Rights Ambassador that day.
That evening we sat in the palace garden like we used to as children.
“Remember stealing cookies from the kitchen?” Isadora smiled through tears.
And blaming the servants.” I laughed. “Mother always knew it was us.”
II miss her.”
Me too.” I squeezed her hand. “But she’d be proud of what you’re doing now.”
The throne room was packed when they brought Father in.
Valdris stood at the center, and his presence alone made everyone kneel.
“Aurelius Nightflame,” Valdris’s voice boomed. “You allowed discrimination to poison your kingdom. You refused to hear your daughter’s defense. You nearly executed true imperial bloodline.”
Father went pale. “My Lord, I-”
“Silence.” One word and Father’s mouth snapped shut.
“You are stripped of your crown.”
Father looked at me, desperate. “Seraphina, please.
I’m your father. We can still be a family.”
felt nothing. Just cold emptiness.
“The dragon race follows the capable,” I said quietly.
“With the Crimson Imperial Dragon and Flame–Wing bloodline restored, you should step down, Father.”
His eyes flashed with anger and fear. “But I’m still your father! You’ve always been filial-”
You never gave me a chance to explain.” My voice stayed steady. “You believed everyone else over me, You tried to kill me three times. Our bond broke a long time ago.”
Seraphina, please-”
“Exile him,” I told the guards. “Border wastelands.”
As they dragged him away, he kept shouting and begging, but I didn’t look back.
A month later, news came that the Wingless dragons he’d spent years oppressing had found him. They remembered every cruel word, every dismissive gesture. He got exactly what he’d given them.
My coronation was three days after that.
I stood in the throne room with Valdris beside me and Isadora on my other side. Ember sat in my arms, his tiny crown gleaming gold.
“I present,” Valdris announced, “Queen Seraphina Nightflame! Mother of the Crimson Imperial Dragon!
Bearer of the Flame–Wing bloodline!”
Thousands of dragons knelt before us.
‘Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
Mother, I hope you’re watching. I made it.
The first law I passed abolished bloodline hierarchy completely.
Every dragon is equal,” I said from the throne. “Your” abilities matter. Not your wing color. What you can do What you choose to be.”
The Wingless dragons in the crowd started crying, I built the Dragon Wing Academy next and put a former Wingless dragon in charge.
“Teach everyone,” I told him, “Magic. Combat. Everything.”
He could barely speak through tears. “Your Majesty. thank you…”
Valdris abolished the sacrifice ceremony publicly. “I never asked for sacrifices. That was a lie created by greedy men.”
You could feel the relief spreading through the crowd.
Isadora’s Victim Support Center opened a month later. She worked there every day, helping survivors heal and rebuild their lives.
year passed, and the kingdom transformed com- pletely. Wingless dragons became teachers, guards, healers. The old nobles who’d clung to bloodline
privilege found themselves obsolete, replaced by dragons who’d actually earned their positions.
The Dragon Chronicle did a feature on me: “From Questioned Princess to Revolutionary Queen.”
I kept the article in my desk. Some days I’d take it out and remember everything. The pain. The betrayal.
The fire.
Then I’d look at Ember playing with his toys, Valdris reading in the corner, and Isadora bringing in reports
with that determined look on her face.
We did it.
And the dragon race was finally, truly free.
THE END