At my eighteenth wedding rite with my fiance, everyone was taken away by my adopted sister again. When the temple herald came hurrying over, his voice was anxious and edged with impatience. "Lyra's stomach illness has flared up again. The king and queen have gone with her to Apollo's temple for treatment. Handle the wedding yourself. It has been canceled so many times anyway. You have experience." Lina, the beloved songstress of the Muse temple and the closest friend I had grown up with, clicked her tongue. "Can your wedding vows possibly matter more than Lyra's pain? She almost fainted from it, and you still expect us to stay here? When did you become so cruel?" As for my fiance, Phaethon, the youngest chariot commander under Ares, he did not even send anyone to explain in person. He only had an attendant deliver a word. [The wedding is postponed. Another time.] Another time. I repeated those words over and over in my heart. He had dismissed me with those words eighteen times. A laugh tugged at the corner of my mouth. Suddenly, all of it felt utterly pointless. "Moirai." "Cut every thread of fate between me and them." A familiar voice came from the depths of the temple, like a spindle turning, like the Fates whispering. "As you command. Cleione, daughter of fate, every character's bond to your golden thread has been severed." "In three days, they will lose everything they possess because of you." "Including their lives." --- Watching the three-day countdown appear on the Loom of Fate, I took the bronze staff the priest handed me and walked up to the wedding altar covered in violets. My wedding, and yet the altar was filled with Lyra's favorite flowers. How laughable. "My apologies, everyone. Today's wedding rite is canceled." The nobles and priests below exchanged glances. No one asked a single question. "I knew it would be canceled. After all these years, not one of her weddings, big or small, has ever gone through. If I were the elder princess of this kingdom, I wouldn't even show my face." "The whole royal family dotes on the younger one. If it were me, why would I keep fighting my own sister? I would just give him to her. At least then I wouldn't be a laughingstock across the entire city-state, and I might even earn a reputation for generosity." "What do you know? The elder princess is no ordinary woman. Whenever Phaethon rejects her, the Phaethon family's warships sink the next day, and their armories catch fire. After losing several cities testing it, he finally settled down and agreed to marry her." I left under everyone's pitying stares. As I listened to their whispers, the curve of my mouth turned sharp with irony. This time, it would not be as simple as a few sunken warships. After changing out of my ceremonial robes and returning to the palace, I meant to gather a few things and leave. But just as I reached the door, I ran straight into a group of people returning with Lyra at their center, talking and laughing around her. The moment they saw me, every smile vanished. Anger rose in Phaethon's eyes, and his voice carried open blame. "Cleione, why didn't you explain properly when you canceled the wedding? If you don't make things clear, that's your fault. Now everyone will start suspecting it was because of Lyra again." My father, the king, curled his lip and ordered, "Cleione, you handled this badly. We never had to worry about temple announcements for the previous cancellations. This time you have disappointed me. Go swear before the city-state at once and say it was your own willful behavior that offended Hera." Lina immediately took out a speaking stone engraved with the mark of the Muses. "I'll have the bards and gate scribes spread the word right away. There is still time for Cleione to admit fault. Then we can have people in the market curse her a little more, and no one will speculate about Lyra." Faced with their accusations, I said nothing. I only looked silently at the threads of fate before me, visible to no one but me. Two days left. Then they would be finished. "Cleione, why are you standing there in a daze?" Phaethon walked up to me, his voice thick with impatience. "Let me tell you, if you don't fix this properly, I can't promise when the next wedding rite will be." Lyra finally spoke, soft and fragile. "It's all my fault. I delayed Brother Phaethon's and Sister's wedding. I ruined everything." "There are still auspicious days at Hera's temple this month. Please don't postpone it again..." Before she could finish, she began coughing. Phaethon rushed over at once and rubbed her back. "This isn't your fault. Don't overthink it. Your sister will never be able to leave me in this lifetime. It makes no difference when we marry." "Then you've overestimated yourself." At last, I spoke my first words in a cold voice. Several faces froze. I lifted the bundle in my hand. "I'm leaving." The words had barely fallen when, in the next second, a sharp slap rang through the entire palace hall.
My head tilted to one side. I gave a self-mocking smile. My mother's hand was still trembling with anger. "You still dare to make a scene? We spoiled you too much all these years. How did such a perfectly good child become so willful and domineering?" "And you want to leave? Leave for where? Are you trying to stir up gossip across the city and make everyone think we favor one child and mistreat you? Cleione, when will you learn to be sensible? How did I give birth to a child like you? You can't compare to even half of Lyra!" The taste of blood spread through my mouth. I licked the corner of my lips. Yes. In the past, every time, I would make a scene. Because I could not understand. I could not understand why, when Lyra had clearly broken the sacred cup Father brought back from Delphi, they insisted I had smashed it. I could not understand why, even with the temple's water mirror recording everything, they refused to believe I had not pushed Lyra down the white stone steps. Even the flowers I offered to Aphrodite, which triggered Lyra's allergy, became proof that I had deliberately bullied her. This was not the first time Mother had struck me. The last time was only two days ago. Lyra wanted to wear my wedding robe, and I refused. Then she suddenly fainted. Mother came up and shoved me, then used ceremonial shears to cut apart the white gauze robe I had waited half a year for. Because of Lyra, my own mother and I had nearly become enemies. So I made scenes. I wanted everyone to judge who was right. But this time, I truly had not made a scene. I was the only daughter of fate in this world. Only those connected to me could receive the blessing of the golden thread granted by the three Fates. On the second day after my parents gave birth to me, the Shen royal family, whose treasury had been empty and whose kingdom stood on the verge of collapse, suddenly discovered an entire gold mine beneath the sea and became the wealthiest city-state in the Aegean. Even Father's liver disease, which Apollo's priests had declared incurable, healed by some miracle. Because Lina had been my friend since childhood, the old scar on her face gradually disappeared, her voice grew clearer and brighter, and she eventually became the most dazzling songstress in the Muse temple. Even kings were willing to offer gold for the sound of her lyre. As for Phaethon. He had once been nothing more than a petty merchant in the market, selling fake bronze wares. He was chased by city guards and beaten by his rivals. Then he saved me when I got lost in the night market, and I fell in love with him at first sight. From then on, he built his own fleet and army. His business prospered, his battles never failed, and at last he became the most valued chariot commander under Ares. For more than twenty years, they held me like a treasure in their palms. Phaethon, especially, cherished me as if I were the apple of his eye. They also gained everything they wanted because of me. But later, Lyra was brought back to the palace. And everyone changed. Father ordered in a heavy voice, "Someone, take away all her things. She is not to carry a single item from the palace." "Cleione, if you want to leave, fine. But this time, no one will come coaxing you back. Once you leave, we will hold a city assembly before Athena's temple and sever our parent-child ties with you. From then on, you will no longer be our daughter." They did not even let me take one piece of clothing before they pushed me out the door. Phaethon sighed and quietly handed me the key seal to a small shrine-house. "You can stay in this cottage. Cleione, we're truly tired. We don't want to keep indulging your tantrums." "How good it would have been if the person I saved back then had been Lyra." I gave a cold scoff. "You can marry her now." Phaethon sighed helplessly. "There you go again. Cleione, you know I swore before Hera that I would marry you, and I will not break my word." "Lyra is a pure, kind girl. I won't allow you to toss her around in your mouth like some object. Don't let me hear you say that again." He turned and walked up the steps. I threw the key seal onto the ground and was about to leave. Lyra suddenly rushed over and grabbed my sleeve. "Sister, don't go. I shouldn't have longed for warmth that doesn't belong to me. I'm not worthy." "Don't leave. I should be the one to go. I'll leave the palace right now..." I knew exactly what Lyra was planning. So I simply stood there and let her clutch me while she pretended to cry. But when she saw that I did not push her away as I used to, she immediately began struggling for breath and fainted at my feet. "Lyra!" "Call Apollo's priest! Lyra, my daughter!" Everyone rushed over in panic and surrounded her. Phaethon's eyes were vicious as he seized me by the throat. "Cleione, you still dare lay a hand on Lyra? Do you think I truly can't bear to hurt you?" So this was what it felt like to laugh when words failed you. I had not even bothered to touch her, and somehow it had still become me attacking her. "Phaethon, I hope none of you regret this later." "Guards!" Father roared, pointing at me. "Lock her in the underground shrine room and punish her according to family law!"
The underground shrine room was damp and dim. This was the second time I had been locked inside. The first time was still fresh in my memory. It was because I discovered Lyra sneaking into Phaethon's bedchamber in the middle of the night. I lost my temper on the spot and caught her red-handed on Phaethon's couch. But in the end, she sobbed that old trauma had made her sleepwalk. She had no idea why she had entered Phaethon's chamber. She only felt safe there. She had not done it on purpose. My parents and Phaethon believed that explanation without question. Phaethon even told her gently that if she was frightened, she could come to him anytime. Back then, my love for Phaethon was at its deepest. I would not even allow female attendants near him. Other than low-ranking servants, there could not be a single young woman in the entire commander's residence. So I slapped Lyra across the face, and my parents locked me in this underground shrine room. For seven whole days, they gave me only one bowl of thin porridge a day. Only after I was starved into a daze and agreed to apologize to Lyra did they let me out. This time, however, they clearly did not intend to merely starve me for a few days. When Father came in carrying a cane soaked in pepper wine, Phaethon came with him. "According to royal family law, you should receive thirty lashes. But Lyra felt sorry for you and knelt to beg me to replace the whip with a cane. Since a cane is less forceful than a leather whip, you will receive fifty strokes." Crack. The cane struck my body, and a red welt rose at once. Father struck me more than a dozen times. The swollen marks gradually split open. Every blow after that carried a numbing, burning agony. I thought of what they had said, that Lyra had begged for the cane. It must have been soaked in pepper wine. "Apologize to your sister!" "Will you apologize or not?" Father could not get the answer he wanted, so his anger only grew. After fifty strokes, my entire back and both arms were covered in wounds. Each gash gaped open, flesh turned outward, thin lines of blood sliding down my spine onto the floor. Pain had numbed my whole body. I curled into the corner, gasping for breath. After Father finished beating me, he threw down the cane and left. Before he went, he left one sentence behind. "Stubborn to the end." Phaethon walked over and crouched in front of me. "Lyra prepared medicine and clothing for you. Cleione, Lyra has always treated you with respect and courtesy. As her elder sister, and as her brother-in-law, we should both take better care of her. Why must you be so petty and filthy-minded?" "Once you've thought it through, hurry up and apologize. Stop making us angry." He shook out the clothes Lyra had prepared for me. Then, with what he thought was care, he laid them over my back. The instant the fabric touched my body full of wounds, it felt as though I had fallen into salt water. I curled up from the pain. "So delicate." Phaethon curled his lip and stood. "Lyra turns pale from pain every time she falls ill, and even she doesn't exaggerate like this." He left. It took me a long time to catch my breath. "Moirai..." The voice of the Loom of Fate rang beside my ear. "Daughter of fate, would you like to activate pain shielding?" "No." I gritted my teeth. "I want to speed up the severing of the fate threads." "Very well. Acceleration has begun. At noon tomorrow, everyone connected to you and blessed by you will suffer the backlash."
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