Transmigrated Into a Cannon Fodder Phoenix, Stuck With the Ice Dragon-Chapter 144: The Mark, The Truth

"Are you telling me..." Vivian swallowed hard, her gaze shifting to me. "That I ended up in a fairy clan because..." Her voice wavered. "Because Lady Aelira put me there?"

Severin smiled.

It was the kind of smile worn by someone who could already see the damage spreading exactly as planned.

"Stop," Lucian snapped. "How are we supposed to believe any of this?" He stepped forward, eyes locked on Severin. "For all we know, you’re saying this just to drive a wedge between them. Who knows what you’re really after?"

Severin didn’t look offended.

If anything, he looked amused.

"Well..." he said calmly, tilting his head. "That is one of my reasons." His gaze flicked briefly toward me before returning to Lucian. "I hate phoenixes. You know that. Just as much as you do."

Lucian’s jaw clenched.

"But," Severin continued lightly, "everything I’ve said so far is the truth."

Silence fell.

Vivian’s hands curled into fists at her sides. "All this time..." Her voice shook. "I was there, serving my parents like a servant. Being hurt. Being tormented." She swallowed hard. "Trying to repay their sins with my own life."

Her shoulders trembled.

"I thought that was just how things were supposed to be," she continued, bitterness creeping in. "That this... was my punishment. That if I endured enough, I would finally be forgiven."

I felt my chest tighten painfully.

Vivian laughed then but there was no humor in it. "And now you’re telling me none of it was even meant for me?"

Her gaze lifted, sharp and wounded. "That I was suffering for something I never chose?"

No one answered.

Because no explanation could make that truth any kinder.

Vivian exhaled slowly, her fists unclenching at last. "If this is the truth," she said quietly, "then I don’t know what part of my life I’m allowed to believe in anymore."

"Vivian..." I reached for her hand instinctively.

She pulled it away at once.

"What?" Vivian snapped, her eyes blazing as she looked at me. "What do you want me to say?"

Her voice shook, but her anger held.

"All this time," she went on, "I protected you. Even with my life." She laughed bitterly. "I thought I was supposed to. Because of my parents’ sin, because your mother helped me get away from the fairies."

Her chest rose sharply. "I believed I owed her. I believed I owed you."

I shook my head. "You never owed me anything."

"That’s easy for you to say," Vivian shot back. "You were the one being protected."

The words hit harder than any accusation.

"I stayed," she continued, her voice breaking now. "I endured everything because I thought it was repayment. Because I thought that was the meaning of my existence."

Tears finally spilled down her cheeks, unchecked. "And now you’re telling me it was never mine to carry?"

The room stayed silent.

"I believed there must be some reason—" I started, my voice barely holding.

"Reason?" Vivian cut in sharply.

She laughed, short and broken, her tears still falling. "Your mother... the heiress of the phoenix, had a reason?" Her eyes burned as she looked at me. "Even so, that doesn’t justify keeping me in the dark. Not for all those years."

Her voice rose, cracking at the edges. "Not before she died."

My chest tightened painfully.

"She should have told me the truth," Vivian said, each word heavy. "I deserved to know. I deserved to choose."

She wiped her face roughly with her sleeve, her hands trembling. "Instead, everyone decided for me. What I was. Where I belonged. What I had to endure."

Her gaze flicked to me again. It softened for just a second but the hurt underneath was still raw.

"She... your mother..." Vivian swallowed hard. "She made it sound like protecting you was my responsibility." Her voice rose despite herself. "Just because she wanted me to protect you. Because you were her daughter."

Her hands clenched into fists.

"Do you understand?" she demanded. "I didn’t choose that. I was never asked. I was just expected to obey."

She shook her head, laughing bitterly. "I thought I was paying for something. For my parents. For myself. For existing."

Her eyes burned as she looked at me.

"But it was never my duty," she said, each word shaking. "It was her decision. And I carried it like it was my fate."

"No—no—no, Vivian," I said quickly, stepping forward before the words could cut any deeper. "Listen to me first. Don’t believe everything you hear."

I turned then, my gaze locking onto Severin.

"If there is more to this... and I’m sure there is—then say it," I demanded. "Where is the proof?"

The room went still.

"Proof," I repeated, my voice steady despite the storm in my chest. "Not rumors. Not stories. Not things whispered after people are already dead."

Severin studied me for a long moment, his smile slowly returning. "You really are a true blood phoenix," he said mildly.

"That’s not an answer," Lucian snapped.

Severin chuckled. "Oh, but it is." He straightened, hands clasped behind his back. "Because proof," he said calmly, "has a habit of surviving where people don’t."

Vivian’s breath caught.

Severin’s eyes slid back to her. "If you want evidence," he said softly, "then you’ll have to look where the truth was hidden."

A pause.

"Not in words," he added. "But in what was taken from you."

And with that, the silence returned—thick, ominous, and full of things none of us were ready to face.

Vivian’s breath trembled.

"What was taken from me?" she asked quietly.

Severin’s gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than necessary. "Your name," he said. "Your bloodline. Your right to know."

Lucian stepped forward at once. "Enough riddles."

"Oh, I’m being very clear," Severin replied calmly. "You just don’t like the direction the truth is pointing."

I clenched my hands. "If you have proof, show it."

Severin tilted his head, as if considering whether we were worth the effort. Then he reached into his coat and drew out something small.

A crystal vial.

Inside it, a faint shimmer moved—blue-green, slow and rhythmic, like a tide breathing in glass.

Vivian’s eyes widened.

"What—" Her voice broke. "What is that?"

"This?" He raised the crystal vial, " This is something that is supposed to bind you," Severin said. "A trace of blood taken the night you were born. Sealed away before the mark could draw attention."

Thalor sucked in a sharp breath. "That kind of binding... only Leviathan rites use it."

Severin smiled. "Exactly."

Vivian took an unsteady step back. "You’re saying... They planned this. All of it."

"What I’m saying is this," Severin said calmly. "Your fate could have been very different... better, even—if certain people hadn’t decided that protecting their own child mattered more than telling you the truth."