Crystal chandeliers in Megacity's penthouse refracted dazzling golden light. Glittering symphonic music drifted through the clink of champagne glasses and the laughter of the city elite.
Amid a crowd of silk gowns and impeccably tailored suits, every eye was fixed on a single point.
At forty, Lady Serin stood captivating in a silver-gray evening gown. Her face was smooth and untouched by age, her eyes gleaming like flawlessly polished emeralds. International newspapers called her "The Timeless Beauty," a woman who seemed to have successfully bribed time into never letting her grow old.
"You're absolutely beautiful, Lady Serin," whispered an elderly senator, taking Serin's fingers with a charming smile. "Thirty years have passed, and you still look like a twenty-year-old girl stepping out of a painting."
Serin curved her lips into a faint smile—a perfect mask she had practiced for decades. "That is exceedingly generous praise, Senator. But time always finds a way to collect its due."
The old man laughed, taking Serin's words for elegant modesty. He didn't know. No one in this lavish room knew the truth.
Beneath the silver silk wrapped around her chest, Serin's skin felt as though it were burning.
A sharp pulse of pain slowly spread from behind her ribs, radiating like boiling needles of ice. Serin tightened her grip on her crystal glass, clenching her jaw until the joints in her cheeks hardened.
Beneath her elegant gown, the Peach Blossom Tattoo—mystical threads binding the freezing curse inside her body—was surging wildly. The curse reaction came more and more often, consuming her endurance each time night fell.
"Excuse me, Senator. There's an artifact I need to inspect before tomorrow's auction," Serin said in a voice as soft as silk, though her breathing was beginning to grow labored.
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked calmly out of the ballroom. Her steps remained steady, her high heels striking the marble in a measured rhythm. Only when the private elevator doors closed and carried her straight down to her restoration gallery on the floor below did Serin's defenses collapse.
The crystal glass slipped from her hand and shattered across the granite floor.
"Agh..."
Serin clutched her chest, leaning weakly against an old oak restoration table. The gallery's quiet, dim atmosphere struck her all at once. The scents of paint thinner, old canvas, and artifact preservative pierced her senses.
She snatched up the bronze-framed restoration mirror on the table, her trembling fingers fumbling painfully with the buttons of her own gown.
She pulled the fabric away from her chest.
Against her pale skin, the peach-blossom petal engraving glowed a horrifying deep red. The veins around the tattoo had swollen, bluish as decaying paths of ice.
With every beat of her heart, the pain stabbed all the way to her marrow. Her supply of suppressive magic was almost gone. Time was running out.
Suddenly, the emergency broadcast indicator on the gallery's wall monitor began flashing red. The massive screen lit up automatically, cutting into every city program with a breaking news broadcast.
“MEGACITY EMERGENCY ALERT. ELEVATED TO ALERT STATUS ONE.”
The female newscaster's voice sounded panicked beneath the interference of magical static.
“A military tactical airship has just landed at Central Sector Airfield. An extreme cold-temperature anomaly has been detected in its wake. The Supernatural Security Command has confirmed the arrival of the primary execution team..."
The news camera zoomed in on the open hydraulic doors of the all-black airship amid a storm of night wind. Thick, cold vapor billowed high into the air. From within the vapor, a man stepped out.
Tall, broad-shouldered, and clad in an all-black military tactical uniform. His long coat whipped violently in the wind, revealing the hilt of a magic sword secured across his back. His face was stern and sharply defined, marked by a thin scar that crossed his jaw.
His pair of cold gray eyes stared straight through the camera lens.
Bold red text flashed across the bottom of the screen. COMMANDER KAELEN VANCE OFFICIALLY ARRIVES IN MEGACITY.
Serin's blood froze instantly.
That man.
The man who, twenty years ago, had led a mercenary army and annihilated her entire clan. The man who had destroyed everything Serin had ever loved in a single bloody night.
The instant Serin's eyes locked onto Kaelen Vance's figure on the monitor, the Peach Blossom Tattoo on her chest erupted in a Wild Reaction unlike anything that had ever happened before. The flower engraving no longer radiated warmth. Instead, it blazed a searing red, emitting heat hot enough to burn.
A tremendous pain slammed into her heart, forcing Serin to her knees atop the shattered decorative glass.
Then the air inside the gallery suddenly plummeted. Thin ice began creeping in from the doorway.
Author's Note: Welcome to Peach Blossom Oath! Don't forget to LOG IN and BOOKMARK this story now so you won't miss the daily updates at 7:00 p.m. WIB! What do you think will happen when Serin and Kael come face-to-face tomorrow? Post your guesses in the comments!