Blurb：
Embark on an epic journey in “The Shadow Prince,” where Prince Kaelen, cursed with forbidden magic, must unite with the rogue warrior Elara to save the kingdom of Eldoria. This dark fantasy novel is packed with intense battles, ancient prophecies, and a richly built world. Fans of morally gray characters like Kaelen and strong female leads like Elara will be captivated by the twists and emotional depth. Dive into a tale of magic, betrayal, and redemption that will keep you turning pages. Perfect for lovers of high-stakes fantasy and intricate character dynamics.
Content：
On the third day after my death, Eliza Sutton received the call to claim my body.
She was resting in another man’s arms. She said nonchalantly, He’s dead, huh? Just cremate it and call me afterward.
My body was fed to the flames and reduced to ashes. When the staff were done, they contacted Eliza again.
Irritation flashed in her eyes as she snapped, “I heard you. I’m on my way.”
Chapter 1
By the time Eliza Sutton arrived, two hours had already passed. Strands of her hair clung messily to her face. It wasn’t hard to tell she had just left some man’s bed.
She found the staff and sneered. “Where are Gordon’s ashes? Didn’t you ask me to claim them?”
After confirming her identity, the staff handed her the urn containing my remains.
Eliza accepted it carelessly, mockery gleaming in her eyes.
“Is this really Gordon’s ashes? You didn’t just shovel in some random cat or dog to fool me, did you?”
The staff stiffened. “Ms. Sutton, these are indeed Mr. Ford’s ashes. Everything is properly recorded. Would you like to see the paperwork?”
Eliza let out a chuckle. “No need. I believe you.”
I exhaled in relief. Somehow, even in death, my soul lingered. I couldn’t explain why, but perhaps it was because I had not yet been laid to rest.
Now that Eliza believed I was gone, I thought that—even if she hated me—out of respect for what we once shared, she would at least bury me properly.
But before I could feel any comfort, she suddenly gave a sharp cry. The urn slipped from her hands, and my ashes scattered across the floor.
Eliza’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “Oops. My hand slipped.”
Then she lifted her foot and ground her high heel mercilessly into the ashes.
My breath caught. I stared into her half-smiling eyes, opened my mouth, but no sound came.
Not until my ashes were pressed deep into the cracks of the floor, mingling with dust and dirt, did she finally withdraw her foot, satisfied.
Looking at the staff frozen in stunned silence, she laughed.
“Make sure to tell Gordon, schemes and tricks don’t work on me.”
She added, “In a few days, it’ll be my mother’s death anniversary. He had better show up at her grave to atone. Otherwise… even if he’s truly dead, I won’t hesitate to dig up his corpse and flog it myself.”
Her words were laced with such icy venom that even the onlookers paled.
But I knew. She would do it. She truly would.
For the first time, I was grateful my body had already been reduced to ashes. Otherwise, the sight would have been unbearable.
Before the staff could object, Eliza was summoned away by a phone call.
Strangely enough, my spirit followed her.
Helpless, I found myself seated in the passenger seat, listening as she spoke to the man on the other end.
I recognized the guy’s voice instantly. It was Caleb Sutton, the Sutton family’s adopted son.
When Eliza and I were still in love, he had come to me once, demanding that I leave her. When I refused, he turned vicious—spreading rumors at my company, hiring thugs to harass me.
Eliza found out. She had him beaten so badly he couldn’t walk for days, and warned him that if he dared lay a finger on me again, she’d drive him out of the Sutton family herself.
Only then did he quiet down.
But the moment he brought me up now, the warmth drained from her expression. Her face tightened with disgust.
“Why mention him? It’s not as if he’s truly dead.”
“And if he really were dead, Eliza? What would you do then?” Caleb’s voice probed cautiously.
My chest clenched. I turned instinctively toward her.
The Eliza I knew—if I so much as scraped my hand—would ache as if the pain were her own. She used to tell me I was her one true love, the only man she would ever love in this lifetime.
But now, her lips curved into a cold smile.
“If he were really dead, I’d throw a party lasting three days and three nights, and set off fireworks across the entire city to celebrate.”
Chapter 2
My eyes widened in disbelief. Only now did I realize the depth of Eliza’s hatred. She loathed me so much that even my death was, to her, something worth celebrating.
But Eliza… I truly am dead. It’s only you who refuses to believe it.
The car pulled up in front of a bridal shop. Eliza stepped out in her high heels and hurried inside, so quickly she nearly twisted her ankle.
The sight was achingly familiar—just like that day long ago, when we secretly registered our marriage and she dragged me into a bridal boutique. Back then, she couldn’t wait to slip into a wedding gown and twirl before me with shining eyes.
She told me she was the happiest bride in the world, and that I was the most handsome groom.
But now… she stood in another white gown, beaming as she posed beside Caleb in his crisp ivory suit. Together, they looked like the perfect couple.
“Beautiful,” Caleb murmured with a soft laugh, his gaze brimming with affection. “Eliza, I’ve waited a long time for this day.”
Stunned, I could only watch as he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers.
I lunged forward, desperate to stop it, but my hand passed straight through her body. Helpless, I stared as Caleb slid a ring onto her finger.
How could this be? Why him? He was the one who caused her mother’s death!
Eliza!
My throat burned, my soul raw with anguish. Yet no matter how I screamed, no sound reached her ears.
I stood frozen, numb, as Caleb stroked her hair and asked casually, “By the way, Eliza… is he all right?”
We both knew who he was referring to.
Her expression turned flat, tinged with impatience.
“What could possibly be wrong with him? He’s just pulling some kind of prank.”
“Then, for our wedding, should we invite him?”
Her lashes lowered, hiding the emotions in her eyes. Then, her lips curved into a cruel smile.
“Of course. He’s an important guest.”
And in that moment, I understood. She wanted me to witness her wedding with my own eyes.
After all, it was the very thing I had longed for most.
Because back then, without her mother’s approval, we had only gotten the marriage certificate. There was no ceremony, no vows, no wedding. It became my greatest regret.
But then her mother died, struck down by a heart attack. And on the night she passed, her final phone call had been to me.
So naturally, Eliza believed I was the one who drove her mother to her grave.
At Eliza’s mother’s funeral, Eliza forced me to kneel before the tombstone for an entire day and night.
The rain poured down as we stared at each other through the storm.
Her eyes were desolate, heavy with hatred. She said, “Gordon, from this day forward, you and me—we’re mortal enemies.”
From that moment, I ceased being her lover and became her sworn enemy.
She hated me. She tormented me. Yet she refused to let me go. She even brought men home to spend the night.
When she saw my eyes redden, she would laugh softly, pat my face, and mock, “Hurts, doesn’t it? But you brought this on yourself. Who else can you blame?”
No matter how desperately I tried to explain, it only fueled her cruelty.
Why would she ever doubt her own judgment? She knew her mother despised me and swore not to ever let me set foot inside the Sutton household.
Eliza had fought her countless times because of me, even threatening to sever ties with her family just to stay by my side.
And yet, the man she had loved most had become, in her eyes, the one who killed her mother.
How could she ever accept that?
When Caleb finally left, Eliza seemed to remember me.
With a show of false generosity, she pulled me out of her blacklist. One hand on the wheel, she used the other to dial my number.
For a while she waited, her brows gradually knitting tighter.
Then, with a sharp slap against the steering wheel, she snarled, “Gordon, if you don’t pick up, you’re dead.”
But Eliza… you don’t understand.
It’s not that I refuse to answer.
I can’t. Ever again.
Chapter 3
Half a month passed before Eliza finally returned to our home.
She shoved the door open with violent force, the sharp click of her heels echoing through the hall.
“Gordon, get out here!”
One door after another she flung open, but still, she couldn’t find a trace of me.
Her already dark expression grew even stormier. While ordering her subordinates to track me down, she muttered under her breath, “Gordon, if you want to run, you’d better run far. Because when I catch you, I’ll break your legs myself.”
But the man whose legs she threatened to break stood right before her eyes.
Before long, one of her subordinates sent a location.
Her expression twisted into something terrible. Puzzled, I glanced at the screen, only to see it was Jude Lawson’s home.
“Ms. Sutton,” a subordinate reported, “Mr. Ford’s last call was to Jude Lawson. She claims she never saw him, but we suspect she kidnapped him.”
Eliza gave a cold laugh. “Kidnapped? Hah. More likely he went willingly. I’ll be right there.”
She stormed toward Jude’s home, her face like thunder, and kicked at the tightly shut door.
Once. Twice. At the third strike, the door swung open.
Jude stood there, her expression calm, though a bruise bloomed darkly beneath her eyes.
“What is it?”
Eliza sneered. “You’ve hidden my husband. You tell me, do I have a reason to be here?”
Jude’s face remained impassive, as though she had already given up on the world.
“I haven’t hidden him. He’s dead. The crematorium already notified you to collect his ashes.”
“So he even got you to play along? Hah. Looks like Gordon is dead set on hiding from me this time.”
She refused to believe I was truly gone, convinced it was another one of my tricks.
Tilting her head, she called into the house, her voice sharp with fury.
“Gordon! What kind of man are you, hiding behind a woman? I’ll count to three. If you don’t come out, don’t blame me for what happens next.”
Three. Two. One.
With a sudden shove, she knocked Jude to the floor and barked an order for her men to search the house.
Jude cried out in pain, her calm expression cracking into fury.
“Eliza! Gordon is dead! You personally collected his ashes. Have you forgotten? He’s gone. He’s been gone for days!”
She grabbed Eliza by the collar and slammed her against the wall.
Eliza’s eyes narrowed, her lips curling in mockery.
“Even now, you want to hide him? Jude, you really are devoted. But too bad for you, he loved me. When I tire of him someday, if you still want him, maybe I’ll let you have him.
“But not now. He still has to kneel before my mother’s grave and beg forgiveness. He hasn’t got the time to keep you company.”
Jude’s face and neck flushed red. She yanked harder at Eliza’s collar, gritting through her teeth.
“Eliza, you’re a monster.”
Her hand whipped across Eliza’s face with a crack, snapping her head to the side.
In an instant, the two women were locked in a vicious brawl.
The old say the dead feel nothing. But my chest swelled with such pressure I thought it might explode.
Jude, though athletic, was no match for Eliza’s years of taekwondo training. Within minutes, Eliza had her pinned to the floor, fresh bruises blooming across her face.
I spun in frantic circles, powerless.
“Look at you, Jude,” Eliza sneered. “Pathetic. Nearly beaten to death for Gordon, while he hides, letting you take the blows. Is that coward worth your love?”
Jude’s lips twisted into a bitter, mocking smile. Her eyes glittered with scorn.
“Eliza, the one who’s truly pathetic… is you. A woman who mistakes her mother’s killer for a lover, a woman who harms the very person she claims to love. You’re an idiot.”
“What did you say?”
Eliza’s hand lifted, sharp and cold, ready to strike again—
But just then, a panicked voice rang out.
“Ms. Sutton! We found the surveillance of Mr. Ford’s car accident, and… his autopsy report.”
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