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Chapter 2
Let the entire kingdom of Caerwynd open their eyes and witness this delicious spectacle.
Alice ran to the front of the manor in a panic, grabbing a maid and shouting at her to summon everyone.
“Help! Something terrible happened to Miss. Charlotte, she’s being…” Alice forced out two tears.
“Go fetch help! Bring more people, and call the Royal Guard as well. The more, the better!”
The bewildered maid quickly agreed and ran off to find reinforcements.
From my hiding place, I saw Alice calling for a crowd, and instinctively rested a hand over my abdomen. My heart steeled.
In my past life, Alice had dosed me with herbs like rue and hemlock, abortifacients used by witches and midwives alike.
She always waited until I was past the third month, just when I believed the baby was safe and publicly announced the pregnancy–only
for me to lose it days later.
I could still feel it—every time a child left my body: the warmth, the sudden emptiness.
Alice had paid beggars in the streets to spread rumors that I was diseased and unfit to bear children.
“That desperate little tramp who drugged the Chancellor probably wasn’t even a virgin. Who knows how many men she’s slept with?”
“Everyone knows the diseased ones can’t hold a child.”
The rumors drove my mother to such despair that she coughed blood and passed away.
My father, still desperate for an heir, put all his hopes in Leopold… only to raise a viper.
Leopold locked me in a storage room, tormenting me daily.
He was insatiable in bed, cruel and insufferable. My body bore bruises atop bruises, new wounds atop old ones. My skin was a tapestry
of dried scabs and agony.
If I cried and begged him to stop, he would whip me with a lash soaked in saltwater.
“Whore! You drugged me, didn’t you? Now you’ll get what you asked for!”
He knew full well it hadn’t been me.
Even once, when I was pregnant, I was forced to lose my child because of Leopold’s insatiable sex.
Tears streaked down my cheeks. I shut my eyes tight and let the pain consume me
In the distance, I heard the sounds of voices and hurried footsteps approaching.
Without hesitation, I slapped myself twice, my sharp nails drawing blood across my cheek.
Then I pulled at my hair, tangling it wildly. I fashioned myself into the perfect image of a woman got beaten.
“Charlotte! What happened? Why are you out here like this?”
My mother rushed forward, almost fainting at the sight of me.
I sobbed and stumbled to block the door to the house.
“Ladies… there’s nothing to see here. I only tripped, truly. Please, return to the banquet…”
The party had been hosted by Sophia’s mother–Princess Maryanne Clair. Surrounded by her attendants, she stepped forward, her
brow furrowed.
“Miss Thorne, this is my estate. If something has occurred, I have every right to know.”
Her gaze swept me up and down, her expression turning grim.
Chapter 2
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Red welts, bloodied lips, disheveled hair—all plain for every guest to see.
Gasps rang out around us.
Maryanne’s face darkened immediately.
This scandal had broken out at her banquet–how humiliating.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I drew in on myself like a frightened rabbit, trembling, my tears threatening to fall. I still stood firmly before the door.
“Please, please leave… There’s nothing to see inside…”
“Charlotte Thorne!”
Maryanne’s voice rang sharp as a whip.
“This is Clair Manor, not Thorne Castle!”
“How dare you bar my way? What are you hiding in there? Something unspeakable?”
I shook my head frantically, tears falling like pearls from a broken necklace.
“No, I swear, there’s nothing..You mustn’t go in… truly, you mustn’t…”
Suddenly, a guard’s shout came from outside.
“Assassin! Capture the assassin!”
“Your Highness, an intruder was just caught on the estate!”
Chapter 2
