Chapter 1 Betrayal
969 Words
Eight months pregnant and about to give birth, Lenora Vale suffered a miscarriage, all because of a single pastry her husband, Cedric Hawthorne, had fed her.
When the baby was born, the tiny body was covered in purplish bruises. Lenora nearly cried her eyes blind.
Cedric knelt before her, eyes red, confessing, "I'm sorry, Lenora. I didn't know the pastry contained musk. The baby is gone… but we can try again. You'll get pregnant again, I'm sure of it."
A year later, Lenora indeed discovered she was pregnant again. Overjoyed, she went alone to a church to pray for the unborn child.
But in the back of the mountain, she saw Cedric, who should have been leading troops south to suppress bandits. He wasn't wearing armor. His strong back muscles flexed, sweat sliding down as he moved, soaking the snow-white thighs exposed at his waist.
Through the leaves, a woman's seductive gaze met his.
"I heard Lenora is pregnant again? Too bad… if it weren't for me, her first child would already be walking," she purred.
Cedric's large hand suddenly gripped the woman's slim waist, his voice low and rough. "Jealous, Your Highness? The Royal Observatory and Astrological Office predicted it would be a deformed monster. Even if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have kept it. My child can only come from you."
"Hmph, flattering words. When I entered the palace to serve the emperor, you drowned your sorrows in wine every day, then turned around and married some rustic girl! What a man!"
Cedric spoke soothingly. "Lenora is rigid and dull. If I hadn't been injured and unconscious back then, and if she hadn't saved me, I never would have married her."
The woman flushed with pleasure, swaying her waist more enticingly. "Cedric, you're heartless. I heard Lenora is carrying your child, and yet you say such things behind her back!"
Cedric drew a sharp breath, his eyes darkening. He kissed her full, red lips with force. "I only like you…"
Each husky breath drilled into Lenora's ears. She froze, stunned.
'What was Cedric saying?'
'What child?'
'What Your Highness?'
Lenora's mind felt like it had been smashed by a hammer. In her daze, she barely understood what was being said. By the time she snapped out of it, tears had already streaked her face. Her heart felt clawed apart by a wild beast, trembling all over.
She had never imagined that Cedric, the man who had promised her a lifelong union, could have another woman. And that woman was none other than the current imperial consort, Selene Norwood.
Even more unbearable was realizing that the death of her first child was Cedric's doing.
'How could he dare?'
No wonder, when she had miscarried and lost so much blood, Cedric had held her, repeating apologies over and over with guilt-laden eyes.
No wonder, after the baby's tiny body was born, he hadn't even looked at it and had it burned.
It turned out he never wanted her child at all. The wife he truly desired had always been Consort Selene.
The so-called "southern campaign against bandits" was nothing but an excuse for him and Selene to rendezvous in the wilderness.
Lenora knelt on the ground, her chest aching so badly she could barely breathe.
After the miscarriage, she had seen clearly that her child's limbs were intact, the face adorably formed, hair fully grown; it was not a deformed monster.
It had been a living, breathing child, her own flesh and blood with Cedric. How could he be so cruel?
Tears poured uncontrollably. Lenora bit her lips hard, feeling her heart sliced into pieces, her body shuddering, even her stomach aching.
"I'm still the emperor's woman. Once he dies, I'll have your child," Selene's voice dripped with sweetness as she tilted her long neck. "But Lenora must clear a place for me first. The emperor is about to die. I won't guard his tomb. I'll openly become your wife!"
After a sharp scream, the two embraced tightly.
Cedric gently wiped Selene's sweat, his tone full of indulgent affection. "Fine. Lenora is skilled in disguise. Let her give her face to Your Highness and stand guard for you."
Lenora's face went pale, her nails digging deep into her palms, drawing blood. Her stomach churned violently, and she vomited, leaning against a tree.
She had no memory of leaving the temple, only that she arrived home covered in dirt, having tripped countless times along the way. Her hair was messy, her clothes soiled, looking like a lunatic.
In the courtyard, Cedric had planted a grapevine from the northern lands, its branches full and dotted with promising green fruit.
Lenora had normally watered it carefully every day, but now it felt unbearably glaring.
The scenes replayed in her mind. She could no longer suppress her breakdown and collapsed onto her bed, crying out loud.
Before leaving the Vale of Healers, her master had warned her that focusing all her heart on a man would lead to disaster. She hadn't listened, and now she was paying the price.
Thinking of the child she hadn't even met, poisoned by her own husband, Lenora suddenly lifted her head and wiped her tears hard.
She was not the kind to obsess over love. Since Cedric had betrayed their relationship first and dared to secretly collude with the consort, disregarding the lives of everyone in her clan, what was there left to cling to?
She wanted a divorce, and she wouldn't even keep the child in her womb.
Struggling to control her pain, Lenora arranged two things for herself.
First, she sent a pigeon to the fifth prince Julian Ashbourne and send a message.
Lenora: Cedric betrayed me. I want a divorce. Take me away.
Second, she prepared a bowl of abortifacient medicine for herself.
- Writer
