Chapter 7 Betrayal and Destiny
657 Words
Before Charlotte could even scream, hurried footsteps rushed into the room.
She was shoved violently aside as Joshua, eyes bloodshot with fury, gathered Lotty into his arms.
Lotty clutched her burned hand, her face a portrait of pain and heartbreak.
"I only wanted to copy scriptures and pray for Josh. How could you burn the scriptures I worked so hard to copy? How could you?"
Her voice broke as she burst into tears and collapsed against Joshua's chest.
Yet her tear-filled eyes flashed a sharp, triumphant glare at Charlotte.
"If Lotty's hand is scarred, I'll take your life," Joshua said coldly, his gaze cutting into Charlotte like a blade.
"Kneel!"
"Hold this charcoal brazier until the fire burns out!"
With those merciless words, he carried Lotty away, leaving Charlotte behind.
Alone in the room, Charlotte stared at her fingers—bare, scarred, and nail-less.
Then she lifted the heavy brazier above her head.
She forced herself to endure.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
Four days.
Just four more days.
She had to survive.
Hadn't Joshua promised her one wish in four days?
Her wish was simple.
She just wanted to live.
After the household physician finished treating Lotty's burns, he later discovered Charlotte lying unconscious in the study, charred ash scattered across her clothes, her body a silent monument to suffering.
*****
The following days passed in a feverish haze.
Charlotte lay abandoned in the filthy stables, her body ravaged by infection and pain.
Only when Mary came to tell her she would soon be free did the physician finally realize how serious her condition had become.
"Her injuries are severe," the physician said gravely. "Without the best medicine, she won't survive."
Mary looked at Charlotte with a mixture of pity and resignation.
"She's suffered enough, living among horses like this. If she dies… perhaps it's simply fate."
Yet fate shifted unexpectedly.
Joshua gave an order.
"Isn't the estate stocked with the best medicine? Use it on her."
Slowly, Charlotte began to recover.
As her mind cleared, she thought only of freedom.
Once she healed, she would return to the village of her childhood neighbor.
She would go home.
The famine must have ended by now. Perhaps the plum tree still stood in the courtyard, waiting to bloom again.
"Your Highness."
The stableman's voice broke her thoughts.
Lotty appeared at the entrance of the stall, her eyes filled with cold disdain as she looked down at Charlotte.
"What a stubborn life you have," she sneered. "But surviving isn't a blessing. It only means more suffering."
Charlotte lowered her gaze, avoiding Lotty's sharp stare.
"I no longer belong here, Your Highness. Please show mercy. Let me leave."
Lotty bent closer, malice glittering in her eyes.
"Leave? Go where?"
"Josh belongs to me."
"I worked so hard to break my engagement for him, yet you—a mere servant—became his first."
Her voice dropped to a whisper full of venom.
"You'd be safer dead."
"Only then would you truly be free."
Fear gripped Charlotte's heart as Lotty stepped back.
Then suddenly Lotty collapsed dramatically onto the ground.
"Please… don't…"
"Your Highness!"
Jane rushed forward with a shriek.
"Quick! Fetch Prince Joshua! Princess Lotty has fainted!"
Charlotte tried to stand but was immediately seized by guards and dragged away.
Soon she was brought to the grand hall of the estate.
"Your Highness, this woman's fate clashes violently with the princess," declared a long-bearded wizard, pointing accusingly at Charlotte with trembling whiskers. "Her dark destiny curses her lineage and brings endless illness upon the princess."
"Lies!" Charlotte shouted, struggling desperately against the guards. "Your Highness, he's a fraud!"
From his seat above, Joshua turned toward the wizard.
"If she leaves, will the curse be broken?"
The wizard shook his head slowly.
"No. Once fate is intertwined, leaving will change nothing… unless…"
"Unless what?" Joshua demanded.
The wizard's eyes gleamed with cold satisfaction.
"Unless she is boiled alive."
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