Chapter 8
Matilda’s shaky handwriting revealed everything-and with it, Seraphina’s lies came crashing down.
It turned out that, years ago, Seraphina had visited my mother under the guise of filial concern. She dismissed the servants and told my ailing mother a cruel and calculated lie: that my father had never been drugged-that he had chosen to be with Seraphina’s mother of his own free will.
My mother, already feverish and weak from illness, didn’t have time to sort truth from venom. The shock and fury overwhelmed her fragile heart.
She died spitting blood on the very same day.
Matilda, bringing medicine at the time, overheard it all. In a fit of rage, she burst into the room to confront Seraphina-but Seraphina had her eyes gouged out, her tongue cut, and sold her into bondage.
All these years, Matilda had searched for a way back, but the noble family who took her into service kept her closely
watched. It wasn’t until my father intervened.
With Matilda’s testimony, Seraphina could no longer deny the truth.
She was dragged off in chains by royal guards, leaving Cedric standing dumbstruck in the garden, his world collapsing
around him.
The Queen turned to me before departing with the King.
“Come before the royal council tomorrow,” she said. “The Crown intends to formally acknowledge your service.”
The crowd remained, buzzing with gossip, unable to tear themselves away.
“Who would’ve guessed Seraphina was so vile beneath all that sweetness?”
“Lord Cedric must be regretting everything. He cast aside a true lady for a counterfeit.”
“Still… everyone knows Lady Elena once loved him dearly. With Seraphina disgraced, perhaps they’ll reconcile?”
Cedric seemed to snap out of his stupor at those words.
He turned and dropped to his knees before my father, pressing his forehead to the ground.
“Lord Hawthorne, I mistook a shadow for the real thing. Grant me another chance-I’ll offer tenfold the alliance terms.”
My father looked to me, leaving the decision in my hands.
But I didn’t even spare Cedric a glance.
“Lord Cedric,” I said calmly, “even if offered the Crown’s treasury, my answer would still be no.”
“You loved Seraphina. That was your choice-so honor it.”
“She may be disgraced now, even imprisoned… but if that’s enough to change your heart, then your love was never worth anything.”
Chapter 8
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I turned and helped Matilda toward the garden gate, pausing only to address the crowd.
“The show’s over. There’s no more scandal for you to feed on.”
As we walked home, my father broke the silence with quiet remorse.
“Elena, what Seraphina said about that night-it wasn’t true.”
“I never betrayed your mother.”
I smiled and took his hand.
“I know, Father.”
I’d always believed in the love between my parents. My father had longed for a son to carry on his name, but he never remarried. He had made a vow to my mother-to love only her, in this life and beyond.
And he kept it.
That fidelity only made Cedric’s betrayal all the more bitter.
I realized then that I wanted something very different from the life I’d once lived. I no longer wished to be a dutiful bride, cloistered behind stone walls, living only for duty and legacy.
I wanted to soar. To become something more.
But Cedric wasn’t ready to let go.
The next morning, as I neared the palace courtyard, he was already there-bareheaded, in plain wool, kneeling in silence before the guard posts. A birch switch lay beside him, untouched. A poor man’s gesture of remorse.
I didn’t even glance at him. I veered to the side, intent on walking past.
But he grabbed my wrist.
His eyes burned with desperation-some twisted mix of guilt, hope, and delusion.
“Elena, please. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“In our past life… we were married. We had a son.”
“Did you know? He became a became First Laureate of the King’s Challenge-honored across the realm.”
“Can’t we start again?”
“Even if not for me… do it for our son.”
