Chapter 2

Emily let out a shriek and chased after him.

Lily stood frozen with the baby in her arms, completely at a loss.

A grand celebration collapsed into panic in an instant. No one spared me another look. No one cared anymore about the hen who was supposedly about to be cast out.

I remained where I was, looking at the chaos before me. Yet my heart did not stir at all. I only felt that the sky over Graham family was finally about to change.

Richard's fall hit Graham family like a boulder crashing into stagnant water, and the waves it stirred were enormous. He was the only son of Eleanor Graham, and the King’s most beloved nephew.

Raised in the Royal Palace since childhood, he grew as close as brothers with Prince Edward. If anything were to happen to Richard at Graham House, the entire Graham family would be buried with him.

The whole Graham family fell into chaos. Doctors came one after another, and even palace doctors hurried over with medicine cases in hand.

Charles's courtyard was packed. Emily cried herself nearly unconscious, Charles cursed the servants in a rage, and Lily stood aside with her boys, weeping as though she were the one suffering most.

As for me, the so-called Lady of the house, I was forgotten in a corner by everyone. Fine by me. At least it left me some peace.

I sat quietly in my room while Hazel brought me a mug of warm milk, her eyes red from anger on my behalf. I took it but did not drink, only stared at the bare tree outside the window.

As night deepened, Richard's condition stabilized. The doctor said he had only broken a leg and was in no danger of dying, and the noise around the Graham Manor finally began to settle.

Charles was likely relieved that his brother had lived and his own title was safe, because before long he remembered me again, the wife who had humiliated him in public.

Drunk out of his mind, he kicked my bedroom door open. The sharp stench of alcohol hit first, then his bloodshot eyes, wild as a maddened beast. "Margaret.

"You're pleased, aren't you? Richard got hurt, my family is in chaos, and you were enjoying every second of it."

I said nothing. I only looked at him coldly, and my silence drove him further out of his mind.

He lunged forward and clamped down on my wrist so hard it felt like he meant to crush my bones. "Say something, you poisonous bitch.

"Were you hoping the whole Graham family would die so you could cling to your place as the Lady of the house?"

Pain shot through my wrist, but I only frowned and said in an icy voice, "Let go of me."

"Let go of you?" He laughed with a twisted look on his face. "Not only will I not let go, I'll remind you exactly who rules this house."

As he reached for my clothes, alarm bells went off in my head. I struggled with everything I had and shouted, "Charles, have you lost your mind?"

"Yeah, I have. You drove me crazy, you barren woman."

He shoved me down onto the bed, and despair washed over me as the door slammed open again from outside.

Bang.

The servant who rushed in was panicked out of his mind. "Lord Graham, something's wrong."

Charles froze and roared, "What now? Is the sky falling?"

The servant collapsed to his knees, stumbling over every word. "No... it's... it's you...

"When you came back earlier, you were so distracted over Mr. Richard Graham that you fell down the steps. A moment ago your head started hurting, and then you passed out."

Charles went blank. He looked down at himself, then at me, his face full of disbelief, as if asking how he could be here if he had already collapsed.

The next second his eyes glazed over, and he fell backward stiff as a board.

Hazel and the servant cried, "Lord Graham."

I sat up and straightened my clothes. Looking at Charles sprawled on the floor, I felt nothing at all. Serves him right.

Charles was carried back to his own courtyard, where yet another round of doctors gathered. This time, they had come for him.

As the Lady of the house, I had to be there. When I arrived, Lily was already sobbing at the bedside while Emily sat pale-faced in prayer.

The physicians took turns checking Charles's pulse, all of them grave and hesitant. Leading them was Dr. Thompson, an old hand from the palace.

After examining Charles, he stood and gave a deep bow to Emily and me. His face was more serious than I had ever seen, and everyone in the room held their breath.

Dr. Thompson said gravely, "Mrs. Graham, Lady Margaret. Please forgive my bluntness."

Emily's voice shook. "Dr. Thompson, what exactly is wrong with Charles?"

He sighed. "The fall injured his head and affected his brain. But that isn't the real issue."

He paused and glanced from the unconscious man on the bed to the children in the room. "The crucial point is..." His expression was full of confusion and something darker.

Then, as if making up his mind at last, he dropped to his knees with a thud.

Everyone in the room was stunned.

"Dr. Thompson, what are you doing?" Emily cried.

He lowered his head, his voice trembling with fear. "What I am about to say is extremely serious. Please dismiss everyone else first."

Though confused, Emily and Lily did as he asked. Soon only the core few of us remained in the room.

The silence was suffocating.

Dr. Thompson touched his head to the floor once, then spoke with visible difficulty. "While checking Lord Graham's pulse, I discovered something extraordinary. His pulse is extremely unusual. In thirty years of medicine, I have never seen one like it.

"Only after repeated confirmation did I dare reach this conclusion..."

He lifted his head, horror in his eyes. "Lord Graham was born unable to father children. He can never have a child of his own."

That one sentence struck like lightning from the heavens. The blood drained from Emily's face, and Lily looked as if she had been hit by thunder.

Her gaze fell at once to the three boys beside her: Maxwell, Benedict, and baby Rupert Graham wrapped in cloth.

These were the sons she had used as her shield, the sons Charles treasured enough to divorce me over, the sons who had chased after him for three years calling him Dad.

If Charles had never been able to father children, then whose children were they?

The air seemed to freeze. Emily's lips trembled soundlessly, and Lily began to shake all over like a leaf in a storm.

Then, Charles opened his eyes in confusion, likely having heard the last part.

First he saw the doctor kneeling on the floor. Then his mother and mistress, both pale as death. Finally his gaze landed on the three baffled children.