Chapter 5

"If you keep acting in front of me, I can have you dragged out and beaten to death right now," I said.

I must have looked terrifying, because the fear in her eyes nearly overflowed.

At last, she broke. "I'll talk... I'll tell you everything."

I let her go, rose to my feet, and wiped my fingers with a handkerchief as though I had touched something filthy. "You have until this candle burns down. Start from the beginning, and don't leave out a single word.

"If there is even half a lie..."

I did not finish the threat.

She understood anyway.

She collapsed to the floor, pale as death, while the whole courtyard fell silent except for the wind.

Hazel lit a candle in its holder. The flame flickered like a warning over Lily's bowed head.

My revenge truly began at that moment.

That candle seemed to burn painfully slowly. Every drop of wax felt like another cut across Lily's skin.

Her face went from pale to ashen, and when the first drop of wax finally slid down, she broke completely. "I'll talk.

"I'll tell you everything."

Her voice sounded scraped raw.

Dry and hoarse.

I did not rush her. I only watched quietly as the woman who had ruined four years of my life tore open her own ugliest wound.

Lily said, "When I first came into Graham family, I was only a lesser mistress. I had no family backing and no support. I’m a fleeting whim to Lord Graham.

"If I wanted to secure a place in the estate, the only path was to have a child.

"But after a year, I was still not pregnant.

"Mrs. Graham looked at me colder and colder, and Lord Graham came to my courtyard less and less. I was terrified.

"I was afraid I'd end up like those women who lost favor, married off to some servant, thrown out, or left to die forgotten in some corner."

By then her whole body was shaking. The fear was real. I could understand it, but I was not about to pity her.

That was simply what life was for women inside a house like this.

"Get to the point," I said, my voice completely without warmth.

She shivered and went on. "I started secretly looking for doctors and swallowing medicine, but none of it worked. Later, a traveling physician told me my body was too weak for pregnancy unless I used a special method."

My brow twitched. "What method?"

She lowered her head even further. "He said... I could borrow a seed."

My breathing stopped for a second.

Her voice dropped lower, as if even saying the name would break some taboo. "I was terrified then. I didn't dare do it. That was a crime punishable by death. But when I was desperate, someone came to me."

"Who?" I pressed.

Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Hazel stepped forward and snapped, "Lady Margaret asked you a question."

Lily shuddered all over and finally forced the words out. "It was... Richard."

That name hit me like lightning, splitting the fog in my mind wide open. I'd always thought the three children didn't resemble Charles, yet their features still carried traces of the Graham family.

So that was it. They were Richard's children, Charles's own younger brother's. What a sick joke.

"How... how did he end up coming to you?" I forced myself to stay calm.

Lily said, "I don't know. He only said he could help me and help himself too.

"He said Lord Graham had health problems and had gone childless for years. If this kept up, Graham family's title would eventually pass to someone else.

"And even though he was Eleanor's son and the King's own nephew, his last name was still Graham. He couldn't watch the family legacy die in his brother's hands.

"So he needed a child, one who belonged to his brother in name but carried his blood, to inherit everything in Graham family."

What a noble excuse, all for the Graham family legacy. Put plainly, it was for the title and for power. Those brothers really were cut from the same rotten cloth.

"That night, Lord Graham was drunk. Richard snuck into my room wearing the same clothes as him. He smelled of alcohol too," Lily said.