Chapter 2

After that day, rumors about Edward and me spread across every corner of the capital.

The gossip grew wilder with each retelling. A man once celebrated for his noble character was twisted by malicious tongues into a hypocrite who had ruined a young woman's honor.

Worse still, some townspeople even claimed that if Edward refused to marry me, his descendants would suffer divine punishment for generations to come.

I dragged myself out of bed despite my fever, determined to speak in his defense, but my grandfather ordered the servants to lock me in my chambers.

He stroked his long beard and let out a weary sigh. "If you younger ones hadn't been so useless, I wouldn't have had to stoop to something this disgraceful."

I knew exactly what he meant.

The Pierce family had suffered a devastating defeat against the northern barbarians, and the entire regiment had perished on the battlefield. Then my aunt, the Royal Consort, had died in childbirth at the palace.

One tragedy after another had sent the family's power into a steep decline, and we teetered on the edge of losing our place among the great noble houses.

Ordinary measures would never be enough to save us.

Left with no other choice, my grandfather had resorted to this underhanded scheme to force Edward into marrying me.

By binding the Pierce name to the Shaw family, he hoped to restore what we had lost.

I lay facedown on the bed with my hands pressed against my face, and tears seeped through my fingers no matter how hard I tried to hold them back.

Edward had suffered serious injuries all over his body when he pulled me from the water that day.

Even when he came to my family's estate to ask for my hand, he arrived on two crutches.

I knew I had no right to face him, and whenever we crossed paths, I would panic and hide before he could see me.

He was furious, but his discipline still held him to the manners of a proper gentleman.

Edward said coldly, "Isabelle Pierce, if I could do it all over again, I would have never jumped in to save you."

His back was turned to me when he said it, so I never saw his expression. But the tone alone told me everything. He despised me to his core.

*****

Although the betrothal had followed all the proper customs, the arrangement between Edward and me had been settled in haste.

On our wedding day, he stood before the altar with a look of cold indifference and lifted my veil with the tip of his fingers.

He said in a flat voice, "You are part of this household now, so mind your place. Help my mother manage the affairs of the manor, and stay out of my sight."

I nodded obediently and did not dare say a word against him.

In this world, ruining a woman was simple. All it took was one attack on her virtue, and she would never recover from the ridicule.

My grandfather's scheme had secured my marriage to Edward, but it had also turned me into the laughingstock of the entire capital.

I was quiet by nature, and the ordeal had drained every last bit of strength I had.

For days, I could not bring myself to face Edward.

Then I overheard one of his attendants mention something by accident.

Edward's wounds had not yet healed, but he had been forcing himself out of bed at dawn to train with his sword. The cuts had torn open and festered with infection, and he refused to let anyone treat them.

I rushed to find him. The moment I pushed open the gate to his courtyard, before I could take a single step closer, the gleam of a blade swung toward me and stopped just short of my throat.

Edward snarled, "I told all of you to get out!"

I glanced back at the attendant trembling outside the gate, who was still trying to signal me with his eyes despite his fear. I froze in place for a moment.

Edward must have sensed something, because he shifted his sword an inch to the side and finally saw that it was me.

He lifted his eyelids, and his cold gaze lingered on me for a brief moment. A mocking smile crossed his face.

Edward said coolly, "If I had known it was you, I would have run you through just now."

He had been pushing himself too hard during sword practice, and sweat trickled steadily down his forehead. The wound on his abdomen was still oozing fresh blood.

My heart sank, but somehow I found the courage I did not know I had, and I walked straight toward the blade.

Edward froze.

The steel pressed into my shoulder.

Shock flickered through his eyes, and he threw the sword to the ground.

Edward shouted, "Isabelle, have you lost your mind?"

I gritted my teeth against the sting in my shoulder and held up the medicine box a servant had brought me earlier, as if nothing had happened.

I asked calmly, "It is freezing out here in the courtyard. Would you rather I tend your wounds here, or inside?"

Edward's gaze grew darker. He stared at me, his brow heavy with shadow, and said coldly, "You are a fool."

But even as the words left his mouth, he turned and walked straight toward the manor.