The General's Vengeful Bride

Synopsis

My father was nothing but a lowly stableman, but his ambitions reached far higher. He drugged the great General Edward Hawthorne with a potent aphrodisiac, locked me in a room with him, and let nature take its course. My virtue, stolen. My father, expecting Edward to take me as his concubine. But when Edward's beloved cousin, Isabelle Sutton, learned of what happened, she drowned herself in the river. In cruel retaliation, Edward had me carried into his home with a grand wedding procession, not as a concubine, but as his lawful wife. On our wedding night, he tenderly coaxed me to eat a bowl of meatballs and gently wiped my lips. Then he leaned close, his voice icy. "Tell me... how does your father's flesh taste?" Before I could react, he added, cold and calm, "Oh, I forgot to mention. The one you married tonight... isn't me." A black wild boar was dragged forward. "It's him." In front of the entire army camp, I was stripped bare and forced to mate with the beast. The next day, I swallowed gold to end my shame. But Edward ordered the military surgeon to revive me, using a rare mandrake root. His face was twisted with hatred. "You will live," he snarled. "You will live and suffer, until you've atoned for Isabelle." With the last of my strength, I dashed my head against a stone. "Edward..." I gurgled through the blood. "If there's a next life... I never want to see you again." As the world faded, I thought I saw the military camp engulfed in flames... And an unexpected person, rushing through the fire, trying to save me.