Chapter 3
The ink dried on the page, but my heart bled.
Every word felt like a mockery of the naive girl I had been in my previous life.
Days later, Alice's reply arrived.
Gone was her former harshness; in its place came a deluge of affection and concern.
She even sent crates of expensive tonics and silks.
But at the very bottom of the letter, she added a casual note.
It read: [Your sister fares well in the borderlands. Edward dotes on her endlessly, but the condition is rough. She writes that she misses the pastries from the capital.]
I stared at that line and let out a cold laugh.
Missing pastries was a lie; it was a taunt, a test.
Victoria was telling me that even in exile, Henry spoiled her.
She wanted to see if I, the "legitimate" Crown Princess, was truly as prosperous as I claimed.
I handed the letter to Edward.
He read it, expressionless, then uttered a single command, "Reward her."
The next day, a steady stream of coffers filled with jewels, silks, and brocades arrived at my palace.
The spectacle was so grand it sent shockwaves through the entire court.
Whispers spread like wildfire: the disgraced Crown Princess had regained favor overnight.
I had become the envy of every woman in the palace.
Only I knew it was all a gilded facade.
Edward did this solely to perform for the Wynns, to secure my grandfather's loyalty.
He occasionally visited my chambers, but he never stayed the night.
An invisible wall stood between us; his gaze remained perpetually cold, his mind miles away.
The days were suffocating.
Meanwhile, letters from Victoria continued to arrive from the borderland.
At first, they dripped with the sickly sweetness of a woman in love.
She wrote that Henry had built her a cottage with his own two hands to ensure her comfort; that he hunted rabbits in the mountains to make her smile.
They lived in poverty, she claimed, but they were spiritually rich.
Every letter felt like a provocation, as if Victoria was flaunting her happiness right in my face.
I passed each letter to Edward.
Every time he finished reading, a faint smile would touch his lips, followed by an increase in the "rewards" sent my way.
He nearly emptied the treasury of the Crown Prince's Palace on my account.
I became the undisputed "favorite."
Yet, with each gift, my heart felt increasingly hollow.
Then came a day when a different letter arrived from Victoria.
Gone were the romantic trivialities and the boasts; only a single, stark line remained: [I am pregnant.]
At the sight of those words, the paper trembled in my grip.
She was carrying Henry's heir.
In my previous life, I had gulped down countless bitter medicines and spent three agonizing years nursing my fragile health before I could finally give Edward an heir.
However, now, Victoria was pregnant so easily.
I forced down the turmoil rising in my chest and handed the letter to Edward.
He read it, then lapsed into a heavy silence.
In the dim candlelight, his features were obscured, but the air around him grew sharp with a sudden, biting chill.
After what felt like ages, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse and low, "She is certainly... capable."
I couldn't tell if he was complimenting Victoria or taking a jab at Henry.
That night, he stayed in my room.
It was the first time we'd ever slept together since we got married.
Reeking of wine, Edward took me without warning, his movements rough and utterly devoid of tenderness.
I lay there like a broken doll, pliant and unresisting, offering neither cooperation nor refusal.
In the suffocating darkness, I heard his ragged breathing and a low, fractured murmur.
He was calling a name, "Charlotte..."
My heart faltered. He was calling my name.
But his gaze was hollow, as if he was staring right through me, searching for someone else.
At that moment, realization washed over me, cold and merciless.
There was no tenderness in his touch, only possession.
He was driven by jealousy, a desperate need to vent his frustration.
He envied Henry for securing a child with the woman he truly loved, while Edward himself was shackled to me, a woman he despised, forced to play at being a devoted husband.
I shut my eyes, and tears carved silent trails down my face.
Edward was a monster of cruelty.
He had deceived me with lies, and now, he was using my body to exorcise his demons.
I woke to a cold, empty space beside me.
There, seared into the fabric, was a vivid, damning blood. It was an irrefutable proof of the night before.
Rose entered with a basin of water. The moment she saw the mark, a radiant, hopeful smile lit up her face. "Your Highness... you've finally..."
I cut her off instantly, my voice flat and toneless. "Change the sheets."
"Yes, Your Highness." She didn't dare ask questions.
Instead, she worked quickly and in silence.
I rose to wash, staring at my reflection in the mirror: pale, hollow-eyed—a stranger in my own skin.
After that night, Edward came to my chambers more frequently.
He no longer bothered to disguise his hunger, taking me night after night.
Yet Edward never spoke, never met my eyes.
We lay together in the most intimate of unions, yet we were farther apart than strangers.
It wasn't long before I conceived.
News of the pregnancy swept through the Crown Prince's Palace, bringing joy to the servants.
Edward finally showed a smile I hadn't seen in so long.
He showered the servants with gifts and began personally escorting me through the royal gardens.
His hand would curl gently around mine as he murmured soft warnings to mind my step.
The tenderness was so dizzying, so familiar, it transported me back to my previous life.
But I knew the truth.
His kindness wasn't for me.
It was for the child growing inside me, a tool to fortify his power, a political pawn.
The pregnancy was brutal. I retched after every meal, my body wasting away until I was little more than skin and bone.
Edward summoned the finest royal physicians and provided the rarest medicines, yet his gaze grew colder with each passing day.
He believed I was exaggerating, using the child to manipulate him.
One evening, after a violent fit of vomiting, he seized my wrist, his tone icy. "Charlotte, what on earth are you trying to do?"
I stared at him weakly, unable to find words.
He snapped, "You think a child makes you untouchable? Don't dare play games with me. Harm this child, and I will bury your entire Wynn family with you."
His words cut like poisoned blades into my heart.
I looked at his furious face and laughed bitterly.
Did he truly think I cared about the Wynn family?
They were the ones who had used me as a stepping stone from birth, who could sacrifice me without hesitation for Victoria.
Tears streamed down my face as I laughed. "Your Highness, you have my word. I will bear this child safely. He is my only hope now."