A Marriage Built on Hate

The empress dowager gave me a noncommittal look. remained kneeling on the ground.

A long while later, she said, "I can let you go, Michael. But remember this. Your sister is still in my hands. You will take that secret to your grave."

She gave me a warning look. I lowered my head, my heart already broken. "Of course, Your Majesty. The princess will never know the truth."

As though granting me some great mercy, she tossed a bottle of pills in front of me. They were meant to help me fake my death. "You cannot pin this on me. I would never have done this, but she would rather elope with you than run the empire. It's your fault you gained her attention!"

With that, she turned to leave. "Seven days later, Alicia will be going to the Imperial Temple with me. You will leave on that day."

I froze at those words. The Imperial Temple housed the statues of countless benevolent deities. It was also the place where I first met Alicia Zimmer.

I watched the empress dowager walk away and found the whole thing deeply ironic. Alicia had no idea that her supposedly benevolent mother was capable of deeds so vicious they would make even devils recoil.

Alicia was a princess from the previous dynasty. After her uncle usurped the throne, she and her mother escaped and planned for years just to regain power.

I thought she was just the daughter of a merchant when I met her, and that she was in the city to do business. She was a gallant and vivacious woman, different from the girls I knew.

I fell in love with her at first sight and decided to marry her. She too promised she would only marry me.

My father was a grand tutor. He refused to let me marry a woman of unknown origin, and he suspected that Alicia was far more than she claimed to be.

I went on a hunger strike.

In order to marry me, Alicia privately met with my father and told him the truth. She was the princess of the previous dynasty.

…

On the day we decided to elope, my father caught me at the corner of the road. He broke my legs, but still, I waited, yet Alicia never came.

It was after that I found out that after her identity was leaked, she was attacked.

Only through the sacrifice of her many subordinates did she escape. During the chaos, someone broke her legs as well, leaving her unable to walk properly ever since.

After leading her army into the imperial city, the first thing Alicia did was send my entire family to prison.

That day, she sat high on her horse and lifted my chin with the end of her whip. She sneered. "You should've seen this coming when your father decided to leak the information."

A new emperor was crowned, and she became princess regent.

However, my father was not behind it. I thought she would let my family go if I told her everything.

After that humiliating night, my family was sentenced to execution anyway, and they presented their heads to me.

Her mother came to me that day. "I orchestrated that escape. Everything is worth it for her rule. I can save your sister, on the condition that you take the fall. She has hated you all these years, and she won't listen to you anyway. You tried that."

She was right. Alicia wouldn't trust me. She took pleasure in humiliating me. Fortunately, it was all coming to an end.

Seven days later, I would be able to leave with my sister.