Chapter 2

It was true that I was all that was left of the Campbell family when I married Evanna. But every single member of my family had died in battle, every one of them decorated with military merit.

That war had been brutal beyond words. My father, brothers, and sisters—all of them had died on the battlefield, one after another, just to secure the five key cities under siege.

If I hadn't been sent away to seek treatment, unaware the court would reassign the troops, I'd likely have died in that same campaign.

On his deathbed, Father had begged the emperor to spare the Campbells a single surviving branch of their bloodline. So, the emperor had issued an imperial edict for Evanna and me to marry. I'd also been forbidden from returning to the front lines.

I knew all too well the misery of war. In the years that followed, I devoted myself to managing the Johnson family for her. Relying on what remained of my family's fortune, I slowly revived the dying household, all so she could fight at the front lines with nothing weighing on her mind.

She'd finally returned on this day. It should have been a day of joy and celebration, yet it had ended like this.

The sky gradually lightened as dawn broke. Only then did Clay finish "treating" Evanna.

When they came out, her cheeks were flushed. "Benedict, you should thank Clay. He cured my hex—he's your savior, really."

He'd stolen my wife from under my very nose, yet I was supposed to consider him my savior.

When I didn't respond, Clay looked at me contemptuously and said, "Lord Campbell, it's inappropriate for me to say this, but you ought to be more understanding. General Johnson went to war in your stead. You should be more considerate of her."

With that, he turned around and walked off, looking arrogant even from behind.

"Benedict, you're being so unreasonable." Evanna gave me a disappointed look and hurried after him.

I couldn't help but smile bitterly. Had she forgotten that she'd kneeled before the palace gates for three days and nights to beg for this marriage? She'd offered to take my place on the battlefield as her betrothal gift. She was the one who'd begged me to promise her we would be each other's one and only in this lifetime.

If not for that, with my status, how could I have possibly humbled myself to marry into the Johnson family, which was of much lower standing than my own?

For the sake of repaying her devotion, and for Father's sake, I'd helped her maintain her household. But now, I regretted it.

Father's legacy and the Campbell name couldn't be handed over to someone like her.

I summoned one of Father's old retainers who was serving me and ordered him to deliver a letter.

The next day, I had barely woken when Evanna came over and told me to clear out a courtyard. She said, "I think Gracewood Hall is perfect. I've decided to have Clay live there."

I looked at you. "Do the vows you swore beneath the palace walls mean nothing to you now?"

Her expression turned awkward, and she softened her tone to coax me. "Benedict, he and I have already been intimate, as a husband and wife would. It would be improper for him to live outside the estate. Do it for my sake. But don't worry—I'll never let him take your place."

As she spoke, she reached out to take my hand.

I stepped back, avoiding her touch, and let out a quiet laugh. "You two were intimate as a husband and wife would be, huh? I thought you said he was only curing you and that there were absolutely no feelings involved."

"Benedict Campbell!" Evanna flushed with anger and shame. "There's a limit to how outrageous you can be. Stop pushing your luck!"

I simply looked at her without saying another word.

Gracewood Hall was the courtyard closest to her own. I'd spent three years renovating and decorating it, waiting for her return so we could move in together. Now, I was "pushing my luck".

"General Johnson, don't fight with Lord Campbell on my account." Clay walked in from outside. "I'm a man. We can tell everyone I forced myself on you, and the people in Carvon will only laugh at me for it. Lord Campbell and I aren't the same—he grew up here. What I can endure, he cannot."

Evanna took his hand. When she looked back at me, all the tenderness in her gaze was gone, replaced only by disgust and cold sharpness.

She said, "Benedict, Clay will be accompanying me on the campaign. He won't get in your way. If you behave and know your place, you'll still be the one managing my household. Otherwise, I won't hesitate to divorce you."