Chapter 3

By family rule, before any daughter of House Ashbourne could marry, the groom had to shoot down, with his own hand, the orb hung high above the family chapel.

My parents' faces changed instantly. Edmund lunged forward and took the orb from me.

After a long pause, he nodded and murmured, "It's real. It isn't fake."

Cedric went pale. He was about to say something when Rosamund cut him off with a startled cry.

"Evelina, do you really have to go this far to force Cedric to marry you? Claiming someone else shot down the orb when you actually just took it down yourself?"

She looked utterly exasperated and shook her head at me in disapproval.

"If you're going to lie to us, you could at least come up with a better excuse. Everyone in the capital knows you're Cedric's fiancee. Who would dare cross House Hawthorne and steal away its future daughter-in-law?"

Cedric let out a breath of relief. When he looked at me again, there was nothing in his eyes but disappointment and disgust.

"Evelina, can you really not live without a man? Are you that desperate to get married?

"I said I'd marry you, and I'll keep my word. Do you really need to pull a cheap, disgraceful stunt like this to fool us? It's absolutely ridiculous!"

My parents snorted coldly and turned away.

"How did our house ever produce a daughter this foolish? If only Rosamund were our own flesh and blood."

Edmund laughed and tossed the orb at my feet, his lips curling in scorn.

"Evelina, if you had even an ounce of a proper lady's dignity—honestly, what makes you any different from some brothel girl who'd rather die than go a second without a man?"

My head snapped up. I couldn't believe my own brother would describe me in words that vicious.

My nails dug into my palms until they bled. Swallowing the ache in my chest, I shook my head and tried to explain, but Cedric cut me off with a cold laugh.

"Fine. Since you claim someone shot down the orb, I'd love to see who on earth would marry a woman who's past her prime and whom the whole capital calls a curse!"

Without a second's hesitation, he took Rosamund's hand and turned to leave, his eyes full of mockery.

"Let's see how you manage a wedding all by yourself without a groom."

So he'd known all along. For all five years he'd missed the orb, he'd known exactly what kind of rumors and humiliation I was facing outside.

But for Rosamund's sake, he'd acted as if nothing was happening and let me endure all that baseless abuse and ridicule alone.

The tears slid to the corners of my mouth, and their bitterness seemed to seep all the way into my heart.

I watched their backs as they left together, as if they were the real family, and laughed silently through my tears.

"But I didn't lie to you. Someone is coming. I'm not some girl nobody wants."

I just never imagined that early the next morning, my parents would storm into my courtyard, their faces dark with rage.

Before I could even ask what had happened, the long family whip, studded with barbs, had already come down on me.

"You wretched girl! How dare you use such a low trick to drug Rosamund and try to ruin her virtue! If Cedric hadn't saved her, do you have any idea what would've happened to her?"

Behind them, Cedric held Rosamund in his arms. Her clothes were in disarray and her eyes were red from crying. He looked at me with bottomless disappointment and disgust.

"Lord Ashbourne, Lady Ashbourne, don't worry. Rosamund is mine now, and I'll take responsibility for her.

"As for my engagement to Evelina, I don't think the future mistress of House Hawthorne should be a woman with such poor character and such a wicked heart. She can be my mistress instead."

Rosamund wept prettily, but the look she gave me was full of smug triumph and provocation.

"Evelina, I never wanted to take Cedric from you. Why would you be so cruel to me?"

Edmund rushed in, his voice like ice.

"Evelina, I never thought the kind little sister I knew could do something this vicious and disgusting. You've disappointed me more than I can say!

"But it didn't go the way you planned. From now on, Rosamund will be Cedric's wife, and you'll be his mistress. I wonder if you ever thought it would end like this when you tried to hurt her."