Chapter 3

Seeing that I hadn't spoken for a long time, irritation flickered in Lucius's eyes.

"Alright, stop putting on that deeply wronged look."

"A woman like you, who'll do anything for money and immortality, has hypocrisy and calculation in her blood. You can put a price on love itself. What's there to play pitiful about?"

I trembled all over and looked up at him, gritting my teeth.

The reason I'd abandoned my noble background, hidden my name, and insisted on marrying a vampire was because the ancient texts said vampires only ever recognize one mate in their lifetime. Until death.

In our first year of marriage, when he held me in the castle bell tower to watch the first snow, he had personally sworn he would never let me suffer.

Even after he came to hate me because of the contract, I knew vampire mates were bound by blood. He had never truly touched another woman.

That was why I had pathetically endured his coldness again and again, hoping that one day he would calm down, would see that I had never wanted his money or immortality.

Only tonight did I fully wake up.

He hadn't betrayed me physically. But to punish my "greed," he held Vivian in the palm of his hand, indulged her wearing my nightgown, taking my master bedroom, taking the First Embrace that should have been mine, and ground my true heart into the mud step by step.

Vampires were indeed loyal by nature. It was just that his trust and favoritism no longer belonged to me.

Touching the dead, cold stillness in my eyes, Lucius's expression froze for a rare moment.

Six years. This was the first time I had looked at him without a shred of love or attachment.

I didn't defend myself with another word. I just braced against the cold floor, stood up, brushed the paper scraps off my skirt, picked up my suitcase, and turned toward the door.

"Madam, don't go!"

Vivian on the bed suddenly cried out, rushed over barefoot, and blocked my path, her face full of anxiety as she grabbed my wrist.

"It's all my fault. Please don't leave the castle just to spite Lucius. If anyone should go, it's me..."

I frowned and said coldly, "Let go."

Vivian, with her back to Lucius and hidden by the loose nightgown, her frightened expression instantly turned into a vicious provocation.

Her gaze swept over the pregnancy test peeking out of my gown pocket. She lowered her voice, using a volume only the two of us could hear, and said venomously:

"A useless woman who can't even have a child after six years, do you deserve to stay by Lucius's side? Lucius finds you dirty just looking at you now. I suggest you get lost while you still can!"

Before I could even pull free, Vivian suddenly threw herself backward, and at the same time secretly used all her strength to shove me hard toward the stone pillar beside us!

"AH—Madam, don't push me!"

With her piercing scream, I lost my balance. My lower back slammed hard into the sharp corner of the marble pillar.

A bone-splitting pain exploded. I let out a scream and collapsed to the floor. The suitcase rolled aside.

I clutched my stomach desperately. Cold sweat instantly soaked my back.

Warm liquid surged from between my thighs. Slowly. But it wouldn't stop.

Lucius's nostrils flared. He immediately caught the unusual, heavy scent of blood in the air.

His face changed. A flash of instinctive panic crossed his eyes. He subconsciously moved to step toward me.

"Lucius!"

Vivian, sitting on the carpet, clutched his pant leg, holding her chest and crying as if she might collapse.

"I just wanted to stop the madam from leaving. I lost my footing and bumped into her... But my wrist hurts so much. Did she scratch me just now? My chest feels so tight..."

Her urgent crying instantly drowned out the scent of blood and awakened Lucius's resentment toward me.

His steps stopped cold. He didn't even glance down at the glaring red spreading beneath me.

He bent down and scooped Vivian up, carefully examining her wrist, which didn't even have a red mark, and threw me a cold sentence.

"Vivian kindly asked you to stay, and you can't even tolerate a patient who just received the First Embrace?"

"Stop putting on a pity show in the master bedroom and dirtying the carpet. Clean it up yourself. I'll have the vampire physician sent over. I can't have the great Lucius's wife dying in the house."

He carried Vivian carefully toward the door, heading to the side hall to rest.

Vivian, leaning on his shoulder, turned her head and raised an eyebrow at me, lying in the pool of blood, revealing a vicious, triumphant smile.

Her gaze fell on my stomach, which I was desperately protecting. She mouthed silently:

"Take your bastard and die."

The heavy door slammed shut.

Before my vision sank into complete darkness, I clearly felt the tiny life inside me—the one that had just taken shape, the one that, if it stayed, would keep me trapped in vampire territory—turn into a pool of cold blood and drain away.

In the darkness, I vaguely saw the grand coming-of-age ball six years ago.

Back then, I stood before my father, holding my skirt, swearing that Lucius loved me to the bone, that I would never regret it.

So from beginning to end, it was all my own doing.