Chapter 1

My groom, General Griffin Quenell, stepped forward and said, “Your Grace, do you really have to make such an ugly scene on our wedding day?”

His hands, calloused from years of gripping a sword, clamped down on the carriage’s carved door frame. His grip was so fierce that the veins bulged across the backs of his hands. He nearly crushed its ebony wood.

I firmly sat inside the carriage and stared coldly at him.

He was the man the people of Cathor called the unshakable general of the northern frontier. Though he was the groom, there was no trace of joy on his face. All I saw was the seething fury of a man humiliated in public.

“Ugly?” I said indifferently as I toyed with my ruby ring. “General Quenell, would you really call letting your mistress block the door and confront your bride on your wedding day a dignified deed?”

Griffin’s expression stiffened as embarrassment flashed in his eyes, but he quickly replaced it with a look of pained righteousness.

“Your Grace, you were pampered in the palace since childhood. How could you possibly understand the bitter cold of the frontier? That night, when the enemy launched a surprise attack, had Joan not taken an arrow for me, I’d be nothing but bones by now. She’s just a helpless woman. She nearly died for me, had my child out of wedlock, and suffered nothing but scorn for it. If I abandoned her now, what kind of man would I be?” he added with conviction, as if he were the greatest lover the world had ever known.

The common folks gathered around were all whispering and pointing.

Hearing this, the tide of opinion turned in an instant.

Pitying and moved glances fell upon Joan, who knelt on the ground, and the woman was sharp enough to sense the change in the atmosphere around her.

Her body shuddered vulnerably as tears started streaming down her face.

“General Quenell, please... don’t say any more...” She bit her pale lips hard and spoke in a pitiful, sorrowful voice. “It’s all my fault. I’m not worthy of you. I came here today only to let my baby be acknowledged by his father’s family. I never meant to compete with Her Grace for anything.

“Your Grace, you are of noble birth and possess boundless worth. Even if I were made no more than a lowly maid to wash your feet, I would serve you willingly and with all my heart.”

As she spoke, she collapsed on the ground with the baby in her hands, giving her a fragile demeanor. Her tears fell on the ground.

Griffin’s heart ached so much that tears welled up in his eyes.

He turned to help her, but with me still present, he forced himself to stop. He could only stand there, glaring at me with a look of bitter, burning hatred.