Chapter 7

When Giselle woke again, she was back in her cold, quiet room in the main courtyard.

Only Lila sat at her bedside, her eyes red and swollen from crying. The moment she saw Giselle open her eyes, shock and relief swept across her face, and she hurried to fetch some warm water.

Giselle had no strength left. She let Lila help her drink, change her into fresh clothes, and tend to her wounds. She felt numb to it all.

Through quiet sobs, Lila told her everything that had happened since that night. "My lord ordered everyone to keep silent about what happened. Not a word was to leave the keep.

"Lady Chrysanthe needs complete rest to recover from her miscarriage, so my lord and the young lord have visited her every day and lavished her with gifts."

Meanwhile, rumors had spread that Giselle was a vicious, jealous woman who had tried to harm her husband's own flesh and blood. Everyone said her husband had abandoned her completely.

Giselle listened in silence, her hollow eyes fixed on the intertwined lotus pattern embroidered on the canopy above her bed.

Abandoned? He had abandoned her long before any of this.

None of it mattered to her anymore. She had no desire to fight back, nor could she summon the strength to hate them. She simply lay in bed and focused on her recovery, counting down the days until she could finally go home.

…

At last, the day of the seven-star alignment arrived.

Giselle changed into the T-shirt and jeans she had worn when she first crossed into this world seven years ago.

Then she sat quietly by the window and watched the sky, waiting for the moment she had spent seven long years yearning for, even as she had gradually lost all hope of ever seeing it.

Only half an hour remained until midnight.

Suddenly, Lila burst into the room, nearly tripping over her own feet

Her face was deathly pale, and her voice trembled so badly that she could barely get the words out. "M-My lady! Something terrible has happened! Lady Chrysanthe developed a sudden, mysterious fever a few days ago. The physicians have tried everything, but nothing has worked! Her fever won't break!

"Just now, my lord summoned a monk from the monastery, and he said... He said Lady Chrysanthe has been cursed by a malevolent spirit!

"And the source of the curse... it's the child! The child who died all those years ago when the assassins threw her to her death! He said her vengeful spirit is responsible!"

Giselle's head snapped toward her. For the first time, the calm in her eyes shattered, replaced by a storm of fury.

"The monk said they must dig up the child's bones, whip them, and seal them away to drive out the evil spirit and save Lady Chrysanthe's life!" Lila sobbed. "My lord has a-already... given the order! By now, they might have already—"

Before Lila could finish, Giselle bolted from the room like a gust of wind.

She ran faster than she ever had in her life, oblivious to the searing pain in her leg. Only one thought consumed her. 'Stop him. Lythas, you can't do this! That's your child! That's my child!'

She stumbled and staggered all the way to the burial ground. But when she finally arrived, the sight before her made her blood run cold.

In the middle of the clearing, several guards were emptying a small pile of delicate bones from a crude clay jar.

Lythas stood to one side, his expression grim and unyielding. Beside him, Leoric clutched his sleeve, his young face pale.

A monk in saffron robes stood over the bones and chanted under his breath. In his hand was a black whip, poised to strike.

"Stop!"

Giselle's scream tore through the night.

She threw herself forward in a frenzy, desperate to shield the tiny heap of bones with her own body.

"Hold her back!" Lythas barked.

The guards immediately closed in, seized her arms, and pinned them behind her back.

Giselle struggled against the guards with all her remaining strength. Her eyes were wild, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. "Lythas! Have you lost your mind? That's your child! Your own flesh and blood! How could you? How could you...

"If you hate her, then take it out on me! Leave her alone! She was innocent! She never even had the chance to see this world!"

Lythas stared at her as she fought desperately against the guards, her grief and anguish almost beyond reason. His brow furrowed, and something flickered in his eyes.

But whatever hesitation he felt quickly vanished beneath the weight of Viviana's feeble moans and the monk's dire warnings about the curse.

When he finally spoke, his voice was cold and unyielding. "They're nothing more than a dead infant's remains. Vivi's life is at stake right now. Gigi, that's enough."

"Mother!" Leoric cried. "The monk said this is the only way to make Lady Chrysanthe better! Can't you just think of it as a sacrifice to save her? Besides... Besides, my little sister has been dead for a long time already..."

"You two..."

Giselle stared at the father and son before her. They seemed like complete strangers now.

A terrible chill rose from the soles of her feet and spread through her entire body.

"Are you two even human?"