Lahat ng Kabanata ng Revenge of the Betrayed: The Domineering Duke Falls for Me: Kabanata 341 - Kabanata 350

Every afternoon, the king would make use of a lull in state business to come and visit the pregnant Lady Lark, rain or shine. This special favor only further convinced the people of the palace of Lady Lark’s standing in his affections. On this day, as on all others, the king came around the hour of Shen; just as he stepped through the door, he saw a blaze of tropical blossoms—scarlet and purplish red massed like waves—spreading from the entrance of Lady Lark’s palace through the courtyard and into the inner chambers, flaming and fervid in their brilliance.These were Lady Lark’s favorite flowers, for no other reason than their intense color.Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight, in the distance among the cypress vines, of Miranda, seated and speaking with a maid, with Molly and the little Eunuch standing nearby. His gaze dropped slightly. Because Lady Lark favored bold colors, the flowers in the Hall were all blazing reds and purples; just now the cypress vines were at their p

Whitney spoke more delicately, to be sure, but that single mention of “inside knowledge,” coupled with the deliberate misdirection just now, only sent suspicions spiraling.“Miss Whitney has misunderstood me. I was only reasoning from what any of us might think. At the very least, faced with what we see, my first thought is whether Lady Lark is ill, or has fallen unconscious for some other reason. In that case, the urgent task is not to seize a culprit but to summon a physician and see whether Lady Lark can be saved. So, when I came in, I already instructed Molly to go with the maids to fetch a physician. Even if the worst has happened, the cause of death ought first to be determined by a physician—only then can a murderer be traced.” Miranda spoke unhurriedly.Hearing her, those present thought it over and found it reasonable.Indeed, though Lady Lark did not wake, her complexion was rosy; she might merely be unconscious. For the queen to declare at once that Lady Lark had been harme

“Your Majesty, why do you not speak?” The queen’s eyes burned; her words were sharp. “To take a pregnant woman’s life openly within the royal palace is a crime so heinous that even the severest penalty would not be excessive. Do you not endorse what His Majesty has said?” As she spoke, she cast a meaningful glance at Miranda.The Queen Dowager’s brows knit still tighter; her mind was not yet settled.The queen’s aggressiveness—did it spring from absolute confidence in her own design, or did it mean this matter was not her doing at all? Thinking this, the Queen Dowager looked thoughtfully at Miranda, then gave the faintest shake of her head. Miranda was steady and keen; she would never do such a thing… Could it be that someone else was meddling behind the scenes, seeking to exploit the queen’s grievance against Miranda to stir up trouble? If so, to dare pit both the queen and Miranda—and by extension the Queen Dowager herself—against one another was intolerable and could not be forgive

Hearing the maid’s words, Miranda instantly understood, though she only sneered inwardly, a flicker of cold clarity flashing across her eyes. On the surface, however, she wore an expression of wounded anger, biting her lip as she said,“I have no quarrel with you—why would you slander me? It was Lady Lark who invited me today to make pastries with her. I hesitated at first, since I’m hardly skilled in the kitchen, but she insisted on teaching me herself, which is why I entered the kitchens at all. Besides, before the meal, the desserts were tested by a servant. Where is that person now? Why do you not mention him? And now you twist everything into this?”As she spoke, she raised her sleeve to hide her tears, appearing for all the world the picture of aggrieved innocence and fragile dignity.Both sides clung stubbornly to their own accounts, neither yielding an inch. The noble ladies present, led by Lady Liudmila, glanced back and forth between them, exchanging uneasy looks, seemingly

The Queen Dowager understood very clearly: she herself knew how to place the greater good above personal feelings. If necessary, she was willing to sacrifice Miranda in order to preserve the Queen’s position. But would the Queen, in turn, ever do the same for her? She recalled how, only moments ago, she had considered the Queen’s interests first, weighing how best to shield her should their scheme collapse. And yet, the Queen had responded with relentless aggression, pressing harder and harder, even to the point of dragging the Queen Dowager herself into suspicion.At that moment, the Queen Dowager had her answer: if matters truly came to this, the Queen would never feel gratitude for her sacrifice of Miranda. On the contrary, she would scorn the Queen Dowager as weak and ineffectual, unable even to protect her own ward. Worse still, the Queen would seize upon Miranda’s downfall as the very lever with which to topple the Queen Dowager herself.If preserving the Queen came at the price