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Home / Romance Short Story / Divorced with Octuplets / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Divorced with Octuplets: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

13 Chapters

Chapter 1

The court physician rested his fingers on my wrist, their coolness seeping through my sleeve’s thin fabric. I kept my gaze lowered, eyes on my flat stomach, silently praying that this routine wellness check would pass without incident. My wishes did not come through.After only a moment, his fingers went still. His brow furrowed, and his expression shifted into something strange.My heart clenched, and I gripped the silk handkerchief in my lap, my voice trembling as I spoke."Is something... Is something wrong with me?"He withdrew his hand, stroking his beard repeatedly, then took my pulse a second time. A long silence passed before he finally looked up, disbelief written across every inch of his face. When he spoke, his words stumbled over one another."M-my Lady, you are with child, and... it’s not just one. You have eight children. Eight heartbeats, every one of them strong."The words hit me like a thunderclap.I sat frozen in the cushioned chair, my mind utterly blank. My

Chapter 2

Whether I had eight children or eighty, it did not matter. With that kind of money, I could raise every last one of them in comfort and luxury.Why should I care about the title of Lady Regent? Why should I care whether Edric had any affection for me, or what the people of his household thought?With this amount of gold, I was all the security these eight children would ever need. I could take them and build the life I wanted, free from the obligation to read anyone's mood or seek anyone's approval.Edric wanted me out of the capital, and that suited me perfectly. The Regent's household had never been anything but a gilded cage, and I had wanted to leave for a long time.I had Finch bring the gold to my courtyard, and right there in front of him, I picked up a quill and signed my name on the divorce acknowledgment.Suvanne Thayne.The strokes were clean, without a moment of hesitation. Then, I called for my things to be packed.I had lived simply during my time in the Regent's h

Chapter 3

Felicity had seized her chance. She hired someone to forge Edric's handwriting on a divorce decree, then bribed Finch into delivering it to my courtyard.She had been certain that a merchant's daughter as desperate for wealth and status as I would fall apart at the sight of it, throwing a fit, weeping and wailing, and refusing to leave.That would have been her cue to step in, playing the gracious peacemaker, making herself look gentle and magnanimous while turning the entire household against me once and for all, until I was driven out for good.She had accounted for everything, except for what I actually wanted.At that very moment, she was sitting with the Dowager Lady Valthorpe in the garden, sipping tea and speaking ill of me, predicting that I was surely locked in my room, sobbing and regretting everything.The Dowager Lady played with her rings absently, her face full of scorn, remarking that I had no sense of my own station and no business occupying the title of Lady Regen

Chapter 4

The moment those words left the Dowager Lady's mouth, Felicity's body went rigid. The smile froze on her face, and her eyes filled with shock.10,000 gold pieces?She had only arranged for someone to forge Edric's handwriting on the divorce decree and for Finch to deliver it. She had never authorized anyone to withdraw gold.She knew that the household's gold was kept in the storeroom and could only be released with a written order from the Dowager Lady or from Edric himself. She did not have the authority to touch it.Where had the 10,000 gold pieces come from, and who had sent them to me?Had Finch acted on his own, or had someone else in the household intervened?A sharp thread of unease wound through Felicity's chest, the unmistakable feeling that this plan had slipped beyond her control.She had designed this scheme to humiliate me, to cause a scene, to watch me beg, grovel, and refuse to leave. Instead, I had walked out with my head held high and 10,000 gold pieces in hand

Chapter 5

The coldness in Edric's eyes was sharp enough to cut.He picked up the divorce decree, his knuckles white, his fingers pressing so hard against the paper that it nearly crumpled in his grip."Explain this.""My lord, it was Miss Wrenfield. She ordered me to forge your handwriting on the decree, and she forced me to deliver it to Miss Thayne..."Finch was shaking from head to foot as he laid out the full account of what had happened.When he finished, the temperature of the air around Edric seemed to drop by several degrees. He seized the decree and hurled it to the ground. The paper struck the floor in front of Finch with a crisp snap."Get out. Thirty lashes, then confinement in the servants' quarters until I decide to release you."Finch did not even manage a reply. He stumbled out of the study, leaving Edric standing alone in the empty room, wrapped in a silence so heavy it seemed to swallow the candlelight.Felicity's scheming, the Dowager Lady's favoritism, Finch's disloya

Chapter 6

Edric sat in his chair and regarded Felicity coldly, not a flicker of emotion in his eyes."You care for me?" He let out a short, scornful laugh. "Your version of caring is forging my handwriting on a divorce decree and driving my wife and children out of my household? Felicity, your affection is as cheap as it is cruel."You've used Grandmother's favoritism to lord over this household, mistreating the servants and tormenting Suvanne, and you thought I didn't know? I simply couldn't be bothered to deal with you."I told myself you were raised under Grandmother's roof, so I gave you the benefit of the doubt for her sake. But you took that leniency and pushed further, and you even had the nerve to go after the one person you should never have touched."Every word landed on Felicity like a hammer blow. The color drained from her face, her sobbing cut off mid-breath, and she stared at Edric as though she could not believe what she was hearing.She had always assumed that his marriag

Chapter 7

Mother was the only daughter of the Ashworth family, the wealthiest household in all the Southlands.Years ago, she had been visiting the capital when she met Father by chance and fell in love at first sight. The Ashworths considered Father a common merchant, far beneath their station, and they refused the match outright.Mother chose Father anyway. She severed ties with her family and eloped with him, and from that day forward, she lived under a different name and never returned to the Southlands.It was not that she did not miss her home during all those years. She was simply afraid that her family still resented her, so she kept that longing locked away where no one could see it.The restaurant owner turned out to be a distant relative of the Ashworths. He had seen the family heirloom pendant before and recognized it immediately.He told us that the patriarch of the Ashworth family had never stopped searching for his daughter. Every year, he sent people out to inquire after her

Chapter 8

I was reclining on the covered veranda, one hand resting on my rounded belly, listening to a servant humming a Southlands folk tune and feeling thoroughly at ease.Then, a commotion erupted beyond the courtyard, and a moment later, a familiar figure stepped into view.The man wore a dark brocade coat, his posture as straight and commanding as ever. His features were still sharp and severe, but there was weariness, urgency, and something else in his eyes that I could not quite read.He stood in the rain, his gaze fixed on me with an intensity that bordered on desperate, as though he was afraid I would disappear if he looked away.It was Edric.I felt nothing, not even surprise. I simply looked at him the way I would look at a stranger.It was no shock that he had found me. A man with his power and resources would have tracked me down eventually. It had only been a matter of time.Edric walked toward me, his steps quickening, his brocade coat soaked through with rain and clinging

Chapter 9

"I'll admit it. After we got married, I fell in love with you, gradually, without meaning to. I was just too proud to say it. That night at the Spring Gala, I wasn't drunk. I did it on purpose because I wanted to be close to you, because I wanted us to be something more than what we were."I thought I had time. I thought you'd always be there, waiting for me to find the courage to open up to you. I never imagined you would leave so quickly or so completely."Suvy, give me a chance. Please." He looked at me, his eyes full of desperate hope."I'll make it up to you. I'll be good to you, and I'll be good to our children. I'll make you the happiest woman in the world. I'll set aside everything the Lord Regent is supposed to be, and I'll just be yours."Gentle with you and only you, devoted to you and only you."I looked at him, at the guilt and the pleading written across his face, and I felt not a trace of being moved.Had I ever felt something for him? Perhaps I had.My heart had

Chapter 10

Now that Edric had made his devotion so plain, Grandfather was more than happy to encourage the match.He would have liked nothing more than to see me reconcile with Edric, and it would not have hurt that the alliance would strengthen the Ashworth family's standing in the Southlands."Suvy, I've been watching this man, and I believe he's someone worth spending a life with," Grandfather said, patting my hand."He's willing to set aside everything he is as the Lord Regent and stay here in the Southlands for your sake, and that kind of dedication is worth more than anything else. You're carrying eight children, and when they arrive, you'll need a man standing beside you. Edric is the best one you could ask for."I listened to my parents and my grandfather, but none of it swayed me.I could see what Edric was doing. I was not blind to his tenderness or his devotion, and I would have been lying if I said it did not move me at all. However, that small stirring was not enough to erase th

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