Chapter 1

My cousin died of a hemorrhage during childbirth.

To maintain the alliance between our families and ensure her son inherited the title, my uncle forced me to marry the Earl as his second wife.

Gideon Gaunt, the Earl, only wanted me in his bed. He didn't have a shred of affection for me.

For seven years, I fulfilled my duties as the Countess perfectly, caring for his son and managing the Gaunt estate.

But everything changed the day my hand slipped and I knocked over a teacup. A few drops of tea splattered onto one of Gideon's paintings.

Gideon, who had always been cold to me, exploded in a fit of rage. "Yara Zane, do you forget your place? Who gave you permission to enter my study?"

He dragged me out of his quarters in front of everyone.

The child I had raised and loved for seven years, Caden, stood in the crowd. He watched with his arms crossed, his cold expression a mirror of his father's.

I was exhausted, body and soul. I decided to give up on them.

Gideon sneered when he heard I wanted a divorce. "The Zane family won't let you walk away from wealth and power. Besides, according to the laws of the District, a woman seeking a divorce must endure the lash. Do you have the stomach for that?"

The next day, the entire city was buzzing. The Countess had survived forty-nine strikes of the whip and walked away with her divorce papers.

Finally, I was free.

......

1

The day after I spilled the tea, I caught a severe chill. I had no choice but to call for a doctor.

"Your Ladyship, your heart is heavy with grief. Your thoughts are too burdened for you to recover quickly, and..."

He hesitated. "Please, speak freely," I said.

He sighed. "You were already frail. The legacy-blocking tonics you've been taking are too harsh. I'm afraid you won't be able to conceive in the future."

I froze, but then a wave of clarity washed over me.

Gideon only saw me as a physical outlet. In his eyes, I was just a tool sent by the Zanes to maintain an alliance and babysit his heir. Why would he ever want me to have a child?

He already had a woman in his heart.

Yesterday, he returned early from his trip to the South. I was so eager to see him that I accidentally spilled a few drops of tea on a scroll.

I was terrified the painting was ruined. I tried to unroll it carefully to blot the moisture.

That was when I saw her. A woman in a fiery red riding outfit, galloping on a horse. She looked so alive, as if she were about to leap off the canvas.

I had never seen a woman so vibrant. I was mesmerized.

Then Gideon walked in. Seeing me with his painting triggered a terrifying fury.

I knew it was my fault. I gritted my teeth and let him scream.

Gideon didn't care about our years of marriage. He humiliated me, throwing me out to the servants' quarters. "Don't you dare come near this room again without my permission."

Thunder crashed, and a spring rain began to pour.

I was the Countess, yet I stood there looking like a drowned rat, stripped of all dignity.

The emotions swirled inside me, and by nightfall, I was burning with a high fever.

"Your Ladyship, Master Caden is at the door."

Caden was Gideon's eldest son, my cousin's child.

I started to call him in, then remembered I was contagious. I stopped him immediately.

"Caden, you're so kind to come. It's just a cold. I'll be better in a few days. Don't worry."

To my shock, Caden snapped back, "My real mother was a refined lady, a master of the arts. Your father was just a lowly illegitimate scholar. You're a nobody with a murky past. How dare you call yourself my mother?"

I was stunned. Caden had only been away with Gideon for six months, and he had become a stranger.

Seeing him deny me so righteously made my heart ache.

In the past, whenever Gideon punished him, he would always run to me for comfort.

Now, he looked at me with nothing but disgust.