Chapter 38
Chapter 38
“But your skin… Are you sure you’re ready for the wedding night?”
Don’t worry, I won’t be the one disappointed. I closed my eyes, picturing the vial hidden in the gardener’s new cottage. Enough poison to end it all, quickly.
It had been easy to acquire. A shed near the cottage, a quick measure of the insecticide… It wasn’t meant for humans, of course, but for pests.
A way out, when I could no longer endure. And I would use it, on my wedding day. Marrying a monster wouldn’t improve my situation.
It would likely make it worse. And the Lizziana name would gain more power. I no longer cared if they prospered.
Five years had changed me. Gone was the terrified girl, desperate to please, grateful just to be tolerated.
‘You brought me into this world.’
I was tired of being hated for something I hadn’t chosen. If I was going to die, if no one would mourn me, then I would make a statement. My final act of defiance, of revenge.
‘How inconvenient for them, a bride who takes her own life on her wedding day.’
The Blashur name carried weight. They might demand compensation, file a lawsuit. Marriage among the nobility was a transaction, after all.
A damaged good. Whatever the outcome, it wouldn’t be favorable for the Lizzianas. My life was the only thing of value I possessed. This was my way of leaving a mark, a small retribution for the ruin they’d made of me.
“Two weeks won’t be enough to fix that hair.”
Two weeks of this. Worse than death. I told myself to be patient, to endure for the little freedom I had left.
* * *
Time flew by. Blashur was providing the wedding attire. I’d briefly wondered what that entailed. I hadn’t expected this.
“We met recently, Madam. Aida Gigier, designer at the Gigier Salon. I apologize for the limited selection, given the short timeframe.”
Technically, I wasn’t a Madam yet. But the sheer quantity and quality of the dresses Aida had brought made such formalities irrelevant.
Even Lizzy and Lane, who had come to mock me, gaped. The eavesdropping servants were equally stunned.
“And this is a gift from His Grace, the Grand Duke. He specifically asked me to deliver it.”
Aida opened a box proffered by her assistant. Inside, nestled on velvet, was a golden cosmos. Wait. Why a cosmos?
“They say receiving gold from the groom before the wedding is a good omen. How romantic!”
Aida was a master flatterer, a consummate professional. The tradition of the groom gifting gold was well-established, but…
‘Romantic?’
I eyed the golden cosmos with suspicion. It looked heavy, a significant amount of gold.
‘Why send it with the designer?’
He could have sent it directly to the estate. As if he feared I wouldn’t receive it otherwise. And why a cosmos, of all flowers?
My heart thumped. It was absurd, but a foolish part of me whispered, Kin?
No. If it were Kin, there would be a note.
‘If it were Kin, I would run.’
If the Grand Duke of Blusher was Kin, I would call off the wedding and disappear. He wouldn’t be so foolish as to honor a childhood promise to a powerless, dying girl. I couldn’t hold him back.
‘Why do I still cling to this hope?’
Was I waiting for Kin, or not? My wavering resolve disgusted me. Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed Aida addressing me.
“Madam? Which dress would you like to try first?”
I looked at the array of dresses, already weary.
‘Made to measure, they said. Why so many?’
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