Chapter 56

Lucius cracked a small smile. “What else can I do? You’ve driven away all of my lovers. Isn’t it your responsibility to take over their duties?”

Their duties… Violet immediately understood what he implied. Instinctively, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m very tired.”

She had barely interacted with those women, so their departure couldn’t possibly be her fault. However, Lucius was indifferent to her protest. He began to unbutton his shirt as he approached the bed.

Violet’s heart raced in terror. The relentless torment of the past days weighed on her as heavily as the work she had endured at the dog mill earlier.

Given the choice, Violet would have preferred to spend the night with the dogs instead.

“I’m filthy, covered in dog waste and dirt. I still reek,” she protested, making a face of disgust on purpose.

“I can handle it,” Lucius said, dismissing her attempt at dissuasion with ease.

Violet suppressed the impulse to throw something at him in anger.

“Don’t forget, you’re the one named on my marriage certificate,” he reminded her deliberately.

“I’m not even-”

Violet started to object, but stopped mid-sentence under his threatening glare. Admitting she wasn’t Agatha could provoke a harsher punishment.

“How about we get a divorce, then? You can tarnish my reputation afterward. I won’t be able to face anyone, and I’ll live a life worse than death,” she suggested, seeing separation as her best exit.

She couldn’t care less about her reputation; she wasn’t Agatha, and no one knew her anyway.

Lucius sneered in response, “Let the world know I’ve been cuckolded?”

His words left Violet speechless.

“Besides, ruining your reputation is pointless to me. I want you to remain married, unable to see other men or escape from me. I want you to suffer for a lifetime!”

His intention was clear-this man wanted her to endure a lifetime of misery.

Violet felt a chill run down her spine, breaking out into a cold sweat.

He stepped closer, his icy fingers tracing up her arm.

She stiffened, defiantly meeting his cold gaze.

His eyes were even colder than his touch.

Finally, his fingers came to rest lightly on her shoulder, near her neck.

+15 BONOS “How does it feel to be in the dog mill? Do you know how furious I was when I was locked in there? I, who was once mighty, was reduced to that. If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened.”

Lucius’s voice was gentle and calm, as though he were discussing something wholly unrelated to him.

Yet, Violet was acutely aware of the hatred concealed beneath his calm facade.

“You should have killed me back then. That was your only mistake!”

His fingers resting on her neck exerted enough pressure to make breathing difficult, as if she could be choked at any moment.

Violet’s blood felt like it was running in reverse; she looked at him with a mix of fear and defiance.

“I felt…wronged, too,” she managed to say after struggling for a moment. If she was doomed to die at his hands, she at least wanted to let him know her true identity in her final moments.

Lucius laughed, as if he had heard the best joke in the world. His laughter was colder than before, and Violet felt as though she was facing a venomous snake poised to strike. She bit back the rest of her words.

Lucius abruptly pushed her aside, his parting words laced with scorn, “I just wanted to see how long you could maintain your pretense of nobility, but your true nature showed too soon! Boring!”

He left Violet behind. She clutched her neck and stared in bewilderment as his figure receded.

“Master Lucius, shall I arrange for some women for you?” George asked, as he entered Lucius’s bedroom with a tray of tea.

There were enough chambers in the Imperial Palace to house a hundred women.

Lucius, rubbing the bridge of his nose, showed a look of revulsion.

“No need,” he said flatly.

“But, Master…“

Lucius dismissed further discussion with a wave of his hand.