Chapter 1
The realm’s most celebrated Imperial Scholar Gideon Blackwood had sworn to be my live-in consort, yet on the eve of our vows, he demanded to first take Lenora Ashford-a foundling with no lineage-as his honored courtesan.
The imperial decree was clear: any woman unmarried by the age of twenty would be forcibly wed to a state-assigned
husband.
He claimed pity for Lenora, who was already nineteen, fearing she might be matched with some unworthy man.
Everyone expected me to rage and protest, but instead, I graciously yielded my bridal gown and even chose an auspicious
date for their union.
After all, in my past life, I had fought desperately to stop this-only for Lenora to be wed to a crippled scholar. Humiliated
beyond endurance, she took her own life.
Gideon had comforted me then, saying, “Fate deals to each his own portion.”
With my father Percival Ravenscroft’s backing, he rose to become the empire’s Grand Chancellor within a few years-only
to publicly accuse my father of “subverted the Crown’s justice”.
The Ravenscroft family was executed to the last soul.
As for me, heavy with child, Gideon pushed me into a pit of vipers, leaving me to die in agony beneath their venomous
fangs. “If not for you, Lenora would never have died!” he had snarled. “All I asked was to let her enter my household first-
why did you have to stand in the way? Did you know she carried my child? You killed them both! Now you will pay in
blood.”
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the moment he proposed delaying our wedding.
This time, I would watch how high his ambition might carry him without my patronage-whether that upstart’s hunger could still propel him to stand at the imperial right hand, a beggar-turned-overlord breathing down the emperor’s neck.
*Clarissa, I consent to postponing the wedding.” The moment I spoke, my mother Clarissa Ravenscroft’s face darkened.
She knew I would turn twenty next month. If the wedding. were delayed, the Crown would force me into a marriage of its
choosing.
But Gideon’s face brightened instantly. “I knew you would understand, Isolde. You have always been magnanimous. Rest assured, even if Lenora enters my household first, you shall remain my rightful wife.”
I lowered my lashes, veiling the hatred in my eyes.
The screams of my slaughtered family, the searing pain of snake venom-every memory was still fresh. The sight of Gideon’s smiling face made me yearn to tear him apart limb by limb.
Suppressing my revulsion, I snatched the marriage contract from his hands. “Wait. Since the wedding is postponed, I shall reclaim this for now.”
Gideon stiffened, his grip tightening reflexively. “Isolde, are you… displeased? If it troubles you, I-I could wed you first-”
Though his words were sweet, his eyes flashed with resentment.
Chapter 1
1259
He knew full well-I was the Chancellor’s only daughter. Though he had won this year’s Royal Debates, the king’s examinations were held but once every three winters. How many laureates truly entered the inner circles of power?
Without my father’s influence, his ambitions would wither. Yet in both lives, he remained a fool.
“I merely wish to consult the stars for a new auspicious date,” I said mildly.
His hesitation melted into delight. “Your understanding gladdens me, Isolde. Fear not-I know your twentieth year approaches. I will not forget my promise.”
“However…” Gideon’s tone shifted. “Since Lenora will wed before you, perhaps you might lend her your bridal gown? And… share half your dowry with her?”
“Lenora is an orphan. Without fine robes or a proper dowry, her marriage would invite ridicule.”
My mother nearly struck him then.
But I only smiled faintly. “The gown I can spare. Yet if I divide my dowry for her, tongues will still wag. I’ve heard the Blackwood family’s ancestral estate lies vacant. Sell it to me-the coin shall be her dowry.”
Gideon hesitated. That estate was his last heirloom, passed down with stern warnings never to part with it. In my past life, when I merely suggested renovations, he had raged, accusing me of coveting his birthright, then forced me-three months with child-to kneel overnight in the ancestral hall.
Seeing his reluctance, I added, “My father has no heir but me. All of House Ravenscroft will be mine one day.”
“Very well. I’ll sell it!”
I watched him scrawl his name on the deed, then leave in haste with his gold.
*Clarissa,” I said softly, “does Percival not have a protégé at court?”
