Life After Divorce (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 52

The moment I first learned the truth, my mind went blank. I must have stood there dumbfounded, numb with shock, until Edmund pulled me to sit down and ordered someone to call a physician.

The terror of nearly having died plunged into my chest, and finally, the realization that Etricia had grown to hate herself so much she’d decided to kill me crashed down on her head like a massive meteor.

To me, frozen in repeated shock, Edmund said:

That it had all been a drunken mistake—he’d mistaken her for Devon’s mistress and hired an assassin on impulse.

Though my mind understood, my heart felt as if pierced and gouged with an awl, and I wept until tissues piled up like a mountain. Even if it was all based on a misunderstanding, it still left me feeling hurt and disappointed.

Then, like picking up one seashell after another from the sand, I began sifting through the mysteries that had puzzled me until now.

Ah, that’s why Lady Etricia forgave me so easily. That’s why she helped me. That’s why she was kind to me from the very beginning.

She often smiled awkwardly, indulged my whims, and comforted me…

“Did she… treat me well only because she felt guilty?”

Suddenly, my heart stung.

Perhaps she’d accepted me simply because she couldn’t bring herself to refuse someone so gentle.

Thinking back, she’d introduced me to Marchioness Weekly and had wanted me to become close with other young ladies. Had she done that only because she found me bothersome and wanted to pass me off?

Now that I thought about it, she’d also hesitated quite a while before suggesting the summer retreat. Maybe she’d actually disliked the idea.

This relationship had been forced entirely by me—filled only with guilt on her part, as she never truly wanted it.

As my suspicions stretched that far, resentment toward Etricia swelled within me like a dark cloud. If it was just out of guilt, she shouldn’t have treated me kindly at all… Yet when asked if that was why I resented her, I answered yes.

Read full content of this chapter on r e d c a t t y . c o m