Throne of Silk and Smoke

Just as Maurice's slap was about to land, I blocked him with a swing of my arm. He looked at me in surprise, not expecting me to be able to dodge his attack.

I'd rarely shown my martial arts prowess in my past life because I hadn't wanted to hurt his ego. But in this life, I could no longer stand having an idiot like him showing his face before me.

I was about to cut ties with him when Mr. Smith came to me. He said he'd already prepared the carriage to take me home. I didn't want to keep them waiting, nor did I want to waste my breath arguing with Maurice. So, I walked past him and headed home.

To my surprise, Maurice came to the Chancellor's Manor the following day. Father was out of the house because he was busy dealing with matters related to my marriage, so Camilla and I were the only ones at home.

I was sick of being around Maurice, but he was still a prince. As a lady of the Chancellor's Manor, I couldn't be rude. I had no choice but to greet him and attend to him.

"You didn't need to go to such trouble if you just wanted to see Camilla." I looked at Maurice coldly.

He gave me a disdainful gaze in return. Then, he pulled out a translucent, heart-shaped rock and threw it onto the table. "I know you like things like this. Think of it as my engagement gift to you, but don't think too highly of yourself."

I looked at the rock, remembering how he'd given it to me in a similar manner in my past life. I'd treated it like a precious treasure, and I'd kept it with me at all times. I'd thought it was a symbol of his love for me, yet he'd secretly stolen the jewelry Mother had given me as a wedding gift and given it all to Camilla.

Speak of the devil—Camilla showed up just as I was staring at the rock, and she saw me and Maurice standing together.

Maurice headed straight to her like a faithful dog when he saw her. He pulled out a flawless green moonstone pendant from his sleeve and held it out before her.

He said, "This pendant was blessed by the priests at Bliss Chapel, Cami. They can keep you safe. Your body is weak, and I'm sure keeping this with you at all times will slowly strengthen you."

I immediately recognized the pendant as the one I'd gotten at Bliss Chapel before being reborn. At the time, I'd heard about the chapel's priests being able to bless items, so I'd kneeled and prayed my way up the steps leading to the chapel.

The head priest had only agreed to bless the pendant for me upon seeing that my knees were rubbed raw from all my kneeling. Later, I'd given the pendant to Maurice, hoping it would keep him safe. I never would've expected him to just give it away like that.

I picked up the heart-shaped rock on the table and flicked it at Maurice's hand. He winced from the pain and dropped the pendant, making it break in half as it fell onto the floor.

He glared at me. "How dare you, Giselle! How could you throw a rock at me?"

"Giselle, even if you're jealous of Mo giving me a gift, you shouldn't have hurt him!" Camilla looked at the pendant with heartache in her gaze. Then, she turned to me, looking resentful yet shy.

"Maurice gave me that rock, so I can throw it at whoever I want to. As for the pendant, I was the one who got it blessed at the chapel. I'm not even upset that it's broken, so why are you two acting like it's a big deal?" I asked sarcastically.

"The pendant became my property once you gave it to me! You're just jealous that I gave it to Cami instead—you're jealous that I like her and not you!" Maurice snapped.

"Giselle, Mo was already trying to make peace by giving you that rock, wasn't he? Since he's willing to give you a way out, you should take it. Why make things so nasty?" Camilla asked.

I sneered inwardly, not wanting to waste my time and breath arguing with these two idiots.

"If you don't get rid of this jealous and petty attitude of yours, there's no way I'll marry you, Giselle!" Maurice snarled.

"You're going to marry Mo anyway, Giselle. Why cause such a scene?" Camilla slowly approached me and whispered, "Mo won't touch you even after marrying you because he doesn't like you. Just be good and go along with him."

I raised an eyebrow and eyed her mockingly. "Oh? I take it this means he's already touched you?"

She turned ashen and glared at me.

A woman's reputation and virtue were especially important to noble ladies. Judging from her reaction, it seemed she and Maurice had long since crossed the line.

It explained why he kept pushing me to let them marry. As much as he might love Camilla, there was still a huge gap between her status and mine. She was just an adoptive daughter—she wasn't even an illegitimate daughter.

If Maurice took Camilla as his wife, he would lose the Chapman family's support, and he wouldn't have any standing in court.

Since they had already fallen into bed together, he had to give her a title and take responsibility for what he'd done. That was why he wanted to use me as a cover to hide the truth of their clandestine involvement.

Well, if he thought he could manipulate me into getting his happy ending again, he was wrong!

"Listen up, Maurice. I will never want something that someone else has already tainted!" I declared.