Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
It’s also where Alicia’s hell began.
After that, the book dove into a love triangle between the three. From the readers’ perspective—and thus Lilla’s—Lillia was genuinely torn between the two brothers, but Alicia’s point of view was that she was using Kalon to make Torin desire her more. Alicia hated how Lillia seemed to be toying with her husband’s emotions, and the snobbish side of her disliked the other woman for being the daughter of a countryside baron with no real power.
In short, she was jealous that Lillia had managed to capture Kalon’s attention when she, his wife, was unable to do so, despite all her best efforts.
Alicia proceeded to make Lillia’s life difficult in high society, and because the story was told primarily from Lillia’s point of view, Alicia was painted as a cruel villainess who would leave no stone unturned in her attempt to get rid of the sweet, innocent Lillia.
Alicia’s story ended when she was accused of poisoning Lillia via a maid she’d snuck into the de Armand townhouse. During her trial, Torin announced his intent to marry Lillia, meaning Alicia’s only possible sentence was that of death.
In this world, that was usually at the hands of a guillotine.
I had no intention of getting my head chopped off, that was for sure.
Not to mention that I was always of the opinion that Alicia had been set up. Who’d done such a thing to her wasn’t something I’d considered—after all, there were plenty of people who disliked her for her behaviour, but that was beside the point.
I’d hated the author for not making Kalon feel anything for Alicia. Although Alicia’s backstory wasn’t told in full, the reader knew that she hadn’t had a happy childhood—much like Kalon himself. They’d both grown up without their mothers and had been ridiculed by their fathers’ second wives, and I’d desperately wanted those two hurt souls to find solace in one another through their shared pain, but it wasn’t to be. In the few key scenes that were written from Kalon’s point of view, all we saw was his dislike for his wife and his deep desire to divorce her so he could pursue Lillia in earnest.
Personally, I’d always thought Lillia was a bit of a bitch for entertaining a relationship with a married man. From that perspective, Alicia’s hatred of her was entirely justified.
Don’t get me wrong, I hadn’t liked that Kalon had feelings for a woman who wasn’t his wife, but at least he’d cared and tried to end his marriage. He’d tried to do the right thing when he could, even though Alicia had been stubbornly holding on.
Not to mention mistresses were common and legal in this society. If Kalon had tried to take one, there wouldn’t have been anything Alicia could do anyway.
Lillia hadn’t given two hoots because she’d disliked Alicia, and the only reason she’d disliked Alicia was because she was married to Kalon in the first place. A part of me had always thought that Lillia had desired Kalon more than the Crown Prince, but the allure of the crown was too much.
In the end, Kalon was also destined to die. After Alicia’s execution and Torin and Lillia’s wedding, he went mad, having lost almost everything at the hands of his younger brother. The woman he loved, his wife, and the important connection with the Vermillion family, given that the marquess blamed Kalon’s actions for Alicia’s death.
It might have been the only time in the book that the marquess was ever shown to care about his daughter.
Like his wife, Kalon would lose his head. But his charge was for treason after he was found to be planning to kill his father and brother and take over the empire. I’d been so incensed by his death that I’d almost thrown my Kindle at the wall and smashed it. It’d felt like a cheap way to get him out of the love triangle to wrap up the story, like his death was the only way to cut the ties between him and Lillia.
I tapped my fingers against the desk.
I’d already resolved to change my fate.
If I changed Alicia’s destiny, did that mean Kalon’s fate would change, too?
And what would happen to everyone else?
Chapter Two
To Hunt A Husband
“My lady, are you sure you’re well enough to undertake a visit to the town?” Bella fussed over my hair, anxiety written across her freckled face. “It’s only been ten days since you woke up, and you were unconscious for two weeks.”
“I’m sure, Bella. Besides, you’ll be with me, won’t you?” I smiled at her in the mirror.
I still wasn’t used to my new appearance. In my past life, I’d had short blonde hair that barely skimmed my shoulders, brown eyes, and a passable face, alongside a relatively regular physique. You know the type; could lose a few pounds but gaining a few wasn’t the end of the world, worked out religiously for two weeks then didn’t touch a dumbbell for a month kinda girl.