After seven years of marriage to Chief Minister Sebastian Blackwood, Beatrix Wentworth has devoted herself to raising their two children, only to discover that the woman tutoring them at home is Sebastian’s longtime childhood sweetheart and secret mistress. Her children constantly take Dolores Beaumont’s side, treating their own mother like a stranger. When Beatrix witnesses the warmth they share as a family, her heart finally turns to ash. She goes to the palace and begs The Empress Dowager for an imperial decree granting her a divorce. Back at Blackwood Manor, Beatrix reclaims every piece of her dowry and all the servants who came with it, then demands that Dolores repay the money she owes. During the confrontation, Beatrix’s treasured ancestral jade bracelet is shattered. Sebastian shamelessly takes Dolores’s side and insists on giving her a proper title. But when the imperial decree arrives, Beatrix cuts every last tie, walks away from Blackwood Manor, and leaves them all behind without a single regret.
