I am the eldest daughter of the Duke of Anjou. Six years ago, I eloped to a farmstead with Julian, a penniless knight. I cut the umbilical cord with my own hands and gave birth to our daughter, trading everything for the vow he sealed with a copper ring. When we met again, he had been ennobled as a count. With his arm around the waist of his widowed sister-in-law, Cecilia, he kicked away the hand I stretched out, begging him to save our daughter. "Drag this madwoman and that little bastard out. Beat them to death." Poisoned blood spilled across the carpet as Adele and I closed our eyes, dying with hatred in our hearts. When I opened them again, I had returned to the day he received his title. I sold the farmstead and went back to my father, kneeling before him to admit my mistake. Rumors spread through every street of the royal capital. That night, his captain of the guard set fire to the empty farmstead. What he did not know was this: the moment he sent men to silence me, the crimes of bigamy and murdering his wife had already been sealed in the Church's records.
