Chapter 10 — Wedding Day Switch: My Husband Traded Me Away

What he had lost was not merely a fiancee. It was an irreplaceable opportunity that could have propelled him to glorious heights, granting him success in a single bound, elevating him to the coveted position of the Regent’s brother-in-law. What an immense, dazzling honor that would have been! Yet now, all of those magnificent prospects had been completely shattered by his own hands. For the sake of a mere gentlewoman named Gentle who knew only how to weep and burden him with endless troubles, he had willingly cast away a veritable mountain of gold.

Gentle...

He murmured the name, feeling a sudden, chilling surge of revulsion for the very first time. From outside the doors, the timid, hesitant voice of Gentle drifted into the quiet study.

Brother Speech, would you please open the door and let me in?

Get out!

Speech roared with sudden, blinding fury. The weeping from beyond the threshold instantly ceased. A long, agonizing stretch of time passed before the sound of footsteps slowly faded away into the distance. Speech paced back and forth across his study, consumed by a restless, gnawing agitation. He could not simply let this go. Resentment burned fiercely within his chest. Flora ought to have been his lawful wife! Yes, she belonged to him and him alone! A wild, delusional notion began to take root in the darkest corners of his mind. Flora surely still loved him. Everything she had done today was merely a tactical retreat, a deliberate scheme to provoke him and exact her revenge. All he needed to do was go to her, soothe her bruised pride, and murmur a few tender words of affection. She would undoubtedly relent and change her mind. After all, they shared eight long years of deep, unwavering emotional history. As for the Regent, he was nothing more than a violent cripple. Flora must be enduring unspeakable torment and humiliation now that she was married to such a monster. She needed him to rescue her! The more Speech pondered this, the more entirely rational his delusion seemed. A renewed, feverish glint of hope sparked within his eyes.

Meanwhile, within the grand estate of the clan, Gentle was faring no better. Life had become an unbearable trial. Ever since the day of their return visit, her father looked upon her with nothing but crushing disappointment and frigid indifference. Her mother had pointed a trembling finger directly at her face, cursing her as a bringer of total ruin—a wretched star who had single-handedly buried the towering prosperity and boundless fortune of the entire household. Even the servants and attendants in the manor now offered hollow courtesy while openly defying her behind her back. The maids and matrons who had once tripped over themselves to curry favor with her now averted their gazes and hurried away the moment they caught sight of her. The staggering, humiliating contrast between her past and present reduced Gentle to the brink of utter collapse. She simply could not comprehend how things had deteriorated to this wretched pass. She had secured Speech, hadn’t she? She had finally claimed the very love she had yearned for with all her heart. Then why? Why did she feel not a single shred of joy? On the contrary, Flora—the very person she had once trampled beneath her feet—had soared effortlessly into the heavens, becoming an untouchable figure whom Gentle could only gaze upon with trembling neck craned upward. Jealousy coiled around her soul like a venomous serpent, devouring her heart piece by piece. She refused to accept this defeat! Lying awake upon her bed, tossing and turning through the endless night, a dark, venomous scheme suddenly flashed across her fevered mind.

The Regent, Abyss, was notorious for his ferocious and volatile temper, a darkness born of the lifelong affliction in his legs. The one thing he detested above all else, the absolute taboo that no living soul dared cross, was any mention of his crippled limbs. What if the entire capital were to learn a scandalous secret? What if word spread that the Regent consort, Flora, had shared a deep, intimate romance with her own brother-in-law back in her maiden days? What if they whispered that she carried... perhaps even conceived a child of the Speech family? The Regent guarded his pride far more jealously than his own life; how could he possibly endure such an earth-shattering humiliation? When that time came, Gentle would not even need to lift a finger. Abyss himself would personally execute Flora and wipe away the stain with blood!

At the dark thought, a cruel, triumphant smirk twisted across Gentle’s features. Flora, just wait. Whatever I cannot possess, you shall never be allowed to keep either!

The following day, a web of foul, sordid rumors began to weave through the streets and alleyways of the capital. The gossip was meticulously fabricated, sounding chillingly authentic to the naive ear. It was said that I, Flora, had secretly pledged my troth to Speech long before my marriage, even going so far as to commit unspeakable transgressions behind closed doors. My entry into the Regent’s grand estate was supposedly nothing more than a helpless surrender to cruel circumstance. Some gossips even whispered with malicious glee that my womb might already harbor the seed and bloodline of the Speech family.

In an instant, the entire capital was sent into an uproar. The formidable Regent’s manor once again became the laughingstock of the entire city. Only this time, the target of mockery had shifted from myself to Abyss. A powerful Regent whose authority dominated the imperial court had actually married a defiled woman who had lost her chastity, unwittingly wearing a towering green hat of betrayal that reached the heavens. This was nothing less than the most unforgivable insult imaginable to a man of his immense stature.

The gazes cast upon me by the servants within the estate subtly shifted once more. The previous awe and reverence they held were now tainted with profound pity and malicious gloating. They were all waiting. Waiting to see what tragic, wretched fate would befall the newly installed Regent consort—myself.

Mother Zhang hurried into my chambers, her weathered face etched with deep, unmistakable anxiety.

My lady, what on earth are we to do about this?

The rumors outside grow uglier and more vicious with every passing moment, and His Highness...

What about him?