Chapter 3

Elara returned to the room, happily spinning a few circles.

My former maid, Daisy, entered with tea. "Congratulations, Lady. You successfully fooled the Lord."

Daisy had been sent by the Sterling family two years ago, after Nanny Eliza, who raised me, passed away.

At the time, I thought my family cared for me, but now I knew it was all part of Elara's plan to replace me.

They had been planning my murder for two years.

Elara pulled Daisy closer. "Smell me. What do I smell like?"

Daisy sniffed carefully. "Miss Elara, besides the pear blossom scent, I don't smell anything else."

Elara was still worried. "Really? But My Lord was only near me for a moment and recognized my old sandalwood fragrance."

I didn't understand either. Caspian wasn't usually skilled in discerning scents; how had he immediately noticed Elara's change?

Daisy said, "Perhaps the sandalwood you used before was exceptionally good, and the scent hasn't completely faded. I imagine a few more days of the pear blossom scent will fully mask it."

"That makes sense." Elara lit a few more pear blossom incense sticks, then pulled out a voodoo doll and began sticking pins into it. "Forever damned to hell, with no reincarnation."

My name, Lyra Sterling, was written on the doll.

I thought the sorcerer who taught her this doll-cursing trick must be an incompetent fraud, because despite all those pins, I felt absolutely nothing.

After a while of poking, she spoke to the doll:

"Oh, little sister, don't feel so unlucky. You had My Lord for three whole years."

"When I saw him just now, he truly looked like a warrior god. So much better than that bookworm father and mother found for me. No, he's better than any man in the whole world."

After I married Caspian, she could no longer live as Elara Sterling.

Our parents had sent her to a secluded place and even arranged a scholar for her to marry.

But now, I wondered what became of that scholar. I imagined he was killed, just like me.

She twisted the doll's head. "You should be thanking me, actually. If it weren't for me, how else would you have married My Lord, enjoying his person, his glory, his wealth?"

"Now, it's all just returning to its rightful owner."

Once, she feared Caspian and made me take her place.

Later, when she saw that I had lived perfectly well by Caspian's side for a year, and that he was steadily rising in power within the court,

She became infatuated again.

She couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, like she was possessed.

"Daisy, how often did My Lord sleep with Lyra?" Elara asked again.

Daisy replied, "My Lord, unless he was on official duties or away on travels, almost always stayed in Lyra's chambers when he was at the estate."

Elara glared at Daisy. "So what? Three years of favor, and not a single child. Clearly, My Lord only used her to pass the time."

She was right. Caspian had told me not to ever dream of bearing his children.

So I had been taking medicine constantly. I also didn't want to bring a child into the world who would share my fate.