Once Her Betrothed, Now Her Judge Chapter 07
[Gideon’s POV)
In that instant, grief and fury nearly ripped Winona apart. She cried, “Your Majesty, Gideon and I have long since been engaged. We are deeply in love, and we swore never to part, not even in death. If you now tear us apart, won’t that make the people in the realm lose faith in you?”
With every single word that fell from Winona’s lips, the faces of her people behind her went a shade paler. By the time she finished, they had already edged several yards away, each one desperate to distance themselves from her.
“Your Highness, please don’t say any more…” Shane tugged hard at her sleeve, but she slapped him so viciously that he went sprawling to the ground.
“Why are you stopping me, you worthless thing? Do you want me to lose a husband with a general’s rank?” she barked.
She’d put all her strength into that slap; Shane’s head slammed heavily against the city wall’s bricks. Instantly, there was blood everywhere.
“Your Highness, it hurts so much…” He looked utterly pitiful, but Winona didn’t spare him a single glance.
She only turned back to the empress and prostrated herself again, saying firmly, “Your Majesty, I beg you to give Gideon and me your blessing. I’m willing to donate all of my wealth and retire with him to live in seclusion.”
The empress let out a cold laugh. “Do you think my beloved general is some kind of object to be traded away at will?”
Her voice dropped, becoming icy and sharp. “In your eyes, the only way to achieve merit is to cling to power, huh? You mistake your little corner of the world for the whole sky.
“From the day General Ward joined the army, he has slain 21 enemy commanders and captured 13 battle flags. He’s fought in over a hundred battles, large and small. Every bit of his military merit was earned at the risk of his
life.
“You claim he’s the love of your life, yet you don’t even know any of this?” As she spoke, the empress pointed at the dense network of scars on my arm.
“No, that’s not how it is!” Winona cried.
She got to her feet and swept a gaze over me. Then, she recoiled as if she had been stabbed and stumbled back at few steps. “He’s always relied on the prestige of my household to throw his weight around in the army. He’s never gone to the front lines! How could he possibly be covered in so many wounds?”
Her eyes suddenly went cold as she glared viciously at Shane. “You lied to me! You told me you’d greased all the wheels in the army so Gideon could live comfortably and remain safe while he smoothed out his rough edges. This is what you actually did? You wretch!”
She raised her hand and slapped him over and over. His shouts tore through the air; there wasn’t a trace left of the tender affection from before.
“Princess Winona, just a moment ago, you were begging for him to be granted a noble rank. Now, you’re beating him half to death.” The empress watched with open amusement. “You truly are fickle and quick-tempered. You’re not fit to be anyone’s wife.”
Winona stood there in a daze, her eyes bloodshot. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she shouted, “Gideon waited for me in the army for five years without taking a wife. He clearly loves me deeply and will never betray
me! Why else would he still be keeping the gift I gave him back then?”
I narrowed my eyes at the thought of the paperweight.
“If you hadn’t framed my parents back then, would they have ended up wrongly imprisoned and dying in disgrace? I kept that paperweight solely to remind myself that I’ve yet to avenge my family,” I said coldly.
Winona froze where she stood when she heard that my parents were dead. “Your parents… They’re dead?”
Then, she rounded on Shane, looking even more vicious than before. “Didn’t you say you’d already gotten them out of prison? You were the one who told me to strip the Ward family of their official titles so Gideon would be obedient.
“It was you all along. This was all your doing. You killed my in-laws. You’ve been lying to me from the very beginning!” she roared in fury.
Her slaps and kicks rained down even harder. Perhaps because the beating was too severe, Shane finally gave up all pretense.
He met her blows head-on and let out a crazed laugh. “Yes, it was my idea, but so what? Weren’t you the one who personally had them thrown in prison, Your Highness?”
