Betrayed Bride's Escape

The first time they took my blood, I told myself it was a one-time sacrifice. The second time, I believed it would be the last. By the fifth time, I knew better.

I lay on the cold stone table in the dungeon's laboratory, my arm extended as the court physician inserted yet another crude needle into my vein. The pain was familiar now—a sharp sting followed by the peculiar sensation of life draining from my body. My vision swam with black spots as I turned my head away from the sight of my blood filling the earthenware bowl.

"Just a bit more, my lady," the physician murmured, not meeting my eyes. Even he seemed uncomfortable with how frequent these sessions had become. "Lady Mercy's condition has worsened again."

Of course it had. How convenient.

"How much this time?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. The constant blood loss had left me perpetually weak, my skin taking on a sickly pallor that made me look like one of the castle ghosts.

"King Dante requested a larger sample. The last antidote's effects were... insufficient."

King Dante. Not my fiancé anymore, not the man who had promised to love and protect me. Just the cold, distant ruler who now saw me as nothing more than a resource to be harvested for his precious Mercy.

When they finally released me, I could barely walk. A servant girl—one of the few who still showed me kindness—helped me back to my chambers, which had been relocated from the royal wing to a smaller, draftier room further from the heart of the castle. Further from Dante.

I collapsed onto my bed, too exhausted to even change out of my blood-stained dress. My fingers instinctively went to my wrist, seeking the comfort of my jade bracelet, before remembering it was gone. I'd searched everywhere after noticing its disappearance three days ago, turning my chambers upside down in desperate hope.

That bracelet was more than jewelry. Dante had given it to me on our one-year anniversary, telling me the jade matched the flecks in my eyes. "So you'll always have a piece of me with you," he'd said, fastening it around my wrist. Even after everything, I couldn't bear to lose that last connection to the man I thought he was.

I must have fallen into a fitful sleep, because the next thing I knew, darkness had fallen. Something had woken me—voices drifting through my partially open window. My chambers overlooked the private royal garden, and despite my weakness, I found myself drawn to the sound.

There, illuminated by moonlight, stood Dante and Mercy. She looked radiant in a silver gown, showing no signs of the poison that supposedly ravaged her body hours earlier. Dante held her hands in his, his expression tender in a way he never looked at me anymore.

"I have something for you," he said, reaching into his pocket.

My heart stopped as he pulled out my jade bracelet—the one I'd been frantically searching for. The one that had disappeared while I was unconscious after my last "donation."

"It's beautiful," Mercy breathed, extending her delicate wrist.

"The jade reminded me of your eyes," Dante said, fastening it where it had once rested on my arm. The exact words he'd once said to me.

I stumbled back from the window, a hand pressed to my mouth to stifle my sobs. The betrayal was so complete, so perfect in its cruelty, that I could hardly breathe through the pain of it. She had stolen my bracelet—my most precious possession—and he had given it to her with the same words he'd once given it to me.

That night, as I curled around my pillow and let silent tears soak the fabric, something inside me hardened. The blood they kept taking from me wasn't just weakening my body; it was washing away my naiveté, my blind trust, my foolish hope that there had been some misunderstanding that night in the garden.

They wanted my blood? Fine. But they wouldn't get my spirit. They wouldn't get my dignity. Whatever game Mercy was playing, whatever she had planned next, I would be ready.

I just didn't realize how soon that resolve would be tested.

The next evening, I was summoned to the great hall for a royal banquet celebrating Dante's latest military victory. Though I could barely stand, I forced myself to dress in my finest gown—a deep burgundy that hid how thin I'd become. If nothing else, I would face them with my head held high.

I should have known Mercy had other plans.

I had just taken my seat—no longer at Dante's side, but further down the table—when Lady Catherine, one of Mercy's new court friends, gasped dramatically.

"My lady Mercy! Your wine—I saw something strange in it!"

All eyes turned to Mercy, who made a show of examining her goblet. "It looks... odd. Almost as if..."

"Poison!" another lady shrieked. "Someone tried to poison Lady Mercy again!"

The hall erupted in chaos. Guards rushed forward as Mercy pointed a trembling finger directly at me.

"She was near my cup earlier," she whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Clara... how could you?"

Before I could protest, rough hands seized my arms. I was dragged forward, forced to my knees before King Aldric and Dante.

"I would never," I gasped, looking up at Dante, searching for any sign of the man who had once loved me. "You know I wouldn't."

But his eyes were cold, distant. He turned to Mercy, who had collapsed into theatrical sobs.

"The evidence suggests otherwise," he said. "Perhaps a public reminder of your place is necessary."

At his nod, Lady Catherine stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face. The blow snapped my head to the side, bringing tears to my eyes.

"Ungrateful foreign witch," she hissed. "After all they've done for you."

One by one, Mercy's court ladies came forward. Each delivered a slap, an insult, a handful of my hair yanked cruelly. Through it all, Dante watched with cold indifference, while Mercy's sobs gradually transformed into a small, satisfied smile when she thought no one was looking.

By the time they finished with me, my face was swollen, my dignity in tatters. As guards dragged me back to my chambers, I caught one last glimpse of Dante comforting Mercy, his arms around her as she nestled against his chest.

The jade bracelet glinted on her wrist, catching the light of a hundred candles as the court that should have been mine celebrated my humiliation.