Crown Up! From Discarded Wife To Unrivaled Empress

Coralie pulled the driver-side door open, her face carved from ice as she forced the biting retort back down her throat.

She might no longer love Sebastian, but she refused to let Lilliana flaunt herself right under her nose.

She had braced herself for an unbearable silence once they were alone in the car, but thankfully, after settling into the passenger seat, he let his eyelids droop, wearing his exhaustion like a visible weight.

Coralie flicked her eyes toward him, her expression unreadable and still.

He had bent over backward soothing Lilliana, only to put on this act when facing her.

Coralie pushed her foot down harder on the accelerator, letting the car surge forward without restraint.

Sebastian's eyes snapped open, and he barked, "Coralie, do you even know what you're doing behind the wheel?"

Coralie let out a faint, humorless laugh. "Funny, coming from someone who just wrecked a car."

The flicker of irritation on his face loosened something inside her, and the anger she had been bottling all day finally slipped free, leaving her strangely lighter.

Once they arrived back at Moon Estate, Coralie walked straight into the master bedroom and shut the door firmly behind her.

She wanted nothing more to do with Sebastian.

...

Coralie changed into her sleepwear and slid beneath the blankets. As the tightness in her thoughts finally eased, a soft dizziness overtook her, and she sank into a blurred, restless sleep.

Not long after, a sharp chill tore through her dreaming haze.

Suspended between sleep and waking, she sensed arms wrapping around her from behind, their heat chasing away the cold.

In the early days of their marriage, Sebastian had held her this same way when illness burned through her.

Still lost in that fog, she forgot, just for a moment, how broken things had become, and instinctively edged closer to steal more warmth.

"Stay still." A whisper-soft kiss brushed her ear, followed by low, blurred words thick with restrained feeling.

Then she became aware of something firm pressing into her lower back, sending an unwelcome tension through her.

Coralie instinctively adjusted her position.

The breaths behind her deepened and turned uneven.

A hand slipped under her clothes, traveling up her side before closing around her breast in a slow, deliberate squeeze.

Coralie, familiar with such closeness, felt heat gather low in her body, and a quiet sound escaped her lips.

At that sound, whatever restraint Sebastian had left shattered, and his other hand moved lower, finding the slick heat waiting there.

It had been far too long since she had felt anything like this, and the sudden press of his fingers made her thighs draw together on instinct.

Her eyes flew open as clarity returned, and she shoved Sebastian off before scrambling toward the head of the bed to switch on the lamp.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded, her expression severe as the last trace of warmth turned to anger.

Sebastian pushed himself upright with one arm, the fabric of his loose pajama pants settling as he moved.

He gave a cold, mocking smirk. "This is my house. Can't I sleep in my own bed? Or who else are you expecting here?"

His words struck her like an insult, and before she could stop herself, her hand flew up and cracked sharply across his face.

He was the only man she had ever been intimate with, yet he spoke as if she were someone cheap.

The thought of him staying with Lilliana and then crawling into her bed now made disgust and rage churn violently inside her. She snapped, "You really think everyone is as filthy as you? People with rotten minds see filth everywhere!"

Sebastian could tell she had struck him without holding anything back. He sneered, "Coralie, if I mean nothing to you, then why did you ever agree to marry me?"

"Because before we got married, you treated me so gently that I foolishly believed it was love. If I had known you would run straight into another woman's arms the moment we were married, I would never have married you, no matter how much you begged! I've had enough of this miserable life!"