Throne of Silk and Smoke

When Father asks me who I want to marry, I resolutely give up on Prince Maurice Swain. I choose to marry his uncle, Prince Gideon Swain. Father is confused. After all, everyone in the capital knows that I'm desperately in love with Maurice. I've said more than once that he's the only man I'll marry. I only have a bitter taste in my mouth. I married Maurice in my past life, and I gave my all in managing the household. Yet he never came home and even took a mistress behind my back. When I eventually became bedridden after wearing myself out, he brought Camilla Chapman back and threw her a grand wedding. The children they'd secretly had together came with her. It was only then that I realized the tonics Maurice had given me had rendered me infertile and weak. They slowly ate away at me from the inside. I watched as Maurice and Camilla lived a happy life with their children. I chose to let them have what they wanted. Now that I've been reborn, I'm going to stay away from Maurice and marry Gideon instead. Yet when Maurice finds out, he goes berserk. He stands before me with his eyes bloodshot as he forbids me from marrying Gideon. Chapter 1 Not long after Father entered the palace to ask for a marriage decree on my behalf, the palace urgently sent someone to summon me for an audience. I knew this had to be because of my marriage, so I followed the palace chamberlain, David Smith, to the palace. However, before I got to the imperial study, I ran into Maurice Swain and one of his buddies. They approached me, and Maurice asked coldly, "Where are you going? You seem like you're in a hurry." "Your Highness, Ms. Chapman has been summoned to the palace to see the emperor and empress. They want to speak to her about her marriage," David answered. Maurice and his friend immediately smiled mockingly. His friend said, "Looks like you're really excited to marry Maurice, Ms. Chapman." "You're the chancellor's daughter, Giselle. Why don't you have any of the self-respect and dignity every proper lady should have? You're so desperate to marry me that you're even getting Father and Her Majesty involved," Maurice said. His friend added, "I bet she's going to use Their Majesties to force you into marrying her, Maurice." I looked at them, clearly seeing the scorn and disdain in Maurice's eyes. It was too bad I'd been so foolish in my past life that I'd thought that was just what he was like. I'd thought he wasn't nasty deep inside. Now, I realized how dumb I'd been. I said, "Rest assured that I know my place, Prince Maurice. I'm wholly undeserving of you." Maurice and his friend laughed at my words. He said, "I'm glad you know that! Still, becoming a nun is all you can do if you don't marry me. After all, everyone in the capital knows that you're mine." He smiled meaningfully. His friend asked, "Did you do something to upset Ms. Chapman, Maurice? Look at how she's starting to play hard to get now!" Maurice leaned in. "Giselle, I can marry you, but only if you behave. When you see Father and Her Majesty, persuade them to let me also take Camilla as a concubine." I frowned. Maurice was as obnoxious as he'd been in my past life, but he'd only dared to keep Camilla Chapman as his mistress. Why was he being so bold now and laying everything out in the open? "Let me take Camilla as a concubine, or I won't marry you." He glared at me. "You don't want to end up childless and alone, do you?" My heart clenched, and I formed a terrifying guess—Maurice had also been reborn. In my past life, he hadn't dared to marry Camilla because he'd feared retribution from Father and me. Instead, he'd found ways to lace the tonics I took daily with herbs that would cause me to be infertile and weaken me. That had led to my death a few years later. He was probably still expecting things to play out the way they had in our past lives—that I would meet the same end if I insisted on marrying him. "We're not strangers to each other, Giselle. Do as I say, and things will work out well for us both," Maurice said. He was clearly out to get me, yet he thought he was acting for my good. I wanted nothing more than to slap him hard across the face, but Mr. Smith was urging me to hurry to the imperial study for my audience with the emperor and empress. I had no choice but to swallow my anger and leave with him. Chapter 2 Father and the empress were siblings, so our statuses were unmatched in nobility. Meanwhile, Maurice was born after a palace maid climbed into the emperor's bed while he was drunk. In my past life, Maurice probably wouldn't even have been able to hold on to his title as prince if not for the backing of Father and me, let alone live out a happy life with Camilla. The empress, or my Aunt Melanie, was happy to know that I had come to my senses and was no longer blinded by love. She held my hand, urging His Majesty to bring my marriage forward because she feared I would regret this. His Majesty looked pleased, too. He and my husband-to-be, Gideon Swain, were blood brothers. Naturally, the bond between them was stronger than others. I knew little about Gideon, even in my past life. All I knew was that he had a reputation for being a devil incarnate. He was stationed with the army in Morbeck with the task of guarding the nation's borders and rarely returned to the capital. That was why none of the noble ladies in the capital wanted to marry him. His Majesty was delighted to learn that I was willing to do it. He said, "Don't worry, Gigi. I've already issued a marriage decree to Gid. I've ordered him to return to the capital immediately so that you two can get married as soon as possible." I thanked him and Aunt Melanie. Then, I left the imperial study. That was when I saw Maurice standing not too far away. This time, he had Camilla by his side. When he saw me, he hurried forward and grabbed my arm, dragging me to a more hidden spot. He demanded, "Did you do what I told you to do?" My arm hurt from how tightly he was gripping me, so I shook him off angrily. I asked in displeasure, "What did you want me to do?" "To speak to Father and Her Majesty about my marriage to Camilla! Did you do it or not?" Maurice looked at me expectantly. All that did was make my stomach turn. I gave him an icy look. "What does your marriage to Camilla have to do with me? Why should I speak to them on your behalf?" That upset him. He pointed at me and snapped, "How can you be so shameless, Giselle? I don't even like you! Do you think stopping me from being with Cami means I'll give you the time of day? Dream on!" Camilla hurried forward to pacify him. "Don't be like this, Mo. Whatever it is, Giselle is still the Chapman family's legitimate daughter. I'm just an adoptive daughter—I could never compare to her." Camilla was the daughter of my mother's faithful handmaiden. She'd somehow gotten pregnant out of wedlock, and out of years of master-servant affection, Mother had adopted Camilla and treated her as her own. Who would've known that Camilla would turn out to be so ambitious? She was determined to climb the social ladder and had gotten involved with Maurice behind my back. "Shut your mouth if you know you're unworthy!" I didn't show Camilla the patience I had in my past life. Maurice shoved me against the wall when he heard me snap at her. "Who the hell do you think you are, Giselle? How dare you speak to Cami like that! Apologize to her now, or I'll never marry you!" My back hurt from the impact. I looked at him frostily and said, "I finally understand why you like her so much, Maurice. It's because you're both the children of lowly servants." In the next second, he raised his hand to slap me. Chapter 3 Just as Maurice's slap was about to land, I blocked him with a swing of my arm. He looked at me in surprise, not expecting me to be able to dodge his attack. I'd rarely shown my martial arts prowess in my past life because I hadn't wanted to hurt his ego. But in this life, I could no longer stand having an idiot like him showing his face before me. I was about to cut ties with him when Mr. Smith came to me. He said he'd already prepared the carriage to take me home. I didn't want to keep them waiting, nor did I want to waste my breath arguing with Maurice. So, I walked past him and headed home. To my surprise, Maurice came to the Chancellor's Manor the following day. Father was out of the house because he was busy dealing with matters related to my marriage, so Camilla and I were the only ones at home. I was sick of being around Maurice, but he was still a prince. As a lady of the Chancellor's Manor, I couldn't be rude. I had no choice but to greet him and attend to him. "You didn't need to go to such trouble if you just wanted to see Camilla." I looked at Maurice coldly. He gave me a disdainful gaze in return. Then, he pulled out a translucent, heart-shaped rock and threw it onto the table. "I know you like things like this. Think of it as my engagement gift to you, but don't think too highly of yourself." I looked at the rock, remembering how he'd given it to me in a similar manner in my past life. I'd treated it like a precious treasure, and I'd kept it with me at all times. I'd thought it was a symbol of his love for me, yet he'd secretly stolen the jewelry Mother had given me as a wedding gift and given it all to Camilla. Speak of the devil—Camilla showed up just as I was staring at the rock, and she saw me and Maurice standing together. Maurice headed straight to her like a faithful dog when he saw her. He pulled out a flawless green moonstone pendant from his sleeve and held it out before her. He said, "This pendant was blessed by the priests at Bliss Chapel, Cami. They can keep you safe. Your body is weak, and I'm sure keeping this with you at all times will slowly strengthen you." I immediately recognized the pendant as the one I'd gotten at Bliss Chapel before being reborn. At the time, I'd heard about the chapel's priests being able to bless items, so I'd kneeled and prayed my way up the steps leading to the chapel. The head priest had only agreed to bless the pendant for me upon seeing that my knees were rubbed raw from all my kneeling. Later, I'd given the pendant to Maurice, hoping it would keep him safe. I never would've expected him to just give it away like that. I picked up the heart-shaped rock on the table and flicked it at Maurice's hand. He winced from the pain and dropped the pendant, making it break in half as it fell onto the floor. He glared at me. "How dare you, Giselle! How could you throw a rock at me?" "Giselle, even if you're jealous of Mo giving me a gift, you shouldn't have hurt him!" Camilla looked at the pendant with heartache in her gaze. Then, she turned to me, looking resentful yet shy. "Maurice gave me that rock, so I can throw it at whoever I want to. As for the pendant, I was the one who got it blessed at the chapel. I'm not even upset that it's broken, so why are you two acting like it's a big deal?" I asked sarcastically. "The pendant became my property once you gave it to me! You're just jealous that I gave it to Cami instead—you're jealous that I like her and not you!" Maurice snapped. "Giselle, Mo was already trying to make peace by giving you that rock, wasn't he? Since he's willing to give you a way out, you should take it. Why make things so nasty?" Camilla asked. I sneered inwardly, not wanting to waste my time and breath arguing with these two idiots. "If you don't get rid of this jealous and petty attitude of yours, there's no way I'll marry you, Giselle!" Maurice snarled. "You're going to marry Mo anyway, Giselle. Why cause such a scene?" Camilla slowly approached me and whispered, "Mo won't touch you even after marrying you because he doesn't like you. Just be good and go along with him." I raised an eyebrow and eyed her mockingly. "Oh? I take it this means he's already touched you?" She turned ashen and glared at me. A woman's reputation and virtue were especially important to noble ladies. Judging from her reaction, it seemed she and Maurice had long since crossed the line. It explained why he kept pushing me to let them marry. As much as he might love Camilla, there was still a huge gap between her status and mine. She was just an adoptive daughter—she wasn't even an illegitimate daughter. If Maurice took Camilla as his wife, he would lose the Chapman family's support, and he wouldn't have any standing in court. Since they had already fallen into bed together, he had to give her a title and take responsibility for what he'd done. That was why he wanted to use me as a cover to hide the truth of their clandestine involvement. Well, if he thought he could manipulate me into getting his happy ending again, he was wrong! "Listen up, Maurice. I will never want something that someone else has already tainted!" I declared. Chapter 4 Clearly, Maurice and Camilla chose to ignore my words. Maurice snapped impatiently, "How long are you going to keep this act going, Giselle? I really won't marry you if you continue like this!" He gave me a nasty look, acting like he would make good on his word in the next second. He'd threatened me with this many times in my past life, and I would hastily beg for mercy each time he did. I was terrified that he wouldn't marry me. This time, however, I remained calm. I said, "Drop the act, Maurice. Go ahead and speak to His Majesty if you're serious about not marrying me. Tell him that you won't do it!" "Do you think I won't do that?" he retorted. "Well, no one's stopping you." Camilla stepped in, trying to pacify me. "Giselle, Mo didn't mean it like that. Since you like him so much, it'd be nice for us to marry him together, don't you think?" She'd clearly realized something was off with me. She didn't dare provoke me as she'd done earlier. "I am the chancellor's legitimate daughter. Who do you think you are to put yourself on equal standing as me?" I looked at her scornfully. Maurice stormed toward me, wanting to continue arguing with me. Just then, an attendant ran in and said to me, "Ms. Giselle, the wedding gifts that Her Majesty has prepared for you have arrived. Please come take a look." I nodded, and the attendant ran off. Then, four or five other attendants filed into the room while several chests were carried into the courtyard. There were so many of them that I couldn't even see where the line ended. Maurice cocked an eyebrow at me. "You keep saying that you don't want to marry me, yet you've already made so many preparations for the wedding." In my past life, Aunt Melanie hadn't approved of me marrying Maurice. Still, out of familial affection, she'd still prepared three huge chests of priceless jewelry as wedding gifts for me. Those three chests had been enough to make Maurice look good. Now, however, there were far more than three chests. Maurice was already greedily eyeing the chests as if they were his. Meanwhile, Camilla's eyes gleamed as she ran to the chests and opened one at random. The items inside sparkled under the sun—they were all precious treasures. She couldn't help but take a huge pearl and balance it on her palm. "This is gorgeous, Mo. Can you give it to me?" "Of course. I'll give you whatever you want, Cami," Maurice said. They seemed to have forgotten all about me as well as the fact that Aunt Melanie had given these things to me. "Ms. Camilla." The chamberlain in charge of delivering the gifts stepped forward. "What you're holding is part of the wedding gifts Her Majesty the empress has prepared for Ms. Giselle. Her Majesty made it clear that no one other than Ms. Giselle is to touch these things. Please put the pearl back and don't make things difficult for us." She rolled her eyes at him. "All of this will eventually end up in Mo's manor—I'm just looking at them a little earlier than planned! What's the big deal?" I wasn't in a hurry to get the pearl back. Instead, I asked the chamberlain, "Did Her Majesty mention what would happen if someone else touched these things?" "Yes, she did. She said that whoever tried to steal the gifts would immediately be thrown behind bars and punished." I tilted my head in Camilla's direction. "Why aren't you taking her away, then?" For a second, the chamberlain didn't understand what I meant. Then, it clicked, and he summoned the imperial guards that had come with him. He pointed at Camilla and said, "This woman has attempted to steal from Ms. Giselle's wedding gifts! Seize her!" Chapter 5 The imperial guards swiftly seized Camilla and tied her up. She cried, "Mo, save me!" Maurice turned to me in a panic. "What are you doing, Giselle? Tell them to let Cami go!" "Camilla took my wedding gifts without my permission—everyone here saw it happen. Why can't I have her captured?" I asked. "Don't blame me for getting nasty if you don't stop this, Giselle!" he yelled. "Use your brain, Maurice. Do you think Her Majesty would bear to give me so many things as wedding gifts if I were marrying you?" "What does that mean?" I said, "It means these wedding gifts have nothing to do with you. Since Camilla had the nerve to steal what's mine, why can't I have her seized?" Camilla wanted to beg for mercy, but the imperial guards took her away. Before hurrying after them, Maurice snapped, "I won't ever forgive you if anything happens to Cami, Giselle!" After he left, the chamberlain spoke to me about Gideon. He said Gideon would be back in the capital in two days; His Majesty and Aunt Melanie were going to arrange for us to meet so we could get to know each other. I'd only met Gideon a handful of times. All I remembered of him was him being cold and aloof. He didn't easily let anyone in. … When it was time to meet Gideon, I made sure to dress nicely before entering the palace. He was a few years older than me, but I was the one who'd asked for this marriage. I didn't know whether he was willing. Naturally, I didn't want to leave him with too bad an impression. When I got to the imperial garden, I saw His Majesty and Aunt Melanie seated in a courtyard. Someone sat across from them, but I could only see his back. He wore a thick, black robe. Springtime in the capital wasn't that cold, so the robe was overly thick for the weather. I figured this was a habit Gideon had gotten into after all his years in Morbeck. He probably couldn't change so quickly. His Majesty beckoned to me when he saw me. Only then did I get to see Gideon up close. He was handsome, and his gaze was sharp. Appearance-wise, he was definitely good-looking. The only thing was that his skin was coarse and that he had a scar marring his cheek. I curtsied. "Greetings, Your Highness. I'm Giselle Chapman of the Chapman family." Gideon was taken aback. Then, he hurriedly helped me up. "Please, Ms. Chapman. There's no need to be so polite." His Majesty and Aunt Melanie were happy to see that we didn't have any problems getting along. His Majesty approached us with a smile and said, "What do you think of this brat now that you've met him, Gigi? If you feel like you two can get along, I'll issue a decree for your marriage." I was surprised he was asking how I felt and not Gideon, but I soon composed myself and nodded. "I'm very pleased, Your Majesty. I'll leave my marriage in your hands." Maurice suddenly appeared as soon as the words were out of my mouth. He looked panicked. "I'm not happy with this!" His Majesty was confused. "What are you unhappy about?" "You have no idea what Giselle's true colors are like, Father! She's a jealous and petty woman! I will not marry her, no matter what she's told you!" Maurice cried. He eyed me, his gaze turning wicked. "However, if you give the order to set Camilla free and let me marry her as well, I'll consider letting Giselle be my wife." "What are you even talking about?" His Majesty grew angry. "What do you mean, what am I talking about? Weren't you guys discussing my marriage to Giselle?" That thoroughly angered His Majesty. "We were talking about Gideon's marriage!"