The River Bride's Revenge I Won't Save You Twice

I was an ordinary body collector from Millhaven Village. By chance, I pulled both the Crown Prince and the young lord Homer Rowe from the river, and I became pregnant with the Crown Prince's child.

On our wedding day, the Crown Prince never showed. He took his bridal procession to the Prime Minister's estate and married Chloe Fox instead.

I tried to confront him, but Homer Rowe stepped in my way.

He confessed that he was the one who'd gotten me pregnant that night. He said he was willing to marry me and take care of me for the rest of my life.

A month after the wedding, bandits descended on my village. All one hundred and ten households were slaughtered. Not a single soul survived.

Standing before that mountain of corpses, I collapsed under the weight of my grief. I lost the baby.

Homer never left my side, never even changed out of his bloodstained clothes. It took a long time, but slowly, he pulled me back from the edge.

Three years later, I was pregnant again. I wanted to tell Homer the good news right away, but on my way to find him, I overheard a conversation between him and a friend.

"Homer, the Crown Prince keeps undermining you at every turn. Doesn't that eat at you? Back then, you married Penelope Maxwell for his sake and even claimed a child that wasn't yours."

"I didn't do it for him. I did it for Chloe. In this kingdom, the firstborn son inherits regardless of his mother's rank. If Penelope had given birth to a prince first, how would Chloe ever secure her place in the palace?"

"We all know you're hopelessly in love with Chloe Fox, but did you really have to massacre all of Millhaven Village to keep them quiet? The body collectors have been all but wiped out since then."

"I had no choice. The people in Millhaven Village knew too much. To eliminate any future threat, every last one of them had to die."

I had always believed that falling for the Crown Prince was the greatest mistake of my life. I never imagined that falling for Homer Rowe would prove a far worse one.

"Just now, one of the maids from the estate came by. Your attendant turned her away, but I think I heard her say Penelope is pregnant..."

Homer's hand tightened around his teacup. It nearly slipped from his grip, but he was always composed. Within a breath, his expression smoothed over.

"I won't let her carry it to term."

"That's your own flesh and blood."

"Her womb carried another man's seed once. I find that repulsive. Besides, she spent her whole life handling corpses. Any child she bears could come out a freak."

Homer turned to the attendant standing nearby. "Tell Nora Whitfield to mix the abortifacient into the lady's meals. Be careful about it. Don't let her find out."

His friend let out a sigh. "Penelope really is pitiful..."

Homer went still for a moment. His gaze turned dark and unreadable as he stared into his teacup. "I'll let her live out her days as my lady, comfortable and provided for. Consider it compensation."

I clamped a hand over my mouth and crumpled to the ground. Under the bewildered stares of the servants around me, I scrambled back to the estate on my hands and knees.

In the darkness of my room, I wept alone.

So the man who had shared my bed that night was never Homer at all. And yet he had still married me, this tainted woman, willingly, all for Chloe Fox.

He had even accepted a child that had nothing to do with him.

I remembered the day the bandits slaughtered my village. He had looked at my skirt, soaked through with blood, and wept until he could barely breathe.

He had sworn to me, voice shaking with conviction: "Penelope, I promise you, I won't let the villagers die in vain. And I won't let our child's sacrifice be for nothing."

He kept his word. Within three days, he tracked down the bandits' hideout and killed every last one of them.

For years, I had been overwhelmed with gratitude toward him. It never once crossed my mind that all of it, every single piece, had been his doing from the start.

Nora's voice came from outside the door. "My lady, your meal is ready."

"Leave it. I'm not hungry."

The food laced with abortifacient. I didn't dare touch it.

When the physician had last checked my pulse, he told me my body was weak, my womb cold and depleted. I needed to rest and take care of myself. If I miscarried again, I would never be able to bear children.

I wanted this child desperately. Before, it had been for Homer.

Now it was for the villagers who had died because of me.

I couldn't bring them back. Other than ensuring the body collector's legacy carried on, I didn't know what else I could do to make amends.

A long while later, heavy footsteps sounded in the courtyard.

"My lord, you're back. The lady refuses to eat."

"I'll handle it."

I wiped my tears in a rush, but my swollen, red-rimmed eyes gave me away.

Homer crouched in front of me and reached up to brush his thumb beneath my eyes, his voice aching with tenderness. "Crying and refusing to eat. Who's been bullying my Penny?"

"The little one in my belly, of course."

Homer went still for a fraction of a second, then broke into what looked like stunned delight. "Really? I'm going to be a father?"

"Really."

My heart was a cold cellar, but for the sake of my child, I had no choice but to play along.

"Homer, what if... I'm just saying what if... you don't want this baby. I'll raise it on my own. I won't be a burden to you. Would that be all right?"

Something guarded flickered behind his eyes, but he forced a smile. "What are you talking about? How could I not love a child you gave me?"

"Come on, stop overthinking. Let's eat."

I looked at the table laden with dishes and turned my head away.

Homer picked up a piece of blanched greens with his chopsticks and set it in my bowl, his voice soft. "Just a few bites. The baby needs you to eat."

He looked so devoted. How could any of it be an act?

But I knew. All of it was a lie.

"I really can't..."

His patience snapped. "You won't eat, but the baby has to. Stop acting like a child!"

He seized my jaw, fingers digging in, and tried to force the greens into my mouth.

I wrenched free, but I understood his resolve now.

Despair closed over me like water. I blinked back tears and picked up my chopsticks. "I'll eat."

Once this meal was finished, everything would be over.

In the dead of night, the pain tore through my abdomen. Blood seeped from between my legs, spreading across the sheets in a slow, dark stain.

Homer called out toward the door, and Dr. Shepherd walked in at once, as though he had been waiting just outside.

The agony had blurred my vision, but I still heard Dr. Shepherd's careful, measured words: "My lord, the lady's previous miscarriage already damaged her body. If we don't intervene now, she may never conceive again."

Silence. Then Homer spoke. "It doesn't matter. Do as I told you. When I take a concubine someday and she bears children, I'll give one to Penelope to raise in her old age."

"Understood, my lord."

So it was true. He thought I was filthy. He had never wanted a child with me.

The last ember of hope inside me turned to ash.

Dr. Shepherd was still working to save me when a maid from the Crown Prince's Court burst through the door. "My lord, the Crown Princess has been suffering from stomach pains today. She's requesting Dr. Shepherd come examine her."

Homer's expression changed instantly, open concern written across every line of his face. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed Dr. Shepherd by the arm and pulled him toward the door.

Ruby Abbott, my personal maid, threw herself at Homer's legs and clung on. "My lord, if you take Dr. Shepherd now, the lady will die!"

"The Crown Princess only has a stomachache. Any court physician can see to that. But my lady is hanging by a thread..."

"Please, my lord, have mercy on her..."

"Insolent wretch! The Crown Princess is of the highest birth. Who are you, a servant, to decide her care?"

Homer's mind was already gone from this room. He kicked Ruby aside and tossed an order at the servants without looking back. "Brew some ginseng broth. Keep her alive."

"The moment the Crown Princess is fine, I'll bring Dr. Shepherd back."

Ruby scrambled to follow, but I stopped her. "Ruby, don't. Let him go."

Her eyes were swollen and red. She looked at me, heartbroken. "My lady, wait for me. I'll go find a court physician."

I struggled to prop myself up and pulled a box from beneath the bed. Inside lay the Body Collector's Iron Medallion. I pressed it into Ruby's hands.

"Ruby, take this into the palace. Give it to the Emperor and tell him Penelope Maxwell is calling in her favor. Tell him I want divorce papers."

Years ago, when the Emperor himself had traveled to Millhaven Village to bring the Crown Prince and the young lord back to the capital, he'd been so grateful for my saving their lives that he promised me one request, anything I asked.

I had never dared waste that chance. Now, finally, it had a purpose.

Homer didn't return with Dr. Shepherd until the following afternoon.

By then, the royal physician Ruby had summoned was already on his way out.

Homer caught the physician by the arm. "How is my wife?"

"She'll live. But I'm afraid..."

Homer's voice dropped low, unsteady in a way I'd rarely heard when it concerned me. "Afraid of what?"

The physician shook his head with a heavy sigh. "Her body is ruined. She'll spend the rest of her life in pain."

Something like guilt flickered across Homer's face. He gathered me into his arms, my body limp as a threadbare rag. "I'm sorry, Penny. It's not that I didn't want to help you, but the Crown Prince's wife is carrying a royal heir. I couldn't afford the delay..."

I gritted my teeth against the pain and pulled myself free of his embrace. I shook my head. "It's fine. You were up all night, my lord. Go rest."

His hands hung frozen in the air where I'd been. His voice came out scraped raw. "Are you angry with me, Penny?"

I closed my eyes. My answer was flat, toneless. "This commoner wouldn't dare."

"Commoner?"

Homer caught the shift instantly. He stared at me as though I'd spoken a foreign language.

Before, I had always addressed myself as "your wife" in his presence.

Now I'd changed the word. The line between us, drawn clean.

"Yes. This commoner was born lowly. Naturally, I can't be compared to the Crown Prince's wife. So you did the right thing, my lord. This commoner wouldn't dare hold it against you."

A violent cough tore through me, and blood splattered from my lips. Homer saw it, and for once, he asked nothing more.

He rubbed slow circles on my back, his voice softening. "You've always been the most sensible one, Penny. I was overthinking it. Rest now. Your husband will stay right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I didn't know how long I slept before the noise from the courtyard dragged me awake.

The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Ruby sprawled in the center of the yard, a rod cracking down across her body again and again.

Her clothes were soaked through with blood. Each breath she drew looked like it might be her last.

Chloe Fox sat nearby, watching with cold, disinterested eyes.

When Homer saw me stir, he didn't bother explaining. He simply pressed my shoulders back down. "The Crown Prince's wife is disciplining a servant. Don't interfere, Penny."

I had braced myself for some grave offense. But the crime, it turned out, was nothing more than this: after delivering the divorce papers to the Emperor, Ruby had taken it upon herself to summon the royal physician for me.

The Emperor and Empress already carried guilt over the Crown Prince breaking off his engagement to me. When they learned what had happened, they'd rebuked Chloe harshly.

Called her vicious. Said she'd shown callous disregard for another woman's life.

Chloe couldn't touch me, not with the Emperor and Empress shielding me. So she'd turned her fury on Ruby instead.

I watched Ruby's broken body twitch with each blow, barely clinging to life, and the tears wouldn't stop.

I seized Homer's sleeve and begged. "My lord, please save Ruby. Every fault is mine, all of it."

"She was only worried about me."

Homer's expression pinched with reluctance. "Penny, she's just a servant. Let the Crown Prince's wife vent her anger and it'll blow over."

I stared at that handsome face of his, so perfectly composed, so perfectly human, and could not fathom the rottenness it concealed.

Because we were born lowly, our lives simply didn't matter?

Mine didn't. Ruby's didn't. And neither had the hundred-some families of Millhaven Village.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. The words ripped out of me, raw and bleeding. "Is that what you told yourself when you slaughtered Millhaven Village, my lord? That they were just a bunch of lowborn nobodies?"

Homer flinched as if I'd driven a blade between his ribs. His hand shot to my throat and squeezed, his eyes splitting red with fury.

"Penelope, what nonsense are you spouting?!"

I struggled to break free, and the wound below tore open again. Blood soaked through the bedsheets in an instant.

Homer panicked at the sight. He gathered me into his arms, clumsy and desperate. "Penny, stop moving. Please."

I pried his hands off me and glared straight at him. "Homer, you've been lying to me for years. Was it worth it?"

"Hundreds of lives. And my two children. Don't you lose sleep at night?"

Homer's hand hung frozen in midair, trembling beyond his control.

"You know about all of it?"

When I said nothing, he rushed to explain. "Penny, I had no choice. People in Millhaven Village saw you with the Crown Prince. If the pregnancy got out, it would have torn the court apart."

I let out a bitter laugh. "Was it really about the court? Or were you afraid your precious Chloe would lose her power?"

Homer's brow creased. Whatever guilt had been in his eyes vanished, replaced by cold displeasure. "That was all my decision. Chloe had nothing to do with it. Leave her out of this."

Even now, he was still shielding Chloe. The last thread of hope in me snapped.

"Then what about my children? The first one, fine, I'll blame myself for grieving too hard to protect it. But the second?"

Homer saw that I had ripped away the final veil, and he stopped pretending. "Yes. I had someone take care of it."

"I wasn't ready to be a father."

"Even now, you're still lying to me..."

"Penny, stop this. Whatever I've done, I owe you. I've sworn an oath. I'll make it up to you. I'll give you a life of wealth and luxury, secure in your place as my lady for the rest of your days!"

I didn't want to hear another hollow promise. "Homer, I don't want any of it. I'll give up everything. Just grant me the divorce and set yourself free."

"If you're worried I'll expose the massacre, you can have my life too."

"All I'm asking is that you save Ruby!"

I thought the weight of hundreds of dead villagers on his conscience would be enough to buy one life. I still underestimated how shameless he was.

"Penny, stop. I can't help you this time."

"Chloe's been through a trauma. She's always been sensitive and stubborn. If Ruby doesn't die, Chloe won't be able to sleep."

And then I finally understood. In Homer's heart, the lives of ordinary people weren't worth as much as one good night's rest for Chloe Fox.

I shoved him away and dragged my broken body across the floor toward the courtyard. I collapsed at Chloe's feet, clutching the hem of her skirt. "Your Highness, please spare Ruby. It was all my fault."

Chloe looked down at me with a satisfied smirk. "Your fault how?"

"I'm lowborn. I should never have troubled the royal physician."

"I should never have displeased Your Highness."

"Enough. The sight of you covered in blood is revolting."

Chloe kicked me away in disgust and turned to Homer. "Homer, I'm tired. Walk me back?"

Homer looked at me sprawled on the ground. He hesitated for a moment. But in the end, he chose Chloe.

I reached for Ruby beside me, her breath barely there, and called after him one last time. "My lord, could you at least send for Dr. Shepherd?"

Homer opened his mouth to give the order, but Chloe cut him off. "No one calls for any doctor. I've already spared her life. Whether she survives is her own fate."

Homer looked back at me, something unreadable churning behind his eyes. Then he clenched his jaw and walked away.

Everything I had held together shattered in that moment. I screamed at his retreating back, "Homer Rowe, I want a divorce!"

Chloe had just reached the doorway. She laughed out loud and nudged Homer playfully. "She says she wants a divorce. Aren't you going to go coax her?"

Homer glared at me, visibly annoyed.

No need to coax her. She's just throwing a tantrum. She'd never survive outside this estate.

Besides, she's been pregnant twice and she's a second-time bride. Who else would want her but me?

He was right. Leaving the estate might very well be a death sentence.

But staying was a fate worse than death.

I forced myself up through the pain, set the divorce papers on the table, and found a rickety old cart. I loaded Ruby onto it and walked out of the Rowe estate.

This time, I was finally free.