Chapter 8: Camellia - Part 1

(Camellia's POV)

When I was twelve years old, I saw my elder sister's coronation as the Crown Princess and I was envious.

Why wasn't it me? Just because she was three years older than me, she get to be in the highest noble rank.

What was even more unfair was that they wanted to arrange an engagement for my other sister who was a little older than me to the Duke of Barton as soon as she turned fourteen. So I had to move quickly.

I had to steal him from my sister Diana.

After all, I couldn't bear to see someone else in a higher position than me again.

So whenever I met Raymond at parties, I tried to get close to him.

He felt uncomfortable at first, but heaven help me.

They announced that his elder brother had died when he went boating with his friends and they couldn't even find his body.

I was delighted. Because grief makes people vulnerable, and by showing more compassion, it was easier to get close to him.

What made things better for me was that his mother became mentally ill after losing her first child and was unable to take care of Raymond and died a year later, so I stayed by his side and made sure he stayed away from his friends so that my influence on him grow.

Over time, all my hard work paid off and he followed me around like a puppy looking for attention.

This made the adults change their minds and make me his fiancée instead of my sister Diana.

This was the greatest achievement of my life because unlike most other nobles, he had a good looks that supported his wealth.

Although he was not like the crown prince in terms of position, even the royal family was below him in terms of military power.

The Barton family had the largest iron mine and thus the largest weapon production.

So if I waited for the right moment, even my sister would look small in front of me.

But when I was about to get married, every thing was destroyed.

The older brother whom I thought had died years ago was alive and was being held captive in the family tower.

This is what Raymond told me when I moved to the duke’s residence to take bridal lessons.

On our wedding night, everything I had worked so hard for came crashing down.

The handsome man I knew had turned into a monster I couldn’t look at.

His horns and red eyes looked exactly like the statues used by devil worshippers.

I’m sure if anyone saw him in this demonic form, they would burn everyone in the palace, including me.

This wasn’t the ending I wanted.

But when Raymond finally told me all about the curse, I felt relieved.

The curse is a single entity that always exists in the Barton family.

Usually, only the first born of each generation is born with a devil-like appearance.

But there’s one problem, if the first born dies early, the curse is passed on to the second born.

That’s why it was a tradition in the Barton family to have their first born with a maid or concubine and then lock the child in the tower so they couldn’t escape or die.

The following generations did the same.

This made the Barton family never look at their first born as the true heir.

Because once the person carrying the curse died, it was passed on to the first born of the next generation.

Now that I know the solution is this easy. I had an idea with the right person in mind.