1 The Night Was Young

'I loved you as much as you loved me. I never loved your smile, your body, your intelligence… I felt nothing for you.'

'Nevertheless, I gave it my all to support you for the sake of our destined marriage. I put my heart and soul into becoming the woman that would support you in your destiny as a duke. For the sake of family… I threw away a life which could have been free of chains…'

The door creaked loudly as the image of two scantily clad individuals came within view.

Everything was blurry. The colours of the hair and the tones of the skin, nothing else could be seen.

The shifting and shuffling of her heels, Violet could vividly experience the groggy feeling of the expensive 100 year dragon fire wine.

"What is this…?" She mumbled incoherently under her hot breath.

Suddenly, the images flooded her eyes with new detail. The focus came back and so did her common sense.

Two people, one man and the other, a woman. The woman sitting on the man's lap, sporting nothing less than her red lace underwear. Her black hair and her crimson eyes as if bleeding wine. The man being of muscular build with a handsome face and vibrant golden hair.

Violet knew exactly what was happening. The smell of aphrodisiacs and the clothes lying all over the expensive purple carpet… the scene spoke for itself.

"Henry… please tell me that this is some lighthearted joke. Not on our engagement party… not on the one day that I have been working so hard to achieve… PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE NOT MAKING LOVE TO TALISA HALE!" Violet did not hide a single ounce of her heartfelt anger.

"It is what you think it is. And quite frankly, I do not care what you want. You never want to get in my bed and now I feel quite hot, Talisa is much better than you in this aspect, Violet." A cold voice echoed in Violet's head, turning her face grim.

"But the engagement!"

"To hell with the engagement. Right, Talisa~?"

"Yes… to hell with it…" The girl nervously replied, unable to even meet Violet's eyes.

"Coward, look at me when you say that."

"..."

Violet was not met with any further words from Talisa, only a guilty stare from the half naked girl.

"Don't you dare bully my girl." The man glared daggers straight into Violet.

"F**k you, William. Go f**king die in a hole with your manhood spiked through."

"You dare to say such words to your fiancé?" The man was unable to hide a disgustingly enraged expression. He was unable to see Violet anymore, he wanted her out of sight. The words were already such a huge blow to his pride in front of his lover.

"F**king die. I hope you enjoy living the high life. You have not spent an hour studying for the sake of your noble title… I wonder what will happen when yourself and that girl have no idea how to run a duchy? I wonder how you will fall… You need me, but you are foolish enough to throw me away!"

CLANG

A silver cup fell to the floor, spilling wine all over the fine carpet. Like a bloody puddle of murder, it soaked in and set into everyone's eyes.

"Violet, let's break up! I love another woman." William mockingly laughed.

"Fine." She had given up. The man had already shamed her, the best she could do was to leave and cover up the incident while calling off the engagement.

"You love her, go put that useless piece of junk in her. She'll enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Considering you barely have anything worthy down there, I wish you luck. When you look back on this day, when your manor is rotting from poverty, when your bed is only occupied by your own body; remember this day and know you only have yourself to blame!"

Violet stormed off. The night was young, yet nothing more happened in the room. The mood became less than satisfactory, the aphrodisiacs became less than hot. William was left with a scowl on his face and a beautiful but nervous woman sitting uncomfortably on his lap.

"I can't…" She mumbled.

"Then get off me. I don't have any need for a lover that can't use her body for me."

"William… It is my first time… I don't think I can do it just yet, can you wait until we get to know each other more?"

"You are already sitting on my lap, you can feel that I am ready. So why are you even here?"

"I am leaving. I just can't get in the mood after she walked in."

Soon enough, the room was empty.

Violet and Talisa, this is the beginning of their story.