Webnovel / History / Treacherous hearts: Return of the Second Male Lead

#R18 #DARK #TRANSMIGRATION #VILLAIN #BETRAYAL #REVENGE #ROYALFAMILY #LOVETRIANGLE #PRINCESS #FORBIDDENLOVE

Treacherous hearts: Return of the Second Male Lead

Chapter excerpt: Charlton knew what was running in her head and in truth he wanted to mock her. ’You truly are a whore, aren’t you?’ he wanted to say. However, he was not planning to make this a one-time thing and he had more in store for her. So instead, he leaned forward as he started kissing her tears away. "Serena, I love you so much, do you know that? So please, don’t give me that look." Serena’s tears did not stop but what was the use. They were already like this and no matter how much she denies it, that she even let something like this happen… there’s only one conclusion. She still loved Charlton. Or at least she was that greedy for his love. She could not push him away so she could only raise her arms and envelope him in her embrace. "We’re going to burn in hell for this…." She whispered. Charlton burrowed his head on the juncture of her neck. He licked and kissed that part, careful not to leave a mark as they still will be meeting with the others later. He smirked when he felt her tremble. Why was she so easy? Regardless, he was enjoying what she can offer before he ruins her himself. "All the more reason to get as much heaven as we can now." He said, then he started moving. -- A year after his father’s death, grand duke Charlton Daniel finally responds to the summon of his uncle, the king, to return to the capital. Of course, his reason for compliance was not due to his subservience to the crown. Four years ago, his life has been turned upside down. His lover betrayed him for his cousin, the crown prince. His father was sent to prison because of a crime with dubious evidence. While he, himself, was sent to exile with a mission to capture the revolutionists. All of which, he took in strides because of his steadfast belief in humanity and justice. However, time changes everyone. Four years may seem short, but to some, it’s enough to change their perceptions and priorities. Once a pacifist at heart, Charlton is now going to return to the royal capital with a personal vendetta. -- To the public eye, Serena William, nee Maxwell, was living the perfect life. She was beautiful, rich, happily married, and has the unwavering support of her maternal family. Oh, and did I mention that she was also the crown princess and the most loved personage? Yes, that she was. Kind, generous, and approachable. She was a woman who was completely unlike any other. No one in the royal family was as well loved by the masses as she was. At least, that’s how her life was perceived to be. Behind closed doors, life was not as glamoured up as it was in the tabloids. Her first pregnancy ended up in stillbirth, while the next two ended up in miscarriages. Was this her retribution? She could not help but ask herself. This led to her guilt and self-blame which further developed her insecurity, and even inferiority complex. Aside from what she was undergoing herself, it doesn’t help that the queen mother kept on rubbing salt to injury by implying that she should let her lady-in-waiting, the queen’s first choice for crown princess, take over. Crown prince Geoffrey William was Serena’s saving grace, her knight in the shining armor, the man who sticked with her through thick and thin. Would she ever be willing to make way for another woman for his own good? Then worse, comes her old flame who seems to still be enamored with her. What lengths would she be willing to take to keep the pandora’s box shut? However, there are no secrets that time does not reveal. What will she do when she later finds out what her greatest champion did to her? -- Hearts will break, heads will roll. All is fair in love and war. This novel is not for the faint hearted. — This novel is the sequel to the first titled, ‘Making the second male lead fall in love with me, the Villainess’, and is set four (4) years after the royal wedding. (But you don’t need to read the first to understand this one, sequence is not important)

champilyn · History

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157 Chs

Chapter 21: Leaving for Torton II

As Geoffrey stood by the door, watching and listening to Serena sing and play the piano, he felt the all too familiar tightening in his chest and the churning in his gut.

He got what he wanted. Serena now loved him, needed him, trusted, and depended on him. Yet, if one were to ask, if he was truly content and satisfied, he would not be able to easily say yes.

When they got married, he thought that they could leave the past behind, start anew and look forward to a bright and beautiful future. He wanted to give her the stars, the moon, the skies, and all the worldly things her heart can desire. He wanted her to have everything and want for nothing. All those because she was finally his and he loved her. He wanted to make her as happy as she made him.

The beginning of their married life was truly as beautiful as he envisioned. There was laughter, attraction, lust, excitement, and every positive emotion he could think of. They were so passionately in love, and everything was just perfect. So perfect that he sometimes feared that all those could just vanish in a flash. And it almost did.

When Serena lost their first child in stillbirth, he felt like the perfect world he's been living in has collapsed. He wanted to investigate the cause, find who the culprit was, lay the blame on someone or anyone, and have them sentenced with the worst punishment he could think of. However, he could not do any of those for he knew there was no one who could be more guilty than himself.

It was his anger, frustration, fury, and resentment which drove him to a certain degree of madness, making him exact his vengeance and do the unimaginable to Serena, the woman he proclaimed to love the most. And though it was not directly through his own hands, it was he who ordered her to be drugged not once, but over a period of two weeks just so that he could check how far she has gone on her affair with his cousin, and later, in his quest to get her pregnant.

Thus, who else can he blame? The fault was all his. It was his past deed which has come back haunting, and instead of himself, it was Serena and their child who suffered for it.

Nevertheless, guilty and grieving as he was, he knew that he could not let himself succumb to the temptation of just being. Yes, he was mourning for their loss, but so did Serena.

He saw her pain, her sorrow. That she was going through a depression induced by her self-blame when in truth she has been faultless. He wanted to tell her that it was not her fault but his that their child was gone. However, how could he confess that their child died in stillbirth not because of anything else but of a complication engineered by his own doing?

He could not tell her the truth for he could not afford to lose her. Thus, he did only what he could. He stayed by her side and comforted her. Supported her and showed her that he was with her and that she's not going through the loss alone. He tried to guide her out of the darkness so that she can continue to live and breathe.

But in the end, Serena recovered faster than he expected, and it was she who saved him instead. For although he was sporting a brave front, deep inside, he was still grief-stricken not only because of their loss but also for his guilt.

He did not even realize that he too needed saving until she stepped out of that darkness, pulled him along, and gave him light.

After that period, Serena became more active in her role as the crown princess. Not to say that she was not active before, but one could not help but compare.

Past Serena did enough, but it was only up to the point where she was still convenient. Perhaps it was due to her pregnancy, but he knew better. Normally, she wouldn't go out of her way just to please people or get them on her side. Yet, she did and credited everything to him.

Initially, he let himself be engrossed in his euphoria that Serena was doing those because she has grown to love him more. However, he was not a fool, and he could not keep on fooling himself any longer.

He began to suspect that the reason Serena recovered at a faster pace than him was because all along, she believed that the child she was carrying was not his, but Charlton's.

He could not imagine why she still thought that way when he made sure that there's no opportunity for her and Charlton to meet alone ever since he was able to confirm that they were having an affair. Then he recalled that they did attend the afternoon tea party at the Cross ducal mansion before he found out.

Looking back, Serena did allude that the child might not be his, and though he answered that he knew it was, she could not have known that there was truth in his words.

Thus, in the end, he realized that what he has been avoiding has happened. He began to doubt if what Serena felt for him was truly love or just gratefulness.

TBC

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