Chapter 27 - Doomed From the Start

Eloise’s POV



Black markings ran up her arms and encircled her neck. Her once smooth and sharp features were now sunken and wrinkled like she was turning into an old woman.



Her long raven-black hair had some stripes of white that I had never seen before. Her hair also wasn’t as thick as it once was, almost like her hair had been falling out recently.



She looks absolutely terrible… Who could’ve done this to her? Even if she was extremely rude to me and insufferable, I would never do such a thing.



“Don’t just sit there and play dumb! Tell me what the hell you did to me or I’ll see to it that you rot in a prison cell for the rest of your miserable life!” Belinda roared.



Just then, Nora barged into the room and rushed to my side. She got me to my feet. “Lady Eloise, what’s going on?”



“Mrs. Leonard is trying to say that I cursed her!”



“Mrs. Leonard, please,” Nora stood up and tried to explain things calmly. “Lady Eloise would never do such a thing! She’s your daughter-in-law and truly does care about you a great deal.”



Belinda stomped across the room and got into Nora’s face. “And just who do you think you are talking to me like that?”



“M-Mrs. Leonard, I just want to help defend my Lady’s honor–”



The sound of Belinda slapping Nora across the face echoed throughout the room.



Nora fell to the ground and held her reddened cheek with her hand as I knelt to her side.



“I didn’t ask you to speak, wench!” Belinda roared.



“You hit her as if she was the one that committed the crime! Have you no shame?” Anger ignited my heart like a flame as I glared at Belinda.



She only laughed sarcastically, unaffected by my words. “And you rush to her aid as if she’s a close friend of yours…Even if she didn’t commit the crime, I bet she was an accomplice!”



I took a deep breath to calm myself down, even though it definitely didn’t work. “I promise, Mrs. Leonard. I didn’t curse you! Someone had to have sabotaged it!”



Belinda folded her arms. “All of the gifts received were stored in a warehouse behind the castle. I was there all day retrieving the various presents when Mia noticed a strange black aura coming from your present. I wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for her keen eyes.”



The maid who stood behind her nodded in agreement. “I even checked it myself to make sure nothing would happen to Mrs. Belinda. At first, everything was okay.”



She has to be Mia… I thought to myself.



Belinda held up her hand to stop Mia from talking. “Your gift would’ve been beautiful had it not been for the fact that you ended up placing a curse on it! I’ve been feeling dizzy and sick ever since I started to wear it.”



Belinda then ran her hand through her hair as multiple strands of it fell out. “And look what that damned curse is doing to me!”



“Mrs. Leonard, I can assure you that this wasn’t my doing!”



She ignored my words entirely. “I even tried to get my personal guards to see if any of the market stalls in Noah carried another one like this. They found nothing!”



“Mrs. Leonard… of course, they won’t find another like it. It is one of a kind. My family, the Wisdoms, crafted it themselves out of pure gold. It was once a treasure of our family.” I placed a hand on my heart. “I couldn’t find a suitable gift from you at Noah’s central market, so I thought that would’ve been a more suitable substitute…”



“That explains everything!” Belinda started to yell again. “Your damned family made this?! Are you really trying to make me believe that you wouldn’t have used this to curse me?!”



“I told you!” I tried to contain my anger and explain everything to her patiently. “My family doesn’t craft jewelry with the intent to enchant them with magic. If we were to make jewelry enchanted with our magic and it fell into the wrong hands, so many people could get hurt.”



“And you don’t think I’m not hurt right now?!”

I sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying! What I am saying is that it was an ordinary bracelet when I gave it to you, so that means someone sabotaged it!”



“What? Do you think I cursed myself just to frame you?” Belinda stepped closer to me and grabbed my arm. Her sharp nails began to pinch my skin.



“No, of course not, Mrs. Leonard! Why would I do such a thing? How would killing you benefit me anyway?” I struggled against her grasp.



“How would it benefit you? Are you truly that stupid? Do you think I’m stupid?!”



“No ma’am, that’s not what I meant! I just–”



“If I die, you’d be the new headmistress and Lady of the Leonard family! You honestly expect me to believe that a lowly witch from a despicable family like yours wanted to marry Xavier out of love?” Belinda spat the words.



“Mrs. Leonard, please believe me! I would never do such a despicable thing–”



“ENOUGH!” She barked. “No more excuses! Guards! Take these vile women to jail now! Make sure that they rot for the rest of their miserable lives!”



Just as the guards grabbed me and Nora, a sudden deep voice boomed through the air.



“What’s going on here?”



“Xavier!” I broke free from the guard’s grasp and ran to him.



“Xavier, I’ve tried so hard to respect your choice of a rushed marriage–especially to the daughter of the Wisdoms. But look at how she repaid my patience and respect! She cursed me so she could become the Luna of the Leonards!”



“Xavier, please! It really wasn’t me. You know that I’m nothing more than a lowly witch who can only make potions. There’s no way I could’ve done this to her!” I hugged his arm and begged.



Xavier pried his arm from my grasp and went to stand next to his mom. He took her arms in his hands and examined them. I watched as his fingers traced the swirls of black magic that ran up Belinda’s arm.



“Then where did this curse come from?” His voice was cold. “Rumors spread like a disease on a rat and I’ve only ever known you as a “lowly witch who couldn’t perform a single spell.” While I’ve never seen you perform such magic, how am I supposed to know that you’re not truly capable of such curses?”



My heart stung in pain. “Xavier… I have no idea where the curse came from or who did it but I promise you that I would never want to bring harm upon your family! It is true that I haven’t been able to awaken my own powers. I’m not capable of this!”



I watched as Xavier stroked his mother’s hair gently. Strands of her hair wrapped around his fingers and he furrowed his eyebrows.



“Explain yourself then. When I asked you to purchase and prepare a gift for my mother, I sent you to Noah’s central market. Yet, here you’ve given her a bracelet forged by the Wisdoms without an authorization?” He stared at the bracelet for a moment before looking back down at me.



He’s looking at me so coldly… I shivered from his gaze.



“The gift I gave to Mrs. Leonard did come from my family, that is the truth. But that was only because I thought that was the most suitable gift! It’s made from pure gold and I saw it as valuable and fit for the leading Lady of the Leonards. I promise that I didn’t make the curse that’s on it.”



Belinda scoffed. “That’s your excuse? Do you think of us as fools, Eloise? You know that I hate you–if I haven’t made that obvious! Do you expect any of us to believe that you chose this gift out of the kindness of your heart? If you didn’t have an ulterior motive to harm me, I bet you would’ve just given me garbage!”



When Nora and I visited the central market to find a gift for Belinda, we were both worried that her high standards and fussiness would’ve rejected any gift we bought from there. That’s why I chose to give her the bracelet that I took from my family’s treasury.



I truly did want to get along with my own mother-in-law. Even if she was unbearably rude, she was important to Xavier, so that meant she was important to me, too. But now she was blinded by hatred and she wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say.



I clasped my hands and looked at Xavier. “Please… don’t you believe me, Xavier?”



When Xavier had his suspicions of me the first time, I forced myself to cry to make him feel soft. Yet this time, I didn’t need to force myself. All of the anger and sadness made me unable to control the tears that streamed down my face.



“Do you really expect me to believe you over my own mother? Even if you are my wife, this is the woman that raised me. She has loved me unconditionally and has always looked out in my best interest.” Xavier was indifferent to my tears this time.



“Xavier, please! Even if our marriage was forged out of a political contract, I still do care about you a great deal. I would never bring harm to someone who you care about so much.”



He shook his head disapprovingly. “Eloise, you’re the only witch that my mother has come into contact with. Ever. You’re the only person here who is capable of doing something like this. There’s no way that it’s not you.”



“Someone is framing me!”



There was no suppressing his anger. He began to shout at me. “The day you proposed to me, you promised me that you would be loyal to the Leonard family. I gave you a chance to prove yourself and I even went as far as to attack the Royal City so your precious family could be spared from Douglas’s attack.”



There was hurt in his eyes. “How could you do something like this?! You’ve disappointed me, Eloise…”



I shook away the tears. “Please, Xavier! I really had nothing to do with this!”



Xavier approached me. His tall frame towered over me and suddenly I felt so small and vulnerable. “Because you have failed to keep your promise of loyalty to me and the Leonard family, I have no choice but to call for a divorce.



I dropped to my knees. “No… please…!”



“Our marriage is over, Eloise. You are to leave the town of Noah and go back to your home of Witches Land.”



I froze in place, his words stung like a winter’s blizzard.



Xavier was supposed to be the one to save me from the flames of chaos.



Instead, he doomed me to the pits of Hell.



“Guards, please escort Miss Eloise and Miss Nora to their bedrooms so that they may pack their belongings. I must get my mother to the priest.”



I didn’t bother to struggle against the guards this time. They grabbed me by the arms and dragged me away.



So that’s it then… isn’t it? We really are over…