3

"Richard!" I exclaimed, chest rising and falling. Each breath that I drew in burnt my lungs.

Richard and Risa snapped their heads in my direction, and shock lines creased their foreheads.

"What is she doing here?" Richard asked, fixating his gaze on Risa, who in response shrugged without the slightest concern.

Richard turned to his guards, brows flaring up in anger. "Who let that useless thing into my wedding?"

My stomach twisted into knots, and Bile rushed up my throat. I shivered, feeling my chest tighten around my tender heart.

Useless thing? The words echoed in my head, and I felt my throat constricting, almost restricting my flow of oxygen.

"How could you, Richard?" My voice shook as I beheld the both of them with a stare so intense that I wished it could set them ablaze. Turning to Risa, my heart sank into my stomach. "How could you? I trusted you. I treated you like a sister. I thought you meant well to me. How did I miss that you've been his plaything, his slut?"

Silence ensued, and I could feel their scornful gazes frying my skin. I ignored them. I needed some explanation from Richard.

Richard let out a growl, and my eyes snapped in his direction. My heart pounded violently in my chest, threatening to burst out of my ribcage as Richard took fast strides toward me.

Halting a few steps away from me, he raised his hand and struck my cheek. My head jerked to the right from the force of the slap. My hand instinctively flew to nurse my cheek as it stung like it had been lit on fire. I didn't miss the gasps that erupted in the air from the crowd.

"How dare you speak of my wife like that?" He seethed, venom dripping from his voice.

I breathed heavily, my chest rising and falling as a ringing sound filled my ear. My lips shivered, and so did the rest of my body.

"Richard," my voice broke, and humiliation swallowed me. I was disorientated, and a series of thoughts ran through my head. What was I to do?

I extended a shaky hand to grip his wrist, saying, "But I am your wife."

"By name, not by heart," he sneered, and then his mouth curled up in disgust. "You couldn't even give me an heir. Risa here is the one I love, and not you, Zana the damaged goods."

He snatched his hand from my hold, and my body vibrated, but this time, it was with anger. Bile rushed up my throat at his choice of words. I hated his guts and hated myself for thinking I could change a bastard like him.

My heart shattered into tiny pieces. How could he use my situation to insult me?

"How dare you use that against me, Richard, knowing fully well that my personal maid kept putting harmful substances in my food all because of you?" I said breathlessly, tears spilling out of my eyes and burning paths down my cheeks. "Is it my fault my womb is weak? Answer me, Richard!"

"I owe you no damn explanation. You–" Richard paused, eyeing me from head to toe and wrinkling his nose in distaste. "I can't believe I put up with this filth for years."

My chest gripped my heart, squeezing it and causing nothing but sheer pain.

Richard's demeaning words didn't just stop there. It continued. "How did I even..." he trailed off, holding a fist to his mouth and faking a gag. "You reek of failure and incompetence. I can't believe how stupid I was to not have rejected you from the very start."

My throat grew heavy, and I swallowed a ball of saliva to push down the stubborn lump that had camped in my throat. Instead of flushing it down my stomach, the saliva burned the walls of my throat like a scalding cup of coffee.

"What are you waiting for, baby?" Risa called from the alter, and Richard tossed a soft gaze at her. "Reject her already, my love."

Richard returned his attention to me, but the soft look in his eyes was now replaced with disdain.

"I Richard Drewsteignton reject you, filthy Zana Nyte as my mate," Richard seethed, and then spat beside my feet.

His words drove a phantom blow to my stomach, and all the air rushed out of my lungs. I parted my lips to speak, but nothing came out of them. The words were stuck in my throat, threatening to choke me. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and despair wracked through my body, causing me to tremble.

"Finally!" Someone exclaimed from the crowd, in contrast to the horrible feeling that gnawed at my stomach.

Richard raked his eyes up and down my body before brushing an invisible spec of dust off his shoulder. "I have something way more important to attend to."

He pivoted on the balls of his feet, but an invisible force pushed me towards him.

"Wait," I croaked, grasping his arm.

Richard spun to face me; his eyes burned with fire and brimstone. "Get your pathetic self away from me!" He thundered, sinking his palm into my chest and shoving me away from him.

My heart skipped a beat as the push threw me off balance, sending me to the floor. I winced with lidded eyes when pain shot up my coccyx. My sight grew hazy, and I struggled to fix my gaze on his retreating figure because my vision of him doubled, and the earth spun underneath me.

The crowd barked out a mocking laughter, and shivers of embarrassment ran down my spine. I palmed the tiles, pushing myself off the ground with shaky legs.

"I hate you, Richard!" I exclaimed, snort trailing down my nose. "I regret the day I met you."

"I'm so happy he has finally decided to get rid of that low-class she-wolf." I picked up a feminine whisper from the crowd, but I ignored it.

"Is she even a she-wolf? She's not different from an imbecile. She doesn't have a wolf," another voice responded, piercing an invisible arrow through my heart.

They whispered amongst themselves, spitting out hateful words that stung me. Shock paralyzed me to a spot, and bitterness wracked through me like the tidal waves of an ocean.

I needed to leave. I tried to move, but my feet felt like bags of bricks.

Richard snapped his fingers once he was beside Risa on the alter, "Take her away."

Two guards offered him a curt bow before rushing towards me.

"Don't touch me, I'll leave by myself!" I exclaimed with a molten gaze directed at the guards, finally able to move.

They halted in their tracks, and I spun but staggered when my vision blurred again. I squeezed my eyes shut and popped them open, hoping everything would stop spinning, but it didn't.

A sharp pain sliced through my stomach, and my legs turned to jelly. I dropped to the floor, pain shooting up my body at the harsh impact. My pulse raced, and my breathing intensified. In no time, my eyes grew heavy until they latched themselves and I was sucked into a void.

The last thing I saw were pairs of shoes running towards me.