Her fifth daughter died, so she deleted his bloodline. novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

After losing daughter after daughter, I finally stopped trying to be the wife he wanted.

If his training exercises ended on a certain day, I made sure my duty roster started the next. If he wanted to spend time with his childhood sweetheart, I quietly moved out of the master bedroom and into the attic.

And when the mortician asked if I wanted to notify the father before my daughter was buried, I just said, “She doesn’t have one.”

A staff member recognized me. “Mrs. Harrington? The major general is right next door at the base. Should I go get him?”

I shook my head. No need.

Half an hour later, James Harrington showed up anyway.

His face was sharp with anger, his voice cold. “Evelyn! Why didn’t you wait? I’m her father too.”

“You’re busy,” I said quietly. “Ann would understand.”

My calmness only seemed to irritate him more. He started to say something, but the whispers around us stopped him cold.

“He’s obsessed with Vicky. She has one bad dream, and he’s camped out at her bedside for days. Didn’t even bother showing up to his own kid’s funeral.”

“Right. He only came after Vicky finally crashed.”

“She’s the one who killed all his daughters, and he’s still playing bodyguard for her. Real classy.”

James’s hands clenched. He looked at me warily, waiting for me to lose it like I used to.

But I didn’t even blink. I just spread the last bit of dirt over the grave.

“Evelyn.” His voice went soft, almost awkward. “Vicky’s sick. She was just taking her frustrations out on the kids. Don’t hold it against her. You’re healthy. You can have more. We’ll have more.”

I nodded.

What he didn’t know was that he was sterile. I’d only been able to give him children because I’d ended up in this world with a system that made it possible. But it had a limit. I’d carried five children, completed my mission, and in a few days, I’d be going back to my real life.

And him? He’d be left with nothing.

***

Back at the Harrington estate, Vicky and Margaret Harrington were already waiting.

Margaret was fuming. “Evelyn loses child after child, and somehow that woman still thinks she’s fit to be a mother?”

“You know my mom was already pissed she couldn’t give me a son, that’s why she made me marry you in the first place and kept Vicky on the side. If my mom ever found out Vicky was the one who hurt those kids, she’d have her killed.”

He’d used this same line on me five times now. Maybe more.

But making a woman do the penitent crawl up three thousand stone steps when she’s barely out of the hospital? Even if she survived it, she’d never be the same.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t fought back before.

Last time, he’d ditched an entire military assembly just to have a candlelit dinner with Vicky. That had angered Margaret enough that she wanted to punish Vicky.

So James, without a second thought, shoved me, four months pregnant at the time, forward and claimed I’d been the one egging him on. Furious, I told the truth on the spot.

The result? Vicky got punished by Margaret. And James, ignoring my desperate pleas, had my nanny beaten to death for “running her mouth.” A lesson to the rest of the staff, he’d said.

My heart had gone numb a long time ago.

Thankfully, the system told me I’d die in three days from postpartum depletion.

I looked at James, my voice calm. “Your mother’s right. I couldn‘t keep any of my kids alive. I deserve it.”