The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 364

The outskirts of Paris, the Astor Estate.

Morning light slipped through the crack in the heavy velvet curtains, casting a slender beam across the floorboards.

On the massive king-sized bed, Lydia Langford slowly opened her eyes.

Her body felt as though it had been trampled; every inch of her skin screamed in exhaustion. She tried to sit up, only to find her legs so weak they refused to obey her commands.

Fragments of the previous night flashed through her mind—

The Duke's cold, demanding touch.

The sickening sounds she desperately wanted to block out.

And the memory of her biting her lip so hard in the dark, desperate not to let out a single cry.

She braced herself against the edge of the mattress to sit up. Before she could even reach for a robe, the bedroom door swung open.

A line of maids filed into the room.

Dressed in pristine, matching uniforms, their expressions were blank, their eyes deadened as if looking at a piece of furniture. Their gazes swept over her exposed body without a flicker of emotion.

Lydia sat there, completely motionless.

The very first time she had woken up in this bed to an audience of strangers, she had wished the floor would swallow her whole.

The second time, tears had pricked her eyes as she bit her lip in humiliated silence.

The third time, the fourth time...

By now, she had lost count of how many mornings had begun exactly like this.

She simply sat there, letting their eyes graze over her as if she were nothing more than an object in the room.

She was numb.

Completely and utterly numb.

The maids moved efficiently, tidying the suite. One of them drew the curtains and pushed open the windows. The crisp morning breeze swept in, carrying the fresh scent of the gardens.

But that fresh air was quickly overpowered by another scent.

It was the heavy, musky scent of their passion from the night before, a suffocating blend of sweat, cologne, and a dark intimacy. It had marinated in the closed room all night, and only now began to dissipate with the draft.

Catching a whiff of it, Lydia's stomach churned violently.

But she forced it down.

She had become an expert at enduring.

A maid brought over fresh clothes and began dressing her with practiced hands, as if handling a helpless child.

Lydia let them maneuver her limbs, her face devoid of any expression.

Once dressed, she stood up. Her legs wobbled slightly, but she took a deep breath, steadied herself, and walked toward the door, one measured step at a time.

Behind her, the maids began stripping the bed. The violently crumpled sheets were yanked off the mattress and tossed onto the floor like worthless garbage.

Lydia never looked back.

—

Downstairs in the dining room.

Lydia looked up at her over the rim of her glass.

"Evelyn Sullivan is Charles's granddaughter," Victoria continued. "The whole country is in an uproar. I'm sure the news has already dominated the headlines back home."

Lydia's grip on her glass tightened.

But her face remained entirely stoic.

Victoria watched her, a cryptic smile playing on her lips.

"Penelope Lancaster heard the news and wound up in the hospital from the shock."

Lydia's movements hitched for a fraction of a second.

She looked at Victoria, a flash of surprise in her eyes before it melted into pure mockery.

"Christian Lancaster's mother?"

"Exactly," Victoria said, taking a sip of coffee. "Her ex-daughter-in-law suddenly turns out to be Charles's granddaughter, the heiress to billions, an elite designer, and a medical genius. The woman she once treated like dirt is now completely out of her league. How could she not lose her mind?"

An icy smile curved Lydia's lips.

"That's all it took to break her?" she scoffed. "I always thought the Lancaster matriarch was a force to be reckoned with. Turns out, she's nothing but fragile."

Victoria studied her, her gaze calculating.

Lydia set down her milk, her tone dripping with disdain.

"She used to parade around with so much arrogance in front of me. And now? The daughter-in-law she kicked to the curb is Charles's heir, and she's the one lying in a hospital bed."