Became A Queen After divorce

If everything in the dream was real, then was the woman in the dungeon also real?

With mixed feelings, Pearl walked towards the dungeon, unmoved by the gold before her.

With each step, her guilt grew.

In the silent space, her footsteps became clear, startling the woman with closed eyes.

The woman suddenly opened her eyes.

Those eyes were as beautiful as an autumn lake, once bright but now empty, as if her soul had been drained.

The moment she sensed someone approaching, her gaze turned sharp.

“Who is it?”

Her hoarse voice was filled with vigilance and fear.

Pearl emerged from the darkness, the single lamp on the wall illuminating her delicate face. She spoke gently.

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.”

The mysterious woman squinted at her. The girl seemed about eighteen or nineteen, of medium height, with fair and delicate features.

There was something familiar about her, but she couldn’t recall where she had seen her before.

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

Pearl dared not reveal she was Declan’s daughter, so she made up an excuse.

“I am a maid at Gilliam Mansion. My family is sick, so I came to steal something to sell.”

“I heard Mr. Gilliam is very wealthy… I didn’t expect to find gold here and someone locked up.”

“A thief?”

The woman scrutinized her suspiciously.

The girl’s clear eyes and spirited demeanor didn’t match that of a lowly maid or a sneaky thief.

“Really?”

Pearl wasn’t entirely lying; she was indeed there to steal something. But her target wasn’t money-it was a key.

“Yes, I’m here to steal a key. Kind sister, can you tell me where that old man Declan hides it?”

Pearl called her father “old man” unceremoniously while silently praying, “God forgive me, I’m just joking.”

The mysterious woman finally let down her guard a bit but remained suspicious of Pearl’s connection to Declan.

“Why should I tell you?”

Pearl was stunned; it seemed the woman was harder to communicate with than she had thought.

“Uh… If you tell me where the key is, I’ll let you out.”

Her words were met with a cold laugh.

“Let me out? You?”

“I…”

Pearl hesitated; she wasn’t even sure she could get out herself, let alone guarantee the woman’s escape.

“Just try. I managed to sneak in here; maybe I can really get you out.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

The woman laughed loudly.

Under the ever-burning oil lamp above her head, she watched the flickering light and tears began to fall as she laughed.

“Get out?”

“Hahaha, impossible. I’ve lost count of how long I’ve been here…”

“The chains have grown into my flesh. Don’t try to deceive me with sweet words; tell me your real purpose!”

She had ended up like this because she trusted that beast too easily. With that lesson learned, how could she trust anyone again?

Though imprisoned, her mind was still sharp.

Pearl hesitated before softly saying, “I’m sorry for lying earlier. I… I’m not really a maid here.”

The mysterious woman had already suspected as much. She shouted sharply at Pearl:

“Tell me your relationship with the people at Gilliam Mansion! Where is that beast now?”

In her agitation, the woman struggled fiercely, causing the chains piercing her shoulders to tear into her flesh.

Blood quickly stained her dress.

But she seemed used to it, feeling no pain because the physical agony was nothing compared to the emotional torment she had endured over the years.

Pearl was terrified, stepping back several paces with a pale face.

Her heart pounded painfully.

“Please, calm down. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Come on! Don’t you want to kill me?”

“Just end it quickly; living like this is no different from being dead!”

The mysterious woman spoke wildly, her desolate laughter echoing in the small dungeon, more terrifying than the wails of tortured souls in hell.

Pearl sighed deeply and waited for her to calm down before trying again.

After a long time, the woman grew tired and gradually became quiet.

Tears slowly streamed down her cheeks.

Drip-

They fell on the stone floor with a clear sound.

“You’re crying!”

Pearl couldn’t bear to see her suffer like this. She took out a tissue from her pocket and bravely approached her.

Before she could get close, the woman raised her head and glared at her with cold eyes.

“What do you want?”

The girl looked at the tissue in her hand in confusion but chose to wipe away the woman’s tears anyway.

Her warm fingers gently brushed aside the woman’s dirty hair, revealing her beautiful face.

She looked young, around thirty-five or thirty-six. Years of imprisonment without sunlight had left her skin pale and flawless.

With long, classical slanted eyes, a high and delicate nose, and naturally red lips…

With some grooming, her elegant demeanor could outshine many actresses in showbiz.

But Pearl burst into tears upon seeing her face clearly. The words on her lips were drowned by sobs.

“You…”

In over twenty years, aside from that beast, she had never been so close to anyone.

The girl felt different!

From the first glance, an inexplicable urge to be close to her surged within the mysterious woman.

Suppressing this strange feeling, she couldn’t hold back when she saw the girl crying silently.

Pearl suddenly spoke through her tears: “You are beautiful, even more so than in photos.”

Her gentle touch as she wiped away the tears was like handling a precious treasure.

The mysterious woman had long forgotten what she looked like.

“Beautiful? So what? You said you’ve seen my photo-how is that possible!”

Catching the key point in Pearl’s words, the mysterious woman looked at the girl in surprise. Why wasn’t there any disgust in her eyes?

“Who are you really!”

Things were getting out of hand, making the mysterious woman angry. She demanded Pearl’s identity again.

The next second, Pearl hugged her tightly and cried on her shoulder.

“Mommy!”