Emma Shaw - Part 2

Hiroto felt it wasn't enough for all the trouble he had to go through, but he couldn't complain. He had been under the same conditions when he was accused of attacking her. As a noble, the normal laws didn't apply to her.

The Shaw family would have to compensate for the damages. But the Rodrick family wasn't clean either; their eldest son, Carl, was also an accomplice.

A few days after Emma woke up, she confessed everything. The truth of the matter was that Emma had initially been forced to marry Hemal, but she was okay with that, believing it was her duty as a noble lady to endure it for her family. Talking to Hemal, she realized he wasn't a bad person and was relieved, thinking the marriage would be manageable.

But everything changed when she saw Hemal's standing in his family. The Shaw family had agreed to the marriage to gain power through the Rodrick family. She was just a tool to achieve that. 

Emma began to worry about what would happen to her if she couldn't achieve anything. Would her family abandon her? She thought of a way to explain it all to her family, believing they would understand. But she was wrong.

"You don't have to achieve anything," her father had told her. "Just become a bond between the Shaw and Rodrick families. That's all you need to do."

She wanted to run away. Because she knew that once this marriage happened, she would just become a nobody, a nobody that anyone could step on. She wasn't okay with that.

It was just a typical day. She was in Hemal's room, where he was whining about how his family bullied him. She wanted him to shut up and stop acting like a victim. But she knew it was wrong to think that. Hemal had done nothing wrong. It was his family and the other nobles who were bad. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

Emma wasn't in her right mind. She saw a knife on the table. Before she knew it, she was holding it and making cuts on herself. Hemal stopped her, and she realized what she was doing. Hemal looked at her, confused. She wanted to explain everything to Hemal, thinking he would understand her. But before she could do anything, guards rushed in. They misunderstood the situation, and Hemal was accused of harming Emma.

She wanted to clarify that he didn't do anything wrong. But it was too late for that. It had become an enormous problem between the two families. If she were to step up now, her family would have to take the blame. So she kept silent. She thought Hemal's reputation was already ruined; what more could happen with just one more incident? Her engagement was abolished, but that wasn't the end.

Her father, who genuinely wanted a connection with the Rodrick family, somehow convinced Fred to arrange a marriage between Carl and Emma. Emma had heard about Carl through Hemal's stories. She knew what kind of person he was. She was at her limit and wanted to declare that she didn't like this marriage, but she didn't. She was a coward, afraid of what would happen after that.

At the banquet, she saw Hemal for the first time after the incident. He looked fine, but something about him had changed. He looked even better than he previously had. It was like his gloomy aura was gone. But no one was talking to him. Their eyes met, and she turned away in guilt. After that, he never looked at her again. She thought maybe she had broken him, and he was putting on an act. After the announcement of the marriage, Hemal was nowhere to be found.

She had her first meeting with Carl after that. He was nothing like the stories that Hemal told. For once, Emma doubted Hemal, wondering if he was even telling the truth. She decided to tell Carl everything, including how she didn't want to marry him. To her surprise, Carl also didn't want to marry her. She thought they could cancel the marriage, but Carl had something else in mind. He wanted them to act as a couple for now. Later, they would put an end to the marriage. But time wasn't on their side. The wedding date was decided soon. She contacted Carl, and he reassured her that everything would go according to the plan.

But he was wrong. Everything fell apart. Hemal saw them fighting. He protected Emma.

"Why?" 

Emma wasn't sure why he would protect her after all she had done. Carl had plotted against Hemal. Emma understood that what Hemal told her about Carl was all true. But now she was also part of it. She kept her silence once again. She thought nothing would happen like last time. She could abolish this marriage under the pretext that Rodrick had attacked her again. Like always, things never went as she wanted. The princess of the kingdom revealed everything, and now everything was over.

Emma sat on her bed, staring at nothing, lost in her thoughts. She counted all the events that had led to this moment. Where had it all gone wrong? Was it when she framed Hemal? Was it when her marriage to Carl was decided? Was it when they tried to pin the blame on Hemal yet again?

She felt disgusted with herself, not knowing what she had become. Still, she wanted someone to comfort her and tell her everything would be alright.

Where was Carl? What would Hemal do? What would happen now? These were the least of her worries. She no longer knew what she desired from all of this. What was it all for? She had been fine marrying Hemal, so why had she done all this?

No... She wasn't fine with it. She was being forced to marry into the Rodrick family for the sake of her own family. Emma thought she could sacrifice herself for them and kill her happiness. But she was naive. Before she knew it, everything was out of her hands, but nothing had been in her hands.

A tear fell down her cheek.