"Is there anything else?"
Lillian Bancroft stood up and sat down beside her.
"Do you despise me this much now?" His impeccably handsome face was clouded with a bleak coldness.
"If you were in my shoes, would you be happy? I don't think you can possibly understand this feeling—a feeling worse than death. To you, it might be nothing, but to me, what you're doing is going to ruin my entire life."
He seized her by the chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Do you have any idea how many women would kill to be in your position? And yet you, of all people, refuse!"
"I just want to be with the person I love. Our family of three, together. That's all I want. Please, just let me go."
"Don't even think about it!" He flung her away and shot to his feet, looking down on her. "Rest well this month. Next month, get ready to conceive my child. As soon as you're pregnant, I'll give you your freedom within the Imperial Palace. You can see Dorothy whenever you want, just like before."
