Episode 1

"Will this truly be my end...?" Ariana asked weakly, lying on an old cot, her body already deteriorated to the point that now she was nothing more than a vegetable unable to move, on the verge of death.

"This is bullshit... I didn't want to end like this... I just wanted Morgan to love me... I'm his damn wife but he didn't even give me a warm look despite me saving his life... no one in this damn empire looked at me with any sympathy at all... everything was shit and now that I can't feel anything, I just want to die..."

Ariana laments in her thoughts as tears stream from her eyes and run down her cheeks without stopping.

A miserable life, that is the only definition that can be given to the life of Ariana de Sia, the wife of Archduke Morgan de Sia and princess of the Wihann empire.

Ariana, being the last in the line of succession of the emperor, the third daughter and only woman, and only because she was born a woman and not a man as the emperor and empress wanted, Ariana was never loved by her family, even her brothers ignored her. Ariana was raised by a servant in her own palace since she was a baby. As a princess, she never lacked anything material because even though she was not loved by her parents, she was still the emperor's daughter and never lacked luxuries or an excellent education. Ariana was a princess and was raised as such.

Although what she longed for most was the love of her parents and brothers, and she always tried very hard to be perfect in everything, thinking that her family would be proud, but that never happened. No matter how hard she tried to excel in all possible fields of society, she never received more than a dry and emotionless congratulation from her father, or even a reprimand when she did things or got involved in matters "that were not for women."

All this caused Ariana to only worsen in her obsession with being perfect. Having grown up without any affection led her to the extreme, sacrificing herself in order to please those she loved and longed for to love her too.

But everything was useless. In the end, none of her efforts had results, and once Ariana reached her majority, she was given in marriage to the young Archduke Morgan de Sia once he returned from the war, ceasing to be a princess to become the Archduchess of Sia.

And although Ariana had known Morgan since childhood and had always been in love with him, there was something that afflicted her too much, because it was no secret to anyone that the young archduke was in love with the rose of the empire, the daughter of Duke Voran, Miss Lucia, who was loved by the entire empire for being a humble and kind-hearted young woman who was kind to everyone regardless of their status. Many were in love with her, but the main suitors were Morgan and Ariana's older brother, the heir prince Stephan. Between the two, a literal war broke out for Lucia's love, but in the end, the winner was Stephan because, to remove Morgan from the path, he sent him to the war on the border, and thus he could stay with Lucia, making her his fiancee and then his wife.

And the second fact that afflicted her was that she was not even seen as a wife. Ariana was only a medicine given to Morgan as a reward for winning the war.

Morgan was cursed during the war, and this curse was destined to kill him, gradually deteriorating his body.

But there was a solution, and that was Ariana, or rather her blood, since Ariana was the last heiress of the so-called miraculous blood that was granted to the first emperor as a blessing from God and inherited from generation to generation, but over time this blood was lost, and after almost a hundred years, Ariana was the only one who inherited it.

A miraculous blood capable of curing any evil, disease, wound, or curse.

And Ariana knows that the only reason why her parents, despite not loving her at all, continued to maintain her was because of her miraculous blood, which could be useful at some point, and that moment came when Morgan returned victorious from the war but with that curse, although they often used it to heal the princes or emperors when they became seriously ill.

Morgan didn't love her at all either. He only accepted her as what she was in the eyes of the emperors, a useful medicine at that moment. Instead, he came to hate Ariana for being the brother of the one who snatched away the woman he loved in such a dirty way, so Morgan didn't bother to hide his hatred towards Ariana, regardless of the situation, turning Ariana into the mockery of society as the despised wife who was only accepted by the archduke as a cure for his curse, and it was obvious that once the curse was completely cured, Ariana would be discarded.

But despite being aware of all that, Ariana still clung to her love for Morgan and, regardless of his contempt, she always worried about him and watched over his comfort, taking care of him and doing everything possible to make him happy.

But everything was useless. Once Morgan's curse was cured, he left for war again, leaving Ariana alone at the mercy of everyone without any protection.

Without the archduke, no one respected Ariana because everyone considered her the despised wife whom not even her family loved or respected. She was nothing more than a useless woman who deserved nothing.

Ariana, at that point, was already tired of everything. At that point, she didn't care about anything and only longed to have some peace in her life, which was a shit.

Treated like a commoner inside her own mansion, the maids abused her, beat her, and took her things, and she couldn't do anything since even the butler hated her and considered her an embarrassment as the archduke's wife, and when Ariana tried to ask her family for help, she only received more beatings and was locked up and forbidden from leaving the archduchy. In the end, no one cared about what happened to her, and the servants wouldn't lose the luxuries they were giving themselves at her expense for anything.

The years passed being a victim of all kinds of abuse in that mansion, and Ariana, tired of all that shit, didn't want to suffer anymore and simply lay down to starve to death in the basement bed where they kept her locked up for more than two years.

The days passed, and her body weakened to the point that she could no longer move. Ariana's death was near, but she never imagined that even on her deathbed they wouldn't leave her in peace.

That night, some guards burst into the basement and, like an animal, dragged her outside, taking her out of the mansion where a carriage was waiting for her, into which they put her and took her away.

Ariana didn't care about anything, so she just remained inert and let herself be taken wherever they took her.

The carriage stopped, and Ariana was again dragged outside, realizing that they had taken her to the imperial palace. They kept dragging her, and she could only hear the murmurs of the servants looking at her with horror, frightened by her emaciated and dying appearance.

The guards dragged her to a room where they put her and threw her on a bed, then left and closed the door.

Ariana didn't even care what was happening. Her thoughts were lost at this point, she couldn't feel any emotion. Her only wish was to die once and for all.

A few minutes later, the door of the room was opened abruptly, giving way to Stephan who was shocked to see the state in which Ariana was.

"W-what the hell happened to you...?" he managed to ask, approaching.

Ariana simply looked at him without any emotion in her eyes and said nothing, she simply continued to observe how surprised her older brother was.

"Why have they brought me here...?" Ariana asked with her weak, lifeless voice.

Stephan looks at her ashamed and suddenly kneels at the edge of the bed taking Ariana's hand.

"Please sister, save my wife!" he begs, making Ariana understand everything.

"Lucia is about to die, her delivery was complicated and now her life is in danger, the doctors say there is nothing to do because she has lost a lot of blood and the healing magic no longer works, they say that only a miracle could save her, please sister you can save her, give me your blood please" he pleads desperately.

Ariana simply averted her gaze to the ceiling and once again thought that she wanted to die and feel the absolute peace of death.

"I want to die and rest from all this shit once and for all..." she exclaimed weakly, surprising Stephan with her words, but at that moment he didn't even care about Ariana's condition, he simply wanted her blood to save Lucia, she was the most important thing at that moment for him.

The reason why Stephan was asking for Ariana's consent was because without her consent the blood would have no effect.

"You can take my blood... take it all, down to the last drop... until you leave me lifeless... that is the only thing I wish... I want to die once and for all... grant it to me as a payment for saving your beloved, grant me the death that I long for so much..." Ariana says weakly looking towards the ceiling.

Stephan for the first time seriously wondered what the hell had happened to his sister that she wanted nothing more than death, but beyond caring about it. he was only worried about his wife and if Ariana wanted to die, let it be after saving her.

"Okay" says Stephan with a lump in his throat and a strange discomfort in his chest that he decides to ignore and immediately has the doctor and his assistant enter the room who simply ignore Ariana's state and with the prince's order the doctor approaches taking Ariana's wrist to cut it and put a container underneath where the blood fell.

With her body weakened to this point, the slightest loss of blood would be fatal and Ariana knows it and is happy about it, she will finally have some peace, death will give her the peace that life could not and that is why she surrenders to it.

A little more than a liter of blood came out of her body and not even a drop more flowed leaving Ariana completely without strength feeling how her life was slowly going away.

She simply kept looking at the ceiling until her mind completely faded away and Ariana finally got what she longed for so much; death, or at least that's what she thought...

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***