A splitting headache forced Hannah Storey to open her eyes.

What she saw next was a weeping face.

Clad in a white dress, the woman was kneeling on the ground, like a little solitary dandelion in the wind, a sight arousing sympathy. 

Memories washed over like a tide, forcing Hannah to accept reality. She had time-traveled.

The body of the girl she now inhabited had belonged to Hannah Storey. She was the legitimate first young lady of the Duke Peace Mansion in the Quinnes Kingdom, and also the fiancee of the First Prince, Sawyer Talbot.

But she was not the one whom Sawyer wanted to marry. It was the weak and soft girl, Lanica Zanes, who was kneeling in front of her.

Now that the two of them had a baby on the way, they wanted Hannah to annul the engagement and allow the two to live happily ever after together.

If only Hannah had not been so deeply in love with the First Prince to the exclusion of everything else, she wouldn't have fainted and died from heartbreak after seeing the girl's protruding belly. 

The eldest maid, Springer, supported her and said with a distressed face:

"Miss, the afternoon sun is scorching down. You're in poor health. Why don't we go back to your room and have a rest?"

Hannah nodded and turned to go back to her room.

Seeing this, Lanica, hurriedly said,

"Miss Storey, please. I'm begging you to allow Sawyer to take me as a concubine. The fault is mine to bear, but the child is innocent."

The surrounding area was already crowded with people gossiping and pointing at them. The scene was as lively as you could imagine a show could be.

According to the rules of the Quinnes Kingdom, before a legal wife married into the family, a man was prohibited from having a concubine, let alone a child.

Hannah had yet to perform the marriage rites, but Lanica had gotten pregnant and was insisting that Sawyer marry her first. What was that if not a slap in her face?

If she agreed, she would lose face.

But if she refused, she would be accused of being jealous.

Serrah Storey, who was standing not far away, wore a gloating look on her face.

Hannah turned around and looked at Lanica coldly, asking,

"Was I the one who knocked you up?"

It was a sentence with as much nonchalance as there was contempt.

Dismayed by her response, Lanica looked at Hannah in a daze and even forgot to weep.

A child was a woman's token to be accepted by her in-laws; it was everything to a woman in ancient times. But Hannah had actually dared to speak to her in such a contemptuous tone. Was it because of the severe shock that she had completely taken leave of her senses?

However, in this situation her best course of action was to appeal to everyone's sympathy. She could not just talk back to Hannah. 

Seeing that Lanica was reticent, Hannah growled from the back of her throat.

"Answer. My. Question!"

Lanica's heart skipped a beat as she blurted out, "No."

She regretted it as soon as she said that. Why did she have to be so obedient?

But a word spoken is past recalling. She couldn't take back what she had said. 

Hannah's lips curled into a cold smile. "If I wasn't the one who knocked you up, then why are you here?"

Lanica was stunned.

Hannah, who was supposed to be infatuated with the First Prince, was behaving as though everything had nothing to do with her. 

At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted,

"Miss Storey is the acknowledged consort. When a concubine marries into the family, she naturally needs the consort's approval. It's not wrong for Miss Zanes to come and beg you."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone echoed,

"That's true."

"With a child on the way, the Prince will have to marry her sooner or later. Miss Storey, just grant her the approval."

"It's very important for a consort and a concubine to get along well with each other. Let's make peace with each other. Don't let the mere trifles erode your relationship."

Voices rose and fell. 

Sweeping her gaze across the crowd, Hannah said lightly,

"I'm yet to become a consort. I have no jurisdiction over this matter."

Just as she was about to turn around, she saw a horse galloping toward her, sitting on which was a tall and handsome man.

The man was dressed in a purple brocade robe and looked noble. It was none other than the First Prince, Sawyer Talbot.

In an instant, Sawyer dismounted and made his way to Lanica. With a distressed look, he helped her up.

"You're with a child, you ought to be careful. What are you doing here on such a hot day? What if something bad happens to you?"

Lanica threw herself into his arms and began to whine and sob.

"I don't wish for my child to be called an illegitimate child as soon as he was born, so I came here to plead for Miss Storey's blessing. But Miss Storey doesn't seem to want to give us her blessing..."

Hannah interrupted her sobs with detached objectivity.

"Oh, so you do know that illegitimate children are frowned upon. What, did you throw that to the back of your mind when you were spreading your legs open? Did I force you to make a baby? A wench like you is whining and weeping like you're some saint. That reminds me—if a woman got pregnant out of wedlock, she would be drowned in a pig cage. Oh, is this what the world has come to?"

Springer continued:

"Miss, only the powerless young lady would be drowned in a pig cage. Miss Zanes is pregnant with the child of the First Prince. She is carrying a very precious seed. How could she be drowned in a pig cage?"

Smiling, Hannah said, "Ha, the appeal of power and influence. It must be utterly enviable if it makes one commit shameless acts in such a self-righteous manner."

As soon as she said that, everyone was stunned.

Hannah had always been submissive, weak, and easy to bully. But the Hannah on this day was the antithesis of all that.

Wasn't she afraid of offending the First Prince?

Sure enough, as soon as Hannah finished speaking, Sawyer flew into a rage.

He stared at her heavily made-up face and said in a low voice,

"Hannah Storey, you've made a fool of yourself. I'm going to divorce you today."

"Divorce me? Divorce me how?" She sneered. "Divorce means the legal dissolution of a marriage. Are we in a marriage, pray tell?"

Unexpectedly, Hannah was so sharp-tongued that it confounded Sawyer. He said through his gritted teeth, "I can break off the engagement."

Break off the engagement?

Everyone gasped.

Who would dare to marry a woman who had been rejected by the royal family?

If the First Prince broke off the engagement, Hannah's life would be over.

What's more, it was a fact known to all that Hannah loved the First Prince deeply. How could she bear the blow?

Taking a step back was the best choice when the price to fight was too high. Swallowing the insult and humiliation was the way to go.

Hannah had always been doing very well in the past. Until this day.

There was a hint of complacency in Lanica's eyes.

As if they were saying to her, "Hannah, you may be the noble and legitimate young lady of the Duke Peace Mansion, but in the face of love, you can only lie at my feet."

Serrah was also excited.

"Things are looking good!" she mumbled to herself. As soon as Hannah broke off the engagement, she would have a chance to become the consort of the First Prince.

Seeing that Hannah was deep in thought, Sawyer snorted coldly with a look of disdain.

"What, you can't take it? It's too late. Even if you cry yourself to death in front of me today, my heart will never soften."

A faint smile played on Hannah's lips.

"If you want to break off the engagement, be my guest. Return me the Purple Copper Flower."

It was because Hannah's deceased mother had saved Sawyer's life with the Purple Copper Flower that they were engaged.

Now that he was going to break off the engagement, he naturally had to return the Purple Copper Flower.

He didn't expect Hannah to agree to break off the engagement. Sawyer couldn't react for a moment and looked at her in a daze.

Seeing this, Lanica hurriedly raised her tearful face and said with grievance and anger,

"Miss Storey, you're deliberately making things difficult for me."

The Purple Copper Flower only sprouted after thirty years, developed its first set of leaves in another thirty years, and came into bloom after another thirty years had passed. It was a rarity that was hard to come by. 

Even if he found it in the end, how many years would he have to wait? Would he let her child remain an illegitimate child?