Her Majestic Battle Cry

Chapter 1045

Although the authorities hadn’t been alerted, the truth had already been uncovered through Rowan’s investigation and Giles‘ admission. The only remaining question was whether the Marquis of Ironridge and Margaret had known about Emma’s actions and chosen to cover for her.

The entire scheme had indeed been orchestrated by Emma, with Giles and several of her trusted maids tasked with carrying it out.

The reason behind it was simple–Emma knew her time was running out.

Around this same time, Leopold had told her he planned to take another secondary wife to manage the household. He had already chosen the candidate: Flora, who had recently entered the household as a concubine.

In other words, Leopold had intended to marry her as his secondary wife from the start. While secondary wives were technically concubines, they held a higher status than common concubines as they were still rightful wives.

When Leopold spoke of Flora, he had admiration in his eyes. He mentioned that her father was a scholar and that she was a well–mannered, cultured woman who would be perfect to manage the household.

After inquiring more about Flora, Emma learned that she was young and beautiful. She had once been engaged, but her fiancé had died, leaving her unmarried well into her twenties.

Emma was deeply familiar with Leopold, so she immediately declared that Flora was unlucky and couldn’t bear the title of secondary wife. If he truly liked her, he should just take her as a concubine, not a rightful wife.

Leopold was well aware of the objections raised by Emma, and he understood that her words were her way of blocking Flora’s entry as a secondary wife. Yet, despite this opposition, Leopold couldn’t deny his feelings. After much consideration, he ultimately decided to marry Flora anyway.

The night Flora entered the household, Emma’s condition worsened. She felt a deep sense of despair, realizing that after so many years of marriage, there was no longer any affection between her and Leopold. Naturally, she began to plot for the future of her own children.

After Flora entered the household, Leopold stayed in her room nearly every night. It wasn’t long before she became pregnant.

Emma had been managing the household for years, so she had deep connections both inside and outside the estate. Because she had experienced a miscarriage before, she was well–acquainted with the physician who dealt with gynecological issues. After a bribe of five hundred silver coins, the pregnancy supplement was quietly swapped for Redroot

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Chapter 1045

Restorative.

Due to Flora’s discomfort during her pregnancy, her mom, Barbara, was called to stay with her. Meanwhile, Emma asked Serena to assist, taking responsibility for brewing the medicine.

The medicine was provided by the physician, and the kitchen staff was watching when it was brewed. After taking the medicine, Flora didn’t feel any significant discomfort. The physician visited daily and confirmed that the pregnancy was stable, so neither Flora nor Barbara had any reason to suspect anything.

At first, Jessica wasn’t involved in the whole scheme at all. However, after a few arguments between her and Barbara, Jessica instructed Serena to secretly administer a dose of laxatives to Barbara.

Such a golden opportunity was not one Emma would let slip by.

Serena was in charge of administering and changing the medication. The dosage, carefully decided by the physician, was enough to cause Flora to miscarry and damage her health permanently. (1

Since Jessica became involved in this, Emma knew the only way to eliminate any future complications was to have her removed from the household. But Margaret was kind- hearted. When Flora miscarried, Jessica was not divorced or cast out.

Then came the incident of Serena being pushed into the lake. With both events happening together, Emma cried in front of Margaret. She said that her life was coming to an end and complained that Jessica, the primary wife, was ruthless and cruel. Now, she had even harmed Flora’s unborn child and a concubine. When Emma died, wouldn’t Jessica become

even more vicious?

She wept bitterly, begging Margaret to let her children be sent away to the countryside to avoid Jessica mistreating them. She wanted them to grow up there, marry there, and never return to Ironridge Estate.

Margaret couldn’t bear to part with her grandchildren, but at that moment, news broke about Jessica being involved in usury. In a fit of anger, she finally decided to cast her daughter–in–law out, citing her lack of children as the reason.

However, Emma and Serena never imagined that, cornered and with nowhere else to go, Jessica would seek refuge at Skye Embroidery. At first, the workshop refused to take her in,

even having a scandal over it. That made Emma breathe a sigh of relief.

But that relief was short–lived. She soon learned that Hannah eventually decided to let Jessica stay at the workshop. That forced her to resort to any means necessary to ruin the workshop’s reputation and get Jessica kicked out.

Unfortunately, Emma passed away before her plan could succeed.