c_l_dd

She was the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy family—abandoned by her father, oppressed by his legal wife, and humiliated by the so-called sister. She watched her mother perish in a raging fire and was thrown into the flames herself.
Her name was Janice. And she died in that fire.
Ten years later, under a new identity and the name “Janet,” she survives in silence. Forced by her stepmother to marry a wealthy heir rumored to be "paralyzed and disabled," she becomes entangled in a vicious struggle of family betrayal and ruthless power games.
With cold eyes, she watches the hypocrites who once trampled her into the mud—one by one, they will become prey on her road to revenge.
Her wheelchair-bound "husband" Philip, the feuding brothers Charles and August… But what she didn't expect was that the boy who once quietly handed her a handkerchief all those years ago would become the most unpredictable piece in her game of fate.
She has returned—not for hatred, but to personally end the past that was once crushed beneath their feet.

The Illegitimate Flame: Bride of Ashes

She couldn't believe she had kept feeling pity for him. Even if August hadn't directly done that deed, he was definitely involved. Yet he had just stood by and watched her fall right into their trap. Janet desperately wanted to know what kind of mindset he had when facing her afterward.

It turned out that from the very beginning, he had been using her as a pawn to get back at Charles. Janet had suspected his intentions before but refused to accept it. Now, with the truth staring her in the face, she had no choice but to admit her own foolishness.

She even began to doubt whether the dark stories Manfred had told her were fabrications made by them.

"Well..." Janet muttered, feeling frustrated with herself. Looking into Charles's affectionate eyes, she felt the smile in his gaze as he gently brushed her nose and softly asked, "Then, will you see him again?"

Chapter 92- in France