Damon decided to ignore the strange voice. He had important business to finish. He wanted to deal with this woman quickly. He was informed that Lady Camilla was a spy who made a deal with his uncle. Her clingy behavior was all an act. He just wanted her out of his house. He wanted peace.
Damon dropped his hand from his forehead. His eyes locked onto Camilla. His gaze was cold, sharp, and full of dislike.
"You can come in," Damon ordered. His actual voice was deep and powerful. It commanded respect.
Camilla stopped admiring his chest and remembered her situation. She was currently the prime suspect for his attempted murder.
She put on a blank, emotionless face. She walked slowly toward the center of the room. She stopped a few feet away from his wheelchair. She did not greet him. She did not look scared. She just stood there, looking at him calmly.
Damon did not understand her calm attitude. Usually, she would be fidgeting and holding her hands together, begging him to look at her. Today, she stood straight and looked him right in the eye.
He ignored the change in her behavior. He turned his head slightly to the ordinary young man standing next to the fireplace.
"Kade," Damon spoke firmly. "Bring the papers."
Kade nodded his head. He stepped forward. His heavy boots clicked against the stone floor. He opened the brown leather folder in his hands. He took out a small stack of thick, white papers. The papers were covered in neat, black writing and had a large red wax seal at the bottom.
Kade handed the papers down to Damon. Damon took them with one hand. He did not even look at the writing. He knew exactly what they said. He had paid his lawyers a lot of money to write them perfectly.
Damon held the papers out toward Camilla.
"Here," Damon said. His voice showed no emotion. "Sign the divorce agreement. Once you sign your name at the bottom, our contract is officially over. You will no longer be my wife. You will leave this house today."
Camilla reached out her hand and took the thick papers. They felt heavy. She looked at the front page. The title was clearly written: Decree of Divorce and Separation of Assets.
Before she could speak, Damon raised his hand. Another guard stepped forward from the shadows of the room. The guard was carrying a small, heavy wooden chest made of dark oak and bound with iron strips. He walked over to a nearby table and placed the chest down.
The guard opened the heavy lid. Inside, the chest was filled to the top with shiny, round gold coins. The gold caught the light from the windows and sparkled brightly. It was a lot of money.
Damon pointed to the chest.
"Here is also a hundred thousand gold coins," Damon stated. He looked at Camilla, expecting to see her eyes widen in shock at the huge amount of wealth. "It is your compensation for the one year you spent in this marriage. It is more than enough for you to buy a small house in the countryside and live comfortably for the rest of your life. Take the money, sign the paper, and never return."
Camilla looked at the open chest of gold. Then, she looked down at the divorce papers in her hands. She slowly began to read the fine print on the first page.
The room was completely silent. The guards watched her. Kade watched her. Damon watched her closely. He waited for the drama.
Instead, Camilla just scoffed.
She let out a short, quiet breath of air from her nose. It sounded like a mix of a laugh and a sigh of disappointment.
Camilla kept her eyes on the papers, but her mind was working very fast.
"A hundred thousand gold coins?" Camilla thought to herself. Her internal voice was loud and full of annoyance. "Is this a joke? Is he trying to insult me?"
She turned to the second page of the divorce agreement. She did not look up.
"Isn't the Benson family supposed to be among the richest in the entire kingdom?" she continued thinking in her mind. "The author of the novel said so herself in chapter four. They own five diamond mines, three huge shipping ports, and thousands of acres of farming land. They have more money than the King!"
She flipped to the final page where the signature line was located.
"And he has the absolute effrontery to compensate me with only a hundred thousand gold coins?" she thought. She was genuinely offended by the low amount. "That is like giving someone a single penny after borrowing their car for a year. That chest of gold is basically pocket change to him. I was legally his wife. I should be getting at least one diamond mine!"
Camilla slowly shook her head, staring at the blank line where she was supposed to sign her name.
"I really do not understand men," she thought, letting out a mental sigh. "I do not understand why good-looking men are always so incredibly stingy with their money. He has a body like a god, but a wallet like a cheap, greedy merchant."
Damon sat frozen in his wheelchair.
His eyes were completely wide. His jaw dropped open slightly. He forgot about the pain in his leg. He forgot about the guards in the room.
He heard every single word she just thought. It was not a hallucination. The voice in his head sounded exactly like her voice, just louder and clearer. She was not crying about the divorce. She was not worried about being framed for murder. She was complaining that he was cheap.
She had just insulted his wealth, praised his body, and called him a greedy merchant all in the span of ten seconds.
Damon stared at her calm face as she read the papers. He could not believe what he was hearing. Her mouth wasn't moving but she was talking.
"What?" Damon whispered to himself out loud. His voice was filled with absolute shock and total confusion.