Evelyn's gaze settled on me.
"You could have gone after anyone. But not him."
Her voice was ice.
"As of today, you and I are no longer husband and wife."
Because I'd poached her beloved's people, she'd sentenced our marriage to death.
I laughed. Bitter and hollow.
"Good. I didn't want to be your consort anyway."
In the span of half a year.
I'd received two divorce decrees.
Everything I'd earned through my own business.
By law, it all belonged to the princess's household.
Evelyn tossed me half without a second thought.
She was just like my brother.
She looked down on every cent I'd made.
I secured a merchant's license for a trade route.
And started a business on the river.
After that public beating in broad daylight, almost no one in Kingsport dared work for me anymore.
I had no choice but to hire workers from out of town.
Elmer, on the other hand, had it easy.
With a princess backing him up, he had leverage I didn't.
Workers were conscripted and forced to labor under his command.
But at two copper coins a month, people started fleeing before long.
Some disguised themselves as out-of-towners and came to work on my ship instead.