She Burned in Sunlight, He Burned the World

Synopsis

Evelyn is an orphan adopted by the Vandome family. From a young age, she knew she was merely a substitute for her older sister, Cecilia. After the real Cecilia was found, Evelyn became utterly superfluous in the family. Her marriage to Victor was purely a political alliance to replace the ailing Cecilia. Forced to abort two fetuses over three years, Victor didn't even glance at them. Cecilia suffered a backlash from her bloodline and was on the verge of death. Eleanor forced the recently miscarried Evelyn to sign a soul blood pact, promising to donate her heart's blood to save her sister. Victor knew about this but assumed it was just a normal blood donation, completely unaware of the deadly clause in the contract that involved draining her life force. Evelyn was taken to a blood sacrifice chamber, where her life force was slowly drained away by an array, causing her excruciating pain that tore her soul apart. Victor had already fallen in love with Evelyn during their three years together and decided to spend the rest of his life with her, but she ignored his attempts to win her over. Evelyn walked alone to the manor terrace, pushed aside all the sunshades, and let the blazing sun pour down. Her skin ignited with a ghostly blue flame, turning into ashes in the sunlight. Victor rushed back to the manor like a madman, catching only a stray fragment of her skirt. He investigated frantically, uncovering irrefutable evidence of his foster mother's abuse of Evelyn, forced abortion, and alteration of blood pact dosages. He feigned compliance, activating the image-recording array at Cecilia's coronation ceremony. The evidence of his foster mother's abuse of her adopted daughter and the murder through excessive bloodletting was publicly exposed. The Vandome family was stripped of their titles by the council and exiled to the land of the blazing sun; Eleanor was burned alive by the sun during her exile. With his revenge complete, Victor walked to the center of the square. The midday sun pierced through the clouds. In a daze, Evelyn, wearing the white dress she wore when they first met, stood in the light, reaching out to him. Victor threw away his parasol and walked towards the blinding flames.