After I Was Reduced to Ashes, the Vampire Prince Went Mad

Evelyn is an orphan adopted by the Vandome family and has known since childhood that she is merely a substitute for her sister Cecilia. After the true daughter Cecilia is found, Evelyn becomes utterly superfluous. She marries Victor purely to fulfill a marriage alliance for the gravely ill Cecilia. Forced to abort two pregnancies in three years, she receives not even a glance from Victor. When Cecilia's bloodline backlash leaves her near death, Eleanor forces the just-miscarried Evelyn to sign a soul blood pact, promising to donate her heart's source blood to save her sister. Victor knows of it but assumes it is ordinary blood donation, unaware the pact hides a fatal clause of draining her alive. Evelyn is thrown into the blood sacrifice chamber, where the source blood is drawn from her inch by inch, tearing her soul with pain. Over three years together, Victor has fallen in love with Evelyn and decides to spend the rest of his life with her, yet she ignores his attempts to please her. Evelyn walks alone onto the manor terrace, pushes open every sunshade curtain, and lets the blazing sun pour down. Her skin ignites with ghostly blue flames, and she turns to ash in the sunlight. Victor rushes back like a madman and catches only a fragment of her skirt's embers. He investigates furiously and uncovers ironclad evidence of his adoptive mother's abuse, forced abortions, and tampering with the blood pact dosage. Feigning obedience, he activates a memory-recording array at Cecilia's ennoblement ceremony, publicly exposing the crimes. The Vandome family is stripped of its title by the council and exiled to the Sunscorch Lands, where Eleanor is burned to death by the sun along the way. With revenge complete, Victor walks to the center of the square. Noon sunlight pierces the clouds, and in a daze Evelyn stands in the light in the white dress from their first meeting, reaching out to him. Victor throws away his parasol and walks into the blinding flames.