Strangely enough, apart from the possibility that she had taken advantage of her cousin's serious illness to pursue the Duke of Anjou, Lina couldn't help feeling a certain admiration for her.
It wasn't that she approved of everything Chloe had done. Rather, she understood how difficult it must have been for a young woman to survive in a world where power belonged almost entirely to men, political alliances could determine one's fate, and a single mistake could lead to ruin. Lina had experienced only a few days of Chloe's life, yet she had already died three times. Every decision seemed to carry hidden dangers, and every person she encountered might have been concealing a motive of their own.
