a P

at. In the hallway, my loyal maid, Clara Hayes, was waiting with a small trunk containing the last

ear the muffled sound of a crashing object from

ou've done, you

ad planted were already sprouting. But I wasn't

, "I need you to do something for me. Go back to the parlor door. Tell

nodded, her loyalty absolute.

y voice cold and precise. "Why is it th

onan was my father's bastard son by his long-time mistress, Princess

ss long before he married Eleonora. It was a deeply humiliating secret, a stain on Ele

luck in her marriage negotiations. And that I do hope her intended's family

iece of blackmail to ensure they

ited by the main doors. A few moments later, I heard a woman's hyst

ession shaken. "I delive

aid simply,

long, Clara recounted the scene. How my father's face had gone ashen, and ho

last rotten ties that bound me to this family. I had not just taken my money; I had shattered the foundation of their marriage. From

the distance. A strange lightness filled my chest. It felt as if a heavy, invisib

to the ghost of the girl whose body I now inhabite

ast vestiges of the original Anja's sorrow and

s already

turn to the

: Secure

leb Burke with a petition for

r my freedom