Chapter 2

An hour later, I was sitting in a private room at Yummy House, on opposite sides of a round table with the crown prince, Randall Ashford.

Randall narrowed his sharp eyes, studying me intently. "Lady Sterling, the letter you sent says you can help me become King. Is that true?"

He scoffed, "How dare you, as a girl, speak such outrageous words?"

I lifted my chin, unfazed, and met his eyes. "But you still showed up, didn't you?"

The king was gravely ill, and all the princes were making their moves. The third prince had the queen's entire faction behind him, and the fifth prince was backed by powerful generals.

But Randall was a crown prince in name only.

If the king passed, Randall might not even live to see the next day.

Randall hadn't expected me to remain so calm under his harsh questioning, and for a moment, he looked genuinely puzzled.

"How can I trust you?" he asked.

I finally relaxed my sweaty, clenched fists under the table.

"I'm not asking you to trust me on blind faith, Your Highness," I said. "Three days from now, the Loxley River, not far from Kinsburg, will overflow because of heavy rain. I hope you'll move the people out ahead of time."

In my previous life, the Loxley River had burst its banks, flooding hundreds of villages and sending a wave of refugees into Kinsburg. The city had been in chaos for a hundred days.

It was the third prince who managed to quell the disaster, earning the trust of a whole group of steadfast officials who hadn't pledged loyalty to anyone yet.

"Utter nonsense," Randall snapped. "Those embankments on the Loxley River are as strong as ever. Even a hundred years from now, they'll still protect our land. Why would you have me move the people for no reason? What are you really after?"

"Do you take me for a fool?" he added.

I shook my head, looking him in the eye, sincere as ever. "No, Your Highness. You're someone who truly cares for the people and the kingdom."

When the refugees poured into Kinsburg, Randall was the first to give up all his savings to provide food for them, but there were simply too many, and it was never enough to truly solve the crisis.

The third prince did put an end to the disaster, but his method was to lure the refugees out to the outskirts of the city, then have them buried alive.

Seeing Randall hesitate, I stood up and bowed before him. "I swear on my life that every word I've said is true. If there's even a single lie, I'll gladly die to atone for it, and may I never find peace in the afterlife."

Randall stared at me in shock. Upon hearing my vow, his expression finally wavered.

I continued, "Your Highness, I know you care about the people. Think of those hundreds of villages. Could you really stand by and watch them lose everything if I'm right?"

"Fine." After a long silence, Randall finally nodded.

He stood up and walked over, towering above me with an icy stare. "If I get blamed for this, the Sterling family will vanish from this world."

When I got back to the courtyard with Daisy, I found my mother and brother sitting there, both looking furious.

Rosalind was curled up in my mother's arms, her eyes red and swollen.

As soon as I walked in, my mother snapped, "So you actually came home? Why didn't you just die out there? Bow now."

I blinked, totally lost. "What did I do wrong, Mother? Why do you want me to bow?"

Edward stormed over and kicked me hard behind the knee.

Pain exploded in my knees as I was forced down onto the stone slabs with a loud thud.

It was summer, and I was dressed lightly, so the pain shot through me like a knife.

"What did you do wrong?" my mother snapped. "Why did you make Rosalind wear so many ornaments on her head? Do you have any idea how much she was mocked today? They said she looked like some nouveau riche trying too hard."

I looked at my mother, my vision blurred with tears. "Is that what she told you? And you believed her?"

Rosalind's red eyes filled with fresh tears as she clutched my mother's arm, her voice trembling. "Aunt Amelia, please don't blame Charlotte. I'm sure she didn't mean it."

I shot her a furious glare, my voice cutting through the room. "Enough. What did I tell you this morning?

"Tell Mother the truth, or we'll march straight to the ancestral hall and swear before our ancestors. Whoever lies will be cursed to a lifetime of loneliness and a miserable death."

I was sure she wouldn't dare to swear in the ancestral hall before all of our ancestors.

Rosalind shrank back, nearly tripping over herself, her sobs echoing even louder.

Edward yanked out his riding whip and cracked it across my back. The pain was blinding, and I could feel my skin tearing open.

"Charlotte, how could you be so vicious?" he spat. "You're supposed to be the heiress of the Sterling family, and now you've disgraced us all."

My mother flinched, clearly startled that Edward would actually hurt me like that.

She didn't approve of his violence and told him to stop, but then immediately turned on me again, insisting I admit I was wrong.

Daisy couldn't take it anymore and snuck off to the backyard to bring my grandmother over.

My grandmother was old and had long stopped caring about the Sterling family's drama. These days, she mostly kept to herself and spent her time praying.

Still, her word carried real weight in the Sterling family.

When she saw the bloody welts on my back, she slapped Edward right across the face.

"You bastard, showing off your temper on your sister, huh?" she barked. "Get out. Lounging around the women's quarters all day. How do you expect to amount to anything?"

After getting slapped and yelled at by my grandma, Edward shot me a resentful glare before storming out.

Rosalind's face was something to behold. She slipped out of my mother's arms and stood obediently off to the side.

My mother stood up as well, letting my grandma take her seat.

After getting the gist of what happened, my grandma called over the servants who'd been around that morning. It didn't take long for her to get the whole story.

The servants all said that I'd actually tried to stop Rosalind from dressing up like that this morning, but she just made fun of me instead.

My mother looked at me, uneasy. "Charlotte, why didn't you just tell me? And you ended up getting whipped."

"Edward really had a terrible temper. I'll have a talk with him later," she added.

I spoke up, my voice loud and clear. "It's not that I didn't tell you, Mother. It's that you wouldn't believe me. In your eyes, I'll never be as good as Rosalind."

My grandma shot my mother a withering look. "I honestly don't know how someone as blind as you can exist. You neglect your own daughter and spoil someone else's. One day, you're going to regret it."

Then she turned to Rosalind. "And you? This is the Sterling family. Charlotte is the heiress of this house. Don't forget your place."

After that, my grandma fixed her gaze on me, her tone cool and resigned. "Get up. To be the heiress and end up like this? It's honestly just pitiful."

Before leaving, she let out a weary sigh. "I'm old now. I just can't protect this family anymore."

As soon as my grandma walked out, Rosalind let out a loud, wailing sob.

She bowed, crying to my mother. "Aunt Amelia, it's all my fault. I don't deserve a place in the Sterling family. Just let me leave. Live or die, it's all up to fate."

My mother shot me a look, then pulled Rosalind into her arms, holding her close and soothing her with soft words, her heart aching for her.

She didn't spare even a single word of comfort for me.