Chapter 3
Because that day, at the Ardving City hunting grounds, the girl drenched in blood, clutching the Emperor's leg, crying and begging him, "Don't die," was me.
The girl who threw her frail body in front of the Emperor, desperately fighting off the assassins, was me.
The girl who finally collapsed from exhaustion after the imperial guards arrived, only to have her proof of merit stolen and all her achievements erased, was me.
Viviana stole my life and took my identity, and now she wanted to snatch away my glory and my future, too.
Did she ever even ask if I was willing?
As soon as I finished speaking, the entire hall fell into a deathly silence again.
Everyone's eyes turned to Viviana.
She could no longer maintain that helpless facade.
Her lips quivered, her eyes flitting in panic, like a frightened creature trapped by a hunter.
Everett was left speechless.
The details I laid out were so thorough and so specific that it was impossible to believe I was making them up.
He turned to Viviana, and for the first time, real doubt showed in his eyes.
"Viviana, is what she's saying... true? You... you told me you used a handkerchief to bandage my uncle's wounds..." Everett stammered.
Viviana flinched hard.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Right, what could she even say now?
All she really knew was that the Emperor got attacked and hurt, and someone stepped in to save him.
And that person was me, her little sister, just dragged back from the sticks, the one she absolutely despised.
So, with Maverick quietly letting it happen, she waited until I was knocked out, swiped the jade pendant from my arms, scratched herself a bit for show, and then went bawling to claim all the glory.
As for how I actually saved the Emperor, what kind of poison he was hit with, or where his wounds were... she had absolutely no idea.
When Everett asked her about it back then, all she could do was fumble through some flimsy excuses, riddled with holes.
But everyone was so swept up in her so-called "near-death rescue" that nobody bothered to look any closer.
As for me? I was just a girl from the countryside, newly recognized by the Matthews family, powerless and despised by everyone. Who would ever believe what I said?
They only saw me as jealous, or maybe even insane, until I laid out every piece of evidence, one after another, right in front of all the officials for everyone to see.
"Your Majesty!" I knelt again. "Every word I've spoken is the truth! Please, Your Majesty, call for the head doctor from the royal infirmary and the official who manages the evidence records. Just ask them, and you'll see for yourself!"
Kristopher, seated on the imperial throne, finally spoke.
His voice was unreadable, neither angry nor pleased, but it carried an authority that brooked no argument. "Summon them."
Those two words sealed Viviana's fate.
Viviana just crumpled, and if Everett hadn't been there to steady her, she would've hit the floor.
"No... no..." Viviana stammered.
Viviana whispered, her voice trembling with fear and desperation: "It's not true... I saved him... I saved His Majesty..."
Maverick's face turned ashen, with big beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
He knew it was over.
It was all over now.
Soon enough, the head doctor from the royal infirmary and the official in charge of the evidence records were both called up to the hall.
After they compared notes, everything matched up with what I'd said, down to the last detail.
The poison Kristopher was hit with that day really was Nightshade Elixir.
The way his left shoulder wound was treated wasn't anything like the usual palace medicine. It looked more like some homegrown folk remedy.
And the "bandage" the records office brought out as evidence was a piece of embroidery, stitched with hibiscus and koi fish.
My birth mother, the soft-spoken woman who earned her keep with her needlework, was summoned to the hall.
She spotted it instantly. It was a piece she'd made for me with her own hands.
The evidence was solid as a rock.
There was no way to talk their way out of it now.
"No!" Viviana let out a blood-curdling shriek.
She shoved Everett aside, her finger stabbing toward me like she'd gone completely mad. "It was you! You set me up! Natalia, you bitch! Why are you trying to ruin me?"
Even now, she still wouldn't back down.
Everett's face was darkened.
He stared at Viviana, who looked like she'd lost her mind, like she was a stranger to him now, disappointment written all over his face.
Even someone as dense as him finally understood that he had been played for a fool.
The girl he put on a pedestal, the one he thought was everything, turned out to be nothing but an absolute liar and a thief.
And for her sake, he'd humiliated and scolded the real savior again and again, the one who was actually good and courageous.
"Viviana." Kristopher's voice was as cold as ice. "Even now, after everything, you still want to deny it?"
"No... Your Majesty, I swear I didn't..." Viviana pleaded.