Chapter 1

I had never been loved in my life.

I was swapped at birth by Jenny William, living in a poor village as a child.

When I grew up, I became the rejected daughter of the Prime Minister's family.

After entering the palace, I was the Queen that the King ignored.

Even my own son, whom I gave birth to after much difficulty, turned his back on me, insisting he wanted to be Consort Lisa's child.

Later, when Consort Lisa passed away from illness, the King, drowning in sorrow, commanded me to drink poisoned wine and follow her to the grave.

Right before my death, I thought that if I had known it would all end like this, I never would have returned to Keystone.

No matter how prosperous it was, it was never truly my home.

*****

When I woke up, I was standing by Jenny's bedside. She handed me a pendant and confessed to me in broken sentences.

She said that she had found a baby girl in the grass and couldn't bear to ignore her, so she took her home to raise her. That baby girl was me, Ella Page.

She had thought I was an abandoned baby, but when she saw the luxurious swaddling cloth and the pendant hanging around my neck, she realized I must be the daughter of a wealthy family.

Not long after, she saw an official notice posted, stating that the Prime Minister's daughter was missing. They were offering a reward of one hundred gold coins for her return.

She could have returned me. But when she saw her slow-witted son, greed got the better of her and she chose to keep my identity hidden.

She had planned to marry me to her son when I grew up. After I had children, she would send me to the Prime Minister's Residence and help me to claim my family.

By then, the Prime Minister's family would have no choice but to take care of her son.

Her motherly devotion was honestly moving. However, her son didn't make it past twelve.

She told me that for years, she had been tormented and couldn't sleep or eat well. Now that she was dying, she couldn't hide the truth anymore.

She asked me to take the pendant and go to the Prime Minister's Residence to find my real parents.

She looked at me with her tear-filled eyes. I stared back in silence. After a while, I curtsied to her.

She had treated me well all these years, but her kindness was mixed with selfishness. At this point, I honestly couldn't tell if I hated her or was grateful to her.

Tears finally rolled down her face. She wanted to say something else, but her illness was too severe. In the end, she never got to say her last words. I closed her eyes and buried her behind the house.

Suddenly, a bunch of text and words I couldn't understand popped up before my eyes: [No way, the side character got the pendant? Now she is going steal Susan Page's place in the family. She's our lovely female lead.]

[You don't have to worry. Our lovely Susan is gorgeous and smart. Everyone in the Prime Minister's Residence likes her. The side character is just a village girl. How can she compete with our lovely Susan?]

[If only the side character didn't go to the Prime Minister's Residence to claim her parents. But if she doesn't, our lovely Susan's true identity won't be exposed. When it does, the whole family will feel even more sorry for her.]

I pursed my lips and listened quietly to their conversation. It took me a long time to realize that I was the side character they were talking about.

When I was a kid, I used to watch plays and didn't really get it. I would point at the clown on stage and ask Jenny why someone would dress up like that.

She told me the clown was just a side character, so they had to wear ridiculous makeup for everyone to laugh at.

Now they were calling me the side character.

It sounded like the clown on the stage.

I packed up Jenny and her husband's belongings. The next day, I headed into the town to pawn the pendant.

As I made my way into town, those voices in my head wouldn't stop: [Ella is heading to Keystone already?]

[Oh my god, my lovely Susan is about to cry. I really can't bear to see her sadness.]

[Ella is really something. As soon as she finds out she is the Prime Minister's lost daughter, she leaves everything behind and rushes off to Keystone. I mean, Jenny isn't perfect, but she really treated her well all these years, right?]

I ignored those voices and went straight to the pawnshop.

Suddenly, the voices in my head switched up: [Wait, what's Ella doing at the pawnshop? Is that even in the plot?]

The next moment, those voices sounded totally shocked: [Why is she pawning the pendant? Is she crazy? Without it, there's no way the Prime Minister's family will ever recognize her.]

[Yeah, and if she doesn't go back, how's the male lead, Zed Shaw, ever going to meet our lovely Susan?]

I froze for a moment, and it took a long time for the memory to come back. In my old life, I did save an injured man named Zed Shaw on a snowy night.

Back then, I had just returned to the Prime Minister's Residence. Judy Page, my mother, wanted to reach out to me, but when she saw my rough hands and dusty dress, she hesitated for a long time.

She stood a few steps away, looking me up and down carefully, as if searching for any trace of family resemblance.

Charlie Page, my father, glanced at me and then at Susan standing beside me. She looked so pretty and delicate.

After the butler talked to him, he called a family meeting to decide whether they'd accept me as his daughter.