Chapter 1

After taking a blade to save my husband, I actually woke up ten years later.

I learned from a maid that my husband is now the King.

I was thrilled and immediately asked about my precious daughter, Aurora.

But the maid looked at me with a strange expression.

"Princess Aurora? Everyone knows she isn't the late Queen's daughter! "

"Poor Princess Reagan, who lived in the slums for years. The true gold was replaced by a fake for so long! "

I let out a cold laugh. I'm the one who gave birth to her. How could I mistake my own daughter?

I sneaked out to find Aurora, only to see her being bullied until she barely looked human.

I heard the King's favorite mistress, who only got her position because she looks a bit like me, gives my daughter nothing but slop every day.

That night, I slipped into the private chapel. I grabbed the King by the ear while he was mourning his late wife and snarled.

"Scraps, you became the King but you lost your damn eyes? You can't even recognize your own daughter? "

1

In the dimly lit chapel, Silas's eyes widened in total shock upon hearing his old, shameful nickname.

"Di?! You finally came back to see me! "

I didn't hesitate. I slapped Silas right across the face.

"How many times have I told you? Don't call me by that nickname. "

The candlelight flickered, illuminating the wet tear tracks on his face.

Looking closely, the man in front of me was different from the one in my memories.

His hair was graying at the temples, and the youthful spark in his eyes had been replaced by a cold silence.

My voice softened instinctively.

"Scraps, you've gotten old. "

Before I could finish, he threw his arms around me and pulled me into a crushing hug.

His grip was desperate, filled with the panic of someone who had lost something and miraculously found it again.

Silas buried his head in the crook of my neck, just like he did all those years ago.

His voice was muffled, carrying a faint, hidden sob as he whispered like a needy child.

"Diana, after you left, there was truly no one left behind me. This palace is so high, and it's so cold at the top. "

He was squeezing me so hard I could barely breathe. I felt a surge of awkwardness in my chest.

But then I thought about the long years he had spent alone at the peak of power, walking a difficult path.

My heart softened. I raised my hand and patted his back gently to comfort him.

"It's okay. I'm back. "

Silas seemed to calm down slowly. I was just about to question him about our daughter.

But suddenly, his eyes turned cold. With lightning speed, he drew the sword from his waist and pressed it against my throat.

"Speak! Who sent you? You went through so much trouble to dress up as the late Queen! "

The warmth was gone. His voice was now full of malice and suspicion.

"Was it Harrison or Grant? "

"Don't waste your breath. No matter how much you look like her, you aren't even worth a single strand of her hair. "

The two men Silas suspected were both my loyal subordinates in the past.

Seeing Silas being such an ungrateful prick, my temper flared.

I stepped to the side, disarmed him with my bare hands, and tossed his longsword onto the floor.

I pointed at his nose and started cursing him out.

"Scraps! You've really made it, haven't you? First you abuse our daughter, and now you're pointing a sword at your own wife! "

"You heartless bastard! Did you forget how poor you were? Who pawned her own dowry in the dead of winter just to get you a thick coat? "

"During the famine, you fought a stray dog for half a loaf of bread for thirty minutes. You ended up climbing a tree and were too scared to come down. And then there was― "

Silas's pupils shrank. He cut me off.

"Diana? Is it really you? "

I snorted and held the sword against his own neck.

"Let me ask you this! Why did you let people bully Aurora! "

At the mention of Aurora, Silas quickly tried to explain.

"It's a long story, but she isn't our daughter. The evidence is undeniable. "

"Reagan is your child. She looks just like you! "