The rest of my words died in my throat.

It hit me then that Mother and I had snuck out of the palace. We had no handmaidens, no guards. If anyone found out who we were, we would be in real danger. Still, it was so unfair!

Cedric watched my mother scold me and actually looked pleased. He carried on as though it were settled. "So you do have some sense, after all. You know this isn't the place to talk. Let's go somewhere quieter and sort this out properly. The child deserves to know who her real parents are."

As he spoke, he reached out to grab my arm.

"Don't touch me!" I shrieked and scrambled behind Mother.

Mother lifted her hand and blocked his reach with one calm, deliberate motion. "Mr. Ashworth, mind yourself."

Cedric's hand hung frozen in the air. His expression darkened. "Emmeline Sinclair, I'm being generous here. Don't push your luck. I walked away once. I can take my daughter and walk away again, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Seraphina stopped crying too, her eyes darting between Mother and me with no trace of sadness left in them, only a cold, calculating look that made my skin crawl.

Mother drew a deep breath and straightened herself. "Fine. Then let us go somewhere else and talk."

Mother took my hand and walked quickly away from the crowds, ducking into a narrow alley.

Cedric and Seraphina followed us in, one in front and one behind, blocking the way out.

Seraphina spoke first. The grief was gone from her voice, replaced by a barely contained excitement. "Emmeline, there's no one else around now, so we can speak freely. I really should thank you for everything back then."

Mother tucked me further behind her.

"Thank me for what? For being foolish enough to hide you, my own half-sister who claimed she'd been violated and gotten pregnant, in the country estate? For looking after you hand and foot? For brewing tonics for you every single day with my own hands because I worried the pregnancy was hard on you?"

Seraphina covered her mouth and laughed. The sound was sharp and grating in the darkness. "You remember it all so well. That's right, the bone broth, the herbal remedies... all the finest things. Every time I drank them in front of Cedric, he'd say what a kind soul you were."

She drew out the words "kind soul," pressing down on each one, slow and deliberate.

Cedric cleared his throat and looked away, visibly uncomfortable. But he quickly turned back, his brow furrowed. "Emmeline, there's no need to dredge up the past. Seraphina didn't have a choice back then.

"An unmarried woman with child... If anyone found out, it would've been a death sentence. You helped her. I haven't forgotten that. That's exactly why I'm offering you a proper place by my side now."

A proper place? As a concubine?

I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted iron.

Then Mother laughed, low and quiet.

"One of you was my betrothed, promised to me before we were even born. The other was my half-sister, the one I raised and looked after since she was small. And right before my wedding, the two of you gave me quite the surprise."

She paused, and every word that followed landed like a shard of ice shattering against stone. "You left a letter saying you 'refused to be tied down' and wanted to chase true love.

"On my wedding day, the only news I received was that my betrothed had eloped with my half-sister and left behind a daughter. I was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister, and overnight, I became the biggest joke in the entire capital."

The alley went dead silent.

I stood there, stunned. I had never heard any of this before.

Father and Mother loved each other deeply. There was no one else in the court but her. I had always believed that Mother's life had been this happy from the very beginning. I never knew someone had hurt her like this, that someone had humiliated her in front of the whole world.

My heart twisted so painfully that I could barely breathe. All I could do was reach out and hold Mother's ice-cold fingers as tightly as my small hands could manage.

A flash of embarrassment crossed Cedric's face, but it was quickly swallowed by anger. "So what? Would you have me give up the woman I truly love for the sake of some arranged marriage? Even the Emperor himself defied every advisor in his court to keep his heart devoted solely to the Empress. How is it wrong for me to do the same?

"Emmeline Sinclair, I never loved you! Marrying you was nothing more than our parents' arrangement! Seraphina and I chose each other!

"As for the gossip, it's been years. Who even remembers any of it?"

Mother's gaze drifted across Seraphina's smug face, then back to Cedric. Her eyes looked hollow. "And when you left that newborn child with me, telling me that as the intended wife and that it was my duty to raise her... Was that also because of your great love for each other?"

"Emmeline!" Seraphina's voice turned shrill. "You raised Rosalind for five years. Don't tell me you feel nothing for her! You're only bringing up the past because you want to keep my daughter for yourself!"

She jabbed a finger in my direction. "Look at her! She's grown up so well, so clever. You clearly poured your heart into raising her! That's why you don't want to give her back! Give me back my daughter!"

She tried to lunge at me again, but Cedric held her back.

Cedric turned to Mother, his tone heavy with threat. "Emmeline, I don't want to make a scene. We're taking the child. As for you, you'll come back to the estate with me. Seraphina is the legal wife, and you will show her respect.

"This is the best you can hope for. Consider it repayment for the five years you spent raising Rosalind."

Repayment?

They had broken Mother's heart, turned her into a laughingstock, dumped a baby on her doorstep, and vanished for five years without a single word. Now, they had come back and expected Mother to be a concubine, to bow to the very woman who had ruined her life.

What kind of repayment was that?

I could not hold it in any longer. I threw myself out from behind Mother and screamed with everything I had, "You're lying! I'm not your Rosalind! My father is the Emperor! My mother is the Empress! You're horrible people! Both of you!"

The alley fell silent once more.

Cedric and Seraphina stared at me, looking at me the way one would look at a child spouting nonsense.

Then Seraphina burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she doubled over, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "Oh, Emmeline, did you hear that? What have you been filling this child's head with? You must've lost your mind completely!"

Cedric shook his head, looking at Mother with a mixture of disappointment and pity.

"Emmeline, have you truly gone this far? Making up lies like this just to keep the child? Do you have any idea that impersonating royalty is a crime punishable by the execution of your entire family?"

He stopped hesitating. He strode forward and reached straight for Mother's wrist. "You need to come to your senses. You're coming with me!"

"Don't touch my mother!" I screamed and tried to shove him away, but he brushed me aside with barely any effort, and I fell to the ground.

Mother's expression changed instantly. She rushed to my side, pulling me up and checking me over for injuries.

Cedric stood there, thwarted. A flush of anger and humiliation crept across his face.

Seraphina saw her chance. She dropped the act entirely, moved in close to Mother, and lowered her voice. "Emmeline, did you really think I begged you to take in my daughter for the child's sake?"

Mother's hands tightened into fists.

"I did it on purpose." Seraphina smiled, wide and triumphant. "When Cedric and I eloped, I left the baby with you deliberately. I wanted to make sure you'd never be able to hold your head up again."

Seraphina stepped closer, pushing her face right up to Mother's. "The legitimate daughter, raising a child for me, the illegitimate one. Just thinking about it makes me feel wonderful!"

I was trembling with rage, but Mother gripped my hand tight and would not let me move.

Cedric frowned. "Seraphina, that's enough."

Then, he sighed and turned to Mother, his tone laced with reproach. "Emmeline, I can allow you to continue raising Rosalind. But Seraphina is the legal wife. Once you enter the household, you will serve her and pay her the proper respects."

Tears flooded my eyes all at once. I broke free and rushed forward, kicking Seraphina in the leg as hard as I could. "You're a horrible person! Don't you dare talk to my mother like that!"

Seraphina shrieked and swung her hand straight at my face.

Mother pulled me behind her. The slap landed across Mother's cheek with a sharp crack.

I froze.

Mother's head snapped to the side. A red handprint bloomed against her pale skin, but she held me tightly against her chest, refusing to let go.

Cedric frowned again. "Seraphina, don't hit her."

However, Seraphina was already crying.

She spun around to face the crowd that was beginning to gather, wailing at the top of her lungs. "Someone tell me if this is fair! She stole my daughter! My own child calls her 'Mother' and won't even look at me! So I slapped her once. Is that so wrong?"

The crowd stirred.

"Stealing someone's child is wrong."

"She looks so proper, too. Who'd have thought she'd do something like that?"

"No wonder the woman hit her. She deserved it."

Hearing those words felt like a weight pressing down on my chest. It felt so heavy that I could barely breathe. I wanted to scream that my mother was the Empress, that I was a princess, and that none of them had any right to say such things. However, not a single one of them would have believed me.

All I could do was cling to Mother's leg and sob. "Mother, let's go! Please, let's just go!"

Mother looked down at me and gently patted my back.

Cedric walked over. This time, he reached out to pull me straight from Mother's arms. His voice was strangely, almost unnervingly patient. "Rosalind, come home with your father. Your foster mother isn't fit to raise you. From now on, I'll buy you all the sweets you want. How does that sound?"

His hand closed around my arm, and he pulled hard. I wrapped my arms around Mother's neck and held on with everything I had.

Mother held on to me just as fiercely.

Cedric's voice went cold. "Emmeline, let go. Rosalind is an Ashworth by blood. What right do you have to keep her?"

Mother raised her head and looked at him. Her eyes were rimmed red, but not a single tear fell. "Cedric, listen to me. The most foolish thing I have ever done in my life was to have once treated you with genuine kindness."

Cedric went still.

Seraphina sneered from the side. "Emmeline, what good does saying any of that do? We're taking Rosalind today. That's final."

She reached for me. I shrank back as far as I could, but Cedric was pulling my arm and Seraphina was gripping my collar. Together, their hands were like iron clamps, dragging me out of Mother's embrace.

"Mother!" I screamed.

Mother was shoved to the ground. I dangled in the air, legs kicking wildly, my voice so raw from crying it was barely a sound anymore.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

Seraphina held me by the collar, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Don't be scared, Rosalind. Your real mother is taking you home! From now on, you'll be the young lady of a noble house. That's a hundred times better than living with some abandoned woman!"

I sank my teeth into her hand. She screamed and let go. I hit the ground hard, pain shooting through my knees, but I did not stop. I scrambled to my feet and ran straight back to Mother.