~Chapter 106~
Catherine quickly turned her head to glare at Diana. She wanted to demand how Aisel alone could wear such a beautiful new dress.
But, whether intentionally or coincidentally, Diana was already standing far away with Serena, speaking with the other guests.
Catherine’s eyes burned red with fury. But if she lost her temper here, her social debut would be completely ruined.
She was furious at the reality that she had to endure her boiling anger. She wanted to rip the tiara from Aisel’s head and destroy her, but her trembling hands barely held back.
She forced herself to smile at the guests who had come to celebrate her debutante ball.
But Aisel kept moving closer to her. Standing next to Aisel only made Catherine look even more pathetic.
It wasn’t just the dress and jewelry. Catherine, weighed down by greed and anxiety, stood stiff and awkward, while Aisel, full of confidence, exuded grace.
Once a lovely girl, Catherine now carried no beauty at all.
“Catherine,” Aisel said softly.
“…Don’t talk to me.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be the star today.”
“What?”
Aisel smirked and walked toward the front of the ballroom. She tapped a teaspoon on a glass, calling for attention.
The clear ringing sound drew everyone’s gaze toward her.
“Thank you all for coming to Catherine’s and my debutante ball,” Aisel said, curtsying sweetly while holding her dress.
Catherine looked at her in disbelief. She’s only adopted and yet she acts like the hostess of this mansion!
“Along with our social debut, I have a very interesting story to share with everyone here,” Aisel continued confidently.
The guests all watched her closely, curious.
“A few days ago, Lord Iverc visited our mansion.”
Despite speaking in front of so many people for the first time, Aisel didn’t hesitate.
“But… someone did something truly shameful. They poisoned the sugar cubes meant for the young lord.”
Catherine’s mouth fell open slowly. Her entire body began to tremble violently.
No… She can’t mean…
Understanding dawned, and goosebumps crawled up her skin.
“The Duchess of Iverc was very worried because we couldn’t find the culprit… but now, we finally have,” Aisel said.
A maid stepped forward next to Aisel.
“This maid says she knows who it was. Tell us,” Aisel urged.
“The culprit is…”
The maid trembled nervously but raised her finger slowly.
It pointed directly at Catherine.
“Lady Catherine.”
“Lady Catherine!”
“Why would she…?”
The crowd erupted into murmurs. Catherine’s lips trembled as she stepped forward.
“T-That’s a lie! Why would I hurt him…?”
“Your Highness asked me to pretend to be you at the dress shop… and then you went to fetch… something. I didn’t know it was poison!”
“Catherine! Why?”
Diana gasped in shock, pretending to have just learned the truth.
“You believe the words of a mere maid? I told you, it’s not true!” Catherine screamed.
“There’s proof…!” the maid shouted.
“P-Proof?”
Catherine stuttered, panicked. There couldn’t possibly be any evidence left.
“You gave me these earrings, Your Highness.”
“That’s…!”
It was the crystal earring Catherine had thrown aside in frustration after the creditors had raided her jewelry box. But she had never given it to the maid. She wasn’t stupid enough to leave such evidence.
The maid glared at her.
“The matching earring will still be in Lady Catherine’s jewelry box.”
Catherine’s eyes went blank. Aisel’s lips curved upward slowly as she watched.
Of course, the maid’s testimony alone wouldn’t convince everyone.
Aisel had planned this all along. When the creditors came, she had instructed the maid to take one earring so it would look like Catherine had given it to her.
Soon Belinda returned with the matching earring from Catherine’s jewelry box.
“This is impossible!”
“It’s f-fabricated…!”
Catherine shook her head violently, but someone cut her off.
“It’s not fabricated.”
It was Sawyer. He stepped forward calmly.
“I heard it myself. That day, Lady Catherine spoke to me.”
“W-What are you saying?”
“You told me you were sorry, didn’t you?”
He was awake that day? Catherine blinked rapidly, horrified.
“You said you couldn’t bear to see Aisel and me together, and you would do anything for us to marry,” Sawyer continued.
Catherine was speechless. Gasps rippled through the crowd. Aisel had been telling the truth. This was the kind of scandal they would talk about for years.
But Aisel wasn’t done.
“But that’s just a small part of the story,” she said sweetly.
“Aisel, you…!”
“The real story starts now. Why would Catherine poison Lord Sawyer?”
Everyone’s eyes were now sharper than knives. Catherine’s face turned deathly pale.
“That’s because… Catherine is the ‘fake’ of this Grand Duchy.”
“Mother?”
Catherine turned to Diana, horrified.
“What are you saying? I’m not fake…!”
“Stop lying, Catherine.”
Diana’s voice was cold as she stepped forward. Every gaze in the room followed her.
“Everyone,” Diana began calmly,
“Catherine is not my daughter.”
The crowd erupted even louder than before.
“She was born from my ex-husband, Calypso de Erenshte, and my so-called friend, Alicia le Blair.”
Diana’s eyes slowly locked onto Catherine.
“She is an illegitimate child.”
Catherine swayed, clutching the table for support. Alicia and Calypso weren’t here to defend her; she was completely alone.
She gasped for breath, shaking her head.
“No! No, I’m your real daughter!”
This can’t be happening. I should have killed Diana. I knew this would happen once she found out I was fake. I fought so hard to survive as the real one… Is it really ending like this?
Alicia’s face flickered in her mind, but Aisel’s sharp voice pulled her back.
“You’re fake, Catherine!”
“Fake…”
“Father,” Diana said softly.
The Marquis of Pereshte was walking in from the entrance.
“There’s a truth passed down only to the heads of the family,” he said as he approached the front.
He held out the family seal, set with an emerald.
“The jewel in the seal shows whether someone carries the family’s bloodline.”
“N-No…! Grandfather, it’s me, Catherine! The granddaughter you loved!”
Catherine stumbled back, but Belinda blocked her escape.
The marquis touched her with the seal.
The emerald remained dark.
Gasps filled the room.
“Alicia le Blair switched her own daughter with mine and raised my true daughter as a maid, abusing her,” Diana declared.
The marquis extended the seal to Aisel. The moment it touched her, the emerald shone with a brilliant rainbow light.
“My true daughter, Aisel.”
Everyone in the ballroom froze. Aisel, known only as the adopted daughter of Grand Duke Erenshte, was actually Diana’s real daughter.
“But even if it had ended there, I wouldn’t have gone this far,” Diana continued.
“Catherine joined forces with Alicia to kill both Aisel and me…!”
Diana’s long-suppressed anger exploded. She strode up to Catherine and gripped her arms tightly.
“How could you…!”
Her voice was almost a scream.
“I loved you so much. Even knowing you weren’t my real daughter, I believed I could still love you!”
Catherine’s teeth chattered uncontrollably.
“You were so loved… so why did you betray me?!”
Her panicked gaze darted around. The weight of everyone’s stares felt crushing.
Their eyes all seemed to scream at her: Fake. Fake.
“No! I’m not fake!”
Then it happened.
A dark aura erupted from the mark of Eclipse on Catherine’s palm.
“What is that…!”
The black energy rose sharply into the air and split into three streams.
One struck Catherine, one Alicia, and one Calypso.
At that moment, Eclipse’s curse buried itself in their minds.
It forced them to relive the memories from before Diana and Aisel had turned back time:
How they had killed Diana and Aisel… and the terrible deaths they had met at Ruery’s hands.
“Hah…!”
Catherine, Alicia, and Calypso all jerked their heads up in shock.
Only now did they finally understand everything that had been happening to them.
“M-Mother…!”
Catherine’s hands trembled violently as she approached Diana.
“What is this memory? This isn’t me!”
She shook her head so hard her hair whipped around, rejecting the memories that had crashed into her like meteors.
“Why would I poison you…?”
Eclipse’s curse had reached even them. Even in death, he had left his mark on Catherine. It was a punishment for the one who betrayed him.
“Mother? Why don’t you call me Diana, like before?”
Diana’s voice was soft, but there was no trace of warmth in her eyes.
Now, it was time to deliver the final blow.
