Forced to Take the Blame, Reborn as Silverveil’s Royalty Chapter 05

Forced to Take the Blame, Reborn as Silverveil’s Royalty Chapter 05

How laughable.

Wasn’t this sickly, half-dead state exactly his doing?

I crumpled to the floor and could not get up for a long moment.

My mother gasped and moved as if to help me, but Lyra pressed a hand to her cheek and spoke first.

“Dad, Mom, don’t blame Althea…”

She lowered her head, her voice trembling.

“This is all my fault. If my parents hadn’t died, Althea wouldn’t think… that I stole everything from her.”

“I’ll leave. I was never supposed to be part of this family in the first place.”

It was the same old move.

She would retreat first and win everything in the end. It never failed her.

My parents rushed to her at once. Even Ronan forgot the pain in his face and hurried over to check on her.

Then she looked up and glared at me.

“Althea, you’ll never compare to her. I was only ever with you because I had no other choice.”

“The one who saved me under that overpass that night was Lyra. Not you. You’re just a pathetic liar who stole the credit.”

The flicker of protectiveness that had just risen in my mother vanished at once, and she turned on me too.

“Althea! Look at how upset you’ve made your sister. Why are you so childish?”

I looked at them.

They were my family. He was the man I had loved. All of them were gathered around Lyra, staring at me with disappointment and resentment, as if I were the one who had done something unforgivable.

Nausea surged in my stomach.

My father got even angrier, pointing at me as he cursed.

“If I’d known you’d turn out like this, I should’ve let you rot in prison. At least then you wouldn’t have come back just to humiliate us!”

Panting with fury, he barked, “Now apologize to your sister and to Ronan. Right now.”

I pushed myself up from the floor and looked over every face in front of me.

All I saw were features twisted by favoritism and disgust.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll apologize.”

I reached down and picked up a shard of glass from the floor.

Then I slashed it hard across my throat.

The instant the glass cut into my neck, it did not hurt as much as I had imagined.

What I felt instead was warmth bursting out of me, as if something trapped inside my body had finally been set free.

I heard screaming.

There were screams everywhere.

But I could not make out what anyone was saying.

My vision started to blur, but I still saw my father rushing toward me.

That face that had always frowned at me, always looked disappointed in me, wore panic for the first time.

He dropped to his knees beside me, his trembling hands pressing against the wound at my throat.

Blood spilled through his fingers.

“Call an ambulance! Somebody call an ambulance!”

His voice cracked like someone had a hand around his throat.

My mother threw herself toward me too. She wanted to touch me, but she was too afraid to, her hands hovering in the air and shaking like leaves in the wind.

“Althea… Althea, look at Mom…”

Her tears hit my face one after another.

“I was wrong. I really was wrong…”

Her tears were warm.

My body was turning cold.

It was strange.

Shouldn’t they have kept yelling at me?

Shouldn’t they have said I was pretending again, trying to win sympathy?

So why had their faces changed now?

My father kept pressing on my wound, but the blood would not stop.

It soaked his hands and stained the cuffs of his white suit bright red.

“Stay with me, sweetheart, stay with me…” His voice was breaking. “Dad will save you. I’ll save you…”

Now I was his daughter?

Now he wanted to save me?

I opened my mouth to speak, but only bloody foam rose into my throat.

At last my mother touched me.

She gathered me into her arms and held me tight.

Just like when I was little and fell down, and she used to pick me up and soothe me.

“Mom’s here, Althea. Don’t be scared. Mom’s right here…”

She kept repeating it, her tears mixing with my blood.

“I shouldn’t have pushed you. I shouldn’t have said any of that. I’ll give everything back to you, okay? Please… please don’t leave me…”

Her arms were warm.

But all I wanted was to get away from them.

It was too late.

Everything was too late.

I fought to keep my eyes open, wanting one last look at this world.

What I saw was Lyra standing not far away, staring at me with a white, stricken face.

Ronan had one hand over his mouth, crying.

The guests had gathered in a circle around us. Some were calling for help. Some were already filming.

It looked like a farce.

And I was finally about to make my exit from it.

Darkness surged over me like a tide.

I heard my father shouting my name, my mother sobbing, the wail of an ambulance drawing nearer.

But the sounds grew farther away, dimmer and dimmer.

Until at last, there was only silence.