Forced to Take the Blame, Reborn as Silverveil’s Royalty Chapter 03

Forced to Take the Blame, Reborn as Silverveil’s Royalty Chapter 03

It happened at Lyra’s recovery banquet.

She had too much to drink and came over with a glass in her hand to thank me.

In her drunken rambling, she let it slip that after she hit someone with her car, my mother had gotten me drunk and dumped me at the scene to take the blame.

I spent five years in prison. I went from a noble princess and elite graduate of a top school to an ex-con.

I broke down on the spot and demanded answers.

Without missing a beat, she told everyone I had developed mental problems in prison.

That was the moment every ounce of humiliation and rage I had swallowed finally exploded.

I flipped the table and screamed myself hoarse, shouting about all the ways she had favored Lyra since childhood and all the ways she had sacrificed me for her.

Humiliated in front of everyone, she pointed at me and said coldly, “Fine. If you hate us that much, then I’ll act like I never gave birth to you.”

“From this moment on, whether you live or die has nothing to do with us, Althea.”

She was the one who said those words.

So now I looked at her furious face and answered one word at a time.

“If you already cut me off, what right do you have to interfere with whether I live or die?”

Then I turned and walked away.

There was a long silence behind me before her voice rang out again.

“No matter what, you’re still my only daughter. You’re the princess of Nightthorn Pack.”

“Oh, really?” I let out a cold laugh.

Her body jolted.

It was as if she had only just remembered that, at least in name, Lyra was now Nightthorn Pack’s only princess.

After all, she was the one who had personally brought Lyra into her law firm and publicly confirmed her status.

As for me, the real princess, I was nothing more than a disgraced ex-con.

My laughter only grew louder, even as tears rolled down my face without warning.

I used to wonder how the parents who had once held me on their laps to teach me words, who had once been proud of me, had turned into strangers who would do anything to protect an outsider over their own daughter.

After countless sleepless nights, I finally figured it out.

One of them was an obsessive zealot who would use the law to make the whole family repay a debt of gratitude.

The other was a two-faced hypocrite who would sacrifice anything to protect the Alpha’s reputation.

When it came to repaying favors and protecting reputations, I would always come last.

Without giving me any choice, she dragged me into the car with her head lowered.

“Althea, stop making a scene. Today is Lyra and Ronan’s mating ceremony. Just come with me first.”

“Once Lyra seals the mate bond, my debt will finally be repaid. After that, I’ll make it up to you properly.”

I had heard promises like that my whole life.

“Once your sister finishes her competition, I’ll take you to the amusement park.”

“Once Lyra gets into college, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Every promise was like a soap bubble. It burst the moment I touched it.

I tried to pull away, but the wolfsbane poisoning flared up.

The pain drained all the strength from my body, and she dragged me into the car.

The air inside smelled of blood.

Her arm was still seeping, and sweat had started to bead at her temple.

Even so, she kept a death grip on my wrist, afraid I would run again.

“Let go.”

My voice was flat and steady.

Her hand only tightened, her nails almost digging into my flesh.

“Althea, you don’t need to compete with Lyra. Didn’t you always want to be a lawyer? You can come work at my firm.”

I tugged at my lips, a smile with no warmth in it.

“What about Lyra? Didn’t she already join your firm?”

Her grip loosened for a second.

“Lyra… well, she has called me Mom for all these years. The firm… eventually, it’ll have to go to her.”

After a pause, she lowered her voice.

“With your record, there’s no way you’ll ever practice on your own.”

“You can work under Lyra as her assistant. You’ll still have access to the firm’s resources.”

“As long as the two of you work together, the pack will stay stable. You need to be mature about this.”

I leaned my head against the car window as wave after wave of pain from the wolfsbane poisoning crashed through me.

But sharper than the pain was the nauseating absurdity of it all.

They had used my wolf to save Lyra. They had used my future to cover for Lyra’s crime.

And now they wanted to use the rest of my life as a stepping stone for Lyra too.

Not a chance.

I grabbed the emergency brake and yanked it up with all my strength.

“Althea! Are you out of your mind?!”