Forced to Take the Blame, Reborn as Silverveil’s Royalty Chapter 04

Forced to Take the Blame, Reborn as Silverveil’s Royalty Chapter 04

The wheels locked in an instant.

The car fishtailed like a panicked horse, skidding sideways before slamming into the concrete median with a deafening crash.

The impact ripped through my body and sent the world spinning.

I had deliberately left my seat belt off, hoping to die.

But the airbag absorbed most of the force.

By the time the dizziness and pain settled, I was still fully conscious.

I reached for the door at once.

Traffic was flying past outside.

There was still a chance.

“Althea!”

My mother lunged at me and clamped both hands around my arm.

“You hate me that much?”

Her eyes were red, her voice raw.

“So much that you’d rather drag me down with you and die together?”

I gave a careless little smile.

“Hate? Not worth it.”

“I just wanted a different way out.”

“If you insisted on following me, that’s on you.”

The color drained from her face.

Even so, she kept a death grip on me and half dragged, half shoved me into a cab.

We headed straight to the mating ceremony venue.

My mother took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Under the crystal chandeliers, my father stood patting Lyra on the shoulder, smiling with unmistakable pride.

It was a look he had never once given me.

Lyra stood there with her head slightly bowed, all polished humility.

Ronan was beside her in formalwear, his gaze warm as he reached out to straighten her collar.

The three of them together looked picture-perfect.

With Ronan’s devotion, my parents backing her, and me serving as her stepping stone, Lyra really had won at life.

Before anyone could see, I wiped my tears away in a hurry.

Lyra noticed us first.

The moment she saw the injury on my mother’s face, she rushed over.

“Mom! What happened to you?”

She steadied my mother carefully, avoiding the wound, then swept a cold look over me.

“Did Althea do something to you again? Did she—”

“Lyra!” my mother snapped, cutting her off. “It had nothing to do with her. I got hurt by accident.”

She drew a breath and added, “You’re a lawyer. You need evidence before you say something like that. You can’t accuse people without proof.”

Embarrassment flashed across Lyra’s face.

I shot my mother a look of surprise too.

It was almost funny, hearing the woman who had led the charge in fabricating evidence against me say something like that.

Ronan walked over and slipped an arm around Lyra.

“She only panicked because she cared. Mom, don’t blame her.”

Then he looked at me.

His tone stayed soft, but every word cut deep.

“Some people can’t stand to see anyone else happy when their own life’s a mess. All they ever want is to tear a family apart.”

“Compared to Lyra, some people really aren’t even in the same league.”

He was still as handsome and charming as he had been ten years ago.

Back then, he had been huddled beneath an overpass like a filthy stray cat, with nothing bright about him except his eyes.

I had brought him home, and my mother had scolded me for months over it. “Why do you keep dragging home every filthy stray you find?”

To help him stay in school, I skipped breakfast to save money and snuck off to construction jobs, never daring to tell anyone when rebar sliced open my arm.

I saved for ages before I finally bought a pair of plain silver rings. I slipped the larger one onto his finger and told him that once I inherited the pack, I would seal the mate bond with him.

He nodded hard, solemn as if he were making the same promise back to me.

During the two years I was in prison, he visited no matter the weather and told me he would wait for me.

He had once been the only light in my world.

But after my mother publicly cut ties with me, I received a message from him.

Ronan: [We’re over.]

Then he took his place at Lyra’s side.

And with the coldest words, he ground me into the dirt.

I lifted my hand and slapped him across the face.

The crack rang out, and the room went silent.

Ronan clutched his cheek and stared at me. “You hit me?”

I shook out my stinging hand.

“You had it coming.”

He had never seen me like this before. Stunned, he held his face and looked toward Lyra, not daring to say another word.

“Althea!” Lyra stepped forward and jabbed a finger at me. “Are you done yet? Do you even know what kind of event this is? How dare you hit someone here? Apologize!”

Then I saw it.

On the hand she was pointing at me with, she was wearing the plain silver ring that should have been mine.

Years of rage crashed over me hard enough to drown reason.

I slapped her too.

I wanted to smash that fake mask right off her face.

Caught off guard, Lyra stumbled backward into the champagne tower.

Glasses crashed to the floor in a spray of shards.

Before I could feel even a second of satisfaction, pain exploded across the side of my face.

My father punched me to the ground, spittle nearly hitting my face as he shouted, “You ungrateful little beast! Look at you! Is fighting all you know how to do?”

He pointed at me, his face twisted with disgust.

“Just look at you, all sickly and half-dead. You’re nothing but bad luck.”