The Fake Wedding Was For Me, The Real One For Her Chapter 05

The Fake Wedding Was For Me, The Real One For Her Chapter 05

A violent, hacking cough tore through my chest. I sat up, gasping for air, my lungs burning.

“Seraphina-my sweet girl, you’re awake!”

A woman draped in heavy gold and jewels swept through the grand doors and pulled me into her arms, sobbing. Around us, every maid in the room sank to their knees. They called her Your Majesty.

My mind spun.

Chloe had sworn she was a beggar. A starving street rat. So why was I waking up in a palace?

I swallowed my panic and played along, dazed-like someone waking up with no memory. The queen filled

in the rest.

For the past decade, while that other soul had hijacked my life, the wars in this kingdom had ended. Peace

had returned. But her body-left here without a soul-had become an empty shell. Alive, but mindless.

A family had taken pity on her and raised her.

Then, recently, the royal guard made a discovery. The girl was no lost orphan-she was the queen’s own

daughter, separated from her long ago during the siege on Oakhaven. She was the princess.

The King sent for her immediately. But on the journey back, a deadly fever set in, and she hadn’t opened her

eyes since-until now.

That must have been when my soul arrived. When I opened my eyes in this body, it was the first time those

eyes had truly seen anything in a decade.

“Seraphina, don’t be scared. I’m right here.”

She smoothed my hair back, rubbing slow circles along my spine.

My eyes stung. She wasn’t my mother – I knew that – but I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had held

me like this.

“I’m not afraid. Not with you here.”

The words actually slipped out. Actual words-from my mouth, from my throat, clear and whole. I could

speak.

The spiritualist had been right. He’d said if my soul settled into the body cleanly enough, the muteness might

not come with me.

The queen’s eyes went wide. She seized my hands, trembling.

“You say that again. Keep talking. Let me hear your voice.”

They’d warned her before the journey – her daughter couldn’t speak, couldn’t think clearly, might never be

whole.

And now here I was, speaking in full sentences, looking her dead in the eye. Whatever she’d been expecting-

this wasn’t it.

Joy tore through the palace like wildfire. And for the first time since I’d opened my eyes here, the suffocating

knot in my chest began to loosen.

I wasn’t naive. A palace came with its own kind of cage- rules, politics, expectations.

But compared to starving in the streets, I’d take it.

I lay back and closed my eyes. Julian. Mom. Dad. Arthur. Their faces drifted through my mind one last time,

and a faint smile pulled at my lips.

I was here now. Might as well live – whatever living meant here. It wasn’t like dying scared me anymore.

I let go. But back in the world I’d left behind, things were already unraveling.

“I-how am I back already?”

Chloe stared down at herself, stunned. My parents exchanged a glance, then pulled her in close, already

smiling.

“The souls have been fully separated-you’re here for good now. Well, for at least a few years.”

Chloe’s face split into a greedy grin. She threw herself into their arms.

“That’s amazing!”

“I finally have this body all to myself!”

Everyone smiled. But the smiles didn’t quite reach their eyes.

Something about her was off. They could all feel it.

Before, when two souls shared the body, the underlying grace and quiet elegance had always belonged to me

-the original owner.

Now that the parasite had full control, her true nature was bleeding through. The bone structure was the

same, but the softness was gone, replaced by something sharp and calculating.

In the palace, the royal maids kept whispering about how my features seemed to soften and glow. Back in my old world, Chloe wasn’t so lucky.

Everyone could see it. Something in her had fundamentally shifted.

Arthur stared at her, unsettled in a way he couldn’t place. Clara’s eyes had always been clear – open, still,

easy to read.

The woman standing in front of them now had eyes that never settled – darting, calculating, sizing up every

room she walked into. Same face. Completely different person.

“Julian, forget about next month. Take me to that private island tomorrow-I don’t want to wait.”

She draped herself over Julian, nuzzling into his neck. My family froze.

“Wait, engagement? I thought you were marrying Clara.”

Julian shifted back, not quite meeting anyone’s eyes.

“I’m keeping the same body. What’s the difference?”

“Chloe asked to try on a wedding dress too-so I said yes. It was… she asked, and I just went along with it…”

He kept talking. But Chloe curled against his chest told them everything his words were trying to hide.

This wasn’t new. It hadn’t been new for a long time.

For the first time, something ugly twisted in Arthur’s gut.

“They’re two different people. How can you just

The words died in his throat.

Taking what was Clara’s and handing it to Chloe. Wasn’t that exactly what they’d been doing for years?

Nobody said another word. They swallowed whatever they were feeling and took Chloe home.

But the perfect family they’d imagined never showed up. Because Chloe, it turned out, was completely

useless.