Chapter 4

Screams erupted around me, but I didn't flinch. I only pushed the dagger deeper.

Theron shouted for the guards. They rushed over and pulled me away from Charles.

Charles was still alive, but he had passed out.

I didn't resist as the guards grabbed me. One of them twisted my wrist until it broke, and the dagger slipped from my hand.

My idiot son pointed at me and shouted, "Callista, how dare you attack someone in front of everyone?"

He pulled Naia into his arms and kept trying to comfort her.

"You've gone too far. You killed a maid and stabbed the man you were once supposed to marry. What next? Are you going to kill me too? You're no longer a member of the royal family. Get out of Ostan!"

I looked at my son and laughed coldly.

"You treat me this badly. Aren't you worried Mother's spirit will never find peace in the temple?"

"Mother was the kindest woman in the world. If she knew how you've treated Naia, she'd be on my side." Even as he spoke, his attention stayed on Naia, as if protecting her was all that mattered.

What an idiot! What mother would ever side with another woman against her own daughter?

"You have no right to talk about Mother. If she knew her daughter had been defiled, threw tantrums, killed people whenever she felt like it, and bullied the weak, she'd agree with me too."

Just then, Naia slipped out of Theron's arms and hurried over to hug me.

"Callista, this is my fault. If only I'd gone through with that marriage, none of this would have happened. It's all my fault."

She sobbed hard against me, tears streaming down her face. But when our eyes met, I saw the smug amusement in hers.

Then she wrapped her arms around my neck, making it look to everyone else as though she were comforting me.

"You really are hard to kill. You were tortured in the water dungeon and still survived. Then again, you survived the beastmen too. I guess your mother really did convince the gods to protect you.

"The funny thing is, the beastmen never wanted a marriage in the first place. I just wanted to see if I could make even one of them fall for me, so I deliberately showed up before him."

So this was the kind of cruelty my daughter had endured all these years.

Pain tore through my chest, and tears filled my eyes.

Naia clearly enjoyed my reaction. She leaned closer and continued whispering, "Does it hurt? I set up that whole thing myself just to get you thrown into the water dungeon. Your parents are dead. There's no one left to save you. And even if they were still alive, they'd probably love me so much they'd take me as their own daughter!"

"Ha..." I laughed at her fantasy, my eyes filling with murderous intent.

"Then there's something you should know. I'm Callista's mother."

I bit her ear and used her blood to cast a spell.

Naia choked. Her hands suddenly flew to her throat and began strangling herself.

Theron was the first to shout, "Callista, what are you doing? Let go of her! Don't hurt Naia!" Soon everyone in the hall was yelling at me to stop.

How strange. So they did know how to speak up.

Where were all these voices when my Callista was the one being hurt?

The spell lifted Naia into the air as her hands continued to tighten around her throat.

Theron stared at me in shock. "Callista, you can't use magic..."

I looked at my son and gave him a mocking smile.

"And a fool like you thinks he deserves to be king? You've disgraced both your father and me. After ten years apart, you can't even tell your own mother from your sister. What a disappointment you've turned out to be."