Chapter 3

Susie looked down at her hands. Her fingertips were trembling slightly.

“Not long after you died, I suddenly recovered. Ned made me his royal consort. He promised to make it up to me for all the years I’d suffered.

“After I became pregnant, I learned that I was the daughter Josephine had secretly sent away from the palace as an infant.”

Ned had no royal blood. He needed Susie alive so that she could bear him a child of the true Vaughan bloodline.

“I tried to escape and tell the rest of House Vaughan the truth.”

Susie’s voice grew quieter.

“But as soon as the baby was born, he had someone bring me a glass of poison. I begged him to spare me, but he said I was no longer of any use to him.”

She looked up again. Her eyes were moist with tears.

“He married you to gain control of your family’s army, and he kept me alive to bear an heir of royal blood. Florence, he never loved either of us.”

Staring at her pale face, I was reminded of the goblet of poisoned wine Ned had set before me.

So, I had not been the only one he had used and then killed the first time around.

“I know you’ve been looking into Ned’s parentage.”

Susie took a key from the small purse at her waist.

“Hidden inside the Pugh family chapel is the record of Josephine’s confinement, bearing the signatures and seals of the royal physician, along with the midwife who attended the birth.”

The problem was, Josephine had spent years tightening her hold over the royal household. If we tried to smuggle the evidence into the palace, the records would likely be destroyed before it ever reached the king.

We needed another way to reveal the truth.

After her plot at the military exercise failed, Josephine claimed illness and shut herself away in Rosewood Palace.

Ned, meanwhile, volunteered to travel south and oversee the flood-relief effort.

With my family beyond his reach, I had assumed Ned would be unable to turn his fortunes around anytime soon.

Yet two months later, he had brought the floods under control, brought corrupt officials to justice, and returned with a letter of gratitude signed by thousands of people across the southern provinces.

Crowds lined the streets to welcome Ned back to the capital.

The following day, several leading nobles urged the king to formally name Ned his heir.

The king did not immediately grant their request. Instead, he ordered a banquet to be held in Ned’s honor three days later and summoned the members of House Vaughan and all his ministers to the palace.

Everyone knew the succession was about to be decided.

Susie slid the record of Josephine’s confinement across the table to me.

“That’ll be the day.”

I put the record away.

Ned was only one step away from being named heir to the throne.

In three days, I would show them all that not a drop of Vaughan blood ran through his veins.

At the banquet held in Ned’s honor, the letter of gratitude bearing thousands of signatures from the southern provinces lay before the king.

Several ministers once again urged him to formally name Ned his heir.

The system suddenly spoke.

“The target’s affection for you has fallen to zero. Please adopt a different strategy.”

Across the hall, Ned’s gaze settled on me, but the desperation I remembered was nowhere to be seen.

The king surveyed the members of House Vaughan gathered in the hall.

“Since none of you has any objection…”

“I do, Your Majesty.”

Susie suddenly stepped into the center of the hall.

The smile froze on Josephine’s face.

Susie faced the assembled court and spoke with measured clarity.

“Prince Ned is not Lady Josephine’s biological son, nor does he have royal blood. I am the daughter she bore twenty years ago.”

A wave of shocked murmurs swept through the hall.

Josephine shot to her feet.

“Lies!”

Her voice was sharp, but her face had turned pale.

I produced the record of her confinement.

“Twenty years ago, Lady Josephine and Lady Pugh gave birth on the same day.

“Lady Josephine exchanged the infants, bringing Lady Pugh’s newborn son into the palace and sending her own daughter to be raised by the Pugh family.

“The record bears the signatures and seals of the royal physician and attending midwife. Your Majesty, I humbly request to have it authenticated before the entire court.”

The Chief Royal Physician examined the seal and compared the signatures with those in the royal archives. His expression gradually turned grave.

“Your Majesty, the seal is genuine, and the signatures match those of the physicians who had attended the births.”

Several members of House Vaughan immediately rose from their seats.

Josephine swayed on her feet, then rushed forward and snatched the record away.

“That’s impossible!”

She turned the pages so hastily that her fingernail tore the edge of the paper.

A fine strand of gold showed through the tear.

Josephine suddenly went still.

“Wait! The royal stationers didn’t even begin producing this gold-threaded paper until three years ago. This evidence is a forgery. Your Majesty, I beg you to investigate!”

At her words, my hands tightened around my dress.

An officer of the Royal Household took the record and examined it for several moments.

“Her Highness is correct, Your Majesty. This paper didn’t exist twenty years ago.”

Susie’s face went deathly pale.

“That’s impossible!”

She lunged forward and snatched back the record, leafing through it page by page.

Her hands were trembling so badly that the paper rustled incessantly between her fingers.

I stood rooted to the spot. My ears were ringing.

I had ordered the royal seal, the signatures, and the handwriting on that record to be authenticated countless times.

However, I had overlooked the paper itself.

The strand of gold was embedded in the paper, plainly visible to everyone in the hall.

Susie looked at me. In her eyes, I saw the same bewilderment as my own.

The king brought his fist down hard on the table.

“Florence Kirke and Susie Pugh have forged royal records in an attempt to manipulate the succession. Guards, seize them!”

Royal guards poured into the hall.

My arms were wrenched behind my back. I was forced down onto the cold stone floor.

The record slipped from Susie’s hands and landed at Ned’s feet.

He bent to pick it up. Then, he approached me and spoke in a low voice.

“I had that record replaced long ago. Oh, Flo, did you think you two were the only ones who came back?”