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Finally, the truth

last update Huling Na-update: 2025-07-31 08:20:30

ALTHEA

She’s been pretending this whole time.

My breath catches again, but this time for an entirely different reason.

I stare down at the book in my hands—still turned the way it fell, still wrong on the outside but right on the inside. The edges are soft, the spine worn. The pages smell faintly of lavender and something older, something like dust and memory.

I don’t know how long I sit like this.

My fingers frozen around the cover. My heart hammering.

She’s not mad. Not broken. Not lost.

She’s hiding.

But hiding from who? From what?

Her voice echoes in my mind now—not the wild, trembling one from moments ago, but the one that slipped through, sharp as glass.

“She tricked him. Told him he was cursed. But it was all her. HER.”

Who? Who was she talking about?

The king?

The fake queen?

Or someone else?

I rise slowly, the book still pressed to my chest. My legs feel shaky, like they’ve been asked to hold more weight than they can bear. I place the book back on the table, trying not to le
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