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All Chapters of The Diary of Lies: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Drag Chase Lewis, this piece of trash away and throw him into the Frontier Prison!"The attendants swarmed forward, pinning me firmly to the ground as they tried to shackle me.I struggled desperately to get up and threw myself at Princess Coraline Conley's feet. "Didn't you tell me just yesterday that you would love me and trust me? You promised you wouldn't read that diary!"Coraline's face instantly darkened with rage. "How dare you even bring up that diary? If I hadn't read it, you could have deceived me for the rest of my life, couldn't you?"Deceived her? I was utterly bewildered.Coraline kicked me away, grabbed a silver platter from the table, and slammed it hard against my head. Then the dining forks and knives and the crystal wineglasses came flying at me one after another.A burst of excruciating pain exploded through my head. Blood streamed down my forehead, blurring my vision.In front of outsiders, Coraline had always been the epitome of grace and decorum.I'd ne

Chapter 2

In this place, prisoners were lucky to get one decent meal every few days, and beatings were part of daily life.On my second day there, two of my bones were broken in a beating.But what tormented me most wasn't the brutal conditions. It was the mystery of that diary.This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.When my father first read my mother's diary, he'd beaten me on the spot. From then on, he despised me and beat me at the slightest provocation.A year after my mother, Khloe Lewis, died, my father remarried.My stepmother, Rachelle Lewis, had initially been very protective of me. She'd apply medicine to my wounds, ask the servants to bake me apple pies, and do her best to stop my father whenever he tried to beat me.But those better days didn't last long.One day, my father flew into another rage and brought out that dreadful cane, preparing to lash me with it.I scrambled to my stepmother's room, desperately seeking shelter.She stepped between us an

Chapter 3

Uncle Gael's eyes were wet with tears too. He vowed to make my father pay and promised to take me back to my mother's family, where they would raise me themselves.At last, I felt reassured.But just as Uncle Gael was about to leave, a sudden wave of anxiety washed over me. I couldn't help calling after him. "Uncle, if my father tries to show you my mother's diary, please, please don't read it."In her final moments, my mother had been most worried about me. She'd held my hand and repeatedly urged me to do as she'd asked.I had no doubt that my mother loved me. But both my father and Rachelle had changed their attitudes toward me only after reading that diary.Uncle Gael waved his hand dismissively. "How could he possibly bring up your mother with me? After the way he's treated you, he'd have some nerve to do that."Uncle Gael didn't take my warning seriously. Half an hour later, he returned to my room with a dark, grim expression."Mom, let's go! To hell with this animal!"Unc

Chapter 4

I lived under the same roof as my family, yet remained an unwanted outsider on the very edges of their lives.It wasn't until I met Princess Coraline that my life finally seemed to offer a glimmer of hope.But even Coraline changed completely after reading my mother's diary, just like everyone else. She flew into a rage and threw me into prison, looking as though she wanted nothing more than to see me dead.Before my mother died, she'd specifically instructed me to give her diary to my father.What on earth was written in that diary that could make people who should have loved me and sympathized with me turn against me as though I were their sworn enemy?Could my own mother really have wanted to hurt me?And why did my father keep showing the diary to one person after another, even at the cost of destroying the life I'd finally begun to turn around?My unhealed wounds still ached.Ever since my mother's death, all the abuse and contempt I'd endured over the past decade and more

Chapter 5

My father opened his eyes and started in surprise. "Chase? What are you doing here?"I pressed the knife even closer to his neck. "I'm here because I want the truth! I have to know what's written in that diary! Why does everyone who reads it hate me so much that they want to kill me on the spot?"My father remained silent for a long moment. When he finally looked at me, there was an unexpected trace of pity in his eyes. "My child, are you sure you really want to know the truth? Even if knowing it makes you suffer even more than you already do?"Suffer?I almost laughed at the absurdity of the question.My life was already unbearable. What could possibly make it any more painful?"Do you think I've spent the past decade and more living a life of luxury and comfort?"Ever since my mother died, he'd beaten me. My maternal relatives had disowned me, and I'd been sent away to a boarding school where I was abused.Now I was an adult, yet I'd received none of the education or privileg

Chapter 6

This time, no matter what kind of abuse I suffered, I accepted it willingly.After returning to prison, my relationship with my father improved considerably. He began sending me letters and occasionally brought me necessities and food.Although life was harsh and the guards sometimes beat me, I felt more at peace than I ever had before.I now knew that everything stemmed from the sins I'd committed. The suffering I endured was Heaven's way of helping me atone.For a rare stretch of time, I enjoyed a measure of inner peace in prison. Then news reached us. Our empire had become embroiled in a territorial dispute with a neighboring country.If I could serve my country on the battlefield, even if I died there, at least my death would have some meaning. If my demise could benefit others, perhaps that would count as atonement, too.With that thought in mind, I wrote to my father, asking him to help secure my release so I could join the war as an ordinary soldier.He replied quickly,

Chapter 7

Could... could my father have been trying to kill me?But why would he want me dead?He had encouraged me to stay alive and atone for my sins. Why, then, would he poison me just when I was trying to atone for them?Or had I done something that suddenly made him change his mind?But the only thing I'd done differently lately was ask him to let me go to war. What harm could it possibly do him if I went to the battlefield?My heart grew heavy.Perhaps my father was still hiding something from me. There had to be things I didn't know—things that could influence his decisions.And if that was the case, could the diary my father had shown me really be telling the truth?For the first time, I began to doubt it.The diary was written in my mother's voice, chronicling the final days of her life. It also claimed that she might not have died so soon if not for me.It suggested that she might not have died so soon—had it not been for my own childish carelessness in fetching the wrong med

Chapter 8

That was precisely why my crouching beneath Coraline's skirts didn't look suspicious. No pursuing guard would dare search a princess's carriage, let alone look beneath her skirts.Coraline dismissed the guards with a few brief words. Only after they had left did she call to me."All right. You can come out now."I struggled to extricate myself from the layers of fabric and thanked Coraline.Her expression remained cold and detached. Clearly, she still didn't entirely believe my explanation."Go. Let's pretend I never saw you today."I nodded. "I understand. You never saw me today."Although Coraline didn't believe me, I was still grateful that she'd helped me.I turned to leave, but she suddenly called after me. "Wait!"I looked back. Coraline pressed her lips together, hesitated briefly, and then handed me two envelopes."The first is something I originally intended to give you, but you have no use for it now. The second should be useful to you. Take it."I accepted both en

Chapter 9

Even after my suspicions were confirmed, I found no sense of relief.All the suffering I'd endured for half my life, along with the guilt and self-reproach I'd carried for the past six months, had been nothing more than an elaborate scheme my father had devised to seize my mother's inheritance.When I left Coraline, I'd overheard Jaylah telling the princess about something happening in her own family.Jaylah explained that her aunt had died young, leaving a will that bequeathed half her property to her daughter and the other half to her husband.At the time, the girl had been too young to inherit anything.Under the laws of our country, boys couldn't inherit their property until they reached adulthood, while girls had to wait until they married. Until then, their inheritance was held in trust by their legal guardian.So although the girl had reached an age when she could pursue a romantic relationship, her father had repeatedly obstructed her marriage plans.Now, just when she h

Chapter 10

My mother had indeed married my father for love, and the two of them had enjoyed a loving relationship.But shortly before her death, she had suddenly begun to consider the practical realities of her situation. She drew up a will, leaving most of her fortune to me and only a small portion to my father.However, she also recognized that I was still very young. If my father ever developed malicious intentions, I might not survive long enough to reach adulthood.After much hesitation, my mother decided to leave the will in her diary and reiterated that I must never read it myself.Her plan was to leave my father some room to act, provided I remained unaware of the will.If he was an honorable man, he would give me the inheritance that rightfully belonged to me.If he wanted to misappropriate his wife's bridal price, then, since I hadn't seen the will, he could simply disregard its provisions without having to resort to harming me.But my father wanted both to seize my mother's brid

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