Chapter 13 — Sacrificed by the Heir: Reborn as Yue Zhaoyue to Avenge Sixteen Years of Injustice

He ground his teeth.

"If I had known you would turn out like this today..."

"I never should have brought you back to the capital all those years ago."

I froze in place.

"Brought me back to the capital?"

My father's expression flickered, suddenly wary. I pressed him, "Are you implying that I was not born into the Shen family?"

He did not answer. Suddenly, the wailing of Shen Yuntang rose high and sharp.

"Father!"

Xie Linchu turned his head to look at us as well. The Grand Princess frowned slightly.

"Vice Minister Shen, what did you just say?"

My father responded immediately, "I merely spoke in a fit of anger, your Highness. I misspoke."

But I continued to stare at him, enunciating each word with agonizing precision:

"Bringing me back to the capital... what does that mean?"

My father replied coldly, "You misheard."

I looked toward my mother. She avoided my gaze. I stepped directly in front of her.

"Mother. Who am I, really?"

My mother’s lips trembled. "Shen Zhaoyue, please, do not ask any more."

I persisted, "I want to know."

My father bellowed, "Silence!"

The Grand Princess spoke in a low, commanding voice, "Let her ask."

Shen Yuntang suddenly crawled toward me, clutching the hem of my dress tightly. "Sister, please. Do not ask any more. The most important thing now is Brother Lin Chu. He cannot go against the Princess for your sake."

I looked down at her. "What are you afraid of?"

She sobbed and shook her head. "I am afraid you will be hurt."

I said, "You are afraid that I will find out... that I never owed you anything to begin with."

Shen Yuntang’s crying stopped abruptly. My father took a step forward. "Shen Zhaoyue!"

The Grand Princess glanced at the elderly maid beside her. "Close the doors."

The main gates of the Prince's residence swung shut. The lamps flickered, and the faces of everyone in the room turned ashen. The Grand Princess returned to her seat of honor.

"Vice Minister Shen, I, too, wish to hear the truth. Is the second young lady of the Shen family truly your biological daughter?"

My mother wept until she went limp, collapsing onto the floor. My father closed his eyes. Xie Linchu stood frozen, his hand still gripping the hilt of his blade. Shen Yuntang held my dress so tightly that her knuckles turned white. I looked at my father.

"Speak."

He remained silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke. "She is not."

My father declared that I was not his biological daughter. In that instant, the first person to speak was not my mother, nor was it me. It was Shen Yuntang. As if stung by fire, she released my dress and scrambled to my father’s feet. "Father, how could you say such a thing?"

That exclamation echoed louder than my father’s admission. The teacup in the Grand Princess's hand hung suspended in the air. The blade in Xie Linchu’s hand hit the stone floor with a jarring, metallic clang. My mother covered her face, her shoulders shaking with sobs. I looked down at Shen Yuntang.

"Did you know all along, eldest sister?"

Shen Yuntang shook her head frantically. "I did not. I... I only heard Father say things while he was drunk."

I asked, "Then why did you always claim I was the reason you were kidnapped?"

She wept, "I was young then, I remembered it wrong."

"When you returned to the Shen household, you were already thirteen years old," I countered.

She bit her lip, unable to answer. The Grand Princess turned to my father. "Vice Minister Shen, explain everything clearly."

My father seemed to age several years in a single moment, yet his spine remained rigid.

"Sixteen years ago, my wife gave birth to a daughter, but the child did not survive. On my way back to the capital, I found an abandoned infant. Fearing my wife would be consumed by grief, I brought the child into the house, raised her, and named her Shen Zhaoyue."

My mother sobbed, "I knew nothing of this. My husband told me the baby was frail, and the midwife had taken her to the warm room. The child who was brought back to me was Shen Zhaoyue."

I looked at my mother. She lunged forward to embrace me. "Shen Zhaoyue, I truly did not know. I raised you for sixteen years; in my heart, I always considered you my own."

I did not push her away, nor did I embrace her back. If you truly considered me your own, why was it so easy to discard me? The Grand Princess asked, "And what of Shen Yuntang?"

My father remained silent. Shen Yuntang spoke up hurriedly, "I am the daughter of the Shen family. I am the true daughter of Father and Mother."

I stared at her. "So, it was never because I coaxed you into buying honey cakes that you were kidnapped."

Her face went pale. My father spoke: "Shen Yuntang was lost years ago when her wet nurse took her out."

I asked, "Then why blame me for everything?"

My father said, "You were young then. You wouldn't remember."

I laughed. "I wouldn't remember... so I could carry that debt for you for the rest of my life?"

My mother shook her head, weeping. "No, Shen Zhaoyue, I was very ill at that time. When I woke up, everyone told me it was because you were gluttonous. I thought... I truly thought that was the truth."

I turned to my father. "Was it you who told her that?"

He did not answer. The Grand Princess slammed her teacup down. "Vice Minister Shen, you are truly capable. Using an abandoned child to mend your wife's heartbreak, then using her as a scapegoat for your own daughter. And now, when your own daughter has committed a grave offense, you still wish to make this girl take the fall for her once again."