Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 272: Black to White

I wasn’t sure what Diana told them or what she had done, but nothing seemed to have moved forward during that week. Although no new evidence was found and no progress was made on the case, the press continued to cover the story non-stop. I wondered if our entire family would be under investigation or if we had to go to court. My parents were always stressed and on edge, and I would be lying if I said that their anxiety we’re not getting to me. Diana seemed to be the most calm out of all of us, and it made me feel that she knew something that we all did not.

“Will Dad end up in prison?” I asked her one evening while we were alone.

“Is that what you wish for?” Diana asked with a teasing smile.

“It doesn’t matter what I wish for. I simply want to know what is going to happen,” I replied to her honestly.

“This might be disappointing to you, but I don’t think anything significant is going to happen to our family,” Diana replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

I stared at my sister silently as I wondered if she knew something but wasn’t telling me before I decided to let it go. If something was bound to happen, then it would end up happening anyways. It seemed like it was just a matter of time before the truth came out, at least the version of truth that the people with power wanted to come out. Rumors of our family falling out of favor with the royal family and that they had decided to side with another noble family swirled around in every news and media channel as if it had already been established as the truth. I had never seen my father stay at home for as long as he had during those past few days when he refused to leave the house. At first I thought he was simply ashamed of what was going on, but soon enough I found out that leaving the house was no longer a viable option.

“Keep the curtains closed!” My mother ordered as she pulled the curtains out of my sister’s hand to close it.

I didn’t think that the reporters could see us from the window, but my mother wasn’t willing to take any risk. It seemed like the silence regarding the corruption case had only brought more attention and pressure to our household. Large crowds of reporters gathered in front of the mansion gates blocking the entrance and preventing us from leaving the house. After witnessing and hearing my parents arguing and my father yelling like a madman, I figured that the best solution for myself was for me to lock myself up inside of my bedroom. Although I felt like reaching out to the prince and asking him for help might be the most simple solution to the problem, I still couldn’t find it in me to do it. Just when the pressure built up and everyone was so stressed and it seemed like there was no way out, the problem was suddenly resolved.

“There’s a public announcement from the Royal Palace. It’s all over the news on television, I think we should all watch this together!” Diana announced to our parents after dragging me out of my bedroom into the living room.

At first I didn’t think that it was going to be any kind of good news because lately good news never came our way.

“What are they saying? Did they mention our family? Are they making a fool out of us?” My father asked suspiciously as his eyes narrowed.

It hadn’t been that long since the last time that I saw him but it looked like my father had aged multiple years on top of losing quite a bit of weight. The dark circles under his eyes told me that he must have spent countless sleepless nights alone while fighting with his internal and external demons.

“We do have some unexpected news for you this evening. It seems like all the allegations of corruption and fraud against the Alnault family have been completely dropped and cleared by the court due to lack of concrete evidence. More details coming up soon after the break,” the news reporter reported excitedly.

I watched as the news program transitioned into an advertisement. Similarly, to the way that the news of the corruption scandal was announced, the entire case seemed to have come to an abrupt closure. All of us were too shocked to say anything, and silence settled in the room as we all took our time to take in this new piece of news. My father was the one who let out a loud laugh before letting out a long sigh of relief and wiping his forehead with this handkerchief. I looked at my mother to see tears welling up in her eyes before she slowly dapped at them.

That was just how relieved my parents were that it seemed like the storm had finally blown over us. As for me, I was more confused at this sudden turn of events more than anything else. I wondered what happened for the court to suddenly change its ruling in our favor. Something told me that someone quite powerful must have intervened in some shape or form to bring about this change.

“What happened?” I asked before I could stop myself.

I was certain that my parents knew what I was referring to.

“Who cares? As long as things are working in our favor...” my father replied before he sneered at me.

“That’s right. This is how things are supposed to be. How can they possibly hold our family accountable, right dear?” My mother said before turning to address my father.

The two of them didn’t seem to care who or what managed to help clear our family from suspicion and sweep everything under the rug as if nothing had happened. The news segment returned with the full program recapping the fraud case and pointing out how the evidence originally found was unsound and baseless. Whoever was behind this had managed to make the court make a 360° U-turn and had managed to turn pitch black into pure white.

–To be continued...