{Third Person}

The room fell silent again. For several moments, only the ticking of the clock could be heard.

Amara’s eyes became distant as she relived the memory. "I was shocked," she admitted quietly. "I thought there had been some mistake."

Her voice broke slightly. "There wasn’t." Then, she swallowed before continuing, "Later, I confronted my family. That was when Lila revealed the truth."

Alexander’s eyes narrowed slightly. "The truth?"

She nodded. "She told me that I was not their biological daughter." Her fingers tightened further as she continued, "At first, I thought she was lying, but she wasn’t."

Right then, a hollow laugh escaped her lips. She slowly lifted her gaze to meet Alexander’s. "My parents admitted everything."

The hurt in her eyes was impossible to miss.

"They told me I was never a Caldwell by blood."

The confession hung heavily in the room. And finally, Amara looked away again. "My father said they raised me, and that was all."

The words still hurt; perhaps they always would.

"I learned the truth only hours before I was brought here." Then, she hesitated briefly before adding, "And when I questioned what would happen if anyone discovered I wasn’t really a Caldwell, my father threatened me."

Alexander’s expression changed slightly.

Amara noticed and still went ahead to reveal, "My father made it clear that if the truth ever came out, I would be the first to suffer."

The room became very quiet afterwards.

Since the interrogation began, Alexander found himself looking at Amara differently for the first time.

Though he didn’t fully believe her yet, the pain in her voice did not sound rehearsed to him. It sounded real.

Alexander remained silent for a long moment, making the room feel strangely still.

Outside the study windows, the morning continued as usual, but inside, neither of them seemed aware of the passing time.

Alexander noticed that Amara looked emotionally exhausted, as though she had spent years carrying a burden she could no longer bear.

Eventually, he spoke again. "What did your boyfriend do?"

Amara blinked, completely taken aback by that question. Also, there was a hint of confusion in her stare.

Alexander’s expression remained unreadable as he repeated, "What did he do after your father announced that you would become the political bride?"

The question immediately reopened a wound she had been trying not to revisit.

For a moment, she lowered her eyes and stared at her clasped hands, then she answered quietly.

"Nothing," she said. "He did nothing but leave."

Alexander waited as she drew in a slow breath before continuing, "I was shocked after the announcement. I barely understood what was happening around me."

She paused briefly. "I left the ballroom and went outside because I needed air." Then, a faint bitterness crept into her voice as she added, "I found Torin in the parking area."

Alexander noticed how naturally the man’s name left her lips, with only disappointment rather than affection.

"I thought he was waiting for me." A hollow smile appeared on her face. "I thought he would help me, so I apologized. I told him I didn’t know any of it was going to happen. Then I suggested that we leave together."

Alexander’s gaze sharpened slightly. "And?"

Amara swallowed a gulp as the smile vanished almost immediately. "He refused."

The answer came softly... painfully softly.

"He told me he wasn’t going to throw his life away."

The room descended into an emergency silence, and for some reason, Alexander felt irritation rise in his chest toward Torin.

Amara continued before he could ask another question. "When I kept questioning him, he admitted that he already knew."

Her voice grew quieter as she reached the part that hurt her the most from that evening. "He knew our engagement would be cancelled." A pause followed before she added,

"He knew I was being sent to the Werewolf Kingdom. He knew before I did, yet didn’t say a word to me. It wasn’t just my entire family who played me. He was part of the setup, too."

For several seconds, Alexander said nothing. Inwardly, however, his opinion of Torin dropped even lower than before.

’So, this is the truth. This is how she got into this dicey, messy situation.’

For a long time, Alexander had wondered why a man supposedly in love had surrendered so easily.

Why he had not fought. Why he had not protested. And why he had quietly stepped aside and later attached himself to another woman without hesitation, his girlfriend’s younger sister, no less.

Now he finally understood that the man had chosen himself from the very beginning.

The moment the situation became inconvenient, he abandoned Amara and protected his own future.

He is cowardly, pathetic, and completely unworthy of the loyalty she once gave him.

Yet strangely enough, another thought crossed Alexander’s mind.

Anthony Caldwell’s actions had been despicable. The man had deliberately deceived Amara.

He had invited nobles under the guise of celebrating her engagement, only to publicly destroy it in front of everyone.

His actions and methods were cruel, humiliating, unforgivable. And yet, had that humiliation not occurred, Amara might have ended up marrying a man who would eventually betray her anyway.

A man, who was actually her greatest enemy, but he hid his nature to well from her.

The thought irritated him for reasons he could not explain. But pushing it aside, he asked another question.

"Why did the Caldwells send you instead of their real daughter?"

Amara looked genuinely lost. "I don’t know."

"You never asked?"

"I wanted to." Her fingers tightened together. "But everything happened too quickly."

She looked down at her lap and added, "The moment I learned the truth, my entire life fell apart. I was trying to understand how I could spend my whole life believing I belonged to a family, only to discover I wasn’t even related to them."

Then, a sad smile touched her lips. "I didn’t even know what questions to ask first."

Alexander remained quiet, allowing her to continue. "Lila never liked me very much."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "Your sister?"

"Yes." Amara nodded. "As you already know, she was the one who revealed the truth first. After that, everything happened quickly. I was placed under supervision, and preparations for my departure began immediately."

Her expression darkened. "There was never an opportunity to ask where I came from."

Alexander leaned back slightly. "You have no idea who your biological parents are?"

Amara shook her head. "No." The answer was immediate. "I don’t know who they are."

There was no hint of hesitation or uncertainty. Only the simple truth.

Just then, a distant look entered her eyes. "As long as I can remember, I lived as a Caldwell. My childhood photographs were everywhere in that house."

She smiled sadly. Then, her voice softened. "Birthdays. Family vacations. School events. I never questioned my place there because there was never a reason to."

For a brief moment, Alexander found himself imagining a child growing up surrounded by evidence that she belonged somewhere only to discover overnight that none of it was truly hers. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The thought left him unexpectedly uncomfortable.

After a long silence, he finally asked the question that had been bothering him the most. "Why didn’t you tell me?"

Amara slowly lifted her head, not quite understanding his question.

Alexander held her gaze. "After arriving here, why didn’t you tell me the truth?"

The question hung heavily between them. For several moments, Amara said nothing. But when she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Because I was afraid."

Alexander’s expression remained unchanged.

"I told you that my father threatened me before I left. He made it very clear that if I revealed the truth, I would suffer first."

She lowered her eyes briefly. The memory clearly unsettled her.

"Then I arrived here." A faint, embarrassed laugh escaped her lips. "And I heard the stories."

Alexander already knew exactly which stories she meant.

The rumours followed him everywhere, from his own kingdom to the human kingdoms and other foreign courts.

Amara looked uncomfortable as she continued. "They said you killed people whenever you wanted..

She hesitated for a moment, then added quietly, "They said nobody could oppose you. Some people called you a monster."

The confession made her visibly uncomfortable, so she looked away almost immediately. "I was terrified."

There was nothing like dishonesty or manipulation in her voice. Only pure and painful honesty.

"I thought if I told the truth, I would die."

Alexander said nothing, so she managed to release a shaky breath. "I thought I would be executed before I could explain myself. I kept telling myself I would reveal the truth eventually."

A bitter smile appeared. "But every day made it harder." She looked directly at him for the first time since answering. "So I chose to survive."

The words were simple, yet they carried more weight than anything she had said so far.

"I convinced myself that if I stayed quiet, maybe I could live." Her eyes lowered once more. "Even if it meant carrying that secret for the rest of my life."

Silence settled between them again. This time, however, it felt different.

Because for the first time since learning the truth, Alexander found himself questioning whether fear had been driving Amara’s actions all along.