Tamara rolled her eyes; it almost looked theatrical. "Wake up, you pathetic lowlife. He is not coming back. No one has heard a single word of him in six months," Tamara was tired of hearing Cassian being alive by Cixi. It felt as if he would come alive if Cixi kept repeating it. And more than that, even Michael allowed her to stay in the Palace. Why? She wants this bitch out of the Palace.

"I suggest you start looking for another man to leech off of. And do not dare look at the men of this family. We have already issued a strict warning to every male in this house about a cheap, opportunistic pregnant whore wandering the halls under the guise of carrying Cassian’s bastard. If any man in this family tries to get close to you..." Ursa’s lips thinned as she pressed them together. "...they would lose their share of the family property."

Rosetta not only softly returned the laughter but even fouler. "Still, if you preferred variety, I am sure Tamara could help arrange something. One man. Two men. However many it would take for you to leave this place."

Cixi could not understand if these women thought that all people from ordinary backgrounds only thought of how to grab men’s money.... Do they really think this about women who share her background, or are their brains filled with filthy worms?

"Cassian is the father." Cixi decided it was time to put an end to their fruitless attempts to make her feel small. She had always embraced her identity and her origins, never feeling ashamed of them. Standing on her own two feet, affording a place to live and meeting her basic needs was enough for her. Their insults meant nothing to her. So, Cixi smiled again, though this time the smile held nothing soft in it. "And how generous of you to scare those men off! Now I can enjoy my peace and quiet. I am grateful you have kept the hordes away because I don’t want Cassian getting any crazy ideas about hunting them down. You, ladies, have truly done a great job saving your family from any future brutal deaths!"

Cixi’s confident words only worsened Tamara’s temper. While Tamara expected to feel delight in Cixi’s breakdown, Cixi only came back with sharper retorts that could silence them all. Why in the world were they still reacting to Cassian’s name when he was already dead?

"We are sending you to the private hospital tomorrow morning for a mandatory DNA test," Tamara hissed. "We are also pulling every single CCTV camera from your neighbourhood to track exactly where you have been and who you have been sleeping with. Everything will be dragged into the light. Pray for yourself, little girl. Because the second those test results prove you are a lying fraud, we are sending you straight to a maximum-security prison for extortion. You can give birth to your bastard on a cold concrete floor behind iron bars. Now, get out of my sight."

Ursa added more. "And if even one lie falls out of you, pray very hard for mercy."

Rosetta finished with the threat. "Because if any part of this turns out false, we will see you sent to prison for life. You may give birth to the child there. Iron bars would suit you and your child better."

Tamara lifted her hand toward the door. "Now leave. Before I decide, this conversation has already lasted longer than your value."

Until this moment, Cixi had been speaking with the confidence of a woman who held the world by its throat. But the mention of CCTV cameras punched the air straight out of her lungs.

Her face did not betray her. She kept her expression composed, her chin lifted, her gaze steady. But inside, a cold, sickening dread coiled around her stomach and squeezed. Until two days ago, she had not worn a single shred of padding beneath her clothes.

If these women had already hired investigators to pull security footage, every camera in the city would confirm that her flat stomach had miraculously ballooned into a six-month pregnancy within forty-eight hours.

Her lie would unravel in minutes. And the prison threat would become very, very real.

Without uttering another word, Cixi turned and walked out of the spa room. She did not give them the satisfaction of seeing her pace quicken, but the second she rounded the corner and the heavy door clicked shut behind her, she broke into a near-sprint.

Her scuffed shoes slapped against the polished marble as she retraced the route she had memorized while following the servant earlier that morning. Left corridor. Past the grand staircase. Through the arched gallery lined with oil paintings of Crown ancestors who stared down at her with the same contempt as their living descendants.

She wanted to eat. She wanted to drink something cold to settle the nausea climbing her throat. But that would have to wait.

Cixi rushed toward Cassian’s private floor. She jabbed the elevator button three times, cursing under her breath when the doors took too long to open. Once inside, she pressed the floor number so hard that her fingernail bent backward.

The moment she reached the living room of Cassian’s quarters, she yanked her phone from her pocket and dialed his number with trembling fingers.

The phone rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

The ringing stopped, and Cassian’s drowsy voice rumbled through the speaker. He must have been lying in bed in Demond City, wherever that was, unbothered by the world burning around him.

"Cassian!" Cixi yelled his name so loudly that it bounced off the vaulted ceiling.

On the other end, Cassian dragged the phone away from his ear, his face twitching with the loud voice, before slowly bringing it back.

"Why are you screaming..." His voice carried zero inflexion. His eyes remained closed, and his large frame sprawled across his bed in the dark room.

"I need your help! You must send your people to remove all the CCTV camera footage from every route I have taken in the past month." Cixi spoke rapidly, pacing back and forth across the living room.

She always wore loose, oversized clothing, which would make it difficult for anyone to tell whether she carried a belly or not. But a thorough investigation would expose the inconsistencies. "Do it now."

"Why?"