Chapter 1 Who Is She?

Selena's POV

The day before my engagement to Myrdal Carter, I saw a delicate-looking girl crying in his arms.

Myrdal was gently comforting her in a soft voice.

My mother stood nearby, wiping away tears excitedly, muttering over and over: "It's good you're back, it's good you're back."

The four of them stood together, looking like a harmonious family, while I seemed like the outsider.

I casually walked up to them and asked, "Who is she?"

The moment I appeared, their reunion scene froze instantly.

Myrdal instinctively tried to push the girl away, but she held onto his arm tightly.

The girl looked at me with challenging eyes.

Mother stepped forward to explain: "Perfect timing. This is my biological daughter, Taisia. Myrdal found her recently and brought her back."

I frowned. "How come I didn't know you had another daughter?"

"I only have one daughter, and you were the one switched at birth twenty years ago." Mother looked at me with disgust: "I always felt you weren't like me—weird personality, no sense of romance. Turns out you're a fake!"

She took Taisia's hand, her expression turning kind and gentle: "Taisia is much more like me."

I could hardly believe it.

Although my parents had been cold to me all these years, I never imagined I wasn't their biological child.

Taisia lowered her head pitifully, looking pitiful: "Mom, I've missed you so much all these years..."

As she spoke, she glanced at me lightly and extended her hand: "You must be Selena. Thank you for taking care of my parents all these years."

I looked at her coldly, with no intention of shaking her hand.

The atmosphere became awkward at that moment.

Taisia's lips turned pale as she weakly wiped her tears: "Should I not have come back and disrupted Selena's life?"

Mother rushed to comfort her. "Silly child, what are you saying? She's just like that—no manners at all! From now on, this is your home. You're my daughter, and no one can say otherwise."

Every word was meant for me to hear.

Taisia looked at Myrdal with teary eyes. "Really?"

Myrdal nodded, then said to me. "I found Taisia in a rural village. She's suffered a lot these years. I hope you can be nice to her."

I looked at Taisia and met a pair of hostile eyes.

She looked at me as if I were the villain who had stolen her happy life like a cuckoo in the nest.

I laughed and looked up at Myrdal. "I guess we can't get engaged tomorrow then?"

As soon as I finished speaking, Taisia's face changed. She grabbed Myrdal's arm and started crying again. "You're getting engaged? Then what about me?"

At those words, everyone fell silent.

The marriage alliance between my family and Myrdal's had been arranged since childhood, involving the honor of both families.

Now that the real daughter had returned, I naturally couldn't marry Myrdal as the daughter of the Kateson family.

"Let's put the engagement on hold for now." Father spoke first, saying gently to Taisia: "You just got back, rest well for a few days."

He called the servants to prepare a room for Taisia.

After Taisia was taken upstairs by the servants, Myrdal explained to me somewhat awkwardly. "Selena, I know you can't accept this right away, but I need to discuss this with my family."

Mother scoffed dismissively: "What's there to discuss? The Kateson family only has one daughter—Taisia. If you're going to marry anyone, it should be Taisia."

Father also agreed with Mother's view: "That's right. Both our families are prominent in the empire. If outsiders found out we married off a fake daughter to your family, we'd be the laughingstock of everyone."

I silently looked at Myrdal, waiting for his response.

Until yesterday, he was still imagining our wonderful life together after marriage. And now? Would he abandon me too?

He wouldn't, right?

But Myrdal didn't speak. He didn't even look at me.

Myrdal smiled at Taisia, a warm, gentle smile. "To marry this beautiful lady would be my good fortune."

I closed my eyes in despair. It seemed I wasn't that important to him after all.

How foolish of me. Just moments ago, I had even thought Myrdal would firmly choose to marry me.

This man who just yesterday swore his love to me, saying he would marry no one but me, was now wavering because of a few words from my parents.

Myrdal, your love is truly cheap.

Just as I was about to turn and leave, the servant Eileen came running down the stairs in a panic.

"Sir, Madam, something's wrong..."

"What is it?" Father frowned.

Eileen glanced at me nervously, looking panicked: "I just took Miss Taisia to choose a room, but she insists on having Miss Selena's room."

"Is that all?" Mother looked completely dismissive: "If she wants it, let her have it. Can Selena really say no?"

My father, my mother, the lover who'd been by my side day and night—in the blink of an eye, they'd all abandoned me.

Taisia upstairs looked down at me. From an angle no one else could see, she flashed me a mocking smile.

Her lips moved silently, forming the words: "I'm going to take back everything that belongs to you."