I bit my lip, forcing back the tears. “How could I not recognize you?” I said softly.
He was my husband, after all. We had known each other since childhood. Even the King used to joke that no one knew Damon better than I did. And because of that, my love for him had been absolute. No matter how well he hid it, the little details could never deceive me.
With the truth revealed, the King was enraged. “Damon, how could you impersonate your brother? He was your
own flesh and blood!”
“So what?!” Damon roared back. “From the day we were born, you praised him, his talent, his intelligence. But I am your son too! Why could you never see my efforts? Why couldn’t you treat us as equals? After he died, I took his place for the stability of the clan! Aside from today, did any of you ever suspect a thing? Our powers are identical! Why did you choose him as the prince, and not me?”
The High Priest. unable to li
Chapter 2
06.17
The High Priest, unable to listen any longer, answered for the King. “Second Prince, the Crown Prince’s power was far greater than yours. I presid- ed over the power assessment myself. Prince Caelus was the most gifted heir the Dragon Clan has seen in a thousand years. His appointment as
Crown Prince was the will of the people.”
Damon was stunned. “I don’t believe you! If his power was greater than mine, why didn’t I ever notice?”
The High Priest sighed. “The Crown Prince was concerned you would be discouraged, so he always suppressed his power to match yours. He would never unleash his full strength unless it was a matter of life and death. That is why, even when you impersonated him, it was so difficult for
us to detect.”
I knew this to be true. When Damon had been ambushed by the sea demon and lay unconscious, I was left to fend for myself, wounded and prot- ecting him. My brother–in–law, Caelus, had appeared and dispatched the demon with a single blow. Damon had fought it for an hour and hadn’t
been able to land a scratch.
I had glanced at Caelus but chose not to reveal the truth. I never imagined that my silence would
Damon sat on the ground, dazed, muttering, “So that’s how it was… Brother, I wronged you.”
Afterward, Damon had complained to me, “If I hadn’t been ambushed, I would have easily defeated that pathetic sea demon.”
lead
to
this misunderstanding.
At the same time, the High Priest looked puzzled. “But by rights, even if the Second Prince impersonated the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess is of the true royal bloodline of the Phoenix Clan. Even if the conditions were not perfectly met, it should not have resulted in punishment from the heavens. The Queen is a descendant of the serpent clan, yet she received the inheritance with the King without being punished. Unless…”
I looked at. Serena, who was trying to make herself invisible, and finished his sentence with a smile. “Unless the Crown Princess is not of the true royal bloodline of the Phoenix Clan.”
“Phoebe, you’re slandering me!” Serena shrieked, her body trembling with a mixture of guilt and fury. “I am your sister! If I am not of the royal bloo- dline, then what are you?” She shot a resentful glare at Damon, then crawled to the King, trying to defend herself, “Father, I knew nothing of Dam- on’s impersonation of Caelus. If you must punish someone, punish him alone.”
Damon looked up, his face a mask of disbelief.
I sneered inwardly. In my past life, I only learned on my deathbed that Damon had
graceful, and after seeing her only twice at a palace banquet, he was utterly infatus een secretly in love
priceless treasures, wanting to cradle her in the palm of his hand.
And now, the woman he had adored had abandoned him without a second thought.
with Serena. He saw her as gentle and After taking his brother’s place, he had showered her with
The King, reeling from the successive blows, managed to pull himself up and look at me. “Phoebe, Serena is your full–blooded sister. How can you say she is an impostor?”
I shook my head. “We share a father, but not a mother.”
