PART 2: The Queen Mother's Secret
The ballroom remained frozen.
No one dared speak.
No one dared move.
The king stood before Mara, staring at the glowing phoenix mark as though the past seventeen years had suddenly come alive.
“My daughter...” he whispered again.
Mara shook her head.
“I don't understand.”
Before the king could answer, Lady Celeste suddenly stepped forward.
“This is absurd!”
Her voice cracked.
“She is a servant. Nothing more.”
But the panic in her eyes betrayed her.
The king slowly turned toward her.
For the first time in years, his gaze carried anger.
“Then explain why she bears the royal phoenix.”
Celeste opened her mouth.
No words came.
Across the ballroom, another figure began trembling.
The Queen Mother.
The king's own sister-in-law.
The woman who had helped raise Celeste after the tragedy.
The old woman suddenly collapsed into a chair.
Her face had turned ghostly pale.
“I can explain,” she whispered.
Every eye turned toward her.
Tears filled her eyes as seventeen years of lies finally broke apart.
“The princess never died.”
Shock swept through the room.
“The fire was real. But when I found the child alive, I feared the kingdom would fall into chaos. The king was weak with grief. The nobles demanded a clear heir.”
Her shaking finger pointed toward Celeste.
“I believed she would be easier to control.”
The room erupted with outrage.
The Queen Mother lowered her head.
“So I ordered the baby removed from the palace and left in a distant village.”
The king staggered backward as though struck.
Mara felt the world spinning around her.
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Everything she had ever known had been a lie.
And the woman responsible was standing only a few feet away.
