Chapter 20 Mother’s Return
Outside the marquisate gates waited a carriage from the princess’s household.
The curtain lifted, and a pale hand beckoned me.
When I saw who sat inside, I threw myself forward.
Mother. It was really Mother!
Only then did the terror of nearly losing my hand crash over me.
Tears streamed down my face as I buried myself in her arms. “Mother, you finally came for me!”
She held me tightly, gently stroking my back.
She'd faked her death and caught the princess's eye. Step by step, she'd risen to become her trusted advisor.
The mysterious figure who had “bewitched” the princess into opening women’s schools and creating the Women’s Examination—it had been my mother all along.
She wiped my tears, voice thick with guilt. “These years have been hard on you.”
“I had people watching the household.”
“But they could only send word. They couldn’t interfere directly.”
She touched my hair, remembering. “Back then, I tried to prevent everything by sending Xie Chengzong and his son to the border.”
“I never expected the plot to rewrite itself, making them meet the heroine even earlier…”
“I don’t know how to explain it all. But if an outsider forced their way in, things would only worsen.”
“Like today. If you hadn't voluntarily changed your name and left the family, even if I got you into the examination, trouble would have followed.”
A cold shiver ran through me as the full horror sank in.
Mother saw my pallor and quickly comforted me. “It’s over now. You made it through.”
“By changing your name and leaving the household, to the plot you’ve met a ‘miserable end.’”
“Now you’re truly free of its control.”
“The rest of your life belongs to you.”
My clenched fists finally relaxed.