EMILIA’S POV

“Oh, poor Emilia,” my mother said with a small laugh. “You really thought we were your real parents? Are you that stupid?”

Her words felt like knives slicing through my chest. I stared at her, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. “What… what are you talking about?” My voice came out as a whisper, weak and trembling.

Rosella laughed, that cruel sound that always made my skin crawl. “Oh goddess, this is even better than I imagined. She doesn’t know. She actually doesn’t know.”

My father stood silent, watching me with the same disgust someone might give a filthy animal. My mother...