A year after I was confirmed to be the fake heiress.
My friends all said Id changed.
I was no longer arrogant or extravagant, no longer desperately chasing after a moment of genuine attention from my mom and dad, nor was I trying to win Barrys love.
The harsh reality of my financial struggles wore me out, and it taught me that love was the most useless thing in the world.
I became what they wantedpassive and no longer battling for anything.
When Barry brought the real heiress home again later,
I just quietly went to the guest room, quietly waiting to surrender everything to the real heiress.
But everyone who wanted me to be compliant was furious, asking why I wasn’t making a scene anymore.
It was dawn when Barry brought the real heiress home again.
I didn’t make a scene.
I just forced myself out of bed, exhausted, and quietly went to the guest room.
As I walked past Scarlett, she sweetly tugged on my hand.
“Aria, you’ve misunderstood me.”
“I just came to get the necklace I left behind last time; I’m not trying to steal Barry from you…”
Barry frowned, about to scold me for being dramatic and possessive, just like he used to.
But I cut him off, speaking calmly.
“I know. I only married him because I took your place. He… was always meant for you.”
Honestly, Id come to terms with it long ago.
Arranged marriages among the elite were never about personal feelings, but about family background.
When my identity as a fake heiress was exposed, Barry had immediately suggested divorce.
Id cried and screamed, starved myself and threatened to end it all, just to cling to the title of Mrs. Miller.
But what was the point?
My mom and dad had already taken back everything they’d given me, and the Miller family wasn’t going to give me a dime either.
I held a fancy title but was financially ruined, utterly destitute.
Scarlett probably hadn’t expected me to say that; she blinked, stunned for two seconds before replying.
“Oh, good, I’m glad. I was worried you’d be upset about me starting as Barry’s personal assistant at his company.”
She knew my sensitive spot.
She knew I hated her getting close to him the most.
I clearly caught the triumphant glint in her eyes, but I just nodded calmly.
“That’s perfectly fine. Once you’ve gotten some experience, you can take over the whole group.”
“Mr. Hayes… your dad will be thrilled.”
I brushed her hand away.
“Sorry, I’m a bit tired after delivering food all day.”
“I’m going to lie down for a bit. You two carry on.”
The guest room door slowly closed, and I wearily shut my eyes.
A cold, hollow ache settled in my chest, like a draft from a broken window in winter, slowly freezing me from the inside.
Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I suddenly heard the guest room door violently kicked open.
Barry stood by my bed, his face dark.
He asked me,
“What game are you playing now?”
What game could I be playing?
This past year, major companies had blacklisted me everywhere. I ended up delivering packages, doing food delivery, and even live-streaming. The spirit of a princess was long gone.
Now, I was a hedgehog stripped of its quills, yet he still feared I might prick someone.
He, uncharacteristically, started explaining.
“Scarlett felt dizzy last time, so I let her rest on the bed. The necklace must have fallen off then.”
“Her being my personal assistant was Mr. Hayes’s arrangement, to have her learn from me. Don’t overthink it.”
I kept my eyes closed and murmured a soft, “Mmm.”
He stood by the bed, silent.
After a long while, I thought he’d left, but then I heard his voice again.
“My dad’s birthday is coming up. The party is the day after tomorrow.”
“You’d better not make things difficult for Scarlett there, or you won’t even have the title of Mrs. Miller anymore.”
I sighed lightly, my mind racing to calculate how many deliveries I’d need to make tomorrow to afford a gift.
Utterly exhausted, I managed only a few words.
“Mmm, got it.”
I scraped together enough money at the last minute before the store closed and rushed in to buy a gift.
By the time I arrived at the hotel, I noticed everyone’s expressions were grim.
Scarlett was the first to laugh out loud.
“Aria, how could you come to a party dressed in your delivery uniform? So many people are here today; at least give Barry some face.”
I looked down, realizing in my hurry, Id forgotten to change.
The uniform felt like a stinging slap across my face. I extended my chapped, red hands from the cold and gently placed the gift on the table.
“Dad, I’m sorry. I had something… I’m late.”
“This is just a small token of my affection. I wish you good health and many more happy years.”
Mr. Miller’s expression didn’t soften one bit.
Mrs. Miller picked up my gift, opened the box, glanced inside, and then casually tossed it to the ground with a dismissive flick.
“If you truly wished him a happy birthday, you’d agree to divorce Barry.”
“How dare you bring such a cheap gift? It’s so tacky, truly an embarrassment to the Miller name.”
“Sigh.”
Her soft sigh felt like a heavy stone dropped into the quiet pond of my heart.
My dad lifted his head, indignant.
“She’s not our biological child after all; you can’t change that inherent low-class nature.”
“When my wife was giving birth at the hospital, there was a mix-up. My poor Scarlett struggled out in the cold for twenty-five years before coming home… but by then, Barry had already married someone else…”
My mom couldn’t help but wipe away tears.
“And the worst part is, this wretched girl, who stole another’s life, still shows no remorse!”
I looked up, seeing the parents who once doted on me now despise me to no end, seeing the scorn on Barrys parents’ faces.
It was all so utterly pointless.
The chilblains on my hands were getting itchier, and I lowered my gaze.
I desperately wanted to tell them how Id spent every minute from dawn till dusk making deliveries for this gift, how I’d almost fallen off my e-scooter multiple times from speeding.
But in the end, I just opened my mouth, chose silence, and turned to leave.
I forced myself to walk for a long time before Barry’s voice drifted from behind me.
“Dad, actually, that vintage fountain pen… it’s quite nice.”
I didn’t know why Barry spoke up for me.
Was it because my public humiliation would also be an embarrassment to the Miller family?
In that moment, a strange, hopeful itch began to bloom in my chest.
I slowed my steps, ears perked, listening as my father-in-law said,
“Take it away.”
Then came a crisp sound, like the pen hitting the floor, but it felt like my own heart had fallen to the ground.
That night, I rode my e-scooter, tearing down the street.
The biting wind felt like a thousand tiny blades against my skin, whipping my tears in every direction.
I realized then, a person could truly die, silently, from the inside out.
When I finally got home, all my emotions stripped away, Barry was already there.
I tiptoed into the house, and Scarlett suddenly peeked out from an inner room.
“Aria, you’re back?”
“I thought you probably hadn’t eaten after running off like that, so I took the liberty of packing you some leftovers.”
She suddenly covered her mouth.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Aria. I forgot you never eat leftovers. Unlike me… I was abducted and forced to live in poverty, starving most days, sleeping rough, and constantly facing abuse. Back then, I would have been so happy to have even a bite of leftovers…”
Her words were always laced with venom.
Stinging me, reminding me that I had stolen twenty-five years of her fairy-tale life, and for that, I deserved to die.
I used to jump to argue with her, to insist that I was innocent too.
To argue that even if I wasn’t my parents’ biological daughter, we’d still lived together for over twenty years, and they loved me just the same.
But those were always just my thoughts.
They didn’t love me.
Barry’s parents didn’t love me.
Barry didn’t love me either.
I stood in the hallway and politely thanked her.
“It’s a shame to throw away perfectly good food.”
“Just put it in the fridge; I can heat it up and eat it tomorrow.”
Scarlett froze, her mouth agape, so surprised she forgot to even blink.
I turned and went back to the guest room, taking out cotton swabs and alcohol from a drawer, then carefully rolling up my pant leg.
The raw, gaping wound was still oozing blood with the slightest touch.
Barry walked in at that very moment.
I thought he was coming to question me, so I spoke without thinking.
“Sorry, I forgot to change my clothes today.”
But he, contrary to his usual self, took the cotton swabs from my hand and personally began to clean my wound.
I was stunned.
I used to practically beg for a moment of his attention.
But now, my leg muscles tensed, and I felt a strange unease spread through me.
“Does it hurt?”
I blinked, about to shake my head.
But he answered himself.
“It must. You used to throw a fit over the smallest paper cut.”
I didn’t understand what was going on with him.
He looked at me.
“I had some drinks today, and Scarlett drove me home.”
“There’s nothing going on between us.”
I pulled down my pant leg and nodded casually.
“She’s your assistant at work. It’s normal to have more contact; it’s all part of the job.”
His gaze at me began to grow complex.
I found it hard to decipher the emotions mixed within it, and I no longer had the energy to try.
He watched me for a long time, then finally pulled a black credit card from his pocket and placed it on my nightstand.
“Don’t do those menial jobs anymore.”
“I’ll transfer your monthly living allowance to this card from now on.”
“And stop eating leftovers. I’ll make you some food.”
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