"Lily, your father is the duke."

".... Say that again?"

"Lily, you... You are the duke's Illegitimate child..." Charles stated with fear hidden in his eyes. He knew how much pride she had in herself. Being an illegitimate child is definitely a large blow...

Angelina's face turned ashen. She suddenly felt bitterness in her mouth. Angelina lowered her head while trying to control her raging temper and ordered, "Tell me everything."

Charles obediently nodded and told her everything he knew about her parents.

----------------------

Lilith's mother, Persephone Roselyn Castilla, was the only daughter of a powerful and rich merchant, Lucius Josephine Castilla.

The Castilla family was one of the most respected and influential merchant families in the empire. But an incident happened which led to the Castilla family declaring bankruptcy.

Persephone and her father moved in to a small wooden home located in the woods. Persephone would spend her days trying to find a job but that proved to be extremely difficult.

One day, Persephone was approached by a woman, who turned out to be the owner of a very popular brothel, the butterfly palace.

" Young maiden, I am the madam of the butterfly palace and your rare beauty has caught my eyes. It would be a shame to not put your dazzling good looks to use. I promise we'll treat you well and we also offer a fair amount of pay."

She was desperate. Her father's health was getting worse and worse. So she accepted.

She had only worked for the butterfly palace for two days before she met the duke. The young Duke Skyler was enchanted by Persephone's beauty and virtues personality. He immediately paid for her to accompany him.

After that night, the duke offered to take her out of the brothel and turn her into his mistress.

"Persephone, you have touched my heart. Let me take you away from here. Once you agree to be my mistress, I'll treat you very well and spoil you with the finest treasures."

But Persephone disagreed.

She had already experienced enough shame and humiliation when working as a prostitute. She didn't want to be a mistress. She wanted to protect whatever little dignity she still had.

The duke left in anger. But shortly after he left, Persephone found out she was pregnant.

After finding out, she left the butterfly palace.

She spent most of the money she earned by working in the butterfly palace on her father and the baby Lilith. But unfortunately, the sickly Lucius ended up passing.

After the grandfather's death, Persephone and Lilith relied on each other to live. They were poor hence they could only eat porridge everyday. Who would've known that one day, the porridge would be poisoned?

Persephone was preparing the porridge for her and her lovely daughter as usual.

"Mom Is it ready yet?" A pretty four year old girl poked her head out while eagerly waiting for her food.

"Just a minute dear! Let the porridge cool down first!" Persephone picked up the two hot bowls of porridge and placed them by the window.

"Why can't I eat it now?" The young curious Lilith asked her mother.

"Oh sweetie... If you eat food while it's still hot, it will burn your mouth." Persephone turned her back on the bowls of porridge and knelt down to coax her dear daughter.

When the pair of mother and daughter weren't looking, a hand wearing long black sleeves reached out through the slightly open window and spilled a few drops of unknown liquid into the two bowls of porridge. They left immediately after completing their orders.

"Food can set my mouth on fire?!" The little girl gasped.

"No sweetheart..." Persephone laughed at her cute child and gently pinched her daughter's cheek. " Oh the porridge should be ready to eat now."

Persephone stood up and took the two bowls. She put down the bowls of porridge on the dining table before helping her daughter get on to her seat.

Since her daughter was the most eager to eat, she decided to feed her first. Even though it's been left to cool down, the porridge was still slightly hot, so she raised the spoon to her mouth and carefully blew on it.

Then she noticed something strange.

There was an odd faint smell. The smell was almost unnoticeable. But Persephone had a great sense of smell.

' Is there something wrong with it? I didn't add any wrong ingredients, did I? ' she wondered.

"Mom?" The innocent voice called out.

"Just a second Lily. Let mom taste it first, just in case it's still too hot." Persephone stuffed the spoonful of porridge into her mouth and ate it.

"Can I eat it now-"

"Cough! Cough! Cough! Arg- ah! Cough!"

Lilith saw as her mother fell from the chair and started coughing endlessly. She was even coughing up large amounts of blood.

Lilith was shocked. She didn't know what was happening. She thought they were merely having lunch...

"Mom! Mom! Do you need help?! What can I do?!" Lilith rushed to her mother's side and panicked.

"Cough! Cough!" Persephone knew. She knew it was poison. But she also knows who did this. There's not much time left. They will definitely come back to check whether she's dead or not, she needs her daughter to escape now!

"Lilith run... Run quickly! Don't come back! Just go! Cough! Cough! Leave me!" The coughing woman struggled to let the words leave her mouth. She fought with all her might to mutter these few words.

"...um... Uh... O-okay..." Lilith made a wise yet selfish decision and left her dying mother.

Though her daughter was leaving her behind, Persephone didn't feel hurt or betrayed. If Lilith stayed with her, she would definitely die. At least if she leaves, there's a possibility for her to survive.

The beautiful woman was left laying on the cold, hard floor to die. When she vaguely saw the scene of her daughter opening the door and running away, she whispered her last words.

"My dear daughter, p-please live... I.." love you

But Lilith had already run out the door and she unfortunately missed hearing her mother's dying words.

-----------------------

"...." Angelina rose to her feet silently and reached to open the balcony doors.

"I think you should go." Angelina entered her room and closed the doors behind her.

"Lily..." Charles wanted to coax and comfort her, but he knew she needed some time alone to process everything. Thus he left reluctantly.

Inside the room, Angelina sat in front of her vanity table and tried to make sense of everything she was told.

She felt disgusted. She felt disgusted with herself...

Never in her two lifetimes did she think she would ever feel this way. It was ridiculous. The always arrogant and noble lady Lilith actually felt disgusted with herself... What a rare occurrence...

From childhood, she was raised by the noble Bailey family. Even though she was adopted, she always felt that she was still as noble as the other aristocrats. But now... Not only was she the daughter of a prostitute, she was the bastard child of one of the people she despised the most!

"Haha..." Angelina laughed.

How interesting...

She had always thought the duke was merely Angelina's father, therefore she must act as his daughter due to her living in Angelina's body. But it turns out that he was actually her father!

She raised both her hands and stared at her fair palm. The body she holds right now wasn't hers. It didn't contain the dirty blood of an illegitimate child. But she nevertheless felt itchy.

She lifted her head and faced her reflection. There reflected in the mirror wasn't Angelina, but a familiar black haired and green eyed woman.

"Ugh!" She stood up and rushed outside her room. She couldn't bear to look at herself. All her previous pride that she had treasured collapsed like breaking glass.

"My lady!" Serina, who was originally guarding the door, was shocked and pushed aside by Angelina.

Angelina knew she should calm down. But she can't! Her heart was racing and her blood was boiling!

She doesn't even know who she is anymore... After reincarnating in the body of Angelina, she, from then on, referred to herself as Angelina. But it seems like her past can't help but come back to haunt her!

She ran past the halls at such a fast pace, the passing servants, who were concerned, didn't get the chance to catch a glimpse of her expression at all.

Angelina didn't know where she was heading, she just kept running. It wasn't until she bumped into someone did she stop.

She was just about to apologize when she saw exactly who she bumped into.

"Sister? What's wrong?" Evelina smiled as sweetly as ever. There was a trail of servants behind Evelina.

Evelina's expression changed and she now looked deeply concerned and worried.

"Oh sister... Why were you running? Is something wrong? You can tell me. I'm your sister after all." Evelina embraced Angelina carefully while still maintaining her smile.

"...." Angelina knew what Evelina was saying was merely to fill up her facade. But now that she knows... Evelina's words became even more menacing and eerie.

Because... Evelina really is her sister. Evelina's her half sister!

"Shh... Shh... Why are you trembling sister?" Evelina gently caressed the top of Angelina's head in the middle of the dark hallway.

This was probably the first time Angelina felt this strange feeling. She had never felt so inferior to Evelina before. At least Evelina was a legitimate daughter! At least she was a pure noble!

Evelina ever so kindly ordered one of the servants to escort Angelina back to her room.

***************

Serina looked at Angelina while wearing a puzzled expression. What happened? Did his majesty anger lady Angelina?

She couldn't deny that Angelina caught her off guard. How could she not be shocked? The usually elegant and composed lady actually ran out of her room like a mad person.

"My lady... Do you need me to get you anything?" Serina asked, making sure to lower her head.

"No... I want to go to bed. You may retreat." Angelina laid on her bed, looking to be drained of energy.

"Yes my lady..." With that Serina exited the room.

......

Angelina stared into the darkness as she felt resentment envelope her heart.

***********

After calming down, Angelina began her day as usual. But the people around her could clearly tell that her mood wasn't the best...

Angelina glanced at the family members eating breakfast with her and sighed. She could never see them the same way she did before...

Because these people were really related to her.

The duke, who was sitting on the family head's seat, was really her father.

Alex, he's her half elder brother...

Evelina, she's her half sister...

And the poor duchess...

Angelina couldn't help but feel guilty when seeing her. After all, she was the proof of the duke's infidelity.

' What a peculiar family... '