Fang King’s Witch

Chapter Four

Isha’s eyes followed Cara’s retreating figure, her gaze dark with venom.

She was the prettiest girl in school in this life, the jewel of the Smith family. Cara? Nothing more than a discarded pauper in borrowed silk. She might have walked out of the Smith household, but she would never walk out of her fate—fated to be Isha’s stepping stone. Sooner or later, Isha would crush her beneath her heel.

To the banquet guests, though, Isha’s expression painted a different picture: a girl longing for her sister’s company, her face tender with reluctant sorrow. The sight tore at her mother’s heart.

Shen Smith thought her daughter too good, too kind for her own good. Even after Cara had stolen her place for years, Isha still wanted to keep her as a sister.

“Isha, I know you’re kind-hearted,” Shen murmured, gently turning her daughter’s face away from the door. “But a girl like Cara is not worthy of such kindness.”

“Mother, why would you say that? She’s my sister, no matter what,” Isha replied softly, her voice trembling with pain.

Shen sighed. “Did your adoptive mother treat you well over the years?”

Isha lowered her gaze, silence her shield.

“Tell me, Isha.” Shen prodded gently, watching her daughter’s delicate face.

“It’s not right to speak ill of her now,” Isha whispered at last. “After all… she raised me.”

Shen’s chest tightened at the sight of her daughter’s struggle. How much must she have suffered in that woman’s care?

“It’s fine,” Shen soothed, though her own heart ached. “If you don’t want to talk about it now, I understand. I only hope you’ll come to see me as your mother and share your joys and sorrows with me.”

At that, Isha’s lips trembled. Her eyes shimmered with restrained tears, making Shen ache even more.

“I do see you as my mother,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “But how could I be unfilial to the woman I’ve called ‘mother’ for eighteen years? How do I tell you that I nearly dropped out of high school because she refused to pay my fees, and it was only waived because of my achievements? Or that I was branded a bastard no one wanted?”

The room stilled. Isha sobbed, fragile and tragic, while Shen’s eyes widened in horror at all her daughter had endured.

Of course, no one here knew the truth. That her adoptive mother had bled herself dry, sacrificing everything for her. That she had feared Isha would suffer when she returned to her wealthy family, and so gave her everything she could. But such truths were inconvenient. Better to bury them. Better to let them believe.

Isha bit back the smile that threatened her lips, masking it with trembling sorrow. Around her, the guests seethed with outrage, convinced Cara’s mother had engineered the switch to steal a better life for her own child while condemning Isha to hardship.

“My poor baby…” Shen wept openly, clutching her daughter to her chest. “How could she treat you so viciously when all we ever gave her useless daughter was love?”

Isha sniffled delicately, pulling away just enough to appear brave. “It doesn’t matter now. I’ve grown used to it. And besides—I’m not her daughter by blood.”

Her lowered head hid the victorious curl of her lips. She had sown guilt so deep in her parents’ hearts that they would never stop trying to repay her suffering. They would move mountains to make her happy. And soon, she would reap even more. She had already caught the attention of a mysterious magnate tonight—surely her future was boundless.

While Isha basked in the glow of her carefully woven tragedy, Cara made her way across the city. Guided by fragmented memories, she found the address of her supposed mother, Rae Michaels.

The building was a cramped, musty basement apartment, the kind that stank faintly of mildew. Families clustered outside with their dinners, eyes narrowing with suspicion as Cara passed. What was a girl dressed like wealth itself doing in a place like this?

Her heavy makeup still clung to her face, her aura sharp and cold. She seemed untouchable, suffocating, as though she were carved from a higher plane. It was the aura that had once made world leaders bow their heads before her. She wished it wasn’t so. She wished she could be ordinary this time, surrounded by warmth and simple bonds.

But the weight of who she had been lingered.

At last she reached the door of a narrow unit and knocked lightly. For a moment, there was only silence. Then the door creaked open, revealing a sickly but gentle-faced woman whose every feature radiated quiet endurance.

“Cara?”

The woman’s voice trembled.

“I’m home, Mom,” Cara whispered, her eyes stinging red.

“Mom?” Rae echoed, tears brimming. She wanted to fling her arms around her daughter, to hold her tight, but doubt froze her. Only yesterday Cara had spat venom, screaming that she could never claim a wretched mother like Rae.

And yet here she was, calling her mother.

Memories flashed through Rae’s mind—giving birth at nineteen, losing one twin in stillbirth, being betrayed by the man she loved, cast out by her parents, and clinging to the only child she had left. She had endured so much. But none of that mattered now, not when this girl stood before her, reaching out.

Cara saw the hesitation in her mother’s eyes and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her. “I was foolish before. Please forgive me, Mom.”

She buried herself deeper into Rae’s warmth, drinking it in like someone starved. It was her first real embrace, and she wasn’t about to let go.

“You’re home now,” Rae whispered, her own tears spilling freely. “That’s all that matters.”

Reluctantly, she broke their embrace and smiled. “Come inside. The place is shabby—I hope you don’t mind.”

Cara stepped into the dim apartment. Compared to the mansion she had left, it was a rat’s nest. For a moment, the urge to run seized her. But she swallowed it. This was her family now. She would honor that.

The space, though modest, was tidy—evidence of Rae’s care.

“What would you like for dinner?” Rae asked uncertainly.

Cara touched her face, feeling the weight of her makeup. “A shower first. Then we’ll see.”

Rae nodded, her eyes soft.

And for the first time in this life, Cara felt she had truly come home.