The Abandoned Pearl

I’ve always been petty, calculating, and one to repay every grievance. My cousin drugged my food, intending to force himself on me, marry me, and swallow up my family estate. I turned the tables, looped a rope around his neck, and hung him from a branch, letting him swing like a cold, grim swing all night-until his body went stiff before anyone found him. My aunt and cousin, eager to climb the social ladder, deliberately tried to shove me onto some powerful man to advance their own prospects. I spun around and clubbed them on the head, then delivered their unconscious bodies to the bed of a libertine. Mother and daughter sharing one man, caught in the act by my uncle-that very night they were both drowned in the pond, dead as dead could be. My uncle hated me for tearing his family apart, and in a rage, hired a killer to mu*der me. But the “ruthless bandit” turned on him instead, leaving his corpse to rot in the wild, feeding the mountain wolves. By sheer accident, I ended up devouring my uncle’s entire estate, living in silk and brocade, wealthy and influential. Until the Marquis Manor came looking for me, claiming I was their lost True Miss (true-born daughter). Yet they forced me to give in to the False Miss (impostor daughter) in everything. Right then, I knew it was once again time for me to settle scores-petty and thorough.