Chapter 7 - THE FATHER WHO USED HIS DAUGHTER AS A SHIELD
Lucian Vale’s private archive was hidden beneath the bridal atelier.
Scarlett revealed the entrance after learning her father planned to blame her for the forged bond.
The basement contained account books, blood samples, counterfeit marks, and signed confessions prepared for several people.
Scarlett’s confession was the most detailed.
It claimed she conceived the entire plan because of romantic obsession with Kane.
Lucian described himself as a worried father unable to control an unstable daughter.
The language resembled the stories powerful men had used for generations.
Women became emotional.
Men became misled.
Scarlett read the document without crying.
“When did he write this?”
“Three months before your mark appeared,” the investigator said.
Before Kane touched her.
Before the fake bond.
Before the stolen gown.
Lucian always intended Scarlett to become the shield.
She had believed herself his chosen heir.
He saw her as the most convincing future defendant.
Scarlett requested to speak with me.
We met in the tribunal garden.
She wore a simple gray dress without family jewels.
“I am sorry,” she said.
“For which action?”
She inhaled.
“Trying to hit you. Wearing the stolen gown. Threatening you after Kane arrived. Helping my father forge the bond.”
“Better.”
She looked surprised.
“You expected me to say apology changes nothing?”
“Doesn’t it?”
“It changes the record. It does not erase the consequence.”
Scarlett admitted she knew the bond was chemically enhanced.
She convinced herself the ritual only strengthened fate.
She also knew Lucian’s businesses profited from illegal border trade.
She never asked what would happen to ordinary Crimson families if the treaty collapsed.
“I wanted to become Luna,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because when I was beside Kane, everyone moved.”
“Did you ever ask whether they moved from respect or fear?”
“No.”
The answer sounded familiar.
Power had made us different women, but it had offered us the same temptation.
Scarlett agreed to testify against Lucian and the blood-mark network.
She received no promise of freedom.
Only a promise that her cooperation would be recorded accurately.
Lucian was convicted under territorial law and confined beneath silver wards for life.
No execution.
No public torture.
I refused both when several Crimson commanders demanded them.
“Cruelty does not become justice because the correct person suffers,” I said.
Some wolves called me weak.
May you like
They stopped when I invited them to challenge the principle publicly.
None did.
