PART 3

Madame Victoria stared at the faded fabric. Then, with shaking hands, she pulled open the hidden seam.

A strip of golden embroidery appeared inside the dress.

The ballroom gasped.

It was the secret crest of the Imperial family—a design Madame Victoria had sewn by hand into her baby’s dress before her child disappeared twenty-two years ago.

Tears filled her eyes.

“My golden embroidery,” she whispered. Then she held my face and looked at me as if she had found a lost piece of her soul. “You are my real child. My little princess.”

“Mama?” I whispered, crying.

She hugged me tightly in front of everyone.

Then Madame Victoria turned to Doña Carmela and Isabella. Her expression became cold.

“You lied to me,” she said. “You used fake documents to steal my family name, while my true child lived as your servant.”

Doña Carmela shook her head. “No! Isabella is the real heir!”

But Madame Victoria had already called her lawyer and the authorities. That night, Carmela and Isabella were exposed before the entire country. Their accounts were frozen, their lies were revealed, and they were taken away in disgrace.

Months later, DNA results proved I was the true Imperial heir.

I stood beside my mother on the veranda of the Imperial estate, wearing silk instead of rags, no longer afraid.