Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 58 - 57. Rolling Crown

Chapter 58: Chapter 57. Rolling Crown

Sarah forces her senses to ignore the creaking sound coming from behind her. Even Amber’s attendants failed to maintain their expression and looked like they were about to choke. Amber herself couldn’t open her mouth, fearing she would stutter.

No matter what, even if Mason did not share a drop of blood with Sarah, they were still brought up as siblings.

Meanwhile, Sarah thought about the moment she found out Mason’s hidden desire. The moment right before her death. A proof so shocking that she almost thought it was a hallucination.

But...there was no way she could use that as an answer, right? Rather...

"Since he constantly touched me weirdly?" Sarah looked up.

She only knew about Mason’s true intention at the end of her life, but thinking back, there were actually a lot of weird moments she did not acknowledge from their younger days. Either because she was still naive or because she was too afraid to think too much about it.

"Did he ever caress your nape and let his hand linger on your back?" Sarah continued in front of Amber’s shocked face while stirring her teacup. "Did he ever whisper in your ear while hugging you? Or kissed your neck, your cheek, your temple--"

"Enough!" Amber slammed her palm on the table, inhaling sharply. She recalled the sickly sweet tone Mason used when he talked to Sarah alone, and the obsessive gaze he cast her when he thought no one was watching. It seemed like such a thing had happened way, way before they became adults. "Alright, he never did."

Mason never showed ’brotherly’ love to anyone, including his blood siblings. Amber had hoped for that, since their mother left the house when she was still a toddler, but...he was almost as cold as their father. Her father.

"When he kept trying to hold my hand and rubbed my lips, I couldn’t help but get suspicious, don’t you think?" Sarah smiled wryly. "But...I was so wishing that this family wasn’t that fucked up."

She dropped a cube of flower-shaped black sugar into the bitter tea, stirring it rather erratically.

This time, it wasn’t just an act.

"The possibility that he didn’t have our father’s blood seemed better than him lusting over his own little sister--don’t you think?" Sarah continued with a slightly shaky voice.

Amber took a deep breath and brought the teacup to her lips again. She hadn’t been talking, but her throat was on fire. She closed her eyes to manage her mind and asked Sarah again. "So, you investigated him?"

Of course, she did. But she couldn’t really say that either.

"Well...there was already talk about him being conceived outside of marriage, wasn’t there?" Sarah shrugged. "I was just...using my boring time while I was abroad--like you, Eonni--although all I did was conduct a DNA test."

The DNA test, of course, was also true. She had to employ Yonghwa’s help, but he was more than willing to help for that kind of information.

"But how do you know about Lugano?" Amber asked suspiciously.

Sarah let out a disgusted smile. "Honestly? He gave me a set of pottery before, and told me the city where he got it," Sarah said. Funnily enough, this too was a true story. "I think he thought it would make it sound...exotic or something, but I at least know our family has no business over there, and..." Sarah chuckled. "Well, you know very well he’s not the type to do that--traveling and buying souvenirs."

Amber felt the back of her eyes throb. Right--Mason, just like her, always thought buying gifts and souvenirs was beneath them. Especially not to be given to Sarah, who supposedly they ’hated’.

There was really no denying it.

"So, what did you find?" Sarah asked, pretending the name of the city was the extent of her knowledge.

Amber exhaled heavily, the words bitter as they were coming out of her mouth. "There’s a man there--a Korean."

"I bet he bore a great resemblance to a certain someone?"

"So much so that I don’t even think we need a DNA test," Amber clicked her tongue.

"Wow..." Sarah raised her brow. She agreed, though--Mason looked exactly like the blend between that man and his mother. Perhaps that was why the first wife sent him away from their homeland. "And, what did he do? Pottery?"

"That, and...singing in a club, writing poetry, paintings..." Amber shook her head in embarrassment. "Just doing what he likes."

Honestly, it was rather ironic hearing that tone coming from someone who only wanted to do what she liked without having to work. But then again, at least Amber was Lee Hyuk’s daughter, so she was entitled to her father’s money.

"And how he supports that lifestyle, I wonder?" Sarah ate the caviar-topped chive pancake while arching her brow. "With whose money?"

Amber gritted her teeth, since they both knew the answer without having to spell it out. "What..." she looked at Sarah tensely. "What are your intentions?"

"Hmm?"

"You told me this instead of going straight to Father," Amber said, with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. "Why?"

Sarah’s nonchalant smile faltered, replaced by a distant gaze as she muttered. "Because I want to survive."

"What?" Amber frowned.

"Eonni," Sarah put down her chopsticks and put on a wry smile. "If I told the Chairman, what do you think he’ll do? Do you think he’ll strip him of his status and no longer make him heir?"

"Well..."

"No, he won’t," Sarah laughed bitterly. "There can only be a male heir, and none of the other two are good enough--don’t you agree?"

Amber chewed the inside of her cheek; even she thought her twin was pathetic. As for Jasper...well, he was hopeless now, and didn’t seem to have any promising future either.

"He’d shove it under the rug--the executives would shove it under the rug," Sarah sneered. "He’d be crowned king in the end, and I’d have to live under his reign."

"So?" Amber leaned back and pursed her lips. "That’s got nothing to do with me."

"Pfft--" Sarah covered her giggling mouth, squinting her eyes at Amber. "Are you sure?"

The corner of Amber’s eyes twitched. "What?"

"Eonni, he and your mother had been sending money to that man for years, decades even. Don’t you think it’s rather unfair?" Sarah sighed. "He even loves his ’half-sister’ more than his own blood sister."

Amber clenched her jaw. From how hard she gripped the teacup, Sarah predicted it would fly somewhere soon.

"This lifestyle that you have, having fun and enjoying life with a constant flow of money--do you think it’ll last once he becomes the chairman?" Sarah said with a gentle tone, as if she were empathetic with Amber’s future situation. "Are you sure he’s that generous? Are you sure your mother is that generous?"

The most bitter truth was something she had already known herself. The first wife has severe favoritism, always heavily criticized her only daughter. As for her brother...

Amber glared at Sarah. Mason would probably prioritize Sarah first. "What...what exactly do you want?"

With a deep smile and a low voice, Sarah leaned forward. "I want you to become a queen, Eonni."

Both Amber and her attendants widened their eyes. "...what?"

Sarah pulled back and shrugged. "Among the rest of us, aren’t you the most capable? Not to mention the most legitimate?"

Amber pressed her lips. While she was suspicious of the girl’s intention, she also couldn’t help but feel nice about the praise.

"But...you were the one who said the heir should be male," Amber cleared her throat. She still needed to be vigilant, after all. "You said Father won’t do anything."

"That’s because there’s no one better than Mason at this moment," Sarah scoffed. "But what if his legitimacy problem arises after you show that you are better--or at least as capable as he?"

Amber bit her lips. She never had any intention to be a captain of a ship, but...the thought of her illegitimate, partial brother taking over--or worse, her pathetic twin--was scathing. She was already pissed about her mother’s silly battle of nerves with the third wife; must she, once again, became nothing more than a background character?

And that word Sarah called her with, ’Queen’...

It does have a nice ring to it.

"You certainly can do it, Eunni," Sarah nudged her some more. "You’re smart, and as a woman, you know better about fashion and luxury than men. Isn’t it ridiculous that people who preside over fashion, jewelry, and luxury brands are a bunch of old men?"

"That’s...true," Amber nodded, and so did her attendants, who started to also be filled with ambition.

After all, if their mistress became the chairwoman, their authority would also increase.

"You’ve just been taking it easy all this time, but you’re actually capable, aren’t you?"

"You..." Amber narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. "You’ve made quite a sales pitch."

That was because she did, so Sarah just shrugged.

"But it’s suspicious..."

"What is?"

"Why didn’t you think about taking it yourself?" Amber crossed her arms. "You were the one those old farts put their hopes on."

Sarah arched her brow before breaking out laughing. "Oh, Eonni..." She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, shaking her head. "I’ve never wanted that life."

Amber narrowed her eyes dubiously, but her expression shifted when Sarah’s laughing face turned into one so bitter and sorrowful she couldn’t help but feel guilty...somehow.

"I...no longer have any reason to."

Ah...

Amber pressed her lips. How could she forget that? She was one of the people who used Sarah’s mother to threaten the girl into submission.

But...ugh--it was too late to feel guilty now. Besides...she could be the future ’queen’.

"And I surely don’t want the position to fall to the other side," the forlorn tone suddenly dripped with poison.

Amber tilted her head. "The other side?"

"I’d rather set myself on fire than see that bitch living well in that mansion with her entitled brats," Sarah snarled, before chugging her tea all at once. She looked at Sarah with a sneer. "I’m sure you understand my feelings somewhat, Eonni."

Well...

"And more than anything..." Sarah closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. "I just want to survive."

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