~Katrina~
"So why do you have that scar on your back?" he asked, his voice soft but full of concern.
My breath caught. My heart skipped painfully in my chest. Had he seen it before? Or was he just noticing now? Either way, the question made something inside me twist.
I sat up, running my trembling fingers through my hair, trying to calm myself. I needed to think of something else to say. Something that would move us away from this. Anything.
But the memory wouldn't let me go.
That scar… was a wound I carried from Lady Poria and her daughter, Anna. It happened one cold morning when Anna claimed one of her earrings was missing. She accused me of stealing it. And just like that, everything changed.
They searched me, dragged me like a criminal through the house my father owned, and treated me like trash. No one believed me—not even for a second. They said I hid the earring or sold it for something cheap. I cried. I begged. But it didn't matter.
