Sister Sofia had an affair with her lover

I feigned stupidity to survive. More than that, to bide my time for vengeance.

If my memory serves, within three days, Sofia herself would come begging me to go out.

Sure enough, as hunger threatened to rob me of consciousness, the cellar door creaked open.

"Sister..."

I lifted my head, feigning bewilderment. Silhouetted against the light, a corpulent figure entered—the butler.

"Bastard, who are you to call her sister? How dare you utter the young mistress's name?"

He advanced towards me with ill intent, his greasy grin sickening me.

Sophia decreed that no one in the household was permitted to address me as 'Miss'. I was to be called nothing but 'bastard'. She treated me like a dog, to be trampled upon by anyone.

I recognised that face. In my previous life, it was he who had burst into my room with several men the night before I was sent away...

"Bastard, you've got a decent enough face," he grinned savagely, rubbing his hands together as he drew nearer. "Why not keep me company for a bit of fun? I'll give you something to eat..."

I clenched the shard of glass hidden in my sleeve, aiming it at his throat.

Just then, the door burst open.

"What are you doing?!"

Sophia stormed in with her men. The butler fell to his knees in terror.

"Dare to disrespect the Second Young Miss? Drag him out and break his legs!"

The bodyguards behind her immediately pounced, hauling the butler away. Shrieks soon filled the air.

The butler, stunned, stammered, "Miss, but you said... that we could treat this bastard however we pleased?"

Sofia ignored him. She walked over, personally untied my bonds, and even had someone bring me a clean dress.

"From this day forth, Alessia shall resume her status as the Falconi family's Second Young Miss."

Everyone present, including my father who had rushed over upon hearing the news, wore expressions of utter disbelief.

Sophia smiled as she guided me before my father. "Father, Alessia has reached marriageable age. Since the Moretti family specifically requested a Falconi daughter... let Alessia be the one to wed into their house."

...

Father frowned at me, his eyes brimming with disgust and calculation.

"But Alessia is a simpleton. Marrying into the Moretti family—what if she makes a fool of herself before Don Antonio and angers that madman Vincenzo Moretti? Our entire family would be ruined!"

Sofia scoffed coldly. "Father, what are you fretting about? That Vincenzo Moretti is a dying man. He was gravely wounded in the family war three years ago and now spends his days in a wheelchair. They say he coughs up more blood than he drinks wine. He won't last much longer. The entire New York underworld is destined to be the Balzini family's domain!"

Her words brimmed with ambition and disdain. "If I marry, it will be to the future king, to become the queen. How could I wed a dying invalid?"

"Since the Moretti family only demands one Falconi daughter to settle that blood debt, isn't Alessia—foolish though she is—also a Falconi?"

Father sighed, turning to look at me. I was clutching a slice of tiramisu, stuffing it into my mouth with abandon, my face smeared with cream. A rare, feigned expression of "affection" stretched across his face.

"Alessia, would you be willing to marry Mr Vincenzo?"

Confused, I looked up at him before burying my face in the cake again, shaking my head indistinctly.

"No. If my sister doesn't want it, I don't want it either."

Father and daughter exchanged a knowing glance and smiled.

"But the Moretti estate has an endless supply of delicacies," Father gestured at the cake in my hand, "and the finest pastry chefs in the world. Every kind of cake imaginable, all you can eat."

My eyes lit up instantly. I nodded vigorously. "Marry! I'll go to the Moretti family!"

With my "consent" secured, Father and Sofia immediately began making arrangements.

The entire Falconi estate knew: Alessia, the dumb mute raised like a dog, was no longer a bastard child. She had transformed into the family's "second young miss," destined for a marriage alliance with the Moretti family.