The Beggar Who Would Be Emperor

Exiled for her family's crimes and abandoned by her husband, a mother discovers her son has been replaced by a body double. System notifications reveal her husband sent their real child into luxury while leaving her with a 'cannon fodder' fate. However, the child before her is actually the orphaned crown prince. This action-packed fantasy novel follows her journey as she defies her tragic script to raise the future emperor and reclaim her stolen life.

Chapters

Chapter 3

Text drifted past:

[The former prime minister still doesn't know his grandson was switched. Poor man.]

[Though if he finds out his real grandson is calling someone else his mother now, he'd probably drop dead from rage.]

The days passed like this.

Father took up his books again and taught Adrian to read and write himself. He quickly discovered the child not only had a flawless memory but could draw connections between concepts with ease.

Sometimes, the insights Adrian offered required even Father to pause and think.

"Remarkable! Truly remarkable!" Father's eyes lit up in a way I had not seen in a long time.

Adrian sat quietly, writing with careful strokes.

[Adrian really is the future emperor. His intelligence is on another level.]

[If the old man knew this was the imperial grandson, he'd probably upgrade his lessons to emperor-level tutoring on the spot.]

I cleared the wasteland behind the house and planted hardy vegetables.

After Adrian finished writing, he crouched by the stove to help me tend the fire.

When I was washing clothes, he would silently bring over a small stool. When I mended, he would bring me warm water.

The comments gradually changed:

[The supporting character's life is... more comfortable than it was in the capital.]

[I'm starting to think the male lead is a bit ungrateful, spurning such a gentle woman.]

Their way of referring to me changed from 'cannon fodder ex-wife' to 'Ms. Cadwell'.

I smiled faintly.

One day, I saw more strings of words.

[The male lead officially married Lady Quincey. What a grand ceremony.]

[The real son's identity was changed, and the lady is raising him as her own now.]

[The family of three is perfectly happy. They've completely forgotten about Ms. Cadwell.]

I was mending clothes when the needle pricked my finger. A bead of blood welled up.

Adrian appeared in front of me. He handed me a handkerchief, his dark eyes full of concern. "Mother, does it hurt?"

I took the handkerchief and shook my head, smiling at him. "Not at all."

The text went quiet for a moment, then jumped again.

[The Emperor's health has been poor lately. He keeps dreaming of the deposed crown prince…]

[Back then, the crown prince was deposed because when the fifth prince tried to assassinate the Emperor, the crown prince was too forceful in protecting him and crippled the fifth prince. The Emperor condemned him for not caring about his own brother.]

[Actually, the Emperor regretted it almost immediately. He just couldn't bring himself to admit it.]

My mending slowed. I sat lost in thought.

…

A year passed, and Adrian had grown taller. His gaze became even more composed. Father taught him everything he knew, and Adrian learned with astonishing speed.

One day, I was watching him practice his writing. Without warning, words exploded.

[Breaking news! The crown prince has died of illness! The Emperor coughed up blood from grief!]

[The Emperor issued a decree to reinstate the crown prince posthumously!]

[So now the key is finding the imperial grandson! The commander of the Imperial Guards is personally leading the search!]

[Minister Sacchetti is accompanying him by imperial order! They're coming to the exile settlement to search!]

The book slipped from my hand and landed on the paper with a smack.

Adrian looked up. His clear eyes held a question. "Mother, what's wrong?"

I took a deep breath and crouched down to meet his eyes.

"Adrian, you're ten years old now. You're nearly grown. Remember everything your grandfather has taught you this past year. Every lesson. Every word. No matter what happens, I'll be by your side."

He looked at me. It seemed he could read the gravity of an approaching storm in my eyes. Then he nodded solemnly.

"Mother, I will."

…

Two months later, the sound of hooves shattered the quiet of the desolate village.

Roland dismounted.

He wore a freshly tailored coat with polished buttons and fine leather boots. He looked far more respectable than he had a year ago.

When he saw me pulling weeds in the vegetable garden, a flicker of false concern crossed his face.

"Elise, it's only been a year, and you've... fallen so far."

Theodore followed behind him, dressed in fine clothes. He was plump and rosy-cheeked. He looked at me. His gaze was distant and complicated.

I stood and brushed the dirt from my hands. "I'm doing well. Is there something you need, Minister Sacchetti?"

Roland stepped closer and lowered his voice.

Continue to next part

My fiancé always told me he loved me. But not long after our engagement, I woke up suffocating in the dark. He was pressing a pillow over my face, his eyes cold and dead, while my half-sister stood by watching with fake pity. They had orchestrated everything just to steal my trust fund. It all started with a massive hotel scandal. They had drugged me, thrown a cheap escort into my bed, and brought a mob of paparazzi to ruin my reputation. When my fiancé broke through the crowd, playing the heartbroken victim, he knelt down with a massive diamond ring. "I know things have been hard, but I love you. If you come home with me, I will forgive all of this." In my past life, I cried tears of gratitude and let him slide that ring onto my finger. That ring sealed my death warrant. I lost my company, my dignity, and eventually, my life. Until my lungs burned and my heart stopped, I didn't understand. How could the people I trusted most plot my murder so ruthlessly? Why did they have to tear my entire life apart? Opening my eyes again, I was back on the morning of the hotel scandal, exactly one year ago. But the man lying bare-backed in my bed wasn't a random escort. It was Johnathan Chase, my family's biggest corporate rival and the most ruthless predator on Wall Street. Listening to the paparazzi pounding on the door, I smiled coldly.

Action Modern Romance

8.7

He Abandoned Our Foster Daughter for His Mistress, So I Replaced Him with My First Love

8.7

On the morning of Sophie's final adoption hearing, Ryan strolled into court with his pregnant assistant and branded the seven-year-old "damaged," then demanded his wife walk away. She chose the girl instead. With her accounts frozen, she fled to her hometown and into a struggling bookstore run by Caleb, the first love Ryan once forced her to abandon. But Ryan isn't done. His new sponsors crave a flawless family portrait, so he wants Sophie back—and he will tear them apart to get her. Standing beside Caleb, she vows to drag Ryan's counterfeit life into the light, even if it costs her everything she has left.

Action Modern Mystery Romance

8.7

Escaping The Ruthless Don's Golden Cage

8.7

I stood at the gala, draped in diamonds worth millions, playing the role of the perfect Mafia wife. But the illusion shattered when his mistress walked in wearing a necklace identical to mine—a cattle brand dipped in gold. When I confronted them, Liam didn't defend me. He shoved me aside to protect her. I hit the floor, and as my blood soaked into the white stage, I realized he had killed our unborn child. But the nightmare didn't end there. I woke up to find that Liam had ordered me sedated to "manage my hysteria." The complications from his control and the trauma had forced an emergency hysterectomy. He hadn't just killed his heir; he had stolen my future. Yet, he still tried to lock me in his estate, convinced he could force me to love him again if he just kept me hidden long enough. He thought I was broken. He thought I was his property. He was wrong. With the help of a doctor who had loved me from the shadows for years, I faked my death and vanished. Six months later, the great Don found me in a small-town bookstore, falling to his knees to beg for a second chance. I looked at the man who destroyed me and handed him a single dollar bill. "Loyalty is the only currency, Liam," I said, quoting his own vow back to him. "And you are bankrupt."

Action Mafia Romance

8.3

I Terminated My Very Much Alive Family's Identities

8.3

After her family fakes their deaths in a typhoon to test her greed, a young woman dies from the resulting exhaustion of paying their debts. Reborn at the moment of their departure, she refuses to play their game. Instead of mourning, she secures massive insurance policies and officially registers their deaths while they are still missing. As she claims a hundred-million-dollar payout, she ensures that this time, their disappearance from her life is permanent and legally binding.

Action Modern Mystery Young Adult

8.5

Lethal Captivation: You Can Never Escape

8.5

Two years ago, Chloe watched a mafia execution in a desolate Vegas alley and survived by pretending to be blind, clinging to the boss's leg and calling him "Uncle." Now her best friend is kidnapped, and she is blackmailed into serving drinks in a VIP suite. There she faces Axel Stone, the billionaire crime lord who instantly recognizes his "blind" rabbit. When a rival moves to strike her, Axel stops him with brutal force and claims her as his own. Desperate, Chloe forges an HIV-positive report and shoves it at him, praying he'll finally let her go. Instead, he pins her down with a punishing kiss and a dark vow: even if she's rotting, she's his—and he'll follow her to hell.

Action Billionaire Horror Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

8.9

Mistaking The Ruthless CEO For An Escort

8.9

Ava Kidd just wanted to escape her abusive stepmother when she got drunk at a high-end club and stumbled into the wrong hotel room. She woke up the next morning in a luxury penthouse, lying naked next to a terrifyingly handsome man covered in her scratch marks. Recalling rumors of the hotel's secret underground concierge, she immediately assumed she had accidentally slept with an elite male escort. Desperate to settle the bill, she offered him her only debit card with a pathetic $1,800. But the man, who was actually Garrison Terry, the ruthless billionaire CEO, was deeply insulted by the cheap plastic. He trapped her against the bed, coldly demanding a half-million-dollar service fee. When Ava frantically offered her dead mother's tarnished locket as collateral, he cruelly dismissed it as worthless junk. Ava was humiliated, her heart pounding with absolute terror. She didn't understand why this arrogant gigolo was acting like a deranged extortionist, demanding a fortune from a broke girl who had clearly made a mistake. Furious and refusing to cower, she sneaked out, put on his oversized designer shirt, and aggressively ate his $800 truffle breakfast. Having no money left, she grabbed her cheap red lipstick, wrote a defiant IOU on his expensive linen napkin, and fled the hotel. She thought she had escaped a criminal, but upstairs, the billionaire traced her lipstick-stained name with a predatory smile. "Ava Kidd, I will absolutely find you."

Action Billionaire Modern

The Beggar Who Would Be Emperor

Chapter 3

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