When the Embers Turn to Ash

Mother hurriedly tried to explain, “He staged all of this! He’s always been good at playing the victim to gain sympathy. He just wants attention!”

Comments from the livestream exploded, and every insult was directed at me.

“He's so scheming! He’s got a whole set of lies up his sleeve!”

“He looks innocent, but deep down, he’s rotten to the core! No wonder the Yule family kicked him out!”

Ralph smirked smugly. Then, at just the right moment, he cut in, “Agnes, today is our big day. Let’s not watch this anymore. Even if Jacob really did hire someone to beat me up, he’s been punished for it. I won’t hold it against him.”

I chuckled.

Punished? Wasn't Ralph ashamed of his lies?

Agnes, however, ignored him. Her gaze stayed fixed on the screen, cold and unyielding.

“Is that so? Then I’d like to see how exactly he ‘staged’ all of this.”

With that, the second video began to play. On screen, I was adjusting myself in front of the camera, preparing to record an audition tape. I hadn’t come from a professional acting background, but over the past few years, I had acted in several smaller TV shows and gained some recognition.

A director had taken an interest in me and invited me to audition for a role. I told myself that since I wasn’t the true heir, I had to become good enough on my own and good enough to be with Agnes.

Then suddenly, the door opened, and Ralph walked in, looking guilty.

“Jacob, I just got back, yet Mother and Father have moved you to the servants’ quarters. You’re not upset, are you?”

Before I could even respond, his expression twisted. Then, he burst out laughing.

“You idiot! Can’t you see that I’m the only one Mother and Father care about? And yet you still have the nerve to stay with the family? All I did was casually tell them you hired someone to beat me up, and they immediately wanted to kick you out of the family. Isn’t that hilarious?”

I didn’t want to argue with him, so I said coldly, “It’s not funny, Ralph. I won’t take what’s yours, and don’t come to me with this again.”

Maybe it was because I didn’t react the way he wanted, but that only made him angrier.

He suddenly grabbed my hair, his face twisting with rage as he shouted, “Jacob! How dare you have the nerve to say you won’t take what’s mine? Agnes is mine! If you hadn’t stolen my place as the Yule family’s heir, how could you possibly be the one marrying her? I advise you to call off the engagement. Otherwise, the injuries on your body won’t stop here.”

The video cut off abruptly.

For a few seconds, the hall fell completely silent. Then, someone shouted from the crowd, “What’s going on? So the one being bullied all along wasn’t Ralph; it was Jacob?”

“So Jacob never hired anyone to beat Ralph up? It was all slander?”

“Then the one who staged everything… was Ralph!”

My parents’ faces turned pale as they looked at Ralph.

Ralph’s eyes instantly reddened, and he explained in a rather pitiful tone, “You’ve misunderstood! That was just me rehearsing with him! At the time, he was busy preparing for his auditions. Those were lines he gave me. He told me to act along with him!”

As if he had suddenly realized something, Father frowned deeply and immediately backed Ralph up.

“I didn’t expect Jacob to be so scheming. This was clearly a trap he set up in advance!”

Mother nodded again and again. “And Ralph is just too kind, helping him rehearse like that! And now he’s using that video to smear Ralph? He knew he'd already ruined himself and lost the chance to marry Ms. Wright. So he schemed it to destroy Ralph's wedding. How vicious!”

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

“That’s true. He’s filthy. I’ve seen every one of those photos. There’s no way he was forced.”

“Exactly. He had a great socialite from the capital and still threw it away. Who knows what he was thinking?”

“So that’s what happened… No wonder the Yules feel nothing for him. He brought it on himself.”

Even suspended in the air, I couldn’t stop myself from shivering. Instinctively, I looked at Agnes. We had been together for ten years. I hoped she didn’t believe them.

In the end, Agnes smiled faintly. “I’d like to know what he was thinking, too. Let’s watch the next video.”