I thought my fiancé and I, childhood sweethearts, had a true connection unlike other business marriages. Who knew that on the day we announced our engagement, the real heiress would be found. My fiancé, who once treasured me, now demanded I bow down to the real heiress at every turn. “You need to understand your place. If you hadn’t been occupying Emily’s position all this time, she would surely be more accomplished than you.” My excellence became their excuse to suppress me. They put the real heiress’s name on my work. Even my parents’ keepsakes were destroyed in the real heiress’s fit of anger. Since this family doesn’t like me, I’ll leave. But why is my fiancé, who always urged me to submit, now the first to bow his head? “This jewelry is my latest design. I hope everyone will like it,” Emily Anderson said on stage, elegantly bowing to thank the audience after explaining her design concept. The applause was thunderous, but I stared blankly at the piece on stage. This work was clearly something I had spent three months designing. I had even watched my fiancé accompany me to submit this piece. But why was it now Emily’s competition entry and concept? The murmurs around me felt like needles, each one piercing my heart. “So this is the Anderson heiress? She’s beautiful and talented. Looks like the Anderson family has a successor.” “Wasn’t the Anderson heiress different before?” “You’re behind on the news. The original Sophie Evans was switched at birth. This is the real heiress.” At this, several gazes fell on me, making me uncomfortable. “Come to think of it, Emily’s story is tragic. She was switched away for no reason. What Sophie’s parents did was criminal. It’s thanks to Emily’s kindness that this imposter is still allowed to stay in the family.” “This imposter has the nerve to keep staring at someone else’s work. Who knows what she’s thinking!” The voices were so loud that they caught the judges’ attention. “What’s all this commotion about?” I bit my lip and pointed at the work on stage: “That piece is mine.” Emily’s face changed slightly, and she immediately stepped forward to mediate. “Sister, this is my first public appearance. Do you have any issues with me?” She lowered her voice, her eyes reddening: “Sister, I know you resent me for coming back and taking your identity, but I am the Anderson daughter. I won’t yield to you in this matter.” “I spent months creating this piece. You can’t just claim it as your own for public recognition!” Emily cried, her tears barely held back, arousing sympathy from many. The most sympathetic was my fiancé, William Parker, who had just arrived. Seeing this scene, he blurted out: “Sophie, I’ve told you many times, Emily is the real Anderson heiress.” “Why can’t you just give in to Emily a bit and save me some worry?” I stared at my fiancé in disbelief. What did he mean by saying I couldn’t give in to Emily a bit? The piece on stage was something he had helped me create step by step. He knew best that I was innocent. Why did he accuse me without asking a single question? The disdainful gazes of the crowd around me felt like a tidal wave, drowning me. Bearing the pressure from everyone, I looked at William and said word by word: “This piece is mine.”
William’s face showed panic, and he instinctively glanced at the piece a few times. Emily said tearfully: “Sister, that’s clearly my work. You can’t steal my work just to become famous!” “I know you resent me for coming back to this family and taking what was yours, but have you ever thought that those things originally belonged to me?” Emily was beautiful, showing no signs of mistreatment. In fact, perhaps due to genetics, she looked more like an heiress than I did. She stood there, looking pitiful and delicate. Everyone present couldn’t help but side with her. The one who sided with her the most was my fiancé, William. His face looked troubled, and his eyes held a hint of suppressed pain when he looked at me. Even his voice trembled slightly: “Sophie, look at the mess you’ve caused.” He couldn’t help but pull me aside and said: “I know you want to be famous, but don’t you want to be with me?” “If you just let Emily have this championship, she’ll surely support our relationship in the future.” I was stunned, staring blankly at the man before me. So it was he who had given my work to Emily. No wonder my competition entry had ended up in Emily’s hands. After all, I had trusted him too much. After finishing the design, I was tired and asked him to submit the work for me. “Why? Why must I give the championship to Emily? You know this piece is my heart and soul.” “You stayed up late with me, watching this piece come to life under my hands. To me, it’s like my child. Now you’re asking me to give it to Emily. On what grounds?” As I spoke, I became agitated and even angry. But William’s reaction was even stronger. “Your parents deliberately switched Emily away, making her suffer for so many years.” “You lived in the Anderson mansion, enjoyed the best resources, lived a privileged life. Shouldn’t you feel guilty?” William looked at me with disappointment, as if I had committed some unforgivable sin. My hands trembled slightly. Why was he so sure my parents had switched Emily? When Emily found her way back to the Anderson family, my parents had already passed away. She looked so much like Mrs. Anderson that she didn’t even need a DNA test to confirm her identity. In her account, she had suffered greatly. My parents didn’t let her go to school, were cold to her, and made her do all kinds of chores. Whenever my parents were slightly displeased, they would beat her severely, and even thought about selling her for a bride price. After my parents died in a car accident, she accidentally found a letter explaining that she was a switched child. She used that letter to find her way to the Anderson family. Overnight, I went from being an heiress to the daughter of criminals. The Andersons felt sorry for this newly found daughter but were unwilling to let me leave. For a time, my situation in this family became awkward. When Emily was found, William was the only one who stood by my side. He knew I loved designing jewelry, so he stayed by my side as I created pieces. I knew the Anderson and Parker families were destined for an arranged marriage. I had occupied Emily’s position, and William’s marriage partner should have been her. So I never thought about competing with her. I just wanted to keep the man I loved by my side in my own way. I had even agreed with my adoptive parents that if I could win this competition’s championship, As long as I stayed with the Anderson family as a designer, they wouldn’t force Emily and William together. But now, my boyfriend was asking me to give the championship to Emily.
I grabbed William’s sleeve and said softly: “William, you know how much effort I put into this piece. My parents…” Before I could finish, William shook off my hand. His expression showed a hint of annoyance as he angrily said: “Enough, Sophie Evans! Do you know how much I’ve sacrificed to be with you?” “Now you just need to give in to Emily a bit, and we can be together soon. But you’re obsessing over your work. Do you really love me?” “What’s more important to you, your so-called work or me?” I stepped back, almost falling to the ground. William left me and returned to the front, apologizing to everyone. “I’m sorry, my girlfriend is still having trouble accepting a new sister. Today’s incident is all a misunderstanding.” Emily, like a sweet and understanding flower, leaned gently against William. They looked very compatible. The audience below whispered among themselves. Their voices were soft, yet seemed loud, each word piercing my heart, extremely harsh. “She occupied Emily’s identity for over a decade. Now that the real heiress is back, she’s unhappy about it.” “Everyone knows her birth parents deliberately switched the children just to give her a better life. She’s no good either. Children take after their parents, don’t they?” “The Parker heir is a good man. Even in this situation, he still wants to be with this imposter.” Every word seemed to prove my unworthiness. This was the second time I had experienced such treatment. The first time was when Emily had just returned, and my adoptive parents heard about their birth daughter’s suffering. They were very dissatisfied with me. That time, William stood behind me. But this time, I was alone and helpless. Even William, who had always helped me, was now standing on stage, looking down at me from above. I took a deep breath and loudly interrupted: “I’m not crazy. I’m just stating the facts.” “Since it’s your work, you must know it very well, right?” Emily confidently said: “Of course!” She then went on to explain in detail what I had originally told William. “Every detail on this piece was designed by my own hand. How could I not know the details of this work?” “This piece is called ‘True Love,’ hoping that all girls can find their true love.” “Even the cutting method and design concept of this jewelry are my original creations, which will be used in Anderson Jewelry in the future.” These were the words I had originally told William. He didn’t know much about jewelry, but to make me happy, he had always stayed by my side. Afraid he would be bored, I told him about my design concepts. “William, the cutting method and design concept of this jewelry are my original creations. When they’re used in Anderson Jewelry in the future, my parents will surely be very happy.” At that moment, my heart felt like it was being cut by a knife. So the words I had shared with William, he had already told Emily. What did our vows and the words he said to me mean then? Thinking of this, my voice was filled with a sense of lifelessness. “It’s not called ‘True Love,’ it’s called ‘Queen.’ The creative concept isn’t about every girl finding true love, but telling everyone that girls can be their own queens.” “In the designs I create, I usually leave my own mark. For example, this piece has a ‘Y’ engraved on the innermost part.”
Emily was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting this turn of events. She quickly composed herself and said: “The last letter of your name is ‘Y,’ and so is mine. You happened to know this and are deliberately trying to frame me!” “Judges, I request that this woman be expelled. She’s intentionally disrupting the competition.” No wonder she could pass off my work as her own. She could come up with such a rebuttal in such a short time, and it even sounded reasonable. “Every piece I’ve created before has this ‘Y’ in it. You can check them all.” “You can say I’m slandering Emily with this piece, but when I created those previous works, Emily hadn’t returned to the Anderson family yet. Surely I couldn’t have known her back then?” I had been in the jewelry industry for two or three years. Thanks to the Anderson family, I had many resources invested in me. I had created several pieces before, all well-received. Many people knew about my previous works, and some had even bought them at auctions as collectibles. But as soon as I finished speaking, William let out a cold laugh. Emily said gently: “Sophie, all your works have been collected by William. He knows there’s no such symbol in those pieces.” “I’ll overlook this incident for our parents’ sake. Please don’t make any more trouble in the future.” I was stunned for a moment and looked at William. In front of everyone, William shook his head. “There’s no such symbol on Sophie’s works.” My heart sank completely, and even my blood seemed to freeze. Security guards dragged me out of the competition. I had been driven here by the Anderson family’s chauffeur, but now he was gone. My phone had fallen in the venue during the scuffle, so I could only walk back. By the time I returned to the Anderson house, William and Emily had already arrived. They sat on the sofa, with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson warmly congratulating Emily on winning the championship. William gently stroked Emily’s hair. “Actually, it was Brother William who gave me a lot of inspiration!” Emily said happily, showing off her trophy to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. “William has always been a good boy. As for your marriage…” Seeing me return, the air suddenly became silent. William’s gentle smile faded as he stood up and walked towards me. “Sophie, you’re back. I have good news to tell you.” “Your parents have agreed to our relationship. We can get married soon.” William’s voice carried a hint of joy. How ridiculous. This man had stolen my work and given it to another woman, even standing against me. Despite all this, he still firmly believed I would be with him. In that moment, I didn’t want to pursue anything anymore. Losing one piece of work to recognize this scumbag was actually a good thing. I spoke calmly: “No need. Let’s cancel our marriage plans.” I raised my head and looked at William, my eyes showing a hint of reluctance that quickly faded. “Our engagement was originally between the Parker and Anderson families. Now that Emily is back, she’s your real fiancée. As for me, I should return to my original status.”
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