The Fake Heiress Was a Sleeping God

As the best-tempered of the fake heiresses, I never lost my temper over anything.

When the true heiress, Tabitha Hughes, hurt herself and pinned the blame on me, I didn't argue.

When my fianc, Max Delgado, knew perfectly well I was innocent and still beat me until my skin split open, I swallowed it in silence.

To help Tabitha slip quickly into high society, Max posted my dirt online with his own hands. Everyone looked at me with disgust, and I didn't get angry.

Even when Max decided that I, the cuckoo who'd stolen another's nest and never known hardship, needed to be sent off to that famous full-time girls' reform academy to learn my place, I agreed without complaint.

The day I came home was also the day Max threw Tabitha her welcome feast. I passed through the hall wrapped in a shirt washed pale, and Tabitha sat looking down at me from the head of the table, laying out three extra rules just for me.

"First, you are never to covet anything that belongs to the Hughes family."

I nodded without hesitation.

"Second, give me back your engagement to Max, and never come within a step of him again."

No problem. I nodded again.

"Last, your spending on food, clothes, and everything else is to be cut down, meals most of all!"

"Carina Sullivan, I've put up with this for a long time. You're a woman, and even setting aside that you eat eight times a day, every single meal is fatty meat and lavish feasts. Do you think the Hughes family's food just blows in on the wind?!"

"From now on it's two meals a day, plain oatmeal and scraps only!"

This time I didn't nod. For the first time, I refused.

What Tabitha didn't know was that although I was the Hughes family's fake heiress, I was also the true god Taotie, the divine beast Old Mr. Hughes had begged onto his knees, three bows and nine kowtows, to protect the Delgado family.

My hide was thick and my flesh tough, so they could beat me all they liked. I had no need for gold or jewels. But there was one thing they could never shortchange me on, and that was food.

Otherwise the consequences were beyond imagining.

1.

Refused in front of everyone, Tabitha went red all the way down to her neck.

That broke Max's heart clean in two. Without a word, he slapped me hard across the face.

"Carina Sullivan, you dare talk back? You've truly lost your mind!"

After ten thousand years as Taotie, my body was iron and diamond. Max's slap didn't even rate as a scratch.

So I still didn't get angry. I simply bargained. "Fine, I won't talk back. Just leave my meals the way they are."

Max shot up as if the floor had burned him.

"You don't know good from bad!"

"Tabby did this for the sake of your reputation!"

"In all the world, never mind women, there isn't even a man who eats the way you do!"

"Besides, Tabby is the true young lady of the Hughes family, and everything is done as she says!"

Max called for the servants and gave the order in a tone that left no room for argument. "Go. Take down Carina Sullivan's private kitchen. Other than plain oatmeal and scraps, she isn't allowed to touch a single thing."

"And if you can't keep watch over her, you can forget about keeping your heads!"

That was when I got a little angry.

I hauled Tabitha up off the head seat and gave her a light toss. She flew a good distance and slammed into the wall, the crash so loud that the whole room froze, nobody daring to move.

I sat down and crossed my legs. "Since everything has to be done as Miss Hughes says, then I won't back down either."

"As long as I'm in the Hughes house, my word is still the one that counts."

That frail little body of Tabitha's really couldn't take anything.

One fall like that, and blood kept trickling from the corner of her mouth.

The tears came even cheaper, falling in that snuffling, hiccupping way that grated on my nerves.

I snapped at her, impatient. "Shut it."

"You framed me all those times, let Max torture me into who knows what state, and I never once cried."

"You take one fall. Don't act like you're at death's door."

I rubbed my legs, sore from standing, and turned to leave.

The servants surged in and hemmed me in on every side.

Max held Tabitha in his arms and looked at me, cold as ice.

"You beat someone and think you can just walk off. Carina Sullivan, you have no respect for my Delgado family at all!"

I gave a faint hum of agreement.

"Never mind you. Even if your great-great-great-grandfather came, I still wouldn't spare him a thought."

"Max Delgado, the reason I'm willing to stay here is the lavish feasts, not you."

"Skinny arms, skinny legs, barely two ounces of meat on you. You don't even catch my eye."

Tabitha had caught me in the act, and she couldn't wait to use it.

"Max, look how arrogant Carina Sullivan is. Five months away at that school and she hasn't changed one bit, she's only gotten worse!"

"How could someone like this be worthy of being your fiance?"

I slanted a look at Tabitha.

"Whether I'm worthy or not isn't for you to decide."

"You, on the other hand, provoke me one more time and see if I don't throw you straight off the building. Zoey, hit her for me!"

Behind me, Zoey burst into tears in an instant.

"Miss, you finally have some backbone"

Zoey wasn't being dramatic.

When everyone else looked at me with disgust, she was the one who went with me to that school.

She knew every wrong I'd suffered, every torment I'd endured, and she'd long wanted to fight back on my behalf.

But every time, I put on that weak, easily bullied face and stopped her from taking it up.

She'd held that breath in far too long.

Zoey rolled up her sleeves and put her whole strength into it, and Tabitha went white in her little face.

Max clamped his brows together and blocked the way, snarling at Zoey. "You actually mean to strike her? Do you even know where you are? Don't you want to live?!"

As much as Zoey hated her, she was a girl in the end, and she didn't dare raise a hand against Max so easily.

She glanced at me, hesitant.

I gave her a firm nod.

"Old Mr. Hughes once promised in front of everyone that no matter when, I would always be the young lady of the Hughes family!"

"Today, either Tabitha agrees to my demands, or everyone shuts up and stops holding me back from teaching her how to be a Hughes."

"Zoey, hit her. I'll take all the blame."

Hearing that, Zoey put everything she had into the swing.

The crisp crack of the slap came together with Tabitha's wailing, a sound painful enough to make a person wince.

Max's eyes went red in a flash. He grabbed a chair, leveled it at me, and spat out viciously,

"Carina Sullivan, don't push me into laying hands on you!"

Worried for me, Zoey quickly stopped.

I didn't so much as change expression.

"Max Delgado, before you lay a hand on me, you'd best go ask my father whether he agrees."

2: 2

Nothing had ever blown up this badly before. The whole room hung in a tense standoff, no one moving, and Tabitha's face had swollen out of shape.

In the end the whole scene closed the only way it could: Tabitha ran out in tears.

Back at the Hughes house, the moment she saw Paddy Hughes and Leah Hughes, she burst into loud sobbing.

"Daddy, Mommy, Tabby didn't mean anything bad by it."

"I only said all that because I wanted Sister to hold back a little, to mind how she looks."

"I never thought she'd not only refuse to appreciate it, she'd actually hit me."

Paddy and Leah had clearly already heard the whole story from start to finish.

Leah looked at me with a trace of displeasure, but still made herself patient enough to coax me. "Carina, what Tabby did really wasn't wrong."

"You're a grown girl now. You'll be married soon. You won't stay in the Hughes house forever."

I answered flatly. "I understand that. So that isn't what I'm angry about."

Leah blinked, then it dawned on her.

"Then it's about cutting your expenses."

"But Tabby wasn't wrong there either. A girl has to watch her figure. Eat less, keep the weight down, so you can fit into a beautiful wedding dress."

Seeing that Leah was set on taking Tabitha's side, I reminded her, resigned.

"Cut whatever else you want, however you want. But not the food."

"Mom, surely you haven't forgotten what Grandpa told you both before he died?"

That was right. The only reason a fake heiress like me could stay in the Hughes house and be waited on hand and foot, food brought to my mouth, was the deathbed words Old Mr. Hughes had left behind.

That year I'd been living perfectly fine at the old country homestead, and that old rascal Max Hughes had insisted on coming out to beg me to leave the mountain.

Going on about some ancient pact, saying that back in the day I'd eaten the plain rice of his ancestors, that now the Delgado family faced ruin, and so I ought to come down and protect his family.

I refused him. After all, guardian duty like that, what did it have to do with a beast like me?

But the old rascal actually gathered up the top chefs from all over the world and laid out a whole table of fine food to tempt me.

For once I couldn't hold back, and I made a ten-year pact with him.

The old rascal was overjoyed and dragged me down the mountain that very night.

Paddy was a dutiful son, and he and Leah were a devoted couple. After their first child was stolen away, they never had another, so without a word they raised me as their own daughter.

"Carina, we've kept those words in mind all these years."

"We've never once shorted you on fine food and rich dishes."

"But Tabby has a point too. Eight meals a day really is a bit much."

"Here's what we'll do. Your father decides: two meals a day. One of plain oatmeal and scraps, one of a lavish feast. How about that?"

I laughed out loud from sheer anger.

Brother, I'm a Taotie. Eight meals a day is barely enough to get stuck in my teeth.

And now you want me down to two?

Too bad I couldn't say it outright.

When the immortal lord learned I was going to the human world, he warned me over and over: I was never to reveal what I was.

Because word that a god from the primordial wilds walked among them would throw the Three Realms into chaos.

We beasts may not understand human sentiment, but our word is iron.

What we promise, we never break.

So all I could do was hint at it. "Dad, I understand you favoring your own daughter."

"I can own my fault. I can even give up my fianc."

"But the eight meals, not a single one can be cut."

"Otherwise, the consequences are more than you can carry."

Paddy had sat at the head of this family for years, and it was the first time anyone had shamed him to his face.

He couldn't hold it anymore, and he snapped at me. "Carina, don't push your luck!"

"If it weren't for my father's dying words, what right would some village girl of unknown origin have to be an heiress of the Hughes family?!"

"The Hughes family has already done more than enough for you!"

"It's decided. Meals stay at two, and the engagement to Max goes to Tabby."

"Tabby hasn't asked for a single thing since she came home. This time, she gets what she wants!"

With that, Paddy shot a look over my shoulder, signaling the servants to lock me in my room.

I was furious, the brute strength inside me already slipping past my control.

But just as I braced to make a real mess of it, my body went soft all at once and I crumpled to the floor.

Max let out a smug, cold laugh. "I know how much you eat and how strong that makes you, so I made a point of slipping you the bone-softening drug."

"Until Tabby and I are engaged, you'll stay put in the basement and go nowhere."

"Oh, and one more thing. You won't get any food during this time. People only learn the rules once they've been hungry long enough."

I lay slumped on the floor, and when I saw Paddy and Leah standing off at a distance, not moving, wearing the face of people who saw nothing, I finally understood: from beginning to end, they had never intended to help me.

I was bitterly disappointed, and I quietly counted out the time.

Three days left in the ten-year pact.

Three days, and the pact would lapse, and I'd be free.

By then, I could return to my nature as a beast

3: 3

The basement was dim, damp, and reeking of mold.

Huge rats swarmed through the standing filth.

Zoey clutched my sleeve, timid, her voice thick with tears. "Miss, I'm terrified of rats. How are we supposed to stay in a place like this?"

*Max Delgado really is heartless.*

I patted the back of Zoey's hand gently and turned to the rats running wild across the floor. "All of you, line up in a row. Don't frighten the girl!"

The rats gave one collective shudder and pressed themselves obediently against the wall in a neat line.

Zoey stared, dumbstruck.

"Miss, they understand you!"

That wasn't it.

These little creatures hadn't gained sentience yet. They couldn't understand human speech.

They were afraid because they could feel the pressure.

The pressure of the ancient ancestor of all beasts.

I settled into the one dry patch in the corner and closed my eyes to rest.

Zoey followed and pulled a cold, hard bread roll from inside her clothes, holding it out to me.

"Miss, this morning I was afraid you wouldn't get enough to eat at the Delgado house, so I tucked away a roll. Have a little to tide you over."

I looked up at her, and something in my throat ached.

Of everyone in the human world, Zoey had been the kindest to me.

Max Delgado had treated me this way for Tabitha's sake, and everyone understood the engagement was finished. They all fawned upward and trampled down.

Only Zoey had stayed steady at my side.

I pushed the roll back to her.

"Don't worry. I only go hungry. Hunger won't kill me."

"Zoey, keep it and eat it yourself."

"There are still three days until Tabitha and Max's engagement. You have to hold on and watch how I deal with these ungrateful wretches."

Zoey didn't understand what I meant, but she smiled anyway. "Mm. I believe you'll manage it, Miss."

The words had barely left her mouth when a slender hand landed across her face.

Zoey lost her footing, and the roll rolled off into the foul water.

Tabitha leaned into Max's arms, kicking at the roll with obvious satisfaction.

"Look at the state of you, and still thinking about dealing with us?"

Max let out a cold, mocking laugh. "I'm actually curious how you plan to deal with us."

At that, Tabitha bent down and tore the filthy, stinking roll in half.

"Since His Highness is so curious, we can't let you starve to death."

"Here. Eat up, so you'll have the strength to deal with us."

With that, Tabitha seized my chin and tried to force the reeking roll into my mouth.

Zoey lunged at her in panic.

But Max drove his foot hard into her stomach.

Zoey doubled over, writhing in pain.

He felt not the slightest pity.

He fisted a hand in her hair and sneered. "You little wretch, still trying to save your idiot mistress even now?"

"You think you don't have to eat?!"

Max exchanged a glance with Tabitha, and together they shoved the rotten rolls into my mouth and Zoey's.

The dose of bone-softening drug had been heavy. I didn't even have the strength to fight back.

I could only let that sickening stench spread across my tongue.

I couldn't help gagging.

The primordial wilds might be barren, but there had at least been birds and beasts and dried fruit.

I had never once eaten anything so filthy.

For the first time I knew humiliation, and fury filled my chest to the brim.

Eyes rimmed red, I lifted my head and stared at Max and Tabitha, and said, one word at a time. "At the engagement party three days from now, I will give the two of you a gift you'll never forget for the rest of your lives!"

4: 4

"Whatever happens three days from now can wait three days."

"Today, first, I'm settling the score for you hitting me!"

Tabitha laughed, the sound thick with triumph.

She lifted a hand, and the servant behind her, swallowing his revulsion, snatched up a rat.

The stupid things were too terrified to even run.

Gripping the rat by the scruff, the servant asked her, "Miss Hughes, what now?"

Tabitha's lips curled, cruel and sly, and she pointed at my mouth.

"Stuff it in."

"Doesn't my dear sister have an endless appetite? Let's give her a real feast today."

A shudder went through me.

The Taotie are true gods. Even starved to the edge, we would never touch anything as foul as a rat.

To me this was worse than death.

I clenched my jaw and bit out, "Tabitha, this is your last chance to stop."

"Or don't blame me later for showing no mercy."

She threw back her head and laughed.

"Carina, you've been spineless your whole life, and now, of all times, you grow a backbone."

"I'd love to see just how merciless you can be without the Hughes family shielding you!"

"Hurry up, stuff the rat in her mouth. One's not enough, catch more. Keep feeding her until she's willing to kneel, knock her head to the floor, and beg forgiveness!"

Seeing that Max did nothing to stop it, the servant hesitated no longer.

He clamped down on my jaw and forced the frantic, struggling rat into my mouth.

One, two, three...

I went from revulsion to fury, and finally to an eerie calm.

Naturally, that didn't satisfy Tabitha.

"Carina, you've got nerve."

"Since you care so little about yourself, then I'll try a different approach."

She turned, found a wooden rod in the corner, and pinned down Zoey's hand.

"Which hand did you hit me with yesterday?"

Zoey and I understood at once what she meant.

Zoey trembled all over, and for the first time, I was afraid too.

I couldn't die, but Zoey was only mortal. With the Hughes family's power, they could beat a person to death and no one would dare say a word.

My fear only delighted Tabitha more. She sneered, "Now I remember. You hit me with both hands."

"Then let's cripple both of them."

I knew how hard Tabitha had schemed to shove me aside and marry Max herself. She would never let a golden chance like this to humiliate me slip by.

So I pinned my last hope on Max.

Praying he had a shred of conscience left.

"Max, let Zoey go. I promise I'll never hold your wrongs against you."

"And your Delgado family won't be visited by utter ruin."

Max's head snapped toward me.

I'd thought that even if he didn't understand, he'd at least feel some wariness.

Instead he laughed out loud, the way you'd laugh at a lunatic.

"Carina, have you gone mad with panic?"

"Since when do you spout nonsense like this?"

"Utter ruin? What, do you think you're some goddess descended from heaven?"

My face was dark, without a trace of joking in it.

"A god?"

"No god could compare to me."

"She's insane!"

Max spat the words, out of patience, then pressed, "Tabby, get it done, and let's go rest once it's over."

"I don't ever want to see this lunatic again."

With Max's word given, Tabitha hesitated no more.

The rod came down, and Zoey crumpled in front of me.

But that foolish girl, broken with pain as she was, still forced out her last breath to beg, "Young Master Delgado, Miss Hughes, I've already paid the price."

"Please, I'm begging you, stop tormenting my mistress."

Tabitha tossed the rod aside, impatient. "Relax, I won't let you die."

"Max and I are still waiting to see that big gift your dear mistress promised us."

The two of them disappeared up out of the dungeon, and Zoey dragged a faint smile onto her face to comfort me. "Miss, it's over now."

I patted her back gently, spacing out each word. "Mm. It's over. Sleep a while."

"Get your strength back, so you can watch with your own eyes as they're damned beyond saving."

Three days passed in a blink.

Deafening music drifted in from outside, along with the crowd's congratulations to Tabitha.

The drug in my body had mostly worn off; my strength was back to seven parts of ten.

When I hoisted Zoey onto my back, the bodyguard posted at the door struck the iron gate with his stun baton, annoyed. "What do you think you're doing? Get back in the corner and lie down!"

I didn't even glance at him. I stared straight toward where the sound was coming from and let two cold words fall.

"Delivering a gift."