He Sold Me Into Slavery I Returned As Queen Chapter 09
By this point, the evidence was damning enough that no one dared speak for Cedric.
But he truly was the kind of man who had clawed his way to where he now stood.
Even with his face white as paper, he still searched for a crack to slip through.
“Maybe I did pawn the birth pendant.”
He changed his tune abruptly.
“But I found it after the festival.”
Alaric swung toward him.
“If you found Ella’s birth pendant, why didn’t you return it to the Raine family?”
Cedric’s eyes reddened.
“Uncle Alaric, I was only thirteen. I was afraid.”
“Ella disappeared, and I blamed myself terribly. If I produced the pendant, I was afraid you’d think I had hurt her.”
“So I made a terrible choice and pawned it.”
“But I never sold her.”
Rosalie, seeming to have finally found something to cling to, burst into tears.
“Father, Cedric was so young then. Of course he was scared.”
I looked at her.
“Rosalie, you’re very good at finding excuses for him.”
She bit her lip.
“Sister…”
Alaric’s whole body jolted.
He looked from me to her, and at last, a belated panic entered his eyes.
“Ella, you really are—”
I cut him off.
“Alpha Alaric, this is not the time for a family reunion.”
I raised a hand.
“Present the slave registration fragment.”
An official from the registry came forward carrying a charred sheet of paper.
The page was badly damaged, but in the lower right corner, half a slave-market wax seal remained.
The chief judge read:
“Name: Fog. Female. Eight years old. Female wolf from the capital. Crescent birthmark on right shoulder. Mole behind left ear. Transferred to North River Slave Yard the day after the Full Moon Festival.”
“Later transferred to Stone Ridge Estate as a servant.”
“Later transferred again to an apothecary in Greenriver Town.”