Chapter 196

Chapter 196

It was late at night in Veridian.

Octavia woke to violent shaking.

She groggily opened her eyes to find Sierra standing beside her bed, one hand gripping her arm, the other holding up her phone. The screen's glare made her squint.

"Get up, get up, get up—something huge just happened!"

Sierra's voice was shrill and urgent, completely unlike her usual composed self.

Octavia pushed herself up into a sitting position, her mind still foggy. "What's wrong?"

Sierra shoved the phone in her face.

On the screen was a trending topic: [Octavia Stole Her Sister Claire's Life.]

Octavia's drowsiness evaporated instantly. She snatched the phone and clicked into the topic.

The hottest post was a video, published from the verified account Claire usually used to show off her wealth.

Octavia clicked on the video. Claire's face—so similar to her own—immediately appeared.

Claire sat on a couch, eyes swollen and red, nose flushed, lips trembling slightly. She looked utterly haggard.

She stared at the camera as tears slid down her cheeks, her voice hoarse and choked with sobs.

Her voice came through the speaker—raspy, trembling, tearful—sounding so sincere, like someone who'd suffered countless grievances to the point of mental collapse.

"My name is Claire. I'm Octavia's twin sister."

Crying, she accused Octavia of stealing her identity to marry into the Seymour Family, claiming Octavia had locked her in a house in the mountains for months, refusing to let her leave or contact the outside world.

"Octavia, I don't blame you, really. Even though you locked me up and imprisoned me, I don't blame you. You stole my identity—I don't blame you. You married my fiancé—I don't blame you either. I'm just begging you to let me go, let me come home. I don't want to be trapped in that empty place anymore, and I don't want to keep hiding from you. Please, I just want to go home."

By the end, she was crying too hard to speak, looking truly pitiful—the picture-perfect victim.

Given the time difference with Veridian, by the time Sierra saw the video, it had already shot to number one on trending.

Both the comments section and the topic feed were flooded with people cursing Octavia.

[So Octavia isn't actually Octavia, she's Claire? No wait, Octavia is Octavia and Claire is Claire? I'm so confused.]

[Whoever's who, she impersonated her sister to marry into the Seymour Family—that's fraud!]

[If the Seymour Family presses charges, she'll go to prison, right?]

[No wonder Claire was crying so hard in the video. Being locked up by your own sister for months—who wouldn't break down?]

[Octavia is terrifying. She'll do anything to marry into money.]

[Never seen anyone so vain and vicious. And she had the nerve to build that 'perfect woman' persona too. Guess she really does have skills—she even screwed over her own sister!]

[So she's been impersonating Claire while simultaneously being a celebrity as herself? That's some insane energy.]

[What energy? It's just vanity! She probably couldn't show her face after marrying into money but didn't want to give up being a star, so she scammed both sides.]

[Truth really is stranger than fiction.]

[This is straight-up fraud, right? The Seymour Family must've given her tons of money—luxury goods at minimum. She should be severely punished!]

[She's done for. I heard Leopold is ruthless. Octavia will probably just quietly disappear.]

[If my wife turned out to be a fake, I'd beat her to death.]

[Stay on topic. Can we all just focus on dragging Octavia? A woman this vain and vicious doesn't deserve it?]

[Waiting for her to get kicked out of the Seymour Group.]

The online comments grew increasingly vicious, but Octavia only skimmed them briefly without saying a word.

She sat there quietly, like a statue.

Sierra panicked. "Say something! Right now, everyone online is trashing you. Even the Marshall thing you exposed is being called fake. Where did Claire even come from after disappearing for so long? I knew she was trouble. Octavia, you really raised yourself a wonderful sister!"

Octavia nodded slowly. "Yeah. Where did she come from?"

Her voice was so calm it didn't sound like someone who'd just been betrayed by her own sister again. Sierra turned to look at her and found her expression terrifyingly blank.

Sierra's heart skipped. Something felt wrong. "Octavia—"

Octavia's gaze was unfocused. She said quietly, "I kept saying—with her brains and her guts, how could she possibly have thought of arson? And how could she have managed to stay hidden from all of us?"

Sierra's mouth opened slightly. She suddenly understood. "You mean someone's helping her? Then this video—someone must be pushing her to do this!"

Octavia didn't answer.

Sierra had been Octavia's friend for years. She knew all of Octavia's history, all her methods. She could tell immediately that this kind of calm was all wrong.

She turned on the light to look at Octavia's face more carefully. What she saw made her expression change dramatically.

"Octavia, don't stay silent. Whatever you're thinking, whatever you're planning to do—tell me, okay? Don't bottle it up. You still have me!"

But Octavia shook her head. After a moment, her brow furrowed as if troubled.

"I think I need to go back. Book me a ticket on the earliest flight."

Sierra disagreed immediately. "Go back now, with everything blowing up? The second you buy a ticket, reporters will find the flight info and it'll be all over the internet! Aren't you afraid they'll swarm the airport? It's too dangerous. I won't allow it."

Octavia: "But I have to go back eventually. Leopold will want an explanation."

"Will an explanation even help?" Sierra frowned too. "Everyone says Leopold hates being lied to most of all. You just got exposed by Claire. I'm guessing Claire won't want to offend Leopold, so she'll pin everything on you—you can imagine how evil she'll make you sound, right? Leopold's definitely furious right now. He won't believe anything you say."

Octavia's hand trembled. She looked down at her fingers, feeling lost again.

"Sierra, I think I've ruined myself."

Sierra froze, not understanding. "What?"

Octavia smiled bitterly. "I always prided myself on being clever, so I kept holding onto false hope, thinking I could cover all my lies, that maybe I'd never be found out. Just a few days ago, after dealing with Marshall, I was still thinking about how to leave gracefully."

Before Sierra could speak, she continued: "I naively thought that as long as I wasn't exposed, in Leopold's mind I'd just be his business partner. We could divorce peacefully. At least in his mind, I'd only be his ex-wife in name, not a liar. I never imagined this day would come so soon."

"Stop it." Sierra couldn't bear it. She sat down and gripped Octavia's hand. "Worst case, I'll hide you somewhere. Leopold's powerful, but he can't hunt you down across the entire world, can he?"

But Octavia seemed not to hear, still lost in other thoughts.

"Did I ever tell you? He likes Octavia."

Sierra was confused. "What?"

"He likes Octavia." Octavia repeated, smiling bitterly again. "Funny, isn't it? I am Octavia. But the one he likes is the Octavia I made up. The fake one."

Sierra said, "She's not fake. What real Octavia, fake Octavia—it's all you, isn't it?"

Octavia's eyes dimmed. "It's different. To him, it's different."

Her eyes reddened, her voice turning bitter.

"Sierra, I really am a terrible woman. I made Leopold fall for a fraud."

Sierra was speechless.

For once, her sharp tongue failed her. She didn't know how to comfort Octavia.

She could only change the subject. "What about the online backlash—how do you want to handle it? If this keeps escalating, you really won't be able to come home. Whatever you want to do, I'll help you with everything I've got."

Octavia stared at the floor lamp nearby, seemingly thinking. After a while, she shook her head wearily.

"Don't bother with the rest. Just help me find someone to watch Claire and figure out who's helping her behind the scenes. I'm pretty sure it's Imogen, but we need proof."

Sierra nodded, then said through gritted teeth, "Claire is stupid and evil. I just don't get it—how does destroying you like this benefit her at all?"

Octavia's eyes turned cold, a cruel smile appearing. "Don't worry. I've let her off the hook again and again. I'm tired of it."

The two sat together a while longer until Sierra grew drowsy, though she still forced herself to stay alert beside Octavia.

"Go back to bed." Octavia patted her shoulder gently. "I'm fine. Whatever needs handling, we'll deal with it in the morning."

Sierra was still reluctant, but Octavia insisted, so she finally gave Octavia space to be alone.

After Sierra left, Octavia didn't immediately rest.

She sat quietly with her phone for a long time. Then she sent Leopold a message.

[I'm sorry. I've been lying to you all along. Let's get divorced.]