Taking the Throne as the Undervalued Miner’s Daughter

“How could you sleep here?!” he shouted.

“Sherrie, Alden may be our adopted brother, but you still have to watch your behavior. If people find out the real Spencer daughter came home only to sleep in her brother’s room, what kind of scandal would that be? The Spencer Family's reputation isn’t something you can just ruin like that!” Celia chimed in, adding fuel to the fire.

Mom broke down in tears, sobbing as if the world was ending. “Oh God, what sin have I committed to have a daughter like this? I don’t want to live anymore!”

Dad turned his fury back at me. “You’re supposed to be focusing on your studies right now! How could you let your mind be filled with such improper thoughts? Get up this instant!”

I lazily pulled the blanket back over myself and tapped on my phone a few times.

The room lights turned off and the projector flickered on. It started playing surveillance footage — from the moment Celia led me into this room up until now.

I didn’t feel like talking, but I wasn’t about to let them falsely accuse me either.

Dad and Mom exchanged a quick glance, their expressions stiffening when they saw the footage.

Still, Dad muttered with a frown, “Your sister brought you here to give you a better environment, but you should know how to behave properly too!”

Mom sighed dramatically, “Raised in the countryside after all—no manners. No sense of propriety.”

At that point, it was pretty clear: they didn’t care about right or wrong. They just didn’t like me. But if they didn’t like me, why bother dragging me back here?

I felt a surge of helplessness, but honestly, I didn’t see the point in arguing.

Thankfully, Alden came back in time and helped defuse the situation for me.

As they were leaving the room, I overheard Dad mutter some nasty things, something along the lines of, “You better behave yourself. Don’t ruin your reputation — you're supposed to marry into another wealthy family for us. If your reputation’s shot, you’ll be worthless.”

I caught a glimpse of Alden’s profile as he heard that — completely expressionless, almost like he was dead inside.

Later, they called me down for dinner.

At the table, Mom and Dad sat with Celia right in the middle, looking for all the world like a happy little family.

Celia was her usual charming self, saying all the right things to make them smile.

Meanwhile, they kept shooting me disappointed looks, then turning to Celia with relief, like they were constantly comparing us.

Suddenly, Celia piped up, “Sherrie, did you go to school back in the countryside?”

“Graduated,” I answered lazily.

Dad frowned. “You and Celia are the same age. She's still a senior in high school. How are you already graduated? What exactly did you study?”

“Computer science and welding,” I said honestly.

Dad slammed his hand on the table. “A Spencer learning welding? That’s so beneath us!”

Mom quickly chimed in, “Celia is a senior at St. Harrington Academy, the best high school in the city. She has a real shot at Cornell or Columbia. You can tag along for half a year. Even if you don’t get into a good college, your father and I will donate a building or two—at least you’ll have a diploma to your name.”

“But I’ve already graduated.”

I wanted to tell them that I had graduated from the youth program at MIT — that I’d already started working and that this trip home was just a short visit before I had to return to work.

But my job is highly classified. The kind of thing I literally can’t talk about, even if I wanted to.

And honestly, I was too lazy to explain.

Dad slammed the table again, yelling, “Still talking back? That’s it — you’re enrolling at St. Harrington Academy tomorrow!”

Oh wow. So now they were just trying to re-educate me?

And if I remembered correctly, back when I graduated from MIT, I had even visited St. Harrington Academy to give a guest lecture.

Man, I couldn’t wait to see the look on their principal’s face when I showed up as a student.

Just then, the guests arrived.

It was a family of three. The man and woman were middle-aged, well-dressed and carried themselves like they were important. With them was a younger woman, around Alden’s age — pretty, but her face was pale and her eyes were sunken.

She looked like someone who’d been drained dry by a little too much partying — alcohol and sex, most likely.

I also noticed that Alden’s expression turned very ugly when he saw that woman.

A marriage candidate, perhaps?

By then, the two sides had already exchanged greetings. The middle-aged man and woman seemed to be very fond of Celia. The woman, however, kept staring at Alden, occasionally licking her lips in a very lewd way.

Seeing that I hadn’t gotten up, dad frowned and said, “This is Sherrie Lutz, our daughter. But she’ll soon be changing her last name to ours. She was abducted when she was little and we just got her back from the countryside not long ago. Pardon if she has no manner.”

Then, he demanded that I greet them.

I tossed out a half-hearted greeting, realizing they were the Norris Family.

Celia quickly added, “Sherrie, this lady is going to be our future sister-in-law.”

I glanced at the sleazy woman, then at Alden, who looked deathly pale, before finally standing up.

Alden seemed to glance at me and in his eyes, I thought I caught a flicker of pleading.

I walked over to Alden, cupped his face and kissed him squarely on the lips.