How had she endured all these years?

Sim Gyu-jin had lived fueled by hatred for her father-in-law, spitting on the memorial offerings and barely holding herself together.

The humiliation she’d felt when Baek Jangho, his lips blue with rage, had pointed a trembling finger and hissed, “That child wears only the mask of a human being.”

The horror and scorn in her father-in-law’s voice, as if accusing her: “You birthed that monstrosity.”

Even the memory of it made her teeth grind. Nothing about that time had been free from insult.

He’d beaten an innocent child into submission, warping him in the process. A child who should’ve been nurtured with love had instead been trained harshly, leaving scars that festered.

And each time she saw the impostor, the boy who wasn’t hers, grow to flawless perfection, her fists would clench so tightly they trembled.