His mother passed away, and his father ignored him—for Sean, still just a child, this was nothing short of a disaster. Worse yet, he had a stepmother who seemed virtuous on the surface but was ruthless and cruel underneath, always lurking in the shadows, ready to strike at any moment...
Sean Xuan couldn’t understand what was wrong with his father. Why couldn’t he see the woman’s true nature? She was so obviously fake that even Sean could tell—so why couldn’t his father?
As a child, Sean didn’t understand. He couldn’t figure out why his father kept drifting further away, why he didn’t believe him. Sean had explained over and over—he liked Aunt Mo just as much as he liked his own mother—but his father still despised him.
He cried, he made a fuss, he even complained to his father, telling him that woman abused him. But his father didn’t believe it—not even when Sean showed him his bruises, or brought his own food over to let his father see what kind of life the Young Palace Lord of Skyvault was really living...
But all the evidence and facts couldn’t compare to that woman’s tears. As long as she shed a couple of tears in front of his father and talked about how pitiful she was, everything Sean said turned into slander and false accusation.
Slander and false accusation? How cruel would he have to be to risk his own life just to frame that woman? Was his father blind? The truth was so obvious—why couldn’t his father see it?
Or maybe he did see it, but for that woman’s sake, he was willing to sacrifice his own son. After all, he could always have another son, couldn’t he?
His father’s neglect and distrust only made that woman even more reckless. She’d been married into Skyvault Palace for less than three months before she started purging loyalists—replacing all the elderly servants his mother had left behind. And she’d even sweetly told his father, “These people have served Sister their whole lives. If she’s watching from the spirit world, she wouldn’t want them to keep working so hard. Why not let them retire in comfort?”
Their whole lives?
His mother died young—how old could her servants possibly be? For that woman to say they’d served her a lifetime was just a joke.
And his father was even more ridiculous—he actually believed that woman was kind, and really did as she wished, replacing everyone his mother had left behind.
There wasn’t a single trusted person left by his side. Without those loyal old servants, life in Skyvault Palace became even harder. If it weren’t for the handful of elderly retainers who still remembered he was the Young Palace Lord, he might not have survived...
He was the Young Palace Lord of Skyvault, yet he had to struggle just to survive in his own home. Skyvault Palace was supposed to be his family, but he felt like an outsider there—especially after that woman became pregnant. His situation only grew more dire.
At that point, the old retainers in the palace urged him again to leave Skyvault and try his luck outside. With his father like this, he’d never nurture Sean—in fact, he’d probably see him as a threat.
That’s right. Sean’s very existence would become the biggest obstacle to their precious son inheriting the Palace Master’s seat. His hypocritical father wouldn’t kill his own child, but he’d definitely let Sean be ruined, and then stand by while that woman finished him off.
It’s not that he didn’t want to leave—he just couldn’t accept it!
He really couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t let that woman run wild in Skyvault Palace. Even if he had to leave, he had to land a fatal blow first.
In the end, his father forced him to risk his life framing that woman...
Skyvault Palace is surrounded on three sides by cliffs, with only one way in or out. But Sean knew there was a secret tunnel at the cliff’s edge—a passage left by their ancestors as a last resort for their descendants.
His grandfather knew about that tunnel, but because he died far from home and never saw his father one last time, his father was never told about it.
And the only reason he knew about it was because Aunt Mo had told him.
Aunt Mo must have guessed that one day he’d need that escape route—that’s why she told him about it, wasn’t it?
Sean made his preparations, lured that woman to the edge of the cliff, and when his father arrived, Sean shouted, “Madam, why are you trying to harm me?”
Then he pretended to struggle with Lu Yiran and jumped off the cliff...
The moment he leaped, Sean knew he wouldn’t be able to come back for a long time. But if it could make his father lose faith in that woman, then it would all be worth it. Except...
He’d underestimated that woman—and overestimated his own father.
That woman was clever, no doubt about it. Only later did Sean find out that the moment he fell, she plopped down on the ground, clutching her belly and wailing, “Sean, Sean, don’t scare Aunt Mo, don’t scare Aunt Mo. Aunt Mo regrets it, Aunt Mo won’t marry your father, Sean...”
“My stomach, my stomach hurts so much...”
That fake woman used the same trick again—tears and a show of suffering to dodge responsibility. And his foolish father fell for it, just like always. Or maybe...
Maybe his father actually wanted him dead. That way, their happy little family wouldn’t be disturbed anymore—of course, by “family” he meant that woman, her unborn child, and no one else.
He fell off the cliff, his fate unknown, and his father didn’t even send anyone to look for him. Instead, he comforted that woman, telling her not to blame herself—none of it was her fault. It was just that Sean was too playful and careless, that’s why he fell...
It was my thin blessing that made me die young.
And a child who “dies young” can’t enter the ancestral shrine. My father didn’t even send people to look for my body—he just put the clothes I wore as a child in a little box, buried it in a pit, and called it done.
It was only at that moment that I finally gave up on my father for good.
I’d still held onto a bit of hope, after all—my father’s love for me as a child hadn’t been fake. He’d held me in his arms and comforted me when I lost my mother; that hadn’t been fake either. But now...
My father was already dead to me. From the moment he married that woman, the father in my heart died, and I truly grew up—grew up enough...
To no longer need my father’s protection, to be able to plan for myself.
I came out through the secret passage and knelt before my mother’s grave: “Mother, your son is leaving. I may not be able to visit you for a long time.”
I knelt there, carefully wiping every speck of dust from my mother’s tombstone. I knew that the man I once called father would never remember to visit my mother.
“Mother, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. One day, I’ll come back, expose that woman’s true face, and take back everything that belongs to me.”
“Mother, I don’t care about Skyvault Palace—I can give it up. But I’ll never allow it to fall into that woman’s hands.”
“Mother, don’t worry. I’ll live happily. I won’t let myself be consumed by hatred, and I won’t live just for revenge.”
“Mother, wait for me... Wait for me to come back, and to bring your daughter-in-law to visit you. Don’t worry, Aunt Mo is just like you, and her daughter won’t be any less wonderful. Your son will be happy.”
The young Sean knelt before his mother’s grave, bowed three times, and then resolutely left Skyvault Palace. His thin, small figure was enough to break anyone’s heart...
The warm wind whistled past his ears, just like his mother’s gentle whisper...