Chapter 16 The Stepmother

The respect I had long been denied finally started flowing my way, and I absorbed Elijah’s lesson deeply. The whispers of doubt, the cruel judgments, all the rumors that had once circled around me—now, they were crumbling, like ash blown away by the wind. People who had barely acknowledged my existence in Silvermoon’s central building, people who had sneered at me or whispered behind my back, suddenly found it necessary to offer their apologies. I saw some of them approach me, their heads slightly lowered, bearing small gifts as tokens of their regret. It was almost comical, how swiftly their attitudes changed once the truth came out.