Strangers Bound by the Same Tears

Sophie, a beggar girl with a dying mother, is caught stealing food, but her capture reveals a Firemark on her forehead, proof of royal blood. Guard Harvey is stunned and rushes to report it.The emperor is shocked: "She's my daughter?" But his stepdaughter Lucy is furious, publicly tormenting Sophie and her mom. Worse, Lucy's mother, Consort Winson, orders the two girls to swap faces to secure her daughter's position.Sophie, now locked away and bled as the "princess," watches the impostor call Consort Winson "Mother." Sophie's real mother breaks down: "Why is my daughter calling someone else 'Mother'?"