Page 56 of The Alpha King’s Hidden Mute Mate

The second verse changed. No longer those sharp, painful, powerful lines from Mia's manuscript, but something... mediocre. Something that sounded "decent" but clearly lacked soul.

"I waited for you all night on the shore,

The tide carried away my longing—"

My brow furrowed.

This wasn't Mia's. Mia's manuscript didn't have these lines. Mia's version was—"I have a garden full of words I cannot speak"—that was the original.

Leah kept singing. The later lyrics grew worse, some parts with forced rhymes and repetitive imagery. Several verses were clearly filler, using empty rhetoric to hide hollow content.

Like—like she'd only gotten the first half of the lyrics, and cobbled the rest together herself.

My fingers drummed the armrest rhythmically, all the pieces clicking into place in my mind.

Mia's room. Those manuscripts. That handwriting. Those edits.

Leah's new song. The identical opening. The second half's quality cliff-dive.

My heartbeat accelerated—not from excitement, but from a cold, suffocating rage rising from my chest.

I shot to my feet.

The chair toppled backward with a bang. The music stopped abruptly. Everyone turned to stare at me, expressions varying—surprise, confusion, unease.

"Your Majesty?" Leah stood on stage, face pale. "What's wrong?"

I didn't answer. I strode onto the stage, pulled those crumpled papers from my pocket, unfolded them, and held them before her.

"What is this?"

Her gaze fell on the papers. Her face went white—not ordinary pallor, but bloodless death-white.

"These... these are my lyrics," her voice trembled. "Where did you get them?"

"From Mia's room." My voice was cold as winter rails. "Her handwriting. Her drafts. Her edits. Tell me—why is your 'new song' word-for-word identical to Mia's manuscript?"

Complete silence. I felt everyone's eyes focus on us like hundreds of spotlights burning my back.

Leah's lips trembled. Her eyes darted around, desperately searching for a reasonable explanation.

"I... I showed her my draft," she said, voice getting smaller. "She might have... copied it..."

"Really?" I laughed coldly. "Then why is your song's second half completely different from her manuscript? If you showed her the complete draft, how could she only copy half?"

Leah's face looked worse. Her body swayed like someone had shoved her. She grabbed the mic stand to keep from falling.

"Your Majesty, I-I can explain..."

"Explain what?" My voice was ice. "Explain how you stole a mute girl's lyrics and deceived me for six months?"

Tears began falling. But this time, those tears didn't make me feel sympathy. They made me sick.

"I-I just... I just loved you too much..." she sobbed. "I was afraid once you knew the truth, you wouldn't choose me... I was afraid you'd think I wasn't good enough..."

"So you chose deception?"

"I had no choice!" She suddenly raised her voice, tears streaming down. "She's mute! She can't even speak! What can she give you? Can she stand beside you handling state affairs? Can she conduct herself properly with foreign guests? She can't do anything!"