“I STOLE HER MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR PATENT BECAUSE SHE’S A KITCHEN ORPHAN!” HERMAN SNEERED IN SALEM. THEN, THE SUPREME SORCERER WALKED IN, REVEALING HER TRUE IDENTITY.

“How dare you accuse my brilliant son of theft? You are just a kitchen rando who rolled out of an oven. You don’t even deserve to breathe the same air as us!”

“Herman is mine now, Anna,” Ivy Kingsley laughed, flashing her diamond ring in my face.

“And there is nothing you can do about it. My aunt runs this school, and my father is the Vice President of the Douglas Corporation branch here. We rule this town.”

“Let go of me!” I screamed as two heavy-set security guards grabbed my arms, twisting them behind my back.

“Apologize to Ivy right now, you worthless stray,” Herman hissed.

“Or we will have you dragged naked across the campus.”

“I would rather die than apologize to a thief!” I spat.

“Execute the order,” Ivy sneered to the guards.

“Break her legs and throw her in the dumpster.”

“Don’t you dare touch her,” a voice boomed from the back of the hall.

The heavy mahogany doors of the banquet hall blew open with a violent gust of magical wind. Darien Douglas walked in, his expression carrying the terrifying coldness of a winter storm. Behind him, the global heads of the Douglas Corporation marched in a silent, intimidating line.

“Who the hell are you?” Professor Gareth Drake yelled, pointing his staff at Darien.

“This is a private academy event! Get this roadside nobody out of here!”

Darien walked forward, his eyes locked onto the guards holding me. With a simple flick of his fingers, a wave of kinetic magic blasted the guards backward, sending them crashing into the buffet tables.

“Sir?” I gasped, rubbing my wrists.

“You… you are the man from the cake stall.”

“I should have come earlier, Anna,” Darien said, his voice incredibly soft as he looked at me.

“I promise I will not spare anyone who has hurt you.”

“Aunt Vivien!” Ivy screamed as the school president, Vivien Kingsley, rushed into the hall, her face completely pale.

“This lunatic just attacked our security! Have him arrested!”

Vivien Kingsley took one look at Darien Douglas, and her knees instantly buckled. She fell to the floor, her hands trembling as she bowed.

“Mr. Douglas,” Vivien gasped, her voice shaking with absolute terror.

“Please… please forgive us. My niece did not know who you were.”

“Aunt Vivien?” Ivy stared in horror.

“Why are you on your knees for this beggar?”

“Silence, you foolish girl!” Vivien screamed.

“This is Darien Douglas! The CEO of Douglas Corporation! The Supreme Sorcerer!”

The entire banquet hall went dead silent. Herman Drake’s face turned completely white.

“Robert,” Darien said, turning to his senior investigator, who had just entered with a tablet.

“The DNA results.”

“The report is verified, Mr. Douglas,” Robert said, bowing.

“Anna is indeed your sister. She is the lost heiress to the Douglas and Lotus Empire.”

Darien turned back to the crowd, his voice echoing with absolute authority.

“I hereby strip Herman Drake of the Douglas Innovation Award. He is a fraud who stole my sister’s patent. Gareth Drake, you are fired from this academy and blacklisted from every magical institution in the country. And Trevor Kingsley, you are terminated as Vice President of the Grimale branch, effective immediately. Your entire family is blacklisted.”

“No!” Herman screamed, falling to his knees.

“Mr. Douglas, please! It was a misunderstanding! Anna, please tell him! I love you! I will marry you right now!”

“I would never marry a coward like you, Herman,” I said, my voice cold.

“It is too late for mercy,” Darien said.

“Guards, take them away.”

Before the security team could move, the air in the center of the hall began to crackle with dark, malevolent energy. A portal opened, and a rogue sorcerer—the greedy son of the old Lord Warwick—stepped through, holding the frail, elderly Lord Warwick with a blade of dark magic pressed against his throat.

“Hand over the Ambrosia Spell, Anna!” the rogue sorcerer roared, his eyes wild.

“Or I will slaughter your beloved guardian right here in front of you!”

“I… I don’t remember the spell!” I cried, clutching my head as my memories began to fragment and clash.

“I lost my memory!”

“Then I will help you remember by spilling his blood!” the sorcerer yelled.

“Stop!” an authoritative voice called out.

An older man in majestic, flowing robes stepped into the hall. It was Lord Sha Douglas, my father, who had lived in self-imposed exile for ten years.

“Father?” Darien gasped, stepping forward.

“Sha Douglas?” the rogue sorcerer sneered.

“The old fool has returned.”

“I am here to apologize to my daughter,” Sha Douglas said, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at me.

“Ten years ago, I separated you from your brother because I believed your raw, uncontrollable magic was a curse. But I was wrong, Anna. You were not cursed. You were gifted. Forgive me, my child.”

“Dad!” I whispered, a sudden, blinding flash of light exploding in my mind. Five years of fog vanished in an instant. The drowning, the academy, my childhood—it all came rushing back.

“I… I remember.”

“The spell is mine!” the rogue sorcerer screamed, unleashing the forbidden Mortis Veritas spell directly at me.

Sha Douglas lunged forward, throwing his body in front of mine. The dark beam of magic struck his chest, and he collapsed onto the floor, his eyes closing as his life force vanished.

“No! Father!” Darien roared, raising his staff to strike the rogue sorcerer down, but the sorcerer had already vanished back through his portal.

I fell to my knees beside my father’s body, my hands hovering over his chest. My late mother’s teachings, the ancient spells of the Lotus Empire, echoed in my mind.

“The Ambrosia Spell,” I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“It can bring the dead back to life, but only when used to do good.”

I closed my eyes, and a brilliant, warm gold light began to emanate from my hands.

“Ambrosia veneer luminum!” I chanted.

The golden magic swirled around my father’s chest, seeping into his skin. A second later, Sha Douglas let out a sharp gasp, his eyes flying open as life rushed back into his body.

“Anna,” he whispered, looking up at me in awe.

“You did it.”

Darien knelt beside us, wrapping his arms around both of us, tears of relief in his eyes.

“We are a family again.”

The next morning, the grand gates of Salem Magic Academy were opened to the public. Darien and I stood on the balcony of the main pavilion, looking out at the thousands of students and watermen gathered below.

“For ten years, I have been searching for my sister,” Darien announced into the magical microphone, his voice echoing across the entire valley.

“And today, I have found her. Not only is she my sister, but she is the true genius behind our corporation’s newest energy systems. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new co-CEO and business partner of Douglas Corporation… Anna Douglas.”

The crowd erupted into a thunderous applause that shook the very foundations of the school.

I looked down at the simple braided bracelet on my wrist, then at my brother, who was smiling at me with absolute pride.

“Thank you, brother,” I whispered.

“You don’t have to hide in the shadows anymore, Anna,” Darien said, squeezing my hand. “It’s time to fly.”