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She began to grow nervous at his prolonged silence.
“Are you still there, Mister? You didn’t faint, did you?”
“No.” Nico closed his eyes wearily. “I’m exhausted and would like to take a nap,” he murmured.
“No! Don’t fall asleep!”
She banged madly on the wall to keep him awake. “You’re badly hurt, and you might never wake up if
you fall asleep!”
Nico was amused.
Having been training in the barracks with Cedrick from a young age, he would not die that easily.
Aside from Cedrick and Gwendolyn, she was the first person who cared so deeply for him without
knowing who he was. It gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling.
“Mister? Are you asleep? Or are you almost dead?”
An urgent hammering on the wall sounded again.
“No.”
She heaved a sigh of relief. “I’ll keep you company if you’re feeling sleepy. Would you like to hear a
story?”
“Do you know any scary ones?”
“Uh… Aren’t we living through one right now?”
Nico gazed weakly about the cell and chuckled.
Indeed, it was quite eerie.
“I know some morbid jokes, Mister.”
“This dungeon is morbid enough.”
“Mine are more morbid than that.”
Bonding over their chat, the pair passed a pleasant half an hour in each other’s company.
They stopped when the doctor, who was arranged by Charles, arrived to administer Nico’s medication.
Once more, Charles sent Gwendolyn back to the condominium on the outskirts of town.
He even reduced the area she was permitted access to from her block to her unit.
Gwendolyn did not complain, nor was she displeased. She only asked him for several books on
childcare to kill time with.
In regard to her meals, however, Charles did his best to oblige her requests.
Being two and a half weeks pregnant, Gwendolyn began exhibiting symptoms of morning sickness and
drowsiness—signs of hormonal imbalance. In response, Charles employed a female gynecologist who
would show up every afternoon to examine her and diagnose the appropriate remedies.
One day at noon, Charles received a summon from Kylie.
“Mother.”
He stood dutifully before her across the coffee table.
She set down the cup of coffee with a grave expression. “Be honest with me. Is the child in the belly of
the woman you brought—that Ms. Harris—yours?”
Charles was momentarily taken aback. Keeping his gaze fixed on the ground, he answered, “Yes.”
“Are you still lying to defend her?”
Kylie lost her temper and overturned her unfinished cup to the ground. The coffee splashed onto her
hand.
As the floor beneath the coffee table was lined with carpet, the impact hardly caused a stir.
In response, Charles marched around the coffee table, knelt beside her, and wiped her hand with a
damp towel.
As she watched his act of devotion, Kylie felt her rage subside. She spoke again, employing a tone of
earnest patience.
“You’re not thinking straight, Charlie! I’ve done some digging and found that she is engaged in
Chanaea. Besides, I saw the way you looked last night. The child must be fathered by her fiance
there.”
Charles kept his head bowed, refusing to answer.
She was furious. The good impression she had of Gwendolyn had vanished entirely.
“A woman like that is not worthy of you. What did she do to you to warrant such devotion to her?”
Charles kept his head hung as he wiped her fingers diligently. He did not say a word.
She knew how firm her son could be when he made up his mind, so she sighed. “Either marry another
woman or have her abort the child.”
No, Mother!” Charles looked up at once. “I will either marry her or nobody at all!”
At the thought of the child in Gwendolyn’s belly, he averted his gaze, and his voice seemed to wilt with
defeat. “It will damage her body to put her through an abortion. I would like her to bear this child. If I
come to regret it after marrying her, I can simply send the child back to Chanaea to its real father.”
Kylie could hardly believe her ears. “How dare you even consider letting her deliver the child? Do you
want this stain on your honor for as long as you live? You won’t feel the same love for the child as you
would your own. What does a woman like that have to offer to make you so sentimental?”
Those words struck a chord in the sore spot Charles had kept suppressed over the years.
He gave a sad little laugh before gazing up mournfully. “Is my existence not a wretched one, Mother?
You did this, too, didn’t you? Does that make you, in your own words, a woman like that?”
“You little sh*t!”
Kylie glared at him in shock. Enraged, she slapped him across the face.
As soon as she struck him, she gazed at her beloved son to whom she owed so much and regretted it
at once. She stroked his cheek.
“I’m sorry for causing you so much misery over all these years.”
Charles clasped her hand and smiled. “It’s all right. It didn’t hurt.”
His days of crying foul at the injustice were over.
Kylie’s eyes welled up with tears. “Since you know what I’ve been through, Charlie, you should know
that it won’t be fair to her unborn child. Do you wish it a similar fate to the one you endured?”
Charles did not want to answer her, as he did harbor that thought.
What’s wrong with that? That is her child with Cedrick. How ironic it would be if the kid were to suffer
my fate and feel the same despair as I do for being a b*stard.
“All I know is that I love her, and I will marry her.”
“But…”
Kylie’s heart wrenched for him. “She doesn’t love you, Charlie! In the same way, just like how I could
never love Gerhardt. Would you be happy spending your life with a woman like that?”
Charles emerged from Kylie’s chambers. His mind was ringing with his mother’s last words to him.
Nico’s and Gwendolyn’s, too.
All of them had told him, over and over, that Gwendolyn did not love him and would never do.
If he truly loved her, they had said, he would let go and give her his blessing.
However, love was selfish and possessive. Everything he did was to have her for himself. He was
certain that he, too, could give her happiness.
Why does everybody think I’m wrong? I refuse to accept it!
He would lose his reason every time he thought of the child—the product of Gwendolyn’s love for
Cedrick—and at the mental image of them with their limbs intertwined.
Like poisonous snakes, jealousy and resentment coiled around his heart and squeezed, making it
impossible for him to breathe.
Suddenly, he was seized by an impulse to destroy everything in sight.
If I can’t have her, nobody else can!
Noticing his strange expression, Jonah asked gingerly, “Would you like to return to Alzer Palace, Mr.
Lund?”
Charles pinched his brow. His head felt as if it was splitting open. “To hell with it. We’re going to a bar.”
Gwendolyn was sound asleep in the depths of the night.
In her daze, she vaguely heard the rumble of engines from the road downstairs and opted to ignore it.
Soon after, an urgent knocking sounded on the door, followed by Jonah’s panicked voice.
“Wake up, Ms. Harris! Mr. Lund is drunk and mumbling your name. Come out and see him!”
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