Chapter 22…
Grandfather said that Kevin’s late older brother, Lucio, was not Father’s child.
Then whose child was he?
“Sheila had a fiancé — Descent’s older brother, Lucent.”
“So, you mean… he was my father’s brother’s child?”
That means Mother became pregnant with my uncle’s child before marriage.
“Yes. Lucent was killed — stabbed by his mistress the day before the wedding.”
“So, even though he was about to marry Mother… he was cheating on her?”
What a scandal.
“Naturally, the wedding was supposed to be canceled. But then Sheila claimed she was pregnant with Lucent’s child. Her fiancé was dead, and she had been defiled — so her family demanded that Descent take responsibility.”
So Father was forced to take on his brother’s mistake.
“Descent refused at first. ‘Why should I?’ he said. ‘I already have a woman I love — this is absurd.’
But our side was desperate to secure a father for Sheila’s unborn child. We promised him: Marry Sheila, raise the baby as your own, and if she bears you a child too, we’ll give you anything you want.”
Grandfather must have said that thinking Father would later want a divorce.
If two children were born, it wouldn’t matter if the husband left afterward.
“They hid Lucent’s death and held the wedding as if it had been Descent and Sheila’s all along.
They made it seem as though Lucent had broken off the engagement due to an affair. Officially, he was said to have died of illness.”
“And the mistress who stabbed him?”
“…She lost her mind. Was sent to a sanatorium. Her family wanted to keep things quiet, so they stayed silent.”
Of course they did.
If it became known their daughter was a murderer, her entire family would be ruined.
By declaring Lucent’s death an illness, all three families escaped public disgrace.
“So, Father took the promise — ‘We’ll give you anything you want’ — not as a one-time favor, but as a permanent license to act selfishly, didn’t he?”
“…Yes.”
“By the way, who was the woman Father loved?”
“Catherine’s mother.”
I had suspected as much from the way the story was going, and it turned out to be true.
But if that’s the case, there’s something strange.
“At that time, wasn’t Catherine’s mother already married?”
Catherine has an older brother.
He’s slightly older than Father, so it’s hard to imagine they were lovers.
“Later, we realized that Descent was delusional — he believed he and Catherine’s mother were in love. In his mind, she was a poor woman forced into a political marriage even though she loved him.”
I can’t believe Father had such ridiculous fantasies.
Catherine was born before Kevin, and since her mother never divorced, Father must have started acting however he pleased — all while keeping his own marriage intact.
