Chapter 34
As soon as Alex found out Catherine was in prison, he ran straight to his mother.
“Please, Mother! You have to get her out of there!”
“Sheâs not strong! If she stays in that place, she could get seriously ill!”
Catherine had always been sickly since she was little.
Her fierce and sensitive personality mightâve come from that fragile bodyâafter all, scared animals bare their teeth the most.
“You know sheâs scared of dark places!”
She had been terrified of the dark since childhood, especially small, enclosed spaces.
Even if the duke’s prison was spacious, it was still dark.
The thought of Catherine alone in there terrified Alex.
His mother, Rachel, was in the middle of a beauty treatment with the help of a maid. She sighed.
“Alex, how old are you? Do I still need to listen to you cry like this?”
But Alex, desperate, knelt in front of her, right in front of the maid.
Rachel hated anything that made her children look weak, but he didnât care anymore.
“Please, Mother…!”
Rachel sighed again and waved the maid away.
“You’re a boy, Alex. Watching you on your knees like this is pathetic, even to me.”
“Then help Catherine! She didnât do anything wrong!”
Alex clenched his fists tightly.
This was your doing, he wanted to scream.
He couldnât meet her cold blue eyesâeyes that had never once looked at her children with warmth.
They sent chills through him every time.
What do you think we are to you�
“Who says she didnât do anything wrong?” Rachel said with a smirk.
“W-what?”
“The moment she failed, it became her fault. She couldnât even do one simple thing right. Tsk.”
“Mother!”
Alexâs face turned pale.
He could tell from her wordsâthat she was ready to abandon Catherine.
You canât do this. Not after everything weâve done to get here.
Not after I followed you so obediently.
Catherine always believed you loved herâhow can you throw her away like this?!
His anger boiled over. For the first time, he looked at Rachel without fear.
I like Mother, he remembered Catherine saying.
Why?
Because sheâs still family. Family stays together, no matter what.
She had said that, so innocently, so full of belief.
Catherine truly believed that family never changes, never abandons.
Alex couldnât betray that belief. He refused to.
“Besides,” Rachel added coldly, “Catherine did bully Eleanor.”
“That wasnât just her! I did it too. So donât blame it all on her. If you have to punish someone, punish me!”
Alex didnât fully understand the emotions Catherine had toward Eleanorâhe wasnât her.
But he understood a little.
He had once longed for family too, just like she did.
Alex⌠do you think Eleanor doesnât know how her family feels about her?
She must not know. In this family, nobody understands how the others feel anyway.
But what if she does know, and pretends not to?
Eleanor thought everyone hated her, but that wasnât trueânot completely.
The Duke would secretly check on her when she was sick.
Killian sent clothes every month, though they never reached her because Rachel intercepted them.
David brought her giftsâflowers, animal fursânone of which she ever saw.
Rachel always made excuses, saying Eleanor refused them, and gave them to Alex or Catherine instead.
Everything was broken.
Whether it was one personâs fault or many.
To Alex, the family was just too busy tending to their wounds to see each other.
And Catherine must have noticed that too.
But Alex had pretended not to see her pain.
Stop. This house isnât ours.
Theyâre not our family.
Donât care too much. Donât hope too much.
He wanted Catherine to let go of this house.
It only offered them food and a bed.
That should be enough.
So CatherineâŚ
Donât love this place.
Youâll only end up hurt.
Rachel chuckled.
“My, you’re making it sound like I framed my daughter. Watch your mouth, Alex.”
“Are you⌠are you going to abandon her?”
He looked directly at his mother, his voice quiet but serious.
They shared the same blue eyesâbut they held different emotions.
So really, they werenât the same at all.
“A small sacrifice⌠is sometimes necessary.”
Rachel thought of Catherine, who looked so much like her sister, Selenaâsame pale blue gem-like eyes.
Not a trace of herself in that girl.
If she looked like me, would I have loved her?
No. That would never have happened.
You know what separates us, sister?
Itâs love.
You donât even try to love anyone.
Selenaâs words echoed in her mind.
Rachel had never loved anyone.
“You used to care about her.”
“Sheâs just a girl. Useless.”
She was meant to be a pawn in a marriage allianceâbut if thatâs ruined, thereâs no point keeping her.
Better to let the Duke or his men deal with her.
Even if Catherine revealed everything, thereâd be no proof.
Rachel made sure of that.
But Catherineâs actions had enough evidence to bury her.
“Wake up, Alex. If weâre not careful, weâll all be thrown out of this house.”
She looked him straight in the eye, cold and sharp.
Alex closed his eyes.
Youâre what I fear most. If we get thrown out⌠you wonât be powerful anymore.
“I always told you,” she said, “everything I do is for you.”
No. Itâs for your dream. Not mine.
Somewhere far away, in a quiet southern seaside town, sat a small house.
It was once Alexâs home.
Thatâs where he lived with Rachel and baby Catherine.
“That womanâs got a sharp tongue⌔
“Nobody knows where she came from⌔
“But the kids are beautiful.”
The townspeople avoided them.
Rachel looked down on them, calling them filthy peasantsâas if she was different.
“Disgusting creatures⌠if only they knew who I am⌔
Alex didnât understand what she meant, but he never asked.
He knew he wouldnât get a real answer.
“Hey there. Are you my son?”
One day, a stranger appeared.
A man with silver hair and striking blue eyesârare in that town.
“Hello, son,” the man said with a grin.
It was the year Alex turned six.
The man came out of nowhere and claimed to be his father.
“Who⌠who are you?”
“Me? Iâm your dad. I think.”
He ruffled Alexâs hair.
That was the first time Alex met Francis, his so-called father.
“One look at your face, and I knew. Youâve got her eyes. So youâre my son.”
