To My First Love, With Regret - 40

Her mute father would never have consented to marriage with a woman he would consider merely a plaything. They must have forged his consent for the marriage, feigned pregnancy, and then stolen Eve’s child to pass it off as her father’s.

This was the reason Chantal had been so obsessed with Eve’s pregnancy status. The fact that she was thankful to Eve for a boy, and relieved that he resembled Eve—a Kentrell bloodline—all now fit together perfectly.

You were staging a play to gain my trust, intending to steal my child and seize the ducal family from the very beginning.

—We aren’t helping you, my Lady, to earn a few coins.

Yes, whatever price I paid would have been mere pocket change compared to the Kentrell family.

This entire scheme could not have been executed by a poor foreign nurse who knew little about Mercia’s laws or affairs. It was clearly orchestrated by Lawyer Kallas, and the Doctor was obviously in on it, too.

—These scammers.

Eve glared at Chantal and Dr. Kallas with bloodshot eyes. The Doctor couldn’t meet her gaze and lowered his head. Chantal, however, brazenly motioned for the butler and maids to go inside.

The butler promptly obeyed the command of the woman who had only been an employee of the ducal family just like him. Eve could not just stand there and watch this absurd reality unfold.

—I won’t let you two take my family away like this.

—Are you going to report us? Tell them what?

Chantal ripped off her angelic mask, revealing the devil’s true colors hidden beneath.

—You wouldn’t want the whole world to know that this child is the illegitimate son of the Lady of Kentrell and a criminal, would you? Are you going to ruin your life and the life of this poor baby like that?

Eve had trusted Chantal enough to share her most fatal secret. Because she was the «savior» who had been the only one by her side in despair.

Only after her secret turned into a weakness, cornering Eve, did she see the most repulsive desire hidden behind the pure face of her savior, and also the foolishness of her own naivety.

Eve was still powerless, even though she had been sick of her helplessness all along. The only path to power had now been stolen from her. This time, they had used not only her but also her child.

If cunning is a sin, then foolishness is too. The devil wiggled its cunning tongue at Eve, who was trembling with resentment not just at Chantal but at herself.

—Eve, don’t be like that, think coolly and wisely. If you cooperate with us, it’ll be good for you too, right? It will be revenge on the old man.

The husky, affected laughter was revolting.

—It will be good for this child, too. Eve, don’t you feel sorry for this poor child? Wouldn’t the baby prefer to be the next Duke rather than the child of a petty doctor?—

She rambled cunningly, attempting to instill guilt, then deliberately looked around at the empty surroundings and whispered into Eve’s ear, who was gritting her teeth:

—You had this child to make him the Duke in the first place, didn’t you? It happened just as Eve planned. We fulfilled Eve’s dream.

Now she was trying to make Eve an accomplice.

—Don’t worry. We will let you continue to live here.

Eve now knew there was a price behind Chantal’s kindness. They were keeping her because she still had value to be exploited.

—I have no intention of becoming your slave.

But Eve’s life never flowed according to her wishes.

The Lady who lost the ownership of the cage was once again confined, becoming a bird.

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

—Duchess.

A cooing voice sounded as the door opened, and the Duke’s jaw trembled uncontrollably.

Chantal Garnier. That bitch’s feigned acts of stupidity, acting like a brainless donkey, were all a performance. He had been robbed of his ducal family right before his eyes by that cunning fox and Kallas, her accomplice. The only thing he could do in this state was grind his teeth.

—It’s been a while. Did you miss me?

Impossible. She hadn’t been seen for a while, and he had assumed she was robbed and dragged to hell while pretending to be a Duchess, a role far above her station. But the thieving bitch, who deserved to die, had returned completely unharmed.

—Duke, look at this child.

She held a newborn baby.

—This is the son who will continue your line.

The Duke glared at the brazen fraudster as if to kill her, his eyes wide.

—Can you recognize whose son he is?

It was obviously the filthy seed of some hoodlum bastard.

That insidious woman had been walking around with a swollen belly for a while.

She’ll give birth to another man’s child and pretend he’s mine. This noble Kentrell Ducal family will be reduced to a gang of common thugs.

Rage boiled up inside him until his eyes were bloodshot as the catastrophe he had foreseen arrived before him.

—Ugh-uh-uh!

He even opened his mouth, which he had kept sealed, and spewed a curse, humiliated by his inability to do anything but howl like an animal.

‘When this brat grows up, it will be revealed to the whole world that he is not a Sherwood seed!’

—He is none other than the son of Lady Evelyn and Ethan Fairchild.

But the child was a Sherwood seed. Eve had finally defiled the family with the blood of the murderer who killed her own brother.

How dare she… how dare she…

The Duke’s entire body trembled uncontrollably with fury.

The Dukedom is about to be passed down to the seed of the man who killed my son.

He ground his teeth with a loud Eud-deuk. It was the sound of the Duke’s pride giving way and crumbling.

—He’s quite pretty, isn’t he? He would have been prettier if he were mine, but I still like him very much.

The devil looked down at the «perfect son,» whom she was tormenting the Duke with, and smiled with her eyes as if teasing him.

—I simply cannot tolerate ugliness. So when Mr. Kallas told me to sleep with the Duke and produce a son, it was so terrible that I actually cried. I’m so glad things worked out this way, aren’t you? I prayed to the Lady to grant me a son and save me, and God heard my prayer.

Chantal, who was cooing over the baby with a look of affection, was startled. She had thought the Duke was full of energy because he was continuously howling like a beast, but his face was swelling up, bright red as if it might burst.

He might have another cerebral hemorrhage. That wouldn’t do.

—Oh my, calm down. The elder of the family must remain alive for now.

Even half-dead, the Duke was still the Duke. His life was still useful.

The baby might die early, too.

I hope the Lady will save me then, as well.

If she prayed diligently, wouldn’t the God who cared for her grant her wish one more time?

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

I cannot let the Dukedom pass to the seed of the man who killed my son.

Even with such an oath, what could the living dead do? Merely be enraged.

He was a body unable to prevent the tragedy of being exiled to a rural sanatorium whose location he didn’t even know.

The Duke was imprisoned twice over: by his body and by the hospital room. It was a solitary confinement no one ever visited.

He had never known how to eat alone. The Duke’s table had always been crowded with those ready to roar with laughter at his jokes. The threshold of his house was worn down by the constant stream of guests, day and night.

But no one visited the patient who had lost the substance of power, the title being nothing but a temporary shell.

Only Eve visited him occasionally.

She couldn’t possibly be concerned about her father’s well-being. That betrayer was solely focused on revenge.

—You threw that fit to keep me from taking the Dukedom, chasing Ethan away. And right after that, you let the slaves you trusted steal the Dukedom from you. I guess Harry was dim-witted enough to not get into university without pouring money into it because he took after his father, didn’t he?—

She would accuse him with the words that hurt him the most, mock his situation, and enjoy watching her father tremble with rage. All while vulgarly puffing on a cigarette.

—By the way, why are you still alive? You’re completely useless now.

If so, why didn’t she just kill him?

Her purpose for keeping him alive was clear. Every time Eve visited, she gave him a new reason to be consumed by resentment and lose sleep.

—Robert Kallas is siphoning off your assets. Thanks to that stupid power of attorney you signed. I can’t tell if Father is just a poor judge of character or only attracts human garbage like himself.

She kept him alive because she needed a place to vent her anger.

His life was prolonged solely for the purpose of suffering.

At this point, the thought of dying seemed like a blessing. So he wouldn’t have to see his beloved family crumbling in the hands of others. The thought of having to watch them uproot his precious seed if that evil spawn, rumored to be weak, happened to die, was already infuriating.

But he was a body unable to even kill himself. On a day that marked the fourth year of him living aimlessly, praying only for the grim reaper to visit.

—Duke, do you remember me?

The grim reaper answered his prayer.

In the form of Ethan Fairchild.