Chapter 75 - Bitterness

"AELIA! WAIT A DAMN MOMENT!"

Tumbling down the stairs while chasing after her, Antonio growled at her aloud in his dominant alpha tone, reaching the gigantic hallway traversing the living room. With his loud call, her motion halted momentarily, but she stood all stiff like a statue looking much intense. She was gasping out quite heavily which clearly impacted that she was fuming in wrath and anxiety. 

Antonio stopped his pace from chasing after her as soon as she halted. Taking a deep breath in, he held a disgusted eloquence over his face while glaring at her from behind. But she didn't turn back, stood firm like a wax statue.

"I called you several times to stop! Why did you ultimately provoke me to raise my voice?" He snarled, standing at a measurable distance away from her.

"What do you want?" In a low, deep rugged voice, she charged at him.

He continued glaring at her from behind for a few seconds and quickly unbuttoned the collar button of his dark black shirt as if something anxious was shoving him from inside. Emitting a deep sigh out, he walked a few steps forward, closer to her.

"Why did you have to act so crudely in front of those royal guards as well as Ivory? Why did you have to rebuke Czar so bad? I...I know you resent him but... being so harsh about our own family before everyone is something I absolutely can't encourage--"

"Since when did he became our family?" Interrupting him viciously, she turned back at him with her dark, intense eyes filled up in immense wrath. "He was...always an outsider for me. That's how I have always considered him till now! Why would I have to sympathize while talking about a mere outsider?" 

"Aelia, your hatred won't change the fact that he is my own son! He bears my own blood in his veins! How can I abandon the fact that he is a part of mine?" Looking much agitated, Antonio grumbled at her raising his voice quite aloud.

"A part of yours?" Frowning her eyebrow ridge, she reciprocated a blunt answer and boldly took a few steps closer to him, gawking straight in his eyes. "Have you already forgotten the promise you made to me? Or should I remind you again?"

"I haven't forgotten my promise, Aelia. I didn't like the way you talked about him--"

"That brat will stay with us only as an outsider, and he will never be the part of our family. That's the promise you vowed to me to let him stay with us... And now... you are suddenly being overprotective towards him? Now...you wanna turn back from your words, dear?" Her deep irked voice reverberated like a threat in the whole hallway.

"I...I had to agree with your condition to let him stay with us against my own will! I never agreed from the very start to let him treated as an outsider! No one and nothing can change the fact that he is my second son. How could I abandon him so easily--"

"That means from the very start, you were just deceiving me, Antonio." Her tone grew intense as she snapped out at him infuriatingly. "Even though...I always knew it from before...you...you have never been true with your emotions when it comes to me... I knew it from before but the fact still hurts my heart." All of sudden, her voice crooked a little as if she was being churned down in grief, gazing at him still.

Antonio stood numb for a few minutes, silently staring at her dark glowered eyes. She had a disgruntled sad smile imprinted on her face which symbolized her immense hostility towards him. 

"I didn't deceive you Aelia. I just didn't have any choice rather than to agree with you."

"Even without my own will, I agreed to take your son in but... I foolishly hoped that...my husband would keep his words this time... But I was wrong this time too, Antonio--"

"Why are you acting all innocent, Aelia? Aren't you at fault too? Have...Have you ever loved me truly? Have you ever cherished me honestly? You...You just wanted to be my Luna just because your beloved one chose a human woman over you, which crushed your almighty pride! You...You have just used me to get rid of his emotions! Shouldn't you be blamed too? Why am I the only one to be accused?" 

All of a sudden, his loud intense charge echoed the hallway intensively which caused an extremely awkward silence persisting between them for a while. He was panting heavily after blurting out those intense words fiercely at her. His pent-up emotional outburst startled her immensely as for a few seconds, she even forgot to blink while glaring at him.

"Wha-What did you just say? This is what you have thought of me until now? You...You had all these in your mind?" Her eyes were shimmering with tears as she murmured in a husky, broken voice, clenching her fist hard.

After a few seconds of anticipation, he quickly realized what he snapped at her in such a heated moment. Gulping his saliva down, he took a step closer to her trying to be a bit apologetic for his action.

"I...I am sorry, I didn't want to rip open your old wounds... I just couldn't hold it back--"

"And what you did to me..was it acceptable? You were a horrible husband to me... You just slept with me to have a powerful heir who could take after you! Everything you plotted with me was always skeptical! Have...Have you ever truly loved me too? No, the answer is no! Because if you had ever held any emotions towards me or Zeus, your illegitimate son Czar would have been never born!"

"Enough already Aelia!!" All of a sudden, his pupils obtained the dominant red color as he snarled at her furiously.

She seemed extremely enraged and within a blink of a second, her dark brown eyes transformed into a dominant red form too indicating her viciousness. "Don't yell at me! I am not scared to back out from any fight, even if it's with you! Besides, let's be honest with each other now, Zeus is the only thread that has still kept us connected to each other... Or...we might have already parted our ways long ago! Because...you were never mine..." She scowled in a rugged pitch, clenching her fist harder.

Antonio kept gawking at her intensively for a moment and after a pause of few seconds, his eyes returned to normal form.

"I regret it..." He mumbled something unclear.

"What?"

"I regret it so much for liking you even for s single moment, Aelia! I regret it so much...for choosing you over Madona! I regret it so bad! I wish...I could have turned back my past actions...At least, I could have been...happy with her..." All of a sudden, in a choked voice he blurted out his words and immediately turned back away from her, he straightway walked towards his room.

She stood still like a statue, swirling her illuminant red eyes while watching him walking away. Her heart was throbbing in pain and trying unable to control her emotional outburst, she started sobbing bitterly.

"You...You had promised me...You had vowed to me that you won't mention her name in this mansion ever again! You...You scumbag! Ahhggghh! I hate you! I absolutely despise you, Antonio! You... traitor! Did you hear me!? I hate you! I hate youuu!" 

She was screaming out aloud all alone, with tears of wrecked emotions dropping down, and stomping her feet on the ground harder.

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