Chapter 121



121 Love

Selma Payne’s POV:

In the study.

Everyone in the house had a gloomy expression. My father and Duke Frank looked at the southern Duke with a hint of disappointment, while the latter was still immersed in sorrow and did not care about the changes in the outside world.

My mother pulled me to sit on the sofa. When she saw my confusion, she sighed and shook her head gently without saying anything.

“Lennon, I thought we were close friends and loyal comrades.” My father said helplessly, “But you’re hiding such a big secret, a big secret that can immediately change reality. What was going on between you and Anna? I know you two had a special relationship, but you’ve never said you had a child with her!”

The southern Duke covered his face in pain and mumbled, “Moon Goddess, I don’t know. I swear I didn’t know about this! If I had known that Anna was pregnant, I would have protected her with my life, even if I had to lose everything…”

“Stop acting like a sad little girl,” my father snarled. “Look at me like a man!”

The southern Duke’s eyes were filled with grief.

“In any case, you shouldn’t have had more intimate contact with Anna behind our backs. It was a time of war and a witch from the enemy camp. Are you serious?” My father was highly disappointed. “You’ve lost the restraint and calmness that a warrior should have. To be honest, I’m very disappointed, Lennon.”

The southern Duke burst into tears again. “I understand how disappointed you are, but Victor, you won’t look down on me more than I do. What have I done? What have I done?”

The two of them were about to get serious, so Duke Frank quickly mediated, “Okay, okay, calm down, guys. Now is not the time to be fussing over the past. The dead are already gone, so what if we regret it? Let’s consider how to deal with the trouble before us!”

My mother had the men sit down and personally pour them tea.

“I know you must be feeling uneasy at the moment,” my mother said gently as if she were comforting a child. “War has brought countless tragedies. We’ve seen enough in the past, and Adele is undoubtedly the most tragic and helpless. But as Devin said, we shouldn’t look back on the past but focus on the present, right?”

The southern Duke downed the black tea in one gulp and remained silent.

After a long while, he suddenly touched his face, stood up, and said to my father seriously, “I beg you to forgive Adele’s sin, Your Majesty. This child… Is the victim of my mistake. I’m the source of all the tragedies. Please punish me!”

“What are you saying?” My father disagreed. “Lennon, I think you should calm down. Even if Adele is a victim in the past, that’s not a reason for her to hurt the innocent werewolves, right? As a father, you feel guilty toward her. What about Carolyn? What would happen to Carolyn, who had been captured and tortured by her sister? Is she not your daughter?”

These words caused the southern Duke to feel even more pain.

My father had lost his composure. I looked at my mother in confusion, but my mother gestured for me to calm down and wait for her to explain everything.

The atmosphere in the room froze. I mustered my courage and tried to break the deadlock. “Southern Duke, I understand your love for your daughter, and I also understand your dilemma.

“However, as a daughter, I think neither Adele nor Carolyn would want you to do this.

“Children can’t choose their birth, but we are grateful to our parents for bringing us to this world because there is so much beauty, warmth, and love.

“But not everyone’s childhood is smooth sailing. Parental love is common, but it is also worth more than gold. We are the happiest people in the world when we can get all the warmth we want from our parents. However, when there’s only endless coldness and emptiness around us, we can’t help but condemn and hate. ‘Why am I the odd one out? Why don’t my parents love me as much as the others’?

“I believe that Carolyn is the former. She undoubtedly loves you deeply. And Adele is the latter. I’ll be frank. She has ten thousand reasons to hate you.”

The southern Duke looked like he was in even more pain. He covered his face and groaned, his back bent like a dying shrimp.

My mother tugged on my sleeve. I gave her a comforting look and continued, “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you anymore. Even if she’s hurt a hundred times, all she wants, in the end, is sincere and unreserved fatherly love.

“Bloodline is such a wonderful thing. It may bring us hatred, but as long as there is a trace of love, all negative emotions will immediately disappear without a trace, like dew under the hot sun.”