Chapter 119 - A Fool

"What happened to you? Why are you crying?" Lloyd asked when he took his place next to her on the bed. He just entered the bedroom and found her already in bed, sniffing silently.

Rosella turned her back at him, hiding her wet face from his view.

"It's none of your concern." She replied harshly.

She hated it when Lloyd saw her crying behind him. He could see her flaws and weaknesses.

Lloyd rearranged his seating posture on the bed. "Where were you on the night of your arrival?" He questioned her.

He was sleeping alone that night. He thought she shared a room with one of her nieces' but found out she wasn't with either one of them. He was curious about her whereabouts and he had a sleepless night.

"I was sleeping in the library." That was the reply he got from her. There wasn't any worry in her voice.

Lloyd frowned on the bed. Sleeping in the library again? It wasn't the first time she gave him the same answer. She had been giving him the same answer for years as if it was a norm for her to say it.

He eyed her wrists and found red lines underneath her hands. It was redder than usual and was fresh. However, from afar it wasn't visible to the eyes.

"How did you get that?" Lloyd asked another question and took her hands to see the red lines clearly.

"Did you slit your wrist again?" He questioned her. There was worry in his voice. It was a worry that made Rosella unhappy.

Rosella pulled her hands back and hid them under her long sleeves. A soft grunt could be heard faintly from her. She was displeased.

"Why do you care if I slit myself? I didn't harm you." She answered coldly.

Why would he cared about her when he refused to care about her after Jennet left five years ago.

Lloyd inhaled a deep sigh. His patience had always been tested when she spoke so coldly with him.

"You may not care but I care because you are my wife. I have the right to know why you hurt yourself." He talked back. He sat calmly on the bed.

It got on his nerve when the woman he married for more than twenty-five years became someone he doesn't know. His wife became someone he thought he knew so well. But, turned out, he knew nothing about the real her.

Rosella became even uneasy. She stepped out of the bed, distancing herself from him.

"I'm going home tomorrow. There are a few papers which need my attention for approval." She told him while at the same time changing the topic of their conversation.

The atmosphere around them became even tense when she ignored him. She took a suitcase from the wardrobe and folded her clothes neatly inside it.

Lloyd eyed her with a glare. His wife always changed the topic every time he asked her about the red lines around her wrists. When they quarrelled, not once they came to a conclusion in whatever they talked about.

Nevermind, he will forget it for now like he always did.

"Can you stay for at least a few more days?" Lloyd requested.

Then he added softly as if pleading her, "The papers can wait. It's important for you to bond with Jennet and get to know her family members."

Rosella stopped midway. She held the folded clothes firmly. Bonding? How on Earth can she do that?

Jennet hated her for everything that happened in her life. It would be impossible for them to be on good terms with each other.

"Jennet doesn't need me. I'm a useless type of mother to someone like her. I'll never be her ideal mother who she can proudly call as 'mother'. Even you think of me as a heartless woman," Rosella glanced at her husband with a piercing glare. Hatred moulded together in her tone.

"That's because you made her suffer," Lloyd said with a calm expression. His tone went cold as ice.

"Is that what you think?" Rosella asked. Her tone suddenly fell. Sadness hid in her words.

Lloyd stepped out of the bed. He approached the dressing table and said, "She told us everything about her days before she left five years ago. Finally, an elaborative explanation coming out of her mouth."

His words shook Rosella down to the core. Her bravery crumbled one by one. Did he know? The others knew what she did to Jennet too?

Rosella wanted to laugh yet she also wanted to cry when she realized she was fooled. Everyone in the house knew yet everyone acted as if they knew nothing. They treated her as friendly as always.

"Do you believe her?" She asked him. Her throat sored slowly and she unconsciously kept gulping. Her beautiful pair of eyes watered again.

"I do," He spoke softly.

He shifted his gaze from the mirror to look at her. How pitiful she looked with her back facing him. Yet, the same pitiful back looked foreign to him.

He added, "She's my daughter and I have never doubted her. It's you whom I have my doubt on. I find it hard to believe in you after what you did to her."

His cold words pierced through the folds in her heart. So deep it pierced her. It made her helpless as minutes passed by.

"Does that mean I am not worthy in your eyes now?" Rosella's voice lowered.

It would be a matter of time when her voice would crack from the depth of her throat. The immense sadness in her heart was about to be exposed.

"I would never say you're not worthy," Lloyd's voice softened.

He could never hate his own wife. He loved her so much. She was the only one whom he loved apart from his own family members.

He inhaled a deep breath before he made his ultimate confession, "You are my wife. I always respect you as a woman of this country, as a wife who I love and also as a mother who gave birth to my children. Always know that I never hate you."

Tears broke through the rim of Rosella' eyes. His words left a hole of void in her heart. To her, his words were too precious and she loses her strength to keep hiding her pain. She wanted to cry in his embrace and to tell him everything she hid from them.

But, would he believed in her words for what she was about to tell him sooner or later? Will he believed in her just like how he believed in Jennet?

"I never regret my decision for marrying you even after I've known of what you did to the innocent man, Dave Baroques," Lloyd added.

Then, he went into a moment of silence. There was hesitation in his behaviour.

At last, he said calmly, "Also...I'll help father to resolve the unsolved case of his death."

Rosella turned around when fear engulfed her entirely. She showed her wet face to Lloyd which took him by surprise.

"What did you think I have done to him?" She bombarded him with a question. At the same time, she clutched tightly on the shirts in her hands.

She had lost her cool demeanour in front of him when her entire body trembled. What does he think about her now?

Lloyd inhaled a deep breath to calm his heart. It was hard for him to see her tears but he had to do what should have been done for a long time ago.

"I cannot say it now. But, I'm telling you, I will find justice for the dead. If you're found guilty for causing Dave Baroques' death, I'll never stop the authority from taking you away from me. Just remember what I said tonight." He said as calm as he could.

Rosella was shaken. Dave Baroques. Yes, she remembered him. He was the person whom Jennet loved so much before. He died in a car accident. An arranged accident to separate him from Jennet forever.

But, who would have thought, the man managed to tell Jennet about the truth before his death. The reality was too cruel for not letting the man die without opening his mouth about what she did.

Lloyd gazed back at the woman who had lost her usual self. He may be cruel to her but he had to. He loved her and he should have corrected her for the wrong she did and not to back up for her wrongdoings.

Lloyd stepped away from the dressing table, took a pillow from the bed and then he gazed at his wife who cried before him.

"I'll be sleeping in the library tonight. If you want to go home tomorrow, I'm not stopping you. You have the right to do what you want for your life from then on." He said and left the room.

Rosella fell on her knees and cried with a muffled voice. Crying without a voice was the most painful cry among all.

***

"Good morning, mama!" Hue greeted Rosella happily when she appeared in the kitchen to make breakfast the next day.

He was already inside the kitchen, cutting some apples with a wide smile was on his face when he greeted her joyfully. He was always cheerful when she stumbled upon him.

"G-good morning, Hue..." Rosella answered, half stuttering in surprise.

She wasn't anticipating to meet anyone so early in the morning after her fight with Lloyd. She wanted to be left alone. However, she wasn't always lucky. Hue was in the kitchen with her and they were alone.

To hide her awkwardness, she took an apron and put it on. She glanced around, hoping to find anything that she could do.

Hue sensed her intention. He turned around with a smile.

"Mama, I've prepared everything. You just have to sit back and relax. Let your son do it." He handed her a cup of tea out of nowhere when Rosella wasn't looking.

Rosella took the cup, wondering alone. Since when did he pour the tea? She didn't see him holding the teapot either.

"I've poured it in advance before you came. It's a force of habit of mine." Hue continued with an explanation, answering her unspoken curiosity.

Well, it was an excuse to hide the truth about his powers. He just wanted her to relax around him and he accidentally did what he used to do when he was alone with Jennet.

Rosella smiled and nodded her head. A little 'thank you' she said to him as she enjoyed her hot tea. She sat down and observed him working on the utensils in the kitchen.

He was skilful with what he does and she was impressed. He worked swiftly and without making any sounds while he prepared some omelettes after cutting the apples. There wasn't any spill on the table either.

"Hue, my darling!"

Katerina emerged from the entrance of the kitchen in her sexy nightgown. She jumped onto Hue's back when he was busy wiping the surface of the preparation counter after he was done cooking. Her fair thighs wrapped around his waist startled Hue.

"Miss, this is inappropriate!" Hue half-yelled at her.

Hue pushed her body away from him. He stepped back a few steps, disliking the thought of having anybody contact with her again.

Katerina smirked and approached him. "Darling, we're finally alone. I know you must miss me too." She said and reached out for his hands.

However, Hue stepped back. He glared at her, "I'm sorry but I do not know you, miss. Furthermore, I'm not alone. My mother-in-law is here as well."

He stood beside Rosella who was petrified upon staring at Katerina's sexy appearance. Katerina wore a see-through nightgown, showing her sexy underwear beneath it. Her appearance was enough to boil the blood of every woman.

"A-aunt Rosella?" Katerina stuttered when she was glared at by Rosella who gave her a disgusted look.

What a disgrace! Rosella roared in her head.

She had no idea the lavish life of her nieces made them ignorant about proper attire inside the kitchen. She had faced enough humiliation in the house and she doesn't want to gain more into her account.

Rosella put the half-way empty cup on the table. Then, she took off the apron and handed it to Hue.

"My apologies for the improper behaviour caused by my niece. I'll take her with me back to the room and you can serve the breakfast afterwards." She gave him a warm smile and a light pat on his hand, reassuring him.

Katerina's jaw dropped. She can't believe what she saw. She had never seen Rosella smiled before. Even Helena said Rosella had never truly smiled to anyone.

Katerina was brought back to the world of the senses when Rosella dragged her out of the kitchen and into her room.

"Pack your bags and go home as soon as breakfast ends."

The harsh command flew out of Rosella's mouth. There wasn't any mercy in her tone. She was as cold as ice. Nothing could break her.

Katerina was taken by shock beside the bed. "Aunt, what are you talking about? Are you chasing me away?"

Rosella eyed her with a menacing glare.