Chapter 20
“What about Grandpa’s illness?” Thayer was even surprised by how calm he sounded at that moment.
“A natural death–perhaps with a touch of sorrow from being schemed against by that family. You don’t actually think it was because of Althea, do you? She graduated from a prestigious university and grew up under our watch. The Alcott Family was very satisfied with her.”
Thayer had no desire to keep listening. He clutched the peace talisman tightly in his hand and stumbled down the mountain, tripping many times along the way, only to get back up again numbly.
A voice, gentle as a chant, drifted faintly through the air, carrying the sorrow of a father. “Thayer… if only you had trusted her just a little more… just a little would have been enough…”
Those light, airy words were even more delicate than the mountain mist, yet they crushed the once upright man to the ground, leaving him unable to rise again. “Sir, are you all right?”
A familiar voice came from behind Thayer and he instantly froze.
When i saw Thayer turn around, I immediately felt that today was just full of bad luck.
But looking at Lucien holding the peace talisman, the frustration in my heart eased a little. I was just about to ignore the man in front of me and walk away around him when something he handed over stopped me. Despite his disheveled appearance, the man still looked handsome as he held out a crystal–clear pendant. “Althea, I got a new one for you… Do you …“)
“Sorry, she already has one. Actually, two.“}}
Lucien, in the black trench coat couldn’t hold back and spoke up first, raising the two pendants in his hand high like he had just won a glorious battle.
Last night, after hearing what I had gone through, Lucien just held me in silence for a long time. The next day, he secretly came over and bowed twice. If I hadn’t stopped him in time, he probably would’ve gone for a third.}
Yet this proud–looking man only gently patted my head with pity, his voice as soft as the clouds in the sky, as if afraid to touch the wounds of my past.
“Althea… it must’ve hurt a lot, right? Even more than what I’m feeling now…”
Blood streamed down from his smooth forehead, as if each drop fell heavily into my heart.
Now, seeing him holding up the pendant in that silly way, I couldn’t help but smile. Thayer instantly looked at me, dazed, his voice hoarse
and hard to understand.
“Althea… it’s been so long since you smiled at me like that.”
I touched the corner of my lips and realized that I was genuinely smiling.
Ever since marrying him, I probably hadn’t smiled at all. All I did was cry. Cry from breakdowns, cry in despair, cry in heartbreak.
Cry until despair turned numb; until I couldn’t even recognize myself anymore.
Looking at the dazed man in front of me, I couldn’t help but sigh.
“Thayer, your love is like a mutated flower growing beside a filthy ditch. No matter how carefully I tried to tend to it, whenever I got close, it would only stab me until I bled and then disgust me enough to stay far, far away.”
Yet Thayer smiled and his fingers cautiously reached out, trying to brush against the edge of my sleeve. But I stepped away.
“Althea… then if I pulled out all the thorns, would you…”
He never got to finish his question, because I turned to look at the man beside me, my voice soft as a breeze.
“But some people’s love is like the moon in the sky. Even after gently casting all its light upon you, it still worries that its glow might be too heavy for you to bear.”
“Thayer, if it were you, would you choose a flower from a foul ditch, or the radiant moon above?”
I looked again at the man on the ground, my childhood friends for twenty years, my husband for five.
Things had fallen to such a miserable state and it was unbearable. I sighed and offered one last piece of advice.
“Thayer, stop clinging to the past. Look at the people around you. Aveline is carrying your child–give this pendant to her instead.”
I was indeed still trying to bring Aveline to justice. But she was pregnant with his child. I truly believed this was the right thing to say. Just as I took a step away, the pendant slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
