HST 56

Chapter 56

“Seren… you’re Cedric’s son?”

Though he had the same black hair and red eyes as Cedric, I hadn’t noticed it at all before. Seren’s hair, which often seemed a bit unruly, hid his face, but fundamentally, he didn’t resemble Cedric.

There was one person who knew Seren was Cedric’s son, but this was the first time he had confessed his connection to Cedric himself. Seren fiddled with his necklace and muttered softly:

“My mother passed away shortly after giving me this.”

As he spoke the words that his mother was dead, Seren’s eyes faltered for a moment, losing their focus. But just as quickly, he hid his emotions as he always did.

“Seren…”

Jane’s voice carried a trace of sorrow as she looked at him. She felt pained seeing him struggle to suppress his emotions.

“I struggled with whether I should look for a father who never showed his face even at the moment my mother died. At first, I didn’t want to go. But… maybe because I was alone and lonely, I became curious about a father whose face I didn’t even know.”

In truth, Seren had hoped. He had hoped that his father, who must have loved his mother dearly, would welcome him.

“With just this necklace in hand, I went to find him.”

Seren muttered, recalling the first day he met Cedric. He had mustered the courage to call him “father” while offering the necklace. He had expected warm words, but what came back was cold.

“You take after her, do you?”
“She is my mother.”
“You’re claiming to be my son?”
“Yes… Father, you left this for her…”
“Ha… left it? By me?”

Cedric had looked at Seren with a gaze that seemed to see him as nothing more than a bug, saying:

“I wondered where I lost it, and it turns out your mother stole this necklace.”

Even now, thinking back made Seren’s chest ache.

“He said I couldn’t possibly be his son. After a genetic test, I faced him again, but his words were still cold. He said I was just a one-night mistake, that someone like me wasn’t his son.”

His deep red eyes glimmered through the strands of long, messy black hair.

“As a child, I clung to Cedric desperately. Please don’t abandon me… I would do anything you ask…”

Tears welled in Jane’s eyes as she listened to Seren’s story.

“I don’t know if it was pity or annoyance, but in the end, Cedric accepted me. Not as a son, but as a shadow handling the affairs of the Wences family.”

She felt even more sorrowful at Seren’s calm recounting of his tragic past.

“I believed that if I pleased Cedric, someday he would recognize me as his son. I did everything he asked. There were countless times I wanted to run from the harsh training, but I endured it all.”

He had wanted acknowledgment. He had hoped that if he showed Cedric his best self, he might someday be accepted as his son. Sometimes, Cedric had praised him or smiled at him, which made him fool himself into thinking there was hope.

For the young Seren, who had been left alone at a tender age, Cedric was the only person he had. Cedric was the only one who could fill the emptiness in his heart, the only hope he did not want to let go of, the “family” he clung to.

“Even when I barely survived at the brink of death, I didn’t think of giving up. All I wanted was for Cedric to acknowledge my abilities. Foolish, right…”

Only as an adult did he vaguely realize that Cedric would never truly recognize him as his son. That he was nothing more than a disposable pawn on a chessboard.

Yet Seren couldn’t easily let go of the rotten rope. Cedric had spent eight years conditioning him, controlling him completely. Seren’s life was dedicated entirely to Cedric, making him a pitiful existence that moved only for Cedric. That was Seren’s position.

“My story… isn’t interesting, is it?”

Seren concluded calmly, looking at Jane. When their eyes met, he raised the corners of his mouth as if nothing had happened.

“I’m fine now, so don’t cry. Everything was my choice. Going to Cedric… staining my hands with all this blood… deceiving you and Rose… it was all my choice. I’m truly sorry.”

The tears Jane had been holding back finally fell. Seren wiped them away with the back of his hand, soothing her instead.

The calm appearance of Seren made her heart ache even more.

Although he appeared to be fine, Jane could see that he wasn’t. Seren’s soul had rotted deeply over the years, like a once-beautiful lake now filled with decay. She saw it: a blackened heart, a stubbornly rotting chest. And the things that crawled out with a stench cried:

“It hurts… it’s painful… please save me…”

“But please believe one thing. My feelings for you have never once been false. Truly…”

Jane, feeling his pain, suddenly embraced him tightly. She patted his back and whispered gently:

“Sir Seren, you’ve had it so hard.”

Her soft voice struck Seren’s heart, though it was an ordinary phrase. He froze in her embrace, saying nothing.

“You know, I think when you want to cry, you should cry.”

Her quiet voice caused the tears he had held back to spill freely.

“So today, just cry without thinking of anything else.”

Jane’s gentle words brought a flood of tears streaming down Seren’s face. The tears fell until they soaked his knees.

“Ah… it’s strange. Haha. I’m really fine now. I’m truly okay.”

Despite his words, his face was already streaked with tears.

“Sir Seren, I want you to cherish yourself. You are someone who can be loved just as you are. So don’t try to prove your worth by other people’s standards.”

Feeling the warmth of Jane’s embrace, Seren finally broke down, crying like a child.

As he wailed, he realized that for the past eight years, his life had belonged entirely to Cedric. His existence had been nothing but an empty shell, controlled by Cedric. Even if he wasn’t acknowledged as Cedric’s son, the world wouldn’t end—but Seren had been desperate. The only person he had left was Cedric, even if Cedric treated him like a bug. He just wanted to be loved.

It was a bright, moonlit night. Seren, who had once vowed never to cry, now sobbed uncontrollably in Jane’s arms. He crumbled not under a storm, but under the warmth of sunlight.

On the edge of the decayed, lifeless lake, a small flower bloomed. A single flower on the dark shore, a miracle in a dead lake. This flower became a beam of light that purified the rotting lake inside him. Seren’s repressed self began to awaken. The pawn of Cedric’s chessboard had stepped off the board.

The actions of Rose, deviating from the original story, didn’t just change the life of Duke Arthem.

Meanwhile, Eric’s party was heading south.

Doana, who had been sitting at the very end, had somehow placed herself between Eric and Beliar. Laughter filled the carriage they shared. Of course, the laughter came only from Doana, chattering nonstop. Eric grew tired from listening to her nonstop babbling. With no one responding, she kept talking on her own.

The carriage that had departed in bright daylight finally reached its destination in the dark of night. The wheels gradually slowed.

“Oh, I guess we’re arriving. Shall we go for a walk before entering?”

Doana clung to Eric’s arm, cooing.

‘Once we’re alone, I’ll ask about today’s events.’

She couldn’t ask Beliar in front of him—that would only earn a sneer.

But Eric’s response was cold.

“Tired,” he said, brushing Doana lightly aside.

The carriages carrying the attendants behind Eric also came to a stop. Knights guarding Eric dismounted and tied their horses at the stable. Beliar, escorted by knights, dismounted. Doana reached out, but no one held her hand.

‘How dare… they ignore me?’

Beliar had grabbed her hand earlier, but as she leaned forward, everyone avoided her gaze.

“Well then, Lady Doana. Allow me to help you.”

At that moment, a red-haired knight approached Doana, winking as he took her hand. She finally smiled, looking up at him—but her expression quickly hardened.

‘Of all people, I have to meet him…’

He was an unofficial friend of hers, a secret companion she occasionally visited when lonely. She wanted to pull away, but slipping on the stairs could endanger the precious child in her womb, so she didn’t resist.

The knight’s hand lingered annoyingly, leaving a sticky, unpleasant sensation. Doana had no intention of playing along—her goal was to prevent Eric and Beliar from consummating their union.

Once she descended fully from the carriage, she pulled her hand away. The red-haired knight continued to send sly glances, but Doana ignored him completely.

She looked around, exclaiming in admiration:

“This place… looks like a palace?”

The mansion in the capital had been grand, but compared to this, it felt ordinary. This exotic villa belonged to the Wences family.

‘All of this will be mine soon.’

The palace-like villa, the luxurious capital mansion… everything. Doana smiled proudly, confirming once again Eric’s wealth.