Chapter 135
Alaric’s voice was sharp and unwavering as he confronted Mrs. Marigold. Her reaction was slower than expected, and she let out a long, heavy breath, sinking into the sofa. Her eyes met his, and she seemed to be choosing her words carefully before speaking.
“What do you want to know?” Mrs. Marigold asked, her voice cautious, but also tinged with an undeniable tension.
Alaric leaned forward, his eyes narrowing with determination. “About what happened back then, I want to know everything. Mom, please tell me the truth about what you hid from me.”
Mrs. Marigold hesitated for a moment, and Alaric could tell she was struggling with how to frame her next words. “Alright, I’ll tell you, but you can’t be mad.” Her voice softened, as if she were pleading with him. “All I did… I did it for you.”
“Go ahead,” Alaric said, his tone firm and unreadable, giving her no choice but to continue.
Mrs. Marigold took a deep breath, her eyes lowering in contemplation. “Back then, when you were unconscious, I was terrified. If you never woke up, the Knight family would have no heir. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to secure the family’s future, your future.”
Alaric’s patience was wearing thin. He had already known this part of the story, but he needed the deeper truth. “I already know all that. Tell me something I don’t know,” he said, his voice edged with frustration.
Mrs. Marigold paused, as if gathering herself. She looked like she was choosing whether to reveal the next piece of the puzzle. “I thought you had an engagement with Orion a long time ago… Finding a woman to bear your child must have been considered with Orion first. I proposed this to the Nash family, but they refused.”
Alaric could hear the irritation in her voice as she recalled the events. “Orion was so eager to marry you, but when it came to having a child for you, she refused, citing reasons like being a female star and her career being on the rise!” Mrs. Marigold threw up her hands in exasperation, remembering how Orion had turned down the idea.
“I don’t want to hear about these details,” Alaric cut in sharply, unwilling to relive his past entanglement with Orion. “After Orion refused, did you find a destitute girl?”
Mrs. Marigold’s words seemed to have struck a nerve. Alaric’s mind immediately jumped to one person: Galatea. The idea of her, once from a wealthy family, suddenly falling into poverty, brought an uncomfortable sense of certainty.
“Yes,” Mrs. Marigold confirmed, “To have a child for the Knight family, we needed someone with certain favorable conditions. A destitute girl was the most suitable.”
Alaric felt a growing sense of unease in his stomach. “Who did you find? Why did she disappear later? Did you drive her away?”
Mrs. Marigold’s face stiffened, and she looked uncomfortable, but she answered, “I didn’t drive her away… She passed away due to complications during Caspian’s birth.”
“She passed away?” Alaric’s mind raced, and his heart stopped for a moment. He had suspected it all along, but hearing Mrs. Marigold confirm it sent a shock through him. Galatea… Was she the woman who had died?
“Yes,” Mrs. Marigold said, her voice almost impassive. “She passed away.”
Joe, who had been sitting quietly nearby, nodded in agreement. “It’s true. The hospital records also recorded it.”
Alaric’s disbelief was palpable. His hands clenched into fists, and his voice cracked with frustration. “It’s impossible! You expect me to believe this?”
“It must be true,” Mrs. Marigold replied matter-of-factly. “The records don’t lie. I couldn’t possibly hide a living person like her.”
Alaric was still in shock, but he had to know more. “Alaric, Joe can attest that she did pass away,” Mrs. Marigold added, her voice laced with finality.
Alaric’s anger, however, continued to boil. “In this case, you’re telling me the truth now, but it doesn’t change anything! It’s wrong for me to lie about Caspian’s origins, but you all did it for my own good. All these years, I’ve been deceived like a fool. By all of you!”
The weight of the realization crushed him. All the people he had trusted—his mother, the Nash family—had colluded in this lie for years. They had all been working for a marriage between the Knight and Nash families, and in the process, they had sacrificed the truth.
Mrs. Marigold’s voice was soft but firm. “I never intended to deceive you, Alaric. You’re my only son. I couldn’t bear to deceive you, but I had to do what I did. That woman is already dead, and Orion was willing to be the mother. It all worked out perfectly. You were always meant to be with her. I did it for you.”
“For me?” Alaric laughed bitterly, the anger in his chest building further. “You think you did it for me? You knew I never liked Orion, but you insisted on pushing her onto me. You forced me into this fake marriage. All for your idea of what was best for the Knight family.”
“I can forgive the deception about Caspian’s origins, but you all colluded together to make me pretend to be married to Orion, for Caspian’s sake. And all the while, I tolerated her mistreatment of Caspian out of some misguided sense of gratitude for this lie. I’ve been made a fool!”
His words were laced with bitterness, every sentence a reminder of how long he had lived under a veil of deceit.
Mrs. Marigold tried to defend herself, her voice rising in frustration. “Alaric, it’s normal for you to be angry after learning all this. I know how you feel. But listen, what you said earlier was a bit too harsh. I did all of this with the hope that over time, you would develop feelings for Orion. The lie would never have been exposed, and you three would have been happy together.”
Alaric’s laughter was cold, and his eyes blazed with fury. “You’re still defending your actions? Even now, you think you’ve done nothing wrong? You regret that I haven’t developed feelings for Orion, not that you’ve manipulated me all these years?”
Mrs. Marigold’s patience finally broke. “Alaric! I really had difficulties. If you don’t understand my difficulties, that’s fine, but your words… They really hurt me. I did everything for you.”
Alaric’s eyes burned with rage, and he let out a sharp retort. “Committing harm in the name of love… That’s what your love is.”
Mrs. Marigold’s shoulders slumped, and she seemed to accept the finality of it all. “In this case, things have already passed. Even if I was truly wrong, what’s done is done. You can’t change it now. You just have to accept it.”
Alaric stared at her, his chest heaving with emotion. His mind was a whirlwind, filled with thoughts of how everything he knew was a lie. The room felt suffocating, as though he couldn’t escape the weight of the truth.
He stood up abruptly, anger and hurt pushing him forward. “Who is that woman? Who is Caspian’s real mother?”
“She’s already dead. Asking about her now serves no purpose,” Mrs. Marigold said dismissively, but Alaric could hear the bitterness in her voice.
Alaric wasn’t ready to let go. “Even if she’s truly dead, I want to know the identity of the woman who gave birth to Caspian. I can’t just disregard her life as if she never existed!”
The tension in the room was unbearable. Mrs. Marigold looked at him, her face unreadable. The truth was out now, but the questions lingered, and Alaric could feel that nothing would ever be the same again.