Chapter 104- tragic joke
Back then, the second Lady of the Elwin family, Sienna, was caught in a tangled web between the Derrick brothers. According to Robert’s knowledge, she wasn’t a fickle woman, but everything changed after she met Norman. Robert once overheard a heated argument between Sienna and Derrick — she claimed the child in her womb belonged to the lord. Yet, the very next moment, she was lying in bed with Norman.
Faced with Derrick’s growing suspicion, surveillance, and even house arrest, Sienna’s desperation to escape only grew. When Charles was two years old, she finally couldn’t endure the darkness any longer and boldly left with Norman.
At that time, Derrick was almost in a state of living death, betrayed by his closest brother and the woman he loved. Blinded by hatred, he took possession of her son and concealed Charles’s true identity. The truth was, Allison died from complications giving birth to Philip. Philip inherited half of Allison’s French bloodline, making him a mixed-race child — which explained why he didn’t resemble Charles at all.
From a distance, Charles watched Derrick and Philip playing chess quietly in the living room — such a peaceful and harmonious scene of fatherly love and filial respect. Derrick had never looked at him with such a gentle gaze. All Derrick ever demanded was obedience and achievement.
That was the difference. He had always been an outsider.
"Charles, why are you back now?" Philip looked up and met Charles’s intense stare. When he noticed the wounds on Charles’s face and hands, he was shocked. "What happened to you?"
Derrick turned toward the sound, meeting Charles’s desperate eyes filled with pain and even more despair.
"What’s going on?" Derrick stopped his moves, his expression darkening with displeasure. His sharp gaze pierced Charles. He’d always known Charles to be calm, but he had never seen him look at him like this — so unfamiliar.
"Who am I really the son of?" Charles felt no physical pain despite the dull ache in his chest. At this moment, all he wanted was a clear answer.
"What did you say?" Derrick’s heart skipped a beat, panic flashing in his eyes. Had Charles found out?
"Am I your son, or Norman’s? Is my mother Sienna?" Charles rushed out the questions. Although he’d always believed Allison was his mother, he’d considered Sienna as such too — perhaps because of that innate mother-son bond, those two years had forged an unbreakable tie.
"Charles, what nonsense are you talking about?" Philip was stunned, and when he glanced at Derrick with a darkening gaze, he understood something deeply unsettling — but it couldn’t be true!