She Belongs To The Devil

Kenneth, who had suppressed his anger towards his birthmother and was slowly rekindling his desire to know more about her, was now hesitant of his action when Scarlett jumped as though she hated his touch.

'Does she hate me so much that she doesn't even want me to touch her?' he couldn't help but entertain that thought.

Scarlett didn't mean to act that indignantly towards her son, whom she had waited for decades to meet. And when she saw Kenneth slowly retreating his hand away from her, Scarlett immediately held out both of her hands and grabbed a hold of her son's relatively cold palm.

Kenneth looked at her swollen face, wondering what she was thinking and what she wanted.

And seeing that cold and aloof expression on her son's face, Scarlett immediately clarified her earlier action, "I d-didn't mean to pull my hands away from you, my son. I was…" She looked down, her irises dilated as if some distant memory was flashing in front of her eyes. And she uttered after gulping, "I was just… a little startled."

She smiled through her evident pain and then looked up to gaze into her son's unforgettable red eyes. She soon started to lovingly rub her son's cold palms so as to try and warm them. She couldn't, however, bring herself to say anything else. She didn't even know where to begin.

Kenneth could see the sincerity in her eyes. He finally took a deep breath and nodded. As he was already here and since he had now found who he had been tirelessly looking for, he thought that he should at least give Scarlett a chance to explain herself.

To be more precise, he wanted Scarlett to defend herself and prove to him that for all his life, he had a misconception about his birthmother. He didn't want to hate Scarlett.

He looked into her light brown eyes and then finally whipped up the courage to politely confront her. "Umm… Will you tell me the reason why I was abandoned?"

Scarlett instantly felt as though hundreds of daggers were being pierced right through her heart when her son asked that question.

After all, what she had done in the past was something horrible.

She knew that if, one day, her son came to her and asked that very question, she would have to answer him. She knew she would have to own up to her cruel decision. She knew that she wouldn't forever be able to keep on hiding the awful truth from him.

She had even practiced how she would break the ugly truth to her son if that day ever came.

But now that the day finally arrived, her courage and her resolve to own up to her mistake perished like a dying ember.

All she could do was close her eyes and break into tears while hanging her head low.

"Mo–" Kenneth frowned and pressed his lips together to stop himself before he addressed Scarlett as 'mother'.

He could see that she was feeling ashamed of herself. It made him reevaluate his theories about his abandonment yet again.

'Was she the one who abandoned me after all? Or is she just feeling guilty because she couldn't prevent it from happening?'

Kenneth slowly pulled his hands away from Scarlett's hold and made her rest her hands on her lap. And he repeated his question while staring into those sad-looking eyes of his birthmother, "Please… Say something. For all these years, I have been dying to hear the answer. Was it because…"

He took a deep breath before completing his question, "Was it because I was born a hybrid? Did you also think that I was an abomination and decided to give up on me?"

Scarlett's confused expression told him otherwise though. "A hybrid?" she asked Kenneth instead.

"Umm… yes." Kenneth suddenly got this very sour feeling in his heart. Something was telling him that he wasn't going to like Scarlett's answer, which is if she ever did give him an honest answer.

Scarlett suddenly began crying again as though that answer from Kenneth made her unhinged. Streams of tears rolled down her cheeks. And she whispered through her silent crying, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I'm sorry…"

Kenneth knitted his brows together, not quite sure what she was apologizing for. He wiped the sweat beads that had formed on his upper lip and along his hairline.

And he mumbled restlessly, "Scarlett, I am not asking you to take me back or accept me. I already have a wonderful family and also a loving mother. I simply need to know the truth. And if you don't wish to be bothered again, I will never–"

"No, I am not bothered by your presence." Scarlett immediately clarified that because, after all, she had been dying to meet her son for all these years. "And…" She smiled through her tears and whispered painfully, "I am happy to hear that you found a family who gave you the love that you deserved."

Kenneth gave a melancholic smile to Scarlett. Although his early life wasn't particularly a fairy tale, he was at least happy with his adoptive family now. His adoptive father had willingly declared him as the Crown Prince of his Kingdom, which said a lot about his place in his father's heart, though his father often failed to clearly express it in person.

"So," Kenneth heaved a deep sigh. His body temperature slowly started to rise while his anxiousness was slowly subsiding. "Will you tell me the truth?" he asked Scarlett yet again.

Scarlett wiped her tears and met Kenneth's gaze. It looked like she was finally ready to own up to her mistake of the past.

"Umm…" Scarlett cleared her throat and then wiped her tears with her palms. She sniffled and looked over her shoulder to look at her small yet decent house.

She then looked back at Kenneth, especially his expensive-looking attire, and wondered out loud, "I don't know if you would like to go inside my old house. But I think it would be better if we sit down properly before I begin. It's… It's quite a long story."

Kenneth promptly nodded his head in agreement. "Oh, yes. Let's seat down and have the conversation." He cleared his throat and added, "I am eager to listen to what you have to say."

He then quickly got up from the dusty ground and instinctively held out his hand for Scarlett to hold onto.

Scarlett happily took his hand before he got a second thought about offering his hand to her. After getting back on her feet, she finally acknowledged the presence of Damien by giving a subtle bow to him.

"You must be my son's friend, right?" she asked Damien with a soft smile on her face.

Damien smiled back at her and agreed. "Yes, you could say that."

"I am very happy to hear that." Scarlett's smile broadened.

She assumed that Damien was a normal human and she was genuinely happy that Damien had befriended her son even though her son wasn't exactly human. She just hoped that the motivation behind this unlikely friendship wasn't the diet of her son.

"Why don't you come inside too?" she asked politely.

"Yes, sure. I would love to. Thank you," Damien mumbled and quickly walked towards them.

Scarlett started to walk ahead of both of them so that she could prepare chairs for the two gentlemen.

Kenneth watched Scarlett from behind. His heartbeat started to escalate again because he was afraid that he wouldn't like Scarlett's story.

Damien could guess what Kenneth was thinking because he could hear the latter's heartbeat and the changing aura.

He tapped Kenneth's back and whispered, "Hey, remember what I said earlier? Things can't get any worse. And since everything already happened in the past, whatever she says, try and be nice to her. If you want to, you can stay in contact with her. But if you find it difficult to do so after hearing her side of the story, then you can cut off the contact and keep things as they were before today."

Kenneth was very glad that he came on this trip along with Damien. Somehow, his words proved effective in calming down his nervousness.

He quickly heaved a sigh and a determined look reflected on his face. He nodded in agreement with what Damien had said to him.

And he motivated himself to go inside the house. 'As Damien said, things can't get any worse from here. Let's hear what she has to say and… follow Damien's advice.'

Kenneth was now eager to hear Scarlett's answer and was also determined not to let her answer affect his peace.

"Let's go," he mumbled to Damien and calmly strode towards the old house ahead of them. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire