She Belongs To The Devil

Scarlett didn't go into much detail about what kind of hell she had to through at the hands of Reginald.

Even then, just from the pitiable state that she was in, it was plenty clear to both Kenneth and Damien what she had to endure.

Seeing Scarlett whimpering, Kenneth wanted to ask her to stop narrating her past. He couldn't help but blame himself for causing her insurmountable pain by forcing her to recall her traumatic past.

"You know, on second thought–"

However, before Kenneth could ask Scarlett to stop the story of her life, she resumed talking again.

"I was used and abused time and again. I was nothing but a damned plaything for that miscreant." Scarlett recalled how Reginald used her to satisfy his carnal desires as well as to quench his thirst for blood.

Though that was decades ago, the wounds in her heart were still fresh. Not just her heart, but her body also had visible scars that never remembered to heal. Those perfectly preserved casts of Reginald's fangs on her wrinkled skin were the constant reminder for her that she had survived hell.

The trauma and fear that Reginald had instilled in her was still haunting her to date.

"Although I tried my best to avoid the pregnancy, I soon found out that I was with child." Scarlett looked at Kenneth with eyes that were already seeking forgiveness.

Kenneth got to know why she was looking at him like that when she uttered the next sentence.

"I took all kinds of teas and herbs to…" She took a deep breath in and chewed her words while looking down at the floor, "…to drop the babe in my stomach. But… my little tricks were unsuccessful."

"To which, I am really thankful," she quickly added without even pausing for half a second. She was still unable to meet Kenneth's eyes though.

Kenneth felt a sharp pang in his heart as he looked at the pitiful state of his mother. Although he couldn't blame his mother for not wanting to have him, he still felt this sharp stinging pain in his chest because, in the end, he was an unwanted child.

Unwanted by both of his parents.

A burden to his mother.

And he didn't know why, but he wanted to apologize to his mother. "I am sorry for stubbornly holding onto my life…" he whispered in a shaky voice.

"No!" Scarlett finally looked up at Kenneth in shock and screamed in horror. "I should be the one to apologize, not you."

She lowered her head once again and apologized from the bottom of her heart, "I am so sorry for trying to kill you in my womb. And I am really sorry for abandoning you after giving birth to you."

That didn't come as a shock to Kenneth since he had already speculated that his whole life.

And his speculation had come true. He was abandoned.

Kenneth gulped the lump in his throat and mumbled while swallowing his tears, "I would have been the constant reminder of the abuse that you faced. I can now understand why I was abandoned. I… I don't really blame you for doing what you did."

Scarlett violently shook her head as if she didn't want to be forgiven yet.

She held her head with both of her hands and screamed through her cries, "No matter how you were conceived, you were still my child. I should have never done that. But at that time…"

Scarlett began to cry more and more when the memories of her sins began to flash in her mind.

"But at that time, I was young and afraid. And my heart was filled with hatred toward the vampires. And I made a stupid decision that would haunt me for my whole life."

Her heart clenched tightly. She had regretted abandoning her son every waking moment.

"When I gave birth to you, I was fleeing from the vampire kingdom. That nasty King had led his armies to the battle. And I and a few other maids had seized that opportunity to run away amidst all that chaos."

Damien, who was sitting very quietly, suddenly perked his ears.
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'Is it perhaps the same war where my mother faced off against Ariel's dad?' He subconsciously nodded to himself and thought, 'My mother was also pregnant with me at that time. Since Kenneth is only a few months older than me, she must have been talking about that same war where… our biological father died.'

Scarlett didn't elaborate on the war. But she did elaborate on her escape.

"We all managed to take refuge in a ship that was traveling the East. I had planned to go to some other country and start my new life there. At that time, I had already accepted my fate and…" She lifted her head to steal a glance at her son and whispered painfully, "…I had planned to raise you all on my own."

Kenneth's heart ached to hear that. And he couldn't help but ask, "Then what changed your mind?"

Scarlett lowered her head in shame. She heaved a shaky breath and continued with her story, "Before I could reach the new country, I went into labor. I was still on the ship. It was not my time to go into labor yet. But I guess, because of all the stress, my body couldn't hold on."

She then slowly cradled her stomach in her arms as if it was only yesterday when her belly was protecting her unborn child.

"After several painful hours passed, the most innocent cry graced my ears. My heart swelled with pride and happiness until…"

"Until?" Kenneth furrowed his brows, his sharp gaze unmoving from his mother's lowered head.

Kenneth and Damien heard Scarlett's soft whimpering sounds once again.

Damien could also see how the aura around Scarlett's weak frame was changing from fear to hatred.

Scarlett hated herself from her gut when she finally admitted the main reason why she had abandoned Kenneth.

"…until the midwife handed you to me and the first thing I noticed was your glowing red eyes… Your eyes resembled the very pair of eyes that I was terrified of."