Chapter 2 Apologize to my family

Marla spat on the ground.

"Phtui! Ardenne, You have no right bringing that little bastard here and calling her family. If Emma pushed my son, then she deserves to be punished. Even if she dies."

Ardenne held her small girl tighter in her arms.

"That's enough, Marla! You're going too far. What, your son is made of gold? And my child is just dirt?"

Marla laughed. It was not a nice laugh.

"Shut up! How can that dirty child even be compared to my son? My son is the pride of the Sylver family. Your daughter... she's the child of a madman."

She stepped closer, her eyes full of cruelty.

"Everyone knows it. Six years ago you married some crazy man from a mental hospital. Who knows what kind of bad blood he had? Maybe your daughter will become crazy too. Maybe one day she'll run away and abandon you, just like her father did."

The words hit Cassian hard.

A madman!

Cassian suddenly stopped walking.

Six years ago...

While enemies were were after him , he hid inside a psychiatric hospital. He pretended to be mentally unstable so no one would suspect him.

That "madman" they were talking about...

It was him.

His eyes slowly moved to the little girl in Ardenne's arms.

He noticed the bruises.

Could it be...?

Emma coughed weakly. A little blood was still on her lips.

Cassian crossed the lawn in just a few steps and walked between the two women.

Marla barely reacted before he was already standing in front of her.

He spoke.

"Ardenne. Tell me the truth.Is she... my daughter?"

His eyes moved to the small girl shaking in her arms.

Her eyes met Cassian's face.

And she froze.

"You... you..."

Cassian moved closer. "Yes. It's me."

Cassian looked at the small girl in her arm and back to Ardenne again.

"Tell me the truth. Is she mine?"

Before Ardenne could say anything-

"WHAT?!"

Marla suddenly screamed.

She pointed at Cassian like he was something dirty.

"Who let this beggar into the estate?. Security! Throw him out right now!"

But then she looked at his face more carefully.

"...Wait."

"Cassian...?" She frowned.

Then her eyes suddenly widened.

"Oh! I remember now! Cassian Vale! That crazy man from six years ago!" sgesaid with a sneer.

"Dad! Grandpa! Come look!" she shouted. "Ardenne's mad husband is back!"

Soon people from the Sylver family started walking over.

But Cassian ignored all of them.

His eyes stayed on Ardenne.

"Ardenne,tell me the truth." he said more seriously this time.

He nodded toward the little girl holding onto Ardenne.

"Is Emma... my daughter?"

"Don't avoid the question," he added.Just tell me."

Ardenne held the child tighter and closed her eyes, tears slipped down her face.

She didn't say anything.

But that silence said everything.

Cassian's thoughts felt messy in his head.

Emma...

His daughter?

Before he could even process it,

A young man stood there with his arms crossed, looking at Cassian and started laughing nearby..

"Haha! So it really is that crazy guy, I didn't think he would dare come back after disappearing for six years."

Some people around him laughed too.

"How touching, look at that. The useless family is finally back together."a woman said with a cold smile.

Another young boy pulled the sleeve of an old man with silver hair.

"Grandpa, see? I told you they're all crazy."

He pointed straight at Ardenne and the small girl.

"Letting them come to Amara's birthday party is already embarrassing for the Sylver family, and now the crazy husband shows up too."

"Why couldn't you learn from your parents, Ardenne? They were smart enough to stay away. They knew showing up would just ruin the party."

"Yeah. Haven't you been humiliated enough these six years? Why come here again and make everyone see your shame?"

More voices joined.

Some laughed.

Some pointed fingers.

Ardenne shook all over. Her face went pale. She felt both anger and pain mixing together.

But she couldn't say a word.

Six years.

Six long years of this.

Insults.

Humiliation.

Cold, hateful looks.

Cassian stood frozen.

He would never have believed it f he hadn't seen it himself.

Who would believe that Sylver was supposed to be her family.

And yet... they treated her like garbage.

Just a little while ago, Emma had been slapped.

Ardenne herself had been pushed and humiliated in front of everyone.

What kind of crazy madness was this family hiding?

How could people be this cruel?

For six years...

How much pain had Ardenne and Emma gone through?

Cassian didn't even want to think about it.

People called him the Grim Sovereign.

The Lord Commander of the Obsidian Legion.

A man who had fought in endless battles and protected a whole nation.

And yet...

He couldn't protect his own wife.

Or his own daughter.

What a cruel joke.

He felt guilty.

And then... slowly... he lifted his head.

His eyes had turned cold.

Today...

The Sylver family would pay.

Every single person who insulted his wife and daughter... would regret it.

And these so-called powerful families...

They were about to find out... who the real king of the underworld really was.

Ethan shouted.

"Shut up!"

The courtyard went quiet.

Then Marla smirked. She wasn't scared. This was her ground and to her, Ethan was nothing but a crazy nobody.

"Who does he think he is? Telling us what to do like we're servants? That beggar makes my boy cry, I'll make his whole family disappear. Buried before nightfall. I swear it."

Ethan clenched his hands into knuckles.

He stepped forward.

"For Ardenne... for Emma.... I'll give you one chance."

"Kneel. Apologize. To my wife and daughter."