Chapter 316
Athena’s fingers clenched the hem of her skirt so tightly her knuckles turned white. A raging fire burned in Athena’s chest, scorching her throat dry.
Athena ground her teeth and said to Nicolas, “I won’t stand by and watch her die.”
Nicolas thought Athena had finally relented, and his heart eased. Before he could even speak, Athena continued coldly, “I will send everyone who hurt Grandfather to prison. I cannot forgive them on his behalf, nor for the more than one hundred members of the Manson family.”
“The day I risked my life walking out of the duke’s estate over those blades, I’d already repaid any debt to all of you. Don’t you dare speak to me of forgiveness anymore. That woman doesn’t deserve to be called my mother, and I refuse to acknowledge her as such.”
Athena suddenly looked up, her gaze like daggers of ice beneath her lashes. Her voice turned glacial. “You brought this ruin upon yourselves. This is nothing but retribution.”
Nicolas stared at Athena in shock, as if he were looking at a monster.
Nicolas pleaded, “But you’re my sister, Athena. Mother may have made countless mistakes, but she was only trying to protect her—"
“Asking for anything else? Just say a few kind words to spare her life, is that really too much to ask?”
Nicolas roared in anguish. He knew that Eloisa’s crimes were grave enough to warrant her execution.
Nicolas wasn’t asking for Eloise’s freedom. He only begged Athena to show mercy and spare Eloise’s life.
But Athena wouldn’t even grant this mercy. Nicolas felt that her heart was truly made of stone.
Athena glared at Nicolas, her voice trembling with anger. “Why should the entire Monson family pay for her crimes? Do you realize how many died on the road to exile? There were children. Some were even babies who were not yet two years old. How utterly innocent these people were.”
“You care for your mother, but weren’t their lives just as precious? Tell me, Nicolas. Who’s truly the heartless one here?”
Athena scoffed coldly, her heart hammering so violently it threatened to burst through her ribs.
She said, “When it comes to cruelty, every last one of you in the duke’s estate outdoes vipers a hundredfold. I survived by dumb luck, not because you ever showed me mercy. Would you dare claim that if I had stayed in that estate, you would have ever spared me?”
Nicolas stared at Athena in stunned silence, utterly speechless.
Nicolas’s eyes darted around frantically. A strained, unconvincing reply escaped his throat as he forced out, “You’re my sister, Athena, how could I ever wish you dead?”
Athena scoffed coldly, her lips curling into a mocking smile. “Do you honestly believe that?”
Nicolas looked into Athena’s disappointed eyes, and his resolve suddenly wavered.
He thought, “Wasn’t it precisely because Athena had hurt Willow that I exiled her to the military camp in the first place? For three whole years, I turned a blind eye and abandoned Athena to her fate.”
Athena loathes us with every fiber of her being.
“But I couldn’t just leave like this. What about my mother? What about the duke’s estate?”
Nicolas’s face twisted with remorse as he desperately pleaded with Athena, “I was truly wrong. Please, listen to you. Let me make it up to you. Give me another chance.”
Athena didn’t believe a single word he said. She scoffed, “Lord Nicolas, no longer a toddler.”
“After three years all I wanted was to stay away from you. I never harbored—"
“In Grandfather’s case, I will never yield an inch.”
Athena looked at Nicolas coldly and sneered, “The only reason I broke ties with you people was because you’d never let me go. It was a sordid scheme to squeeze every last ounce of worth from me.”
“Had you known about my medical skills, you would’ve kept me locked up in this estate forever. So tell me—"
With each word Athena uttered, a little more color drained from Nicolas’s face.
Nicolas suddenly couldn’t bring himself to meet Athena’s gaze. Her words laid bare the thoughts he’d been concealing.
Athena continued, “You would have sold me to Fermin without a second thought, even if it meant making me wronged that way. Instead, you would say that I have gotten the best deal of my life.”
“In your eyes, I’ve never been a real person, just a commodity to be traded at the highest price.”
“You’d stop at nothing to squeeze every last drop of benefit, just to cling to your laughable title as heir apparent.”
Athena’s smile grew even more brazen as she stepped forward, towering over Nicolas. She sneered, “You fancy yourself a genius, cloaked in your mantle and lording it over everyone. But let me tell you this.”
“You’re not half as capable as you think. You’re mediocre, devoid of wit. All that superiority comes solely from your title. Strip that away, and you’re worth less than the lowliest person in this world.”
Nicolas’s face turned deathly pale from Athena’s scathing words, his lips trembling uncontrollably.
His eyes were bloodshot. Nicolas glared at Athena and felt that he was stripped bare like a humiliated clown.
Nicolas protested indignantly, “You’re spouting utter nonsense. My contributions to the duke’s estate all these years are plain as day!”
Athena cut him off with a sneer, “Come on now. The only reason the duke’s estate is still standing is that Grandmother held it together. The business was Fiona’s doing. Even your position as vice minister of the Justice Ministry came from the duke pulling strings for you.”
“You’re blind and clueless, so you ended up letting outsiders twist you around their finger, while turning ruthlessly on your own family. The downfall of the duke’s estate rests entirely on your shoulders.”
“You have achieved absolutely nothing. How dare you parade as the heir apparent?”
Every word Athena uttered struck Nicolas’s rawest nerves.
Nicolas’s eyes widened in disbelieving shock, utterly refusing to acknowledge the harsh truth.
He said, “No. I’m not the useless fool you take me for. I have contributed to the duke’s estate!”
Nicolas shrieked impotently, unable to produce a single shred of evidence.
Athena watched Nicolas fall apart, sneering inwardly. “Even your so-called affection for Willow was for personal gain, I refuse to believe you’d go to such lengths to protect someone who shares no blood with you.”
Nicolas blurted out desperately, “No! I truly love Willow!”
Maybe it was the shock, but Nicolas blurted out the words without thinking.
A sudden silence fell. Everyone stared at him in utter astonishment.
Nicolas froze in place, his eyes wide with shock as he gasped desperately for breath like a stranded fish.
Athena’s eyes widened slightly. This revelation came as quite a surprise to her.
Athena had always believed Nicolas simply favored Willow a bit more than usual, but she never imagined he harbored genuine romantic feelings for her.
“But she’s your sister. How could you possibly be in love with her? Do you even have any sense of morality!” Athena felt waves of nausea churning in her stomach.
Nicolas, flustered and scrambling to backtrack, blurted out, “It’s not what you think. We’re just siblings. It’s purely sibling affection!”
Yet his feeble explanation convinced no one.
Even Trina scoffed coldly and said, “Lord Nicolas, those words are already out. How could you possibly take them back now! You’d better leave before you sully my lady’s presence any further.”
Jessa stepped forward, sword in hand, her eyes brimming with mockery, “Lord Nicolas, please see yourself out.”
Nicolas stared at their mocking faces, a searing pain tearing through his chest.
Overwhelmed by rage and humiliation, Nicolas spewed a mouthful of fresh blood and collapsed unconscious.
“My Lord, are you okay?” the attendant cried out in panic while rushing forward to lift him up and carry him back to the duke’s.
With the commotion at the entrance finally dying down, Athena gazed at the sky clearing up in the distance, a faint smile gracing her lips. “Now that we have both witnesses and evidence, doesn’t this mean Grandfather’s family can finally return to Pidence City?”
Trina chimed in. “Rest assured, my lady. General Perkins will be safe and sound.”
“Grandfather will surely be safe,” Athena said with conviction.