novelraw Chapter 1113: Love Has Entered Winter
Chapter 1113: Love Has Entered Winter
Richard Shaw raised his eyes, his handsome and stern face showing no expression.
The man entered, looking down at her condescendingly, and spoke coldly: "Luna, these years, you’ve squandered all the favors your brother showed me. I provided for your education, your food and drink—was that not enough? Or did you really think I was someone you could manipulate at will?"
Luna Lawrence’s face turned pale, her wrist throbbing with piercing pain, blood still flowing. She instinctively pressed down on her wrist, seeing the disappointment and disgust in the man’s eyes, instantly feeling ice cold throughout, realizing she had made a colossal mistake.
"Brother Shaw, I just love you too much, that’s why I did all these stupid things." She cried, overwhelmed by her pain and panic, even beginning to despair, desperately attempting to evoke the man’s sympathy.
"What you love is merely my power and status." Richard Shaw stated coldly, "If today I shed my identity as a Major General, as the heir of the Shaw Family, you would tell another man you love him."
"It’s not like that." Luna’s face turned white, seeing the man watch her bleed indifferently, she suddenly panicked, did Richard Shaw really intend to watch her bleed out and die?
"You liked me before, I knew it."
He thought he liked her too. Those years in the Southwest Military Zone, seeing her stubbornly survive, even going up the mountain to dig wild vegetables alone, he felt compassion, thinking that this feeling was liking.
His parents loved too intensely. Back then, his father died for the country, and his mother, upon hearing the news, became silent, dying six months later in an international rescue, also becoming a martyr. He investigated later, but received a fact he couldn’t accept.
During that international rescue, his mother could have saved herself, but still chose to die. That year he was only eight years old.
After his father died, his mother wanted to follow him, dying without thinking of him, of grandmother, or of the Shaws.
He feared such emotions, feeling his love should be calm, shallow, just a little liking was enough. They each remained within the safest lines, if possible, he didn’t want to touch so-called love, only wished to dedicate his life to the country, to the Shaw family lineage.
The bit of compassion he felt for Luna Lawrence made his heart calm, he even considered marrying her, so that he would never walk the same frightening path his parents did.
Without love, there is strength.
Richard Shaw remained stern, looking at her pale and unfamiliar little face, speaking low and detached: "It’s perhaps sympathy, but not liking. Luna Lawrence, if I liked you, I wouldn’t be marrying Crystal Landon."
"You’re lying to me, you’re lying to me." She shrieked bitterly, crying out, "You clearly liked me, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so good to me all these years, wouldn’t have brought me to the Imperial City, wouldn’t have come rushing over with a single call on Chinese New Year’s Eve—it’s you who gave me hope, so why leave me in despair? Is it because you’ve fallen for Crystal Landon?"
The man lowered his eyes, tea-colored eyes concealing the surging tide within.
Like Crystal Landon? He wasn’t entirely sure, only knowing that in the first year of marriage, he subconsciously evaded to the Southwest Military Zone, not returning for a year. Later, Luna Lawrence sought him out, and he would occasionally go out to see her, feeling at peace within. Later, when Crystal became pregnant and wanted a divorce, he chose to go abroad for peacekeeping, initially a mission he didn’t need to be responsible for.
Two years, perhaps longer, he hardly paid attention to her, barely thought of this person’s existence, even though Crystal grew up by grandmother’s side, frequented the Shaw Mansion, he and she were like strangers.
Is this liking? He didn’t want to like Crystal Landon.
"Those years in the Southwest Military Zone, occasionally visiting you was merely due to your brother’s influence. Bringing you to the Imperial City to study, even providing for your food, drink, and housing, turning a blind eye to what you did—it’s just that I had no interest in quarreling with you." Richard Shaw said coldly.
He merely wanted to numb his liking for Luna, intentionally indulging her. If she were smart enough, sufficiently self-aware, she should seize what was already there while he still had patience, rather than obsessively coveting what didn’t belong to her.
Now his patience was exhausted.
"Go to the hospital to dress your wound later, apply for withdrawal from school, you have a week to pack up and leave the Imperial City, don’t let me see you again." Coldness flickered in the man’s eyes. After saying this, he turned and left.
Luna let out a voiceless cry, watching his ruthless and decisive back, instinctively picked up her phone and took a picture, jealousy sparked in her eyes—it’s all Crystal Landon’s fault. If not for her, Richard might have cared for her for a lifetime. The Shaw Family certainly wasn’t short of money, and he owed her brother his life.
Even in death, she wouldn’t let Crystal Landon have peace, nor the child in her womb.
Luna sent the picture to Crystal, then typed a line coldly: "So what if you married Richard Shaw? When you’re about to give birth, he’s here with me. He married you, merely treating you as an ornament."
*
Crystal Landon couldn’t quite recall when she started liking Richard Shaw. In her memory, he always appeared indifferent, hardly ever glancing at her, his gaze fixed on distant places like an enigma, unfathomable.
Two years of marriage, and she couldn’t remember how many tender moments they shared.
She stubbornly liked this man, headstrongly marrying him. Did he know all along she was the Cox Family’s daughter? Because the Shaw Family owed the Coxes, was his unease the reason he married her?
Her eyes stung, tears rolled down as she looked at Griffith Squire before her, hoarsely asking: "Am I called Leah?"
"Yes, you can’t use the Cox name anymore, from now on, you’ll take my surname and be called Leah Squire." Griffith’s eyes were red, feeling sorrow as he wiped her tears, softly saying, "Leah Squire, Griffith Squire, from now on we’ll rely on each other."
She nodded and tears fell, leaning on each other like this.
Eamon Turner knocked on the door outside, speaking softly: "Madam, it’s about time."
Griffith stood up; his identity was too sensitive. Appearing in the Imperial City, once discovered, the military would immediately send someone to execute him.
"Leah, with your brother here, don’t be afraid. Once I’ve arranged it, Eamon will take you away from here." Griffith said as he finished, leaning down to hug her gently.
She nodded, unable to rise, softly saying: "You should go. Richard Shaw should be returning soon."
Griffith’s handsome face grew darker; he nodded restrainedly before turning and leaving.
Outside, silence resumed.
Until the phone screen lit up, Luna’s message arrived. She looked at the photo of the man’s familiar back, her abdomen aching fiercely, the pain piercing her organs.
She shattered the table lamp, unable to utter a word from the pain, reflecting on how much she loved this man over the years, turning into deep hatred now.