novelraw Chapter 298: After Five Years, She Finally Waited for This Man’s Guilt and Obsession
Chapter 298: After Five Years, She Finally Waited for This Man’s Guilt and Obsession
When Delphine awoke from her dazed state, the bedroom was enveloped in silence. The light filtered in through the gaps of the dark-patterned curtains, faint traces of sandalwood lingering in the air.
She sat up, a cold, damp towel slipping to the ground, the smoky-blue, ornate quilt trailing behind her.
She buried her head beneath the quilt, her mind clear. She should leave this place, yet her body refused to obey, her limbs unmoving. For five years she had wandered aimlessly, circling back to this place, only for the last threads of familial ties to be severed. She didn’t know where her life would lead from here.
Lost in her thoughts, the slightly ajar bedroom door creaked open.
The man gestured to his assistant behind him to keep silent, then stepped into the room.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked as he stood near the bed, leaning down slightly to smooth out her disheveled hair with his hand.
Delphine didn’t respond, her head tucked into her knees like a little ostrich.
Ignatius Leclair watched her in this state, unhurried. He understood her longstanding grudge against him, especially after he forced Beatrice Carter to sign the letter severing ties. She needed time to accept it all, and he was willing to wait.
"Grandfather has returned," Ignatius said, his phoenix-like eyes dark and profound. "I’ve already spoken to him about you."
Delphine’s slender shoulders trembled slightly, her delicate fingers gripping the cuff of his sleeve.
"About your true identity." Ignatius noticed her reaction, though fear dominated her expression. He reached out, enveloping her small hand in his large palm, his voice deep as he said, "I told him you and Beatrice Carter are mother and daughter. Grandfather now despises her even more. She and Stone Leclair are still kneeling before my mother’s memorial."
When the elder heard that Delphine was Ms. Carter’s illegitimate daughter—abandoned at birth and later brought into the Leclair family under the guise of being a niece—his fury erupted. For a mother to act with such cruelty and cold-heartedness, her schemes were beyond poisonous. The revelation even stirred a trace of sympathy for Delphine in him.
As for his grandson forcing the mother-daughter pair to sign that letter, the elder didn’t feel moral qualms about it in the slightest. In his mind, whatever the eldest grandson did was inherently right.
When Delphine heard that Beatrice was still kneeling, she finally lifted her head. Her delicate, palm-sized face was pallid to the point of translucence. Though her eyes were no longer swollen, they were profoundly dark and clear, making her skin appear even more luminous.
Her thin lips moved slightly, but no sound emerged, her voice caught in her throat.
Ignatius reached out, pressing lightly against her dry lips as he traced her skin with his gaze, finding her understated face heartbreakingly pure and clean.
"From now on, you don’t need to concern yourself with Beatrice’s matters," his voice rasped slightly, so low it seemed to resonate in his chest. "Don’t live for others."
Delphine released his sleeve and sat in a daze for a long time before hoarsely asking, "What is it you want from me?"
"You," the man replied firmly and with absolute certainty.
"You already have me," she said quietly, her gaze still cast downward, her voice devoid of emotion.
"Without your heart."
Delphine remained silent. Her heart had long since died in the desolate, dark wasteland—unknown to anyone—and it would remain that way for the rest of her life.
"Ignatius Leclair, do you feel any guilt toward me for what happened to that child?"
"Yes." Ignatius did not deny it, his chiseled face darkened slightly with melancholy. He could have had a child once—a pure, innocent little Delphine.
Delphine felt a slight sorrow in her heart. Five years it had taken, but she had finally heard this man admit his guilt.