novelraw Chapter 410: In the long years of losing her, he realized that the real winter had just begun.
Chapter 410: In the long years of losing her, he realized that the real winter had just begun.
"I thought you would ask me about the Squire siblings?" Ignatius Leclair watched the scene shift and raised an eyebrow as he asked.
Richard Shaw wheeled himself into the bedroom, his strikingly handsome and resolute features giving away nothing. He replied faintly, "If you won’t speak, you must have your reasons."
Ignatius Leclair narrowed his eyes and said evenly, "The Squire siblings belong to the Cox Family. How do you plan to handle this?"
Richard Shaw remained silent. Over the years, any mention of the name "Cox Family" would leave him as though he’d lost his soul, bereft of any calm or sound judgment. Last night, he could have completely driven Griffith Squire away, yet he did nothing.
"Richard, even if Crystal Landon were still alive, the blood feud between you two would make it impossible to be together. Why not try to let go, as you initially did?" Ignatius Leclair probed tentatively.
Richard Shaw’s face grew frosty, his voice chillingly severe, "The dead are extinguished like a snuffed-out lamp. Back then, I was foolish. If she were still alive, the debt I owe her—I, the Leclair Family—could not repay in this lifetime, and would need the next to make good on it. What use is saying this now?"
From a young age, he knew he was destined to marry that spoiled, clingy girl from the Lewis Family, to shower her with unparalleled love and grant her the enviable status of Young Madam of the Shaw Family’s prestigious lineage. This seemingly predestined arrangement filled him with dread. Even when he fell in love with another girl, the choice for the Shaw Family’s Madam could only ever be her—this was the Shaw Family’s dictum.
To avoid the little girl from the Lewis Family, he entered military school early, returning only during winter vacations. Even later, after she had grown up and graduated from college, he followed his grandmother’s wishes and wed Crystal Landon. Yet he rarely stayed home, so much so that they didn’t even go on their honeymoon. He had believed that the emotional winter would last an entire lifetime, and that marrying Crystal Landon meant never being able to discuss love again. But in the endless years after losing her, he realized that the true emotional winter had only just begun.
Richard Shaw stared blankly at his paralyzed legs, which had been useless for eight years now. Many times, when one makes a mistake, punishment ensues.
Ignatius Leclair said nothing. After a long silence, he spoke quietly, "Southern Cemetery—Griffith Squire erected a blank gravestone for the Cox Family there. It’s easy to find. Richard, none of this is your fault."
Ignatius Leclair sighed and hung up the phone.
The tenth day of the first lunar month is the birth anniversary of the late Mr. Cox. If the Squire siblings go to pay their respects, Richard might finally see Leah Squire there.
Delphine hadn’t eaten all day. After drinking some of the health tonics Leah had brought, she waited outside the operating room for Ms. Carter’s surgery.
The lengthy duration of the operation boded ill for Ms. Carter.
At this moment, Delphine felt a faint emptiness within her—finding her biological father seemed unreal, her feelings for her adoptive mother were complicated yet indifferent, and then there was Isaac Leclair. If something happened to Beatrice Carter, what would happen to little Isaac? He’s still so young.
One day had passed, and aside from Ignatius Leclair being present at the hospital, not a single other member of the Leclair Family had come. All those years, Beatrice Carter had strained every effort to squeeze into their aristocratic world—which turned out to be so coldly indifferent.
Delphine sat dumbfounded, waiting until the operating room light finally went out. The attending physician emerged and asked, "Is the patient’s family here?"
She hurried forward, speaking softly, "How is she?"
"The injuries are severe. Whether or not she regains consciousness depends on the next three days. If she doesn’t wake up, there’s a high likelihood she will remain in a vegetative state," the attending physician said with a sigh.
Delphine nodded, unsure what expression she should wear, simply staring blankly as Beatrice Carter was wheeled out of the operating room and transferred to the intensive care unit.
Leah Squire approached her and gently embraced her, saying, "Don’t be too upset, Delphine."