Chapter 188:
Lethal Dose
THE MAN STOOD THERE in wordless shock, staring at his wife and her loving smile—or maybe he simply didn’t have the energy to look away. Maryjune gazed wide-eyed at what she thought were her perfect parents, unable to process her mother’s words, unable to even blink.
I see what those two were worried about.
Watching this “happy family” self-destruct of its own accord, Yulan couldn’t help but be reminded of the two adults who had cautioned him: Marin and Chesuit. The latter had mentioned it before he left the house, and the former had insisted on it very strongly before they parted ways. He had thought his biggest concern would be Auld, or perhaps even Maryjune, but contrary to his expectations, they had warned him of Elfa: the happy wife always smiling in Auld’s shadow. Coming from Marin it was one thing, given that she had a strong distrust of the entire Vahan estate. Chesuit’s warning was what had raised an eyebrow. It made complete sense in hindsight.
“I see. Are you afraid I’m being cruel to Mary?”
Auld stood there limply, while Elfa grasped his hand and whispered sweet reassurances to chase away all his fears. To Yulan, her voice was so cloying it made him ill, but to Auld it must have sounded like the panacea of angels’ song…until a few moments ago, anyway. He’d been given a lethal dose of that sugar. It had started to attack his system.
“Perish the thought! I care for her very, very much. After all, she’s your child—your sweet, precious daughter. One who carries your genes, and your blood in her veins.”
Her bewitching lips spoke only of love, and every word was the unvarnished truth: she truly loved Maryjune, right from the moment she was pregnant, after her birth, after raising her. Every single second that passed, Elfa had loved her and loved her and loved her and loved her and loved her and loved her and loved her—
“Any child of yours is worthy of my love.”
It was an endless torrent that would never run dry, and even then, it still wasn’t enough. Elfa loved everything about Auld: his face, his hair, his heart, down to each molecule in his body. She’d cherished his daughter Maryjune from the bottom of her heart. Her suggestion wasn’t made with ill intent.
“But certain things must take precedence, and since we have no power to overturn your father-in-law’s ruling…”
She smiled sadly, willing him to come to reason. What did she see with those eyes of hers? Whatever it was, it wasn’t the blood draining from her husband’s face, or the shock written all over her daughter’s, or the horror hanging in the air. She was acting so normally, it passed the realm of eerie into terrifying.
This could only mean that Elfa didn’t see any reason to be upset. Her idea of family and love…was only ever directed at one person, wasn’t it?
“Besides, Miss Violette resembles you ever so strongly. She has your hair, your features—why, she looks just as you did when you were a boy! What a wonderful, sweet, adorable daughter you have. She’s everything I ever dreamed of.”
Another child with his genes, with his blood in her veins. Unlike Maryjune, this one had his face, and his hair, and…
“Isn’t she just perfect?”
It was this fantasy of Elfa’s, whispered so reverently, that killed her beloved husband’s dream with the precision of a blade.