I Promise, I'll Leave! But, With No Regrets!!

Chapter 70

♦Chapter 70: Lucian (1)♦

[]Third Person's POV []

There was a boy.

He was born with alluring features, possessing a deep brown-colored hair as his father's, alongside those silver eyes that he inherited from his mother.

He was fortunate, being the first child and son of Duke Shevaria, which led him to become a potential successor.

However, he couldn't receive even a tiny amount of affection from her parents.

His mother, the Duchess would occasionally pay attention to him. But even then, she doesn't come and visit him as frequent as it may seem. She looked distant everytime she interacted with her son. As if she urged to avoid him at all cost for a certain reason...

Even the boy, himself, was able to realize this fact on his own as he observed his mother's expression during the times that they met. He oversaw how there was no warmth to be seen in her face everytime his figure reached her sight.

This caused a wound on his heart to open. Still, the boy, being quite young, he has yet to possess the awareness on how to deal with the situation that he was in. That's why, he was left not doing anything during those moments.

A year or two has passed from then. The boy became taller and began to take the responsibilities that he needed to look after either as a noble or a potential heir. And after finishing his lessons one afternoon, he observed how busy the maids were as they bustled around the corridors.

He heard that there was a guest, but he assumed that it wasn't that much of a big deal that it would reach the point where the servants would be this busy. He doubted that something happened and questioned one handmaiden.

"Did something happen?"

"T-that is......."

The maid suspiciously averted her gaze from him while she seemed reluctant to answer his question.

"Nevermind. You can continue your job.", he ended up ignoring the matter, and thoroughly went back to his room.

That moment, he has yet to know...

That the uproar was the hint of the birth of his half-sister.

A week has passed since then, and a rumor spread throughout the servants of the mansion.

They murmured about the child, left behind by the banished woman that was known as the Duke's secret lover. Of course, this eventually reached the young duke's ears. Nevertheless, he was too young to be able to understand the situation completely. And thus, he didn't pay attention to this at first.

But as the boy gradually grew up, he started to know the meaning of those occurrences. And that moment, he began to have a brief resentment toward his own father.

To him, his father having an affair with another woman could only mean that the Duchess was tossed away from his side. It was convincing to think that the Duke must've seen him as an eyesore, seeing that they have never crossed paths nor formally met each other for even once.

Rather than resentment, the wound that was carved in his heart before just deepened itself.

The desire to be loved by his parents resided in him. That's why, when he saw how the Duke ignored his presence the moment he stumbled upon him for the first time, he felt quite desolated. Those emotions resulted him to grow up with a selfish personality, which also made him loathe for the Sherryl who caught his father's favor instead of him. To the point that he even wished for her to stop existing...

A miracle came to him.

The young duke's wish was taken for granted. And as soon as he heard of this news, he couldn't help but wear a smile on his face from the joy that he felt. He thought of this as a good opportunity to obtain his father's attention, and interacted with him through many ways.

The distance between them lessened, but it was only a few. And amid that, a nuisance came in between them, to the young duke's perspective.

It was a fruit that was bore by his father's selfish desire.

A girl suddenly entered the picture. And it was not just any girl, but a someone...

That had a splitting image of the late younger sister of his that he loathed.

The moment he saw the girl, he knew it already-

That he'd be pushed away by his father once again.

He had a lot of problems with her, specially because of her origins. He also disliked how the Duke easily accepted the girl who wasn't even his real daughter. He realized how unfair it was compared to his father's treatment toward him. And thus, he came to hate the girl even more than how he detested Sherryl.

But that didn't last until the young duke's frustration made him push the blame to the blood that ran through his veins, as an afterthought.

"...I wish you weren't my mother."

The Duchess stiffened up from his sudden statement, when she came to enter his place again. Little did he know that her mother actually considered a lot for his sake that he could utter such words.

He blindly thought that this wouldn't hurt her since he assumed that she couldn't accept him as her child, just like how he couldn't accept her as his mother. The Duchess was technically the cause as of why his relationship with his father was like that after all. Nonetheless, he never knew that he dug his own grave at this point.

From then, even the Duchess, who would come and see whether he was faring well, has visited lesser than less. The distance between them grew further as the young duke regretted what he did.

He felt devastated, thinking that things wouldn't go the way he wanted it to be.

And just when he was unable to think of what he should do so he could resolve this for any longer, the girl that replaced his half-sister's position appeared before his eyes after a long while of him, messing with her just so he could vent out his anger.

"You might as well meet father if you want to."

Upon hearing her phrase, his frustration worsened at first, thinking that she could only utter those words since she didn't know a thing about his troubles. After all, it wasn't something that could be easily resolved just by seeing his father once again.

"W-what are you saying...?! I wasn't pointing it out like that-!"

Although he denied it, in fact, he wanted to visit the Duke right this moment. All this time, he was very concerned of how the atmosphere around them became messy again ever since he expressed how he couldn't accept the new girl in his family. He didn't know what kind of face he should wear once he enters his father's sight, for he looked like he wished to avoid him everytime they met at present, probably because of the same reason written above.

"If you want to gain his attention, just beg him so."

"I'm sure he'll understand if you do that.", she added.

These blunt and abrupt statements surprised the young duke. As a matter of fact, it was a rather bold yet doubtful idea. Other than that, he was surprised how Melissa seemed to have read his mind.

But most of all, he realized that she's made a point.

The young duke burdened himself this way all the time, not knowing how to be honest to others. But considering the fact that he didn't have anyone to open up his heart to, that was surely a reasonable thing for him to do. Nevertheless, this advise nullified his worries for the least.

However, that was but a first step for his primary objective to be totally conquered with his small hands.