But I didn’t hear anything else she said. I felt as if the cogs in my brain were going haywire, and the buzz rendered me unable to think straight.
What the hell was Noreen talking about?
How could Leonard be my biological father? Wasn’t Edwin my father?
Noticing my visible confusion, Noreen smiled smugly while waving her hand before me. “Hey, why are you so shocked? Did you think your father was someone else? Ha-ha-ha! You are so stupid!”
I swatted her hand away in a panic. “I don’t believe you! How could Leonard be my father? Edwin’s my father, not Leonard!”
Hearing this, Noreen burst into peals of laughter. It was as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. Her cheeks turned red and tears welled up in her eyes. When she finally calmed down, she said, “I doubt Leonard expected that his own daughter would think that someone else was her father. How interesting!”
I pursed my lips unhappily and watched as the woman burst into another round of crazed laughter.
What a lunatic!
It took her a long time to calm down this time. She then smiled at me and said, “I found Olivia after the famous battle between the vampires and the werewolves. Together, she and Leonard were a fierce couple to be reckoned with on the battlefield. I didn’t find her until news about them spread. When I finally did find her, she not only had a mate, but was also pregnant-with you!”
I felt as though my soul had left my body, yet at the same time, overwhelming emotions surged in my chest. I couldn’t breathe properly, and my whole body started to tremble.
Noreen glanced at me and shook her head. “They were very happy at first. Naturally, they didn’t expect that fate would be so cruel to them. Because of you, the black witch bloodline in your mother was awakened.”
“So my mother left my father?” I asked through gritted teeth. This piece of news was even more shocking than when I thought Edwin was my father.
I didn’t know whether I should burst into tears or laughter. My complex emotions were so overwhelming that I couldn’t calm down.
“Yes. Black witches are destined to have bad luck with love, because people who fall in love with them become the nourishment of the black thorn. The deeper he loved her, the faster the thorny flowers on his back would grow. When the flowers matured completely, they’d reach its victims neck and its thorns would pierce the man’s whole body, completely absorbing his energy and vitality.” Noreen looked at me and explained everything calmly, as though my world wasn’t crumbling before her very eyes.
Sylvia’s POV
When Noreen explained how the black thorn grow bigger with love, I couldn’t help but think about the nightmare I had about Rufus being penetrated by sharp thorns.
I trembled and grabbed the collar of my shirt, trying to calm myself down, but it was useless. I felt suffocated and couldn’t breathe.
“When your mother saw the thorn forming on Leonard’s back, she cried and begged me to remove her from Leonard’s memory. As long as Leonard didn’t love her anymore, he wouldn’t die.”
As Noreen spoke, there was a hint of remorse in her smile. “I ended up agreeing to your mother’s request. In exchange, she needed to come back and stay with me forever. But Olivia betrayed me again!”
Noreen raised her voice all of a sudden. The resentment in her voice made her look like a ferocious beast. “I shouldn’t have softened my heart!”
When Noreen suddenly lost control of her emotions, I instantly put my guard up and carefully stepped back. “How did she betray you?”
Noreen didn’t answer me. Instead, she glared at me as though she was looking straight into the eyes of an enemy she’d been hunting down for a long time.
Her gaze sent a shiver down my spine, and goose bumps formed on my bare skin.
Noreen took a step towards me. Then, she suddenly calmed down and looked at me with glazed eyes as though I was an old friend whom she hadn’t seen for a long time.
“You look just like her…”
I knew she was talking about my mother, so I didn’t interrupt her.
Noreen pulled at her robe, revealing my mother’s pendant on her neck. Her golden hair was as smooth and shiny as silk in the faint candlelight.
“Do you know what it’s like to be hurt by those closest to you? It’s so painful that you can’t even make a sound. It’s even more suffocating than drowning,” Noreen murmured to herself.
In that moment, I could tangibly feel her hopeless loneliness. She was like an ancient well that had been abandoned for many years, lifeless and gray.
“After I cast the spell, Leonard forgot everything about Olivia. I thought that she’d finally stay with me after that. But little did I know that your mother- that damned Olivia- would use my weakness against me!” When Noreen got emotional, her voice became high and shrill. She clutched at her heaving chest and her eyes turned red. “Your mother stabbed me right in the middle of my heart! I almost died! Even though I survived by luck in the end and finally recovered, seven years had passed! By the time I found her again, it happened to be the day she was executed!”
Unable to take the pain and relive the day when I lost my mother forever, I interrupted Noreen harshly.
“That’s enough! What’s the point of saying all this? No matter how much you hate my mother, she’s dead!”
I couldn’t help but burst into sobs when I recalled my mother’s miserable and unwarranted death.
Noreen threw her head back and laughed like a lunatic. Her delicate features contorted, looking disharmonious, like work of art stained with ink.
Her ghostly voice sent shivers down my spine. Even though every word she said was an accusation against my mother, she was clearly very angry at her powerlessness.
“I could’ve saved her if Olivia begged me to forgive her. And I would’ve forgiven her, but then I learned that she had already sacrificed her life in using the forbidden skill to seal the black witch bloodline in your body. Even if your Gamma didn’t frame Olivia and executed her, she wouldn’t have lived for long.”
Sylvia’s POV
The cruel truth hit me like a bolt of lightning.
Without Noreen, I never would’ve known that my mother died because of me.
I felt something within me break and I began to roar and scream crazily like Noreen.
“I don’t believe you! My mother didn’t die because of me! You’re a liar!”
Noreen was not surprised at all that I had gone hysterical. In fact, it seemed like she was expecting such a reaction. Every word that came out of her mouth next was a stab to my heart.
“You can choose not to believe me, but the truth remains that your mother died because of you. You lived at the cost of your mother’s life!” Noreen’s eyes were piercingly sharp and a cold smile tugged at the corners of her delicate lips. She raised her hand and pointed at me, like a proud judge in court, and I was the sinner.
“Aw, did I hurt you, Sylvia? It doesn’t matter. You’ll have a chance to make it right. Your blissful life will be torn apart soon enough. Someone has to pay for what Olivia owes me.”
“You’re lying…” I said weakly.
If my suffering was what Noreen wanted, then she had already succeeded.
Noreen shook her head and clicked her tongue. “I don’t give a damn if you don’t believe me. I won’t let you, nor the people around you, go.”
“What are you going to do to them? Whether you’re telling the truth or not, this is between you and me. Don’t get the innocent involved.” I gritted my teeth angrily and glared at her fiercely.
Noreen sneered. “And who, might I ask, is innocent? Leonard? Alina? Just wait and see. The show has just begun!”
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