Becoming the Villain’s Family

Chapter 225: Side Story 17

“I heard it from Mother.”

At those words, Tristan suddenly became as calm as if he had never been otherwise.

Dwayne heaved a sigh of relief.

“Do you want to hear about that time?”

“I just came to say hello after hearing about Father.”

It was also to check how different he was now.

“And though I am curious about many things, I won’t ask Father.”

“Why not?”

“Father, you can’t speak, can you? You only say you’d rather kill than persuade.”

“I won’t deny it, but…”

True to her words, Tristan was not much of a talker.

His vocabulary was unmatched when it came to threatening people or teasing them maliciously, though.

He looked at Aria with a complicated expression.

Today, she seemed unusually defiant.

He couldn’t fathom what Sabina had told her.

“My behavior back then is indefensible. I humbly accept that.”

He said this while gently tapping Aria’s head.

“If you’re done, go inside and rest.”

He seemed to have learned how to pat her head properly, unlike when she was young, when her head would shake back and forth.

‘You say I’m not a child, yet you treat me like one.’

Aria twisted her head with a dumbfounded expression. Tristan smiled as if he found her cute.

“I wish the child would take after you.”

It was a casually thrown remark, but it was sincere.

He hoped the child would be as cute and lovely as Aria, not like his son who lacked any cuteness.

But then…

At those words, Aria felt a sudden surge of emotion.

‘I wanted to hear those words directly from Lloyd.’

She hadn’t realized it.

The news of the child came so suddenly that she hadn’t had the leisure to think that way.

‘Because Lloyd seemed like he didn’t need a child…’

But in truth, she had hoped he would be overjoyed like any ordinary person.

Even if he didn’t cry, she wished he had said thank you, and that he loved her.

She had hoped for a heated debate about whether the baby was a boy or a girl, and who it resembled.

‘I know why Lloyd said that.’

She knew he said it because he treasured Aria too much and feared losing her.

And if their child were born bearing the cursed fate of the Valentines…

‘Lloyd might think it’s better if the child isn’t born.’

Her thoughts spiraled negatively.

Aria suddenly felt unbearably sad.

What was the use of understanding with her head?

Her heart couldn’t accept his thoughts at all.

She bit her lip hard.

She swallowed her emotions as best as she could.

Fortunately, Tristan, who had finished his farewell, was already far away, showing his back.

“Ugh…”

After Tristan completely disappeared, she finally let her tears fall.

The sorrow overwhelmed her, making it hard to control her emotions.

What, why…sniffle, why am I like this?”

She snuffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

“Madam, Young Madam?!”

A servant, who spotted Aria in this state, exclaimed in shock.

“It’s fine. Pretend you didn’t see anything.”

“But…”

“I don’t want to gather everyone, so keep quiet.”

She just wanted to be alone.

After speaking calmly, she went out to the garden.

Once in a secluded corner, away from people’s gazes, her restrained tears burst forth.

“Hic, huu-uuh, heup, huwaah…”

She cried so hard that it sounded like gasping. It was almost like wailing.

She wouldn’t cry this bitterly even if someone died.

‘Why am I like this, really?’

Aria herself was the most bewildered.

Since birth, she had experienced all sorts of extraordinary events, but she had never cried her heart out like this before.

There were times when she nearly died and came back to life, not just once or twice.

There were moments when she almost lost her voice.

She even chose death once, heading towards hell.

Compared to those events, this was really nothing.

“Kii-iing, kiing.”

A wolf and a black panther, who found Aria crying pitifully, gathered around her.

Since the animals did not bother her and merely stayed by her side quietly, Aria did not bother to shoo them away.

“Aria?”

That’s when it happened.

Aria heard the voice of the person she least wanted to encounter at this moment.

She stopped crying and lifted her head.

Lloyd emerged from the bushes, calling her with a face full of panic.

“Ari…”

Aria slapped away Lloyd’s hand as he reached out to her.

Slap.

With all her might.

Although Aria was the one who slapped, and Lloyd was the one who got hit, it was Aria’s hand that turned red.

She screamed silently.

It felt like she had struck a rock, sending a jarring sensation through her bones.

Lloyd, momentarily stunned by the impact, noticed her slightly furrowed brow and stepped closer.

“Aria.”

“Don’t. Go away.”

She rejected him outright, even though he had only called her name.

At this, Lloyd’s already pale face turned even paler.

“You’re hurt. You need to see a physician.”

But even against her dismissive words, he firmly insisted.

“I can walk there myself.”

“You were crying so hard you couldn’t even stand…”

He twitched his fingertips, clenched his fist, then released it repeatedly.

He wanted to embrace her tightly while she cried, but he couldn’t because she refused.

“Ha. Who do you think made me cry?”

Aria let out a hollow laugh and, without even trying to wipe her tears, glared at him.

“Go away before I say something hurtful to you.”

She was aware of her state.

Not at all rational, and struggling to control her emotions.

‘I originally planned to have a calm conversation with Lloyd after hearing all about the past from Sabina.’

So much for being calm.

If she stayed, she felt like she might blurt out something she didn’t mean.

That would only worsen the situation.

“Say it.”

“What?”

“Say whatever you want.”

But then Lloyd spoke.

Maintaining a distance from her.

“Just don’t hit me. It hurts your hand.”

Right…

He was correct.

Valentines might be physically strong, but their spirits were fragile.

And Lloyd, who loved Aria more than anyone, was no exception.

Now that they had become everything to each other, a single word from her could completely shatter his heart, trample it, tear it apart.

“What do you think I’ll say?”

Aria thought her tongue was not just thorny but armed with a knife.

She could manipulate and control the mind of the one who fell for her.

But she chose not to.

Because she knew the duty of being human.

Because she loved him deeply, too.

“Say anything.”

Lloyd’s eyes conveyed his message.

Say anything, even if it cuts me to pieces, even if I drown in your harsh words, just don’t tell me to leave.

“Lloyd.”

Aria called his name.

“A single word can embed itself in a person’s heart for a lifetime and can even kill.”

“…”

“I don’t want to do that.”

She did not want to become like those who gnawed at her spirit and planted deep traumas within her.

So, she stood up.

“Let’s not meet until I calm down.”

And then she had to say what Lloyd would least want to hear.

“…When will that be?”

“I don’t know either. I can’t control my emotions at all… for now, I’ll stay in the room I used to use before.”

“Rather curse, yell, and hate me.”

“Sorry, but I can’t respect that kind of preference.”

Aria responded to his earnest words with a joke.

She didn’t have the energy to take it seriously.

And still with a tear-stained face, she pushed away Lloyd, who was blocking her path.

Lloyd was pushed away effortlessly.

At that moment, he heard a ringing in his ears.

A chilling sound, like scraping metal against his ear, echoed, and his vision blackened.

While he hesitated, Aria had already distanced herself.

Lloyd stepped forward to follow her but startled himself.

He thought for a moment that the ground beneath him had collapsed.

But it was just a foolish illusion; the ground was flat.

***

“What’s going on? In just half a day, my child has become a shadow of herself.”

Sabina embraced Aria, who had come to her bedroom, and said.

Aria, burying her head in the soft, warm embrace, replied,

“I’m just so curious about the rest of the story that I’m drying up.”

For such a reason, her eyes were swollen and terribly red.

Sabina called a servant to bring some ice.

Then, she wrapped it in a towel and placed it over Aria’s eyes.

“Who made you cry? It’s okay. Tell me.”

“Cry? It’s just trivial things making me feel so sorrowful.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Sabina relax her eyes, as if she understood.

“It’s normal during pregnancy.”

“How long will this last?”

“Well… until you give birth?”

“What?”

“Maybe even after you give birth?”

“What?!”

Aria, shocked, pulled down the towel from her eyes.

“It’s still early, so it’s relatively mild.”

“This is mild?”

“From what I remember, around 28 weeks, you might want to kill your husband, and almost actually do it.”

That’s a bit…

That seems like a very subjective experience.