Chapter 239: The Other One

Leone nodded frantically, still trembling.

"Yes, I sent people," she admitted. "But..."

Aveline could hardly believe what she was hearing.

Leone continued to mumble, fear loosening a secret she had apparently revealed only to her husband. The words spilled from her mouth before she could stop them.

"You were never my target. But... I was told a child had died too. I am not cruel enough to kill a child..."

Aveline simply stared at her.

Not cruel enough?

What kind of warped mind did this woman have?

Her parents had already been dead when Leone’s men arrived.

If that was true...

Then who had killed them?

Aveline swallowed.

She wanted to believe Leone was lying. It would have been easier. But her shadows had told her something.

Leone had been terrified.

And this time, Aveline wasn’t certain whether that fear came from guilt... Or from the truth.

"You thought you were doing me a favor by deciding, with all your arrogance, to spare the child?" Aveline asked.

Her rage began to spiral again.

Her parents’ deaths had caused her years of suffering. Their murder had left her alone, had robbed her of a family, and had condemned her to a childhood she could barely bear to remember.

And this woman was speaking as though refusing to kill a child made her merciful.

As though Aveline should be grateful to her.

"Should I let your youngest grandchild face my fate?" Aveline asked.

Leone’s face went white.

She trembled and slowly scooted backward, trying to put distance between them.

Aveline watched her.

She was trying.

She had promised herself she would not use fear as a weapon. She would not use her power simply to terrify others because she possessed the ability to do so.

She didn’t want to believe Leone.

But she did.

And she hated that she did.

Because if Leone was telling the truth, then spilling her blood would mean spilling the blood of someone who had committed terrible sins—but had not committed this particular one.

Aveline closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe.

She couldn’t become a monster simply because monsters had hurt her.

"There you are..."

A familiar voice made her turn.

"I was looking for you, Ava."

Aveline’s eyes widened.

Aelion.

She turned toward him as he approached, silver hair falling over his shoulders and steel-gray eyes fixed on her. He carried a thick folder of parchments beneath one arm. When he reached them, he glanced at Leone.

"Oh. She’s already here," he muttered.

Aveline furrowed her brows.

"The messenger of Ingrid Terravain," Aelion added.

It took Aveline a few seconds to connect the pieces.

She had heard that Rosalyn had met with Ingrid in an attempt to fortify the marriage with Theron, and that the two families had apparently reached some sort of understanding. She also knew Leone’s reputation. The Archduchess had always put her family above everything else, even when doing so meant trampling over morality, justice, or the law.

To Leone, family came first.

Justice could be damned.

Aveline knew Rosalyn was delusional if she believed Theron would ever become hers. But if Leone had come here to persuade Lydia to withdraw from the case...

Then that could only mean one thing.

"Is Alaric involved?" Aveline asked, her heart beginning to pound.

Aelion smiled.

"I knew you’d figure it out."

Aveline’s gaze immediately snapped toward Leone. The panic on the Archduchess’s face was unmistakable.

She looked caught.

It was the first time Aveline had ever seen guilt—or fear of being exposed—written so plainly across someone’s face.

For one brief moment, Aveline wondered if she should have been more frightened by that realization.

She had told herself she would never rule through fear. She didn’t want to become someone who terrified people into obedience.

And yet fear had one undeniable advantage: It brought the truth to the surface far more quickly than conscience ever did.

Aveline pushed the thought away.

She wasn’t going to become dependent on fear. Instead, she turned back to Leone. "Is what he’s saying true?"

She needed to hear it from her.

Aelion was trustworthy in most things. But when it came to nobles and the royal family, Aveline knew he was biased.

Not mildly biased, either.

Biased enough that she had to take anything he said with a grain of salt the size of a boulder.

"I have proof!"

Aelion thrust the thick bundle of parchments into her hands.

Aveline barely glanced at it. She didn’t need to.

Leone’s expression had already told her everything.

"Well, Leone..." Aveline smiled faintly. "Go tell the Royal Mistress that her son will face justice too. I will personally see to it."

It was not a threat.

It was a promise.

Leone struggled to get to her feet. Aveline instinctively reached out to help her. She wanted Leone to carry the message back to Kevran—to let him know that Aveline Willowgrave was coming for his precious son.

But Leone was too frightened to steady herself. Her legs gave way, and she dropped back onto the ground.

Aveline bent down to help her again when...

"Enough!"

The furious shout stopped her.

Lucien.

"Do not touch her."

Aveline straightened and glanced at him.

For a moment, she could only chuckle inwardly.

This man...

This righteous, terrifyingly powerful man was apparently still a complete fool when it came to his wife.

The same wife who had spent decades refusing to trust him.

Aveline could only sigh.

Love...

It truly was a strange thing.

"Your wife has proposed that Lydia marry one of her attackers," Aveline said. "If Lydia refuses them all, she is willing to find another man for her to marry."

She gave a humorless smile.

"A title. A dowry. Land. A comfortable household."

Her eyes hardened.

"Apparently, your wife believes those things are sufficient payment for what was done to her."

Lucien froze.

As he helped Leone to her feet, his expression changed. Shock flashed across his face as he looked at his wife.

Leone simply lowered her head.

"She was sent by Ingrid," Aveline continued. "Because her son is involved."

That was enough.

Aveline knew Lucien was intelligent. She didn’t need to explain the rest.

Although she could see only his back, she could almost feel the anger radiating from him.

Leone looked at her husband. For a moment, guilt flickered across her face. Then anger swallowed it whole.

"Do not look at me like that, Lucien!"

Her voice trembled with fury, though exhaustion weighed heavily beneath it.

"I have carried this family for decades while you shut yourself away in that laboratory of yours! While you pursued your experiments, I was the one left to keep this house standing."

She drew a breath, her hands trembling.

"I forged the alliances. I maintained our standing at court. I honored every promise I ever made to your father. I bore the burdens of this family while you were free to bury yourself in your work."

Her voice cracked.

"I built this family, Lucien!"

He stared at her in silence.

Leone’s eyes burned with resentment.

"You, of all people, have no right to stand there and judge me for protecting your family all these years!"

She swallowed, her anger barely concealing the hurt beneath it.

"Everything I have done was for this house. Everything I sacrificed was for your family. And now you look at me as though I am some monster who has done nothing but cause harm."

Her jaw tightened.

"Where were you when all of this had to be done, Lucien?"

There was silence.

Lucien looked as though he had been struck. It was not because of what she had done today, but because of what her words implied.

All these years.

This was not the first time.

The realization settled heavily inside him.

How many times had Leone decided that protecting the family mattered more than justice? How many times had he looked away without realizing what she was doing in his name?

For the first time, Lucien wondered if he had lost the most precious thing he possessed long before he realized it was slipping away.

His family.

Aveline stepped back.

She had no desire to become a spectator to whatever was about to unfold between husband and wife.

"Alaric was one of the four, Lucien," she said quietly. "And I’m not letting him go."