02 6
EPISODE 26%
I woke up to the sterile scent of antiseptic and the quiet hum of a heart monitor beside me. White walls. Blinding lights. A dull ache crawled across my limbs. The hospital again.
My body felt heavy, but my mind was clearer now. Memories of the summit, of the slap, of the dizzying collapse, came flooding back like a dam breaking.”
When I turned my head, I saw Ulysses sitting on the chair beside my bed, his elbows resting on his knees, fingers laced tightly as if holding himself together. He looked…very happy.”
Not quite smiling, but there was a strange peace in his features that made me feel even more out of place. He seemed relieved, like seeing me awake erased some kind of guilt I wasn’t even sure he should’ve had.
My chest tightened. The words came out before I could stop them.}
“You’re unbelievable. You’re really just playing around, aren’t you?”
His head snapped toward me, the calm vanishing in an instant. “What?”
I didn’t back down. My throat was raw, my voice hoarse, but the bitterness poured out anyway. “The summit, Ulysses. It turned into your engagement party with Catelyn. And you didn’t even tell me.“}
Confusion marred his face. “Engagement party? What are you talking about?“}
I stared at him, waiting for the lié. “The video, Ulysses. Did you forget it? You and Catelyn, she was leaning into you, smiling like it was the happiest day of her life. Everyone was congratulating you two.““]
He blinked. Once. Twice. Then something shifted in his eyes, comprehension dawning slowly like a sunrise over storm clouds. As if he got the answer why he was slapped at the party.”
“Selene,” he said, sitting up straighter. “Well, although it is true that it was engagement party, it’s not mine and not with Catelyn either.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?“}
“You must’ve mistaken her. Catelyn has a twin sister. Her name’s Nathalie.”
The words hit me like a slap, and he continued before I could recover.
“They’re nearly identical, but they were raised separately. Their manners, their speech, they’re nothing alike. Nathalie’s more playful, informal. That’s probably who you saw. The event was for her and my cousin getting engaged. The three of us are always close, which is why she was so familiar with me. But it wasn’t romantic. It never was.“}]
i blinked slowly, my brain scrambling to process what he was saying.
“I didn’t think it mattered,” he added, softer this time. “I never imagined you’d misunderstand. But now that I know, I promise, I’ll be more careful. I won’t let something like that happen again.“M
I said nothing, my lips parted slightly. Shame burned up my spine, battling with relief. All that fury. All that heartbreak.
And I was wrong.”
“I even doubt when Nathalie told me she sensed your jealousy,” he said, a small, rueful smile on his lips. “She wants to apologize in person next time. She meant no harm.”
My fingers twisted into the sheets. I didn’t know what to feel. Embarrassment clashed with a fragile sense of joy blooming somewhere deep inside me. The tension that had weighed down my heart began to lift, but it left behind a strange hollowness I couldn’t explain.
Ulysses must have sensed the shift, because the light in his eyes dimmed as he leaned in, his tone turning serious. “Selene,” he said, “what happened to you? Why did you show up like that?”
I swallowed hard.”
“I asked the doctor what could have happened to have you in that state. He told me you hadn’t eaten in days. You were dehydrated. Covered in bruises. Knife wounds. He said it looked like you’d been kidnapped.”W
His voice cracked at the last word.”
I looked away. “I was.””
His whole body tensed. “What?“\
“Lucas,” I whispered. “He kidnapped me. Locked me up.“”
我
Ulysses stood so quickly his chair scraped across the floor. His jaw clenched, his fists shaking at his sides. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”}}
I laughed bitterly. “Why didn’t you save me?”
Silence.”
His eyes widened, and then, pain. The kind of pain you don’t fake.
“No one reported it to me,” he said, each word jagged with restrained rage. “Not a single call. Not a message. You texted the butler saying you were at your friend’s house. That’s all I knew. I thought… I thought you were having a good time before I left for the
summit.”
212 026%
My chest ached with something I hadn’t felt in these days.
He looked away for a second, jaw clenched. “But now I know the truth. Someone blocked the news. Deliberately. I’ve already sent court summons. Lucas and Catelyn are going to answer this.”%
I gasped. “Catelyn?“%
“She helped cover it up,” he said. “Maybe not directly, but she’s involved.“%
Tears blurred my vision again. “I thought you wouldn’t love me anymore.“”
The words came out before I could stop them. They sounded so childish. So small. But they were the truth. Ulysses took a deep breath and stepped closer, his hand reaching for mine with hesitation, then certainty.”
“That’s impossible,” he said. “Selene, you saved my life.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?“W
His gaze turned inward, distant, as if he were pulling a memory from deep within.”
“When I was ten, I got lost. I wandered away during a family trip and ended up in the streets. For days, I had nothing to eat. No one noticed I was gone until it was too late.””
I froze.}
“And you found me,” he whispered. “You didn’t have much but you still gave me food. You shared what little you had. You saved me.”” The memory slammed into me like a sudden wave. I remembered it. A boy with dirt on his face, trembling, eyes wide with fear. I had given him a piece of bread and sat with him through the night.
“didn’t know,” I whispered. “I didn’t know it was you.“}
“You never asked for anything in return,” he said. “But I remembered. I will never forget. When I was sent abroad, I told myself that if I ever saw you again, I’d never let you go.“”
He gently brushed a tear from my cheek. “That’s why I could never love anyone else. That’s why you’ll always be the only one.” My chest felt tight. The ache was different now, it was warmer, deeper. Like healing.
Ulysses smiled then, for real this time. And it was radiant.
“I’m also very happy right now,” he said.”
I blinked. “Why?“}
He looked at me with wonder in his eyes.\
“Because you’re having a baby,” he said with a lot of joy. “You are six months pregnant, Selene. We’re having a child!“”
slave
