“Seren… Seredic’s son?”

Although he had black hair and red eyes, just like Cedric, she had not noticed it at all.

Seren’s frustratingly covering hair did obscure his face, but fundamentally, Seren didn’t resemble Cedric.

While there was someone who knew that Seren was Cedric’s son, this was the first time he had revealed the relationship himself.

Seren, touching the necklace, mumbled quietly.

“Not long after my mother gave me this, she closed her eyes.”

As Seren uttered the words that his mother had died, his pupils lost focus and trembled. He hid his emotions for a moment.

“Seren…”

Jane pitied Seren, who was trying to conceal his emotions. The voice calling Seren quietly revealed Jane’s compassion.

“I struggled with whether I should go look for the father who never once showed his face until the moment my mother died. At first, I tried not to go. But… being alone and lonely, I became curious about a father whose face I didn’t know.”

Seren had expected something.

He thought that his father, who had a tender love for his mother, might welcome him.

“Holding only this necklace, I went to find my father.”

As Seren muttered, he recalled the day he first met Cedric.

Summoning the courage, he held out the necklace and called him “father.” However, the response he received was a chilly one.

‘He resembles Rebecca.’

‘This is… your mother’s.’

‘You call me your father?’

‘Yes. Father left this for me…’

‘Left it? Me?’

Cedric looked at Seren with a disdainful expression as if looking at a bug.

‘I was wondering where I lost it, and it turns out your mother stole this necklace.’

Thinking back, it still felt like a sickening feeling in his chest.

“He said I couldn’t be his son. Even after the DNA test, when we met again, his words were still cold. He said I was just a mistake for one night and not his son.”

Between the long, messy black hair, Seren’s deep red eyes flickered.

“When I was young, I clung to Cedric, begging him not to abandon me… I hung on, promising to do anything he asked, no matter what… He said I wasn’t his son, just a shadow to handle tasks for the Wens Viscount.”

As Jane listened to Seren’s story, tears had unknowingly welled up in her eyes.

“I don’t know if I was pitiful or if I was just tired, but in the end, Cedric accepted me. Not as his son, but as a shadow to handle tasks for the Wens Viscount. Even though I was not his son, I believed that if I satisfied Cedric, he would eventually acknowledge me as his son. I begged and clung to Cedric in my young heart, pleading not to abandon me… I hung on, promising to do anything he asked.”
“I wanted recognition. I hoped that if I showed a good side to Cedric, someday he would acknowledge me as his son.

Occasionally, he would send compliments and smiles my way.

I misinterpreted his smile.

I ended up having delusional thoughts that Cedric might eventually accept me as his son.

For Seren, who was left alone at a young age, there was no one but Cedric.

Cedric was the only presence filling the empty, hollow heart. And he was the only unwanted hope called ‘family.’

“When I barely survived on the brink of death, it wasn’t the thought of giving up; it was the desire to be acknowledged by Cedric. It sounds foolish…”

Only after becoming an adult did he vaguely realize.

That Cedric would never consider him his son.

He was merely a chess piece to be discarded.

However, Seren couldn’t easily let go of the rotten puppet strings.

It was because Cedric had tamed Seren over the eight years. Cedric had complete control over Seren.

A pitiful situation, moving only for Cedric. That was Seren’s position.

“My story is not interesting, is it?”

Seren calmly concluded his story while looking at Jane.

When their eyes met, he raised the corners of his mouth as if nothing was wrong.

“Don’t cry now that I’m finally indifferent. Everything was my choice. Going to Cedric… staining my hands with countless blood… and even deceiving you and Lady Rose. I’m truly sorry.”

The tears that had accumulated in Jane’s eyes finally fell. Seren wiped away her tears with the back of his hand and strangely comforted Jane.

Seren’s calm appearance made Jane’s heart ache even more.

Now, although Seren claimed it was fine, Jane didn’t see it that way.

Seren’s inner self was as corroded as the lake that had rotted away for years. Beautiful on the outside, but rotting away inside like the lake.

Jane saw it. A heart burnt to a crisp, a chest foolishly rotted away.

Things emanating a foul odor were shouting.

It’s hard… It’s painful… Please save us.

“But still, believe in this one thing. My feelings for Jane have never been false even once. Truly…”

Without waiting for Seren to finish, Jane tightly embraced his body.

Feeling his pain so vividly, Jane’s heart also ached.

Jane comforted Seren’s back and said, “Seren, it must have been really tough.”

Her voice was gentle. It was an ordinary statement, but strangely, Jane’s words resonated with Seren’s heart.

Seren remained silent in Jane’s embrace.