# 17
"What are you saying?"
“Her Highness.”
“Are you saying the lady's hair was pink? Like Cheveline's?”
Countess Kane nodded slightly at Helen's urging.
“Are you suggesting that Revan might not be the son of the Dowager Marchioness?”
"It's just a guess, but it's possible. It seems that the pink hair… the princess inherited it from the lady."
When Helen asked in a cautious voice, Countess Kane replied:
“This is… unbelievable.”
Helen couldn't finish her words, and her face showed disbelief.
Countess Qin lowered her eyes.
As soon as Revan took over the position of Marquis, the Dowager Marquis returned to her family as if she had been waiting.
The Dowager Marquise did not visit her granddaughter, Chefeline, even once.
Shevelin's pink hair looked like no one else's.
‘All because… Revan is not the son of the Dowager Duchess.’
Helen, so shocked, couldn't utter a word.
‘What is the point of hiding the matter when the marriage connection has already been severed?’
Realizing that he had forgotten the paternity test application form, Revan returned to the drawing room, his body stiffening.
“Revan doubted the child’s parentage because of the different color of his hair... He hurt us.”
He grabbed the door handle but couldn't open it.
He was afraid of Helen's reaction.
When did seeing Helen begin to arouse such feelings in him?
It was absurd and sad at the same time. Since the day of his divorce from Helen, he had not slept well, and was growing tired.
'I can't show myself like this.'
As he was about to leave again, strange words came to him.
“Are you suggesting that Revan might not be the son of the Dowager Marchioness?”
' What is this? That... I'm not my mother's son?'
Revan quickly left the Largon Palace, having been slowly retreating.
He felt suffocated. His heart was beating so hard that he couldn't count the beats.
He kept repeating to himself that this couldn't be true, that it was impossible...
From every moment he could remember, his mother had been cold to him.
Especially recently… When he asked her to take care of Arya, her words were strange.
“Is it your child?”
“No. The child has another father.”
“Fortunately, the child in Arya’s womb will not look like Chevilin.”
“Why do you hate Chivillin so much, mother?”
It didn't seem like she said that just because she hated children.
Revan felt like he was going crazy at this sudden information.
Why did Chevilin's words of not being like him make him feel so anxious?
‘I really feel... like she's not my mother.'
Revan knew the answer better than anyone.
“Sir, are you going home now?”
As he was getting out of the car, the driver approached him and bowed his head.
As Revan was about to board the carriage, he impulsively ordered a change of direction.
“...Take me to Port Robinette. I want to see my mother.”
“Understood, sir.”
He had to know the truth.
Revan boarded a ship to the Kingdom of Emek and arrived at the palace of Count Louis.
As he hesitated at the front gate, the old butler came out.
“Marquis?:
“……”
“Why are you here without warning... Come in.”
The old butler noticed Revan's exhaustion, so he allowed him in.
“Where is my mother?”
“She's in her room. But she is not feeling well, and she asked that no one disturb her.”
“She always seems to be sick when I come. Did I ask you to say that on purpose?”
Revan smiled sarcastically, taking the butler's words negatively.
“How dare you say that… That’s not the reason…”
“Go away. “I want to see my mother immediately.”
"my lord! Wait a minute please!”
The old butler called to Revan as he climbed the stairs, but he ignored him and went up to the Marchioness's room.
He knocked on the door forcefully, and the widowed Marchioness came out, wrapped in a thick shawl.
“...Revan?”
“……”
“What brings you here without warning...cough!”
She kept coughing, turning her head as if she was really sick.
“Are you… very sick?”
"no. I'm fine. Please come in.”
Despite her tired appearance, the Dowager Marquise allowed Revan to enter.
After the Dowager Marquise served him tea, Revan began to speak slowly.
“Mom.”
“…?”
“How did you feel after giving birth to me?”
It was ridiculous. He was asking his mother if she was really his mother.
“…So you know?”
The Dowager Marquise's eyes wavered for a moment before she regained her composure.
“They say a secret doesn't stay hidden forever. This is correct."
The Dowager Marchioness finally spoke in a hollow voice.
“...No. “This is unbelievable.”
He shook his head like crazy.
“It's impossible for you not to be my mother!”
“……”
Revan screamed, his eyes nearly exploding.
The anxiety he felt, the truth he denied...it was real.
“You lied to me...”
He was not her real son. He was not her biological son.
No secret remains hidden forever.
“It must have been funny. To call you my mother... to long for your tenderness, even though I was not your real son...”
“……”
“Should I call you the Dowager Marchioness instead of my mother?”
He felt deeply betrayed when he realized she had deceived him.
Why didn't you tell him before? He felt like he was cheated.
“I knew everything, and yet I was the last to know.”
“How do you do this?”
"with me!"
The widowed maquis slapped Revan on the cheek with trembling hands.
“Huh.”
“Get a hold of yourself.”
Revan turned to the left, blood pouring from his mouth.
There was something else more painful than the taste of blood, more painful than the sting of his cheek.
“How dare you raise your voice to your mother? "You're just like your idiot father."
……”
"I may not be your biological mother, but I didn't raise you this way. Show some manners."
Even after the secret of his birth was exposed, the widowed mother remained cold towards Revan.
Revan was surprised by this.
This woman who was looking down on him, never showed him any love or care or anything.
No wonder she left her minor son immediately after her husband's death.
In a situation where relatives might take care of him, Revan had to bear it all alone.
Revan collapsed to the ground.
“Is this really true?”
If he wasn't her biological son, abandoning him seemed inevitable.
Revan felt unbearably lonely, so he knelt down. He wanted to hear that this wasn't true.
“…Mom, I’m sorry.”
“……”
"Please say it's not true. Please say you're my mother."
And so, like a child crying in grief, Revan crawled towards the Dowager Marchioness, clinging to her legs and pleading.
The Dowager Marchioness trembled for a moment, but mercilessly pushed away Revan's hands.
“So... who gave birth to me?”
The Dowager Duchess answered his question with something incredible.
“The day my son died, your father brought you an illegitimate son he hid.”
“…an illegitimate son?”
“He asked me to raise you, saying that from now on you would be my son, Revan.”
Revan found the weight of the truth he was hearing unbearable.
“Because I needed an heir to the Marquisate of Rata after my son died, I accepted you, but I could not love you.”
The widowed Marchioness buried her son's little urn in the ground with great sadness.
“Do you hate me for that? But what can you do?”
“Even if I could go back in time, I wouldn't love you.”
“…why?”
"Hating you was my only way to breathe. It was my only way to survive. Can't you let me have this much?"
The Dowager Duchess smiled crookedly.
“I hated you so much. You, who took my son’s place and grew up happy, know nothing.”
“…….”
With every breath, she resented Revan, pushed him away, rejected him.
Otherwise, she would feel like she was committing a sin against her son who died before her.
“I don’t know who your biological mother is, but I do know one thing.”
The widow ignited the fire of hatred that she had hidden deep inside her, and presented it to him.
Maybe she was waiting for this day, the day she would take revenge on her illegitimate stepson.
In the darkest place, when he's alone.
Her husband was afraid that this illegitimate son would know the truth.
But now that her husband was dead, she no longer needed to hesitate.
“The woman who was wearing the necklace your father always carried...”
“……”
“Her hair was pink, like Cheveline’s.”
She explained why she has rejected Sheviline so far.
“She lived as my husband’s mistress, and left her mark on the world.”
The Widow spoke as if she was disgusted, then clicked her tongue and passed by Revan.
"…From what?"
Revan was shocked.
The words were even harsher than revealing the fact that he was not the widow's biological son.