Chapter 429

I walked over to Zachary. “Zachary,” I called out his name. “My mother passed away,” he mumbled. “That woman lived her life as her older sister’s replacement in the Schick family. That woman treated me as her own son.” Zachary’s tone was very light. It was so weak as if he was enunciating unimportant matters. I quietly held his palm. Then, I heard him continue speaking weakly. “I left the Schick family when I was nine years old. I lived with my mother up until I was nine years old. At that time, I still hadn’t found out that the one who adopted me was another person! For that nine years, my mother treated me very well. “At that time, I was not the heir and still had three brothers before me. Thus, no one cared about me, including my father. When my father’s concubines and other children bullied me, my mother was the only one who protected me. “After that, I left the Schick family and wandered through the outside world. In that eleven years, she persistently wrote letters to me so I could continue to hold on. She always made plans for me in the Schick family. The reason I could succeed and return to the Schick family early was largely due to my mother.” Zachary’s voice suddenly became hoarse, just like a thick cloud of grief that never blew away. “I respected her, and she respected me too. The only objection she had was our relationship—she wanted me to break up with you. However, I persisted firmly, so she finally agreed for us to be together. My mother always gave in to me. She never had any ill-intention to me and even promised to treat her daughter-in-law, you well recently. And yet, in a blink of an eye… She was gone.” I felt Zachary drowning in sadness. The grief and sorrow flowed through him and eroded him beneath his light expression and his helplessness. I hugged his waist and gently comforted him. “It will be fine. She would not want to see you in such sadness. I’m sorry… Was it because we got engaged?” The man’s eyes became slightly red. “Dear, it’s not your fault. It’s not mine either. We can only blame my mother’s stubbornness.” The mother that Zachary mentioned should be his other mother that was still alive. His other mother was the one who had a grudge against my biological mother. While the one who passed away… Zachary mentioned his late mother accepted me as her daughter-in-law, so she would not have pulled off such an extreme act. She must have been forced by the Old Madam—the real wife of the Old Master. I wanted to say more to comfort Zachary, but an ice-cold voice interrupted me from the door. “Zach, have you not learned your lesson?” I followed the voice and saw the Old Madam. The Old Madam, Stella Gundy. The one who passed away was her younger twin sister, Luna Gundy. Stella loved my biological father. She loved him very much, right down to her bones. My biological father only loved my mother. That was where her hatred stemmed. She not only hated my father, but she also hated my mother. Naturally, she hated me too, which was why she firmly opposed me being with her son. Zachary never responded to her. He simply lowered his gaze at me and told me, “Go wait in the room for a while. I’ll look for you later.” No matter what happened, Zachary still treated me with his gentleness. I obediently went into the room. I wanted to eavesdrop on them, but there were no noises from outside. Perhaps they left the courtyard. I sat on the bed feeling extremely frustrated. Not long after, Zachary came back to the room. He wore a sad expression but still calmed me, “Don’t think about it too much. I’ll follow you back to Tong City after my mother’s burial.”