Free Web NovelChapter 203: Chapter 206: The World Is Full of Heartless People
Felix Preston met his gaze, his expression unchanging. His eyes showed only determination, without a trace of fear or hesitation.
He studied Felix Preston with a cold expression. A moment later, he suddenly broke into a laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!" His laughter was hearty, and the hint of admiration in his eyes blossomed into outright approval.
"Excellent, excellent! I knew I wasn’t wrong about you! Mr. Preston, you’re not only loyal and value relationships, you’re also resolute and deeply devoted. You truly have my admiration."
"If I had been as decisive as you are, Mr. Preston, my first wife might not have died."
George Sutton had suddenly brought up a private matter from his past. Felix Preston, unsure how to respond, could only watch him in silence, waiting for him to continue.
"Sigh..." He looked at Felix Preston’s youthful face, and a hint of melancholy and sorrow surfaced on his own weathered features.
"Mr. Preston, I had a first wife once, too."
"She started seeing me when she was only seventeen, but at the time, I was just a good-for-nothing punk. I had no money and wasn’t in school. The only thing I did all day was wander the streets and alleys of Aethelburg."
"I had no dreams, nothing I particularly wanted to do. I just wanted to coast through life, living in a muddle. It was she who gave me the wake-up call I needed, setting me on a path that would completely change my destiny."
"When I first started my business, I had nothing but passion and the courage to never admit defeat. She was the one who went out and worked, paid my rent, bought my meals, and supported every need I had to get my business off the ground."
"It’s safe to say that without her back then, there would be no me today."
By this point in his story, George Sutton’s eyes had completely welled up.
"Then... what happened to her?" Felix Preston responded, right on cue.
George Sutton gave a bitter smile. "Complications during childbirth," he said, his voice trembling.
A chill went through Felix Preston.
George Sutton continued, "My situation was very similar to yours. At that time, I was in the middle of negotiating a massive deal for my company. If that deal went through, my company would’ve finally established a firm foothold in Aethelburg. But just as we were halfway through the negotiations, my assistant burst into the conference room in tears. She told me that my wife had fallen at home, was in terrible pain, and was likely going into labor."
"The moment I heard, I shot up from my chair and turned to run. But the people across the long table immediately stopped me."
"They threatened me. They said if I dared to step out of that conference room, the deal was off. I was terrified. I was afraid for her, but I was also afraid of losing that deal. I stood there, hesitating for a long time. In the end... I didn’t leave the room."
"So what happened to her?" Felix Preston asked, frowning, doing his best to mask his disgust with a veneer of concern.
George Sutton wiped his eyes and said through a choked sob, "I stayed in the conference room. I had no choice but to send my assistant back with some people to take her to the hospital. But her condition was critical. The baby was breech, which caused complications and a major hemorrhage. To make matters worse, the hospital blood bank was out of her blood type."
"My assistant was frantic at the hospital. She couldn’t reach me, so she had to call company employees to the hospital to donate blood. But because I wasn’t there... she was all alone, with no one to lean on. In the end, she didn’t make it. She and the baby died together in that delivery room."
"And I... I was stuck at the office for that deal. I never even got to see her one last time."
"Sigh..." At this, George Sutton heaved another heavy sigh.
"It’s been over twenty years, but to this day, I still can’t let it go. Every time I think of her, I’m filled with an unbearable hatred for myself."
"If only I had been as resolute as you, Mr. Preston, she would still be by my side today."
Felix Preston listened intently until he finished, then forced himself to say, against his better judgment, "My condolences, Mr. Sutton. In a situation like that, your hands were tied. I’m sure she wouldn’t have blamed you."
"She was with you for so long. She wouldn’t want to see you forever dwelling on the past."
"That’s right, Mr. Sutton," Evan Yates chimed in. "She loved you so much. She would only want you to live the rest of your life happily. You have to look forward."
"Sigh..." George Sutton nodded, clearly comforted by Felix Preston and Evan Yates’s words.
"Mr. Preston, you possess a courage that I could only dream of. For that courage alone, I will give you this opportunity."
"I’m investing in your otome game project. What’s more, I’ll fund a new studio for you in Downtown Aethelburg. It’s time you moved out of that rundown little place. Don’t hole yourselves up in there any longer."
Felix Preston: "Thank you, Mr. Sutton!!"
「By the time they left George Sutton’s villa, it was already three in the afternoon.」
Felix Preston and Evan Yates got back into the car, both of them beaming.
"I really didn’t see that coming," Evan Yates remarked as he fastened his seatbelt. "That Mr. Sutton isn’t just magnanimous, he’s so devoted and sentimental. His first wife has been gone for over twenty years, and he still thinks about her all the time."
"...’Devoted’? ’Sentimental’?" The words sounded so ridiculous to Felix Preston that he almost laughed. "Do those words have anything to do with Mr. Sutton?"
"Huh?" Evan Yates was dumbfounded. "They don’t?"
"Hah," Felix Preston sneered. "Not in the slightest."
"Why not?" Evan Yates glanced at Felix Preston, then started the car and drove out of the complex.
Winter had set in. The ginkgo trees lining the road had long since shed their leaves, leaving only bare branches standing stark against the cold wind.
In past years, it would have already started snowing in Aethelburg by now. But this year, due to changing weather patterns, there were still no signs of snow.
Charlotte Shaw loved snow; she had just been complaining to Felix Preston about the lack of it yesterday.
The thought of Charlotte Shaw brought an unconscious smile to Felix Preston’s face.
"Mr. Sutton said his first wife died from complications during childbirth. He didn’t mention that the ’complications’ started after she saw intimate photos of him in bed with his secretary. In her shock, she fell down the stairs."
"...What?!" Evan Yates was stunned.
Felix Preston continued, "You called Mr. Sutton ’devoted’? He started cheating constantly before he even made his fortune, keeping a whole string of mistresses. His wife was practically driven to her grave by his philandering, yet the year after she died, he married a college student ten years his junior."
Evan Yates’s eyes widened in shock. "Holy shit..."
Felix Preston went on, "You called him ’sentimental’? Six months after his wife died, he couldn’t wait to burn everything in the house that had belonged to her. He didn’t even keep a single piece of her clothing."
"That bastard..." Evan Yates slammed his fist on the steering wheel in anger. "That son of a bitch was lying to us!"
"Hmph," Felix Preston’s lips curled into a mocking smile. "’Devoted’ and ’sentimental’ have nothing to do with him. He put on that whole ’my hands were tied, I’m full of regret’ act for us because, now that he’s getting old, he’s finally starting to feel a pang of guilt. But that guilt makes him uncomfortable, so he needed to perform for us. He wanted to hear us comfort him, to give him an excuse to keep lying to himself."
