Free Web NovelChapter 530: Chapter 530: Hurt
The moment those words entered her ears, Lana paused completely.
Then slowly... she looked toward Melody quietly.
For a long moment, Lana simply stared at her biological mother silently.
If another person had spoken those words, Lana would have immediately thought they were unreasonable.
But when she looked into Melody’s eyes... she suddenly realized something.
Melody genuinely did not understand her pain.
Not because she was cruel.
But because she had never experienced anything remotely similar.
After taking a deep breath slowly, Lana finally smiled faintly.
"Then let me ask you something."
Her voice remained calm. "What if one day you discovered that you were swapped at birth?"
Melody immediately froze. Lana continued quietly.
"You still grew up in a wealthy family, but this time... your parents don’t love you."
Her golden eyes gradually darkened.
"You have to earn your own pocket money. You spend all your energy trying to please your three brothers because they’re the only blood-related family you have left..."
A bitter smile slowly appeared on her lips.
"But all you receive in return is coldness."
The atmosphere around the table slowly became suffocating.
"Your parents don’t care about you. Your brothers look down on you. Slaps become normal. The coldness becomes something you experience every single day."
Lana’s voice remained terrifyingly calm.
"Would you still feel happy?"
Melody’s lips trembled slightly.
However... she could not say a single word.
Lana continued quietly.
"What if one day the truth gets exposed, and suddenly everyone points fingers at you?"
Her eyes slowly turned red.
"They call you a fake daughter. They accuse you of stealing someone else’s life..."
A faint bitterness filled her smile.
"When in reality, even more luxurious life was originally supposed to belong to you."
Melody remained completely silent.
Lana continued speaking.
"What if you’re suddenly forced to pay thirty million dollars even though you don’t even have a stable source of income? What if your education gets threatened because the real daughter resents your existence? What if the three brothers you desperately tried to love suddenly turn against you?"
Her voice gradually became softer.
"And what if... you eventually discover that every single terrible thing happening to you was secretly arranged by the imposter who stole your life?"
The restaurant became deathly silent.
Even Melody’s breathing became unsteady.
Finally, Lana chuckled softly. "Trust me."
Her eyes glistened faintly. "If you were in my position..."
Her voice trembled slightly for the first time.
"You would cry so much that eventually even your tears would dry up."
At this point, genuine sadness finally surfaced inside Lana’s heart.
Especially when she remembered those old videos.
The videos where Melody lovingly looked at Thessy with warm eyes.
The videos where Melody publicly defended Thessy proudly.
Meanwhile... in Lana’s previous life, there had never been anyone who protected her. freewёbnoνel.com
Nobody stood beside her. Nobody defended her. Nobody loved her unconditionally. Except Lucian...
She struggled alone until the very end.
Thinking about this, Lana suddenly choked slightly.
"There was never anyone protecting me."
Her voice became hoarse. "Except for the few people who genuinely treated me well."
Tears slowly pooled within her eyes now. "So please..."
She looked directly toward Melody. "Never ask me to be understanding."
Her voice trembled faintly.
"It’s easy to preach kindness when you’re not the one suffering. It’s easy to talk about forgiveness when you’re not the one being hurt."
A bitter smile slowly appeared on her lips.
"But when you’re actually standing in my position..."
Her voice gradually lowered.
"It becomes difficult to endure. Difficult to understand. And even more difficult to forgive."
The moment she finished speaking, Lana slowly stood up.
Her appetite had completely disappeared.
Oddly enough... she already felt full. So unbearably full that her chest almost hurt.
Without waiting for Melody to stop her, Lana immediately turned and rushed out of the restaurant.
Even she herself did not understand why tears were threatening to spill from her eyes.
’It’s not like I expected anything from them anyway...’
Yet despite telling herself that repeatedly...
Her heart still hurt.
The moment Lana stepped outside, cold rain immediately poured down heavily from the dark sky.
Looking at the stormy night, she could not help murmuring bitterly.
"Seriously..."
A self-mocking laugh escaped her lips.
"Today is one of the worst days ever."
Then suddenly, her foot slipped against the wet pavement.
Her exhausted body lost balance completely.
For a brief moment, Lana genuinely felt like collapsing.
And at that exact instant... the emotions she had been suppressing finally burst apart completely.
Tears immediately poured down her cheeks uncontrollably.
She clenched her fists tightly before suddenly shouting bitterly into the rain.
"Petersons are truly my bad luck..."
Even Mr. Crow could not help feeling slightly helpless seeing her like this.
Still... for the first time in a long while, he genuinely felt a little sad for her.
Without hesitation, he quietly used his psychic power to stop her falling body midair.
Lana herself did not even notice it properly.
Soon afterward, Mr. Crow carefully guided her toward a nearby shelter using his invisible power.
Rainwater continuously dripped from Lana’s soaked clothes while cold wind brushed against her pale face.
Finally sitting down beneath the shelter, she took a deep, trembling breath before covering her eyes weakly.
"I’m so pathetic... right, Mr. Crow?"
For once, Mr. Crow did not tease her. Instead, he calmly replied, "You are."
Hearing that honest answer, Lana suddenly laughed bitterly.
"I already knew they would never truly accept me."
Her laughter sounded hollow and broken. "I even knew they could break my heart someday."
She lowered her head weakly. "I knew I would probably never receive their love."
Rain continuously poured outside while the cold atmosphere around her became increasingly lonely.
"And yet..."
Her voice cracked softly. "I still subconsciously worried about hurting them."
A self-mocking smile slowly appeared on her face. "I honestly wish I never cared about them at all."
Then she laughed again. However, even her laughter sounded painfully bitter.
"So pathetic..."
"You aren’t. You are right though when an adult can’t reach a solution..."
