Free Web NovelChapter 9: It Turns Out He Loves My Alter-Ego
A few moments before all of this happened...
Inside Tamari’s Bakery, the waiter had just cleared the dishes from several tables belonging to various customers. He was now heading back toward the inner section reserved strictly for staff. But before he could step through the curtains...
"My boy, come here for a moment. I want to ask you something..."
The waiter turned his head toward the sound, which came from one of the corner tables. Sitting there was an old, elderly woman whose face was heavily lined with wrinkles.
Approaching her, he leaned down. "What is it, Grandma Tamari? Do you need something?"
This woman was the founder of the bakery, which had stood for exactly thirty long years. In reality, this waiter was her own grandson.
Grandma Tamari spoke in her frail, aging voice,
"Isn’t that the Duke? I’ve never heard of him marrying... but it seems he already has a family."
Her grandson nearly burst out laughing, a cynical smirk surfacing on his face.
"A family? Anyone would be fooled by that sight, grandma. But that lady with him? He didn’t even know her name until moments ago. She isn’t his family. Besides, that woman looks entirely ordinary. This is a man who rejected a legendary beauty like Princess Sylvia—the very princess who rejected the hero, Hykes, herself. Why would he ever spare a glance for someone so plain?"
Grandma Tamari’s expression contorted, as if deeply puzzled by his words.
"How can that be? I’ve been watching them... The way they look at each other doesn’t seem like people who just met. Those are looks of affection. It’s the kind of gaze that says ’I love you, but I cannot say it.’"
The grandson paused, thinking for a moment, before concluding that his grandmother was merely senile and rambling. He decided to just play along with her, knowing that the elderly often lose their focus.
"Grandma... how could you possibly know that? You know the Duke’s reputation. He would never marry a commoner, right?"
Grandma Tamari let out a heavy sigh, as though exhaling the crushing weight of time and the lingering memories trapped within her frail body.
"A long time ago, I said those exact same words. ’It is impossible for a noble to ever look at a commoner.’ But when I met your grandfather, those exact same looks were passed between us. It was as if... as if there was an invisible barrier, one created entirely by own imagination."
Long ago, the old woman had realized the true meaning behind those glances. Ancient perspectives and outdated beliefs make you build walls around yourself, even when no real obstacles exist.
She hadn’t been convinced of this in her youth, and the young generation today wouldn’t be convinced either. Only time would force them to understand. Yet, she couldn’t help but reminisce, as though she had nothing left to do in this world but remember.
She pictured herself and her late husband sitting together at the exact same table in the bakery years ago... desperately wanting to confess their feelings to one another, but constantly holding themselves back.
Wanting to hold hands... wanting to pour out what was buried deep inside their hearts.
Snapping out of her trance, she gestured for her grandson to leave.
She believed that despite the difference in their status, she and her husband were just like the Duke and that lady. She had always wished she could go back and tell her past self not to let useless, trivial doubts restrain her from what she truly desired.
She could not return to the past. But she could certainly tell that young lady...in whom she saw a reflection of her younger self...the exact words she wished she could have told her own youth.
Grandma Tamari’s focus narrowed completely onto that specific table.
And at that exact moment, at the table where the trio...Cain, Lucy, and Amelia....sat, Cain was reaching the absolute peak of his anxiety. Only now did he realize, a fraction too late, that the unshakeable composure he always maintained as the Lord of the Transmigrator Sect had utterly crumbled. The intricate strategies in his mind collapsed one by one, leaving him with no choice but to squeeze out a desperate sentence.
"In truth... my father always wished he had a little girl to give this pendant to, but he ended up with me instead. As for me, it is completely useless, so there is no harm in her having it."
He spoke while desperately trying to maintain a calm, nonchalant tone. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Lord Duke, do you not have a sister? Why wasn’t it given to her instead?"
Lucy’s voice was bone-chillingly cold as she threw the question, her eyes never once straying from the pendant.
Cain was terrified, pushed right to the edge. He genuinely believed that at any second, Lucy would tear off her disguise and draw her catastrophic greatsword to wage war against him.
"What?... I meant the eldest child. Anyway... it’s just a regular, ordinary protective necklace."
Bullshit.
Bullshit.
In the minds of both the mother and the daughter, that exact word echoed simultaneously.
As for Amelia, who had been in a state of utter shock since that morning, she hadn’t been able to utter a single word. Earlier in the palace’s main hall.... just a single hall ...she had witnessed dozens of royal-grade artifacts casually lying around, and servants whose auras were anything but ordinary. Her ’Eye of a Thousand Souls’ couldn’t even begin to pierce through them, meaning those servants were, at the very least, at the Prince Level.
And now, a protective jade pendant of the Imperial Grade. The legendary Imperial Grade—a treasure capable of shaking the very foundations of the Holy Continent the moment a single rumor of its existence leaked out.
Amelia was not an ordinary child. In reality, she was the Empress of the Starry Empire from the Celestial Continent. In her past life, she was a royal-level entity... possessing colossal power and immeasurable influence.
Yet, she had never dreamed of owning an item of this caliber in her entire past life. She had even doubted whether items of this supreme level actually existed.
But for such an item to exist here, in the Lower Continent? And held by a lower human, not the Higher Humans of the Celestial Continent?
She already knew her mother belonged to the Celestial Realm, a boundary higher than her own level in her past life. She had firmly believed she possessed the strongest mother in the world.
But now, it seemed she possessed the strongest parents in the world.
Although she couldn’t gauge the true depths of this man’s power, the fact that he produced this kind of divine item and carried it casually on him—rather than locking it away in the most secure vault in the world—meant his strength was titanic and his influence far surpassed hers from her past life.
It was glaringly obvious to her that he gave it to her because she was his daughter. The inscription on this specific jade required someone of the Celestial Realm to forge, and she refused to believe another Celestial being existed here.
For a moment, she thought she was dreaming. Had she truly ended up with the most overpowered parents in the universe, or what?
As for Lucy, she stared at the jade pendant, practically bursting with joy from the inside. She wanted to dance right then and there. She convinced herself that the entire purpose of this trip was for him to give their daughter this magnificent gift.
’So, he’s the type to show his love through these complex, roundabout ways...’
She was fully aware of the sheer value of this treasure. Standing inside a tax office for a thousand years wouldn’t even be enough to afford it. This was absolute, pure fatherly love.
’He’s doing this to teach his daughter humility... Right. Giving her everything all at once without any effort wouldn’t be good for her upbringing,’ she reasoned in her thoughts.
At that exact moment, Cain finally walked out of the bakery, never once looking back. He stood outside, waiting for them.
A smile spread across Lucy’s face.
However, she felt a sudden prick of bittersweet pain. This gift was for her daughter, not her. He still had no idea that she was standing right in front of him. If she were to reveal her true identity, would he even accept her?
She suddenly recalled her own words to him this morning, when she confidently declared that she would hunt down the scoundrel who did this to her and slaughter him.
’I need to clear up this misunderstanding immediately.’
Placing a gentle hand on her daughter’s back, Lucy smiled down at her. "It’s glaringly obvious that he loves you, he just doesn’t show it directly. Come on, let’s catch up to him."
But just as Lucy was about to step outside...
"Excuse me, young lady, could I have a moment of your time?"
Both girls turned their eyes toward the source of the voice. It was an old woman sitting entirely alone in the corner of the bakery. Surprised by this, Lucy decided to walk over and see what she wanted.
When she and Amelia reached the table, Lucy asked politely, "What is it that you need, ma’am?"
The old woman smiled, pausing for a long moment before letting out a single sentence.
"He loves you."
Both Lucy and Amelia froze, completely caught off guard by the old woman’s words.
"What do you mean?..."
"Exactly what you heard. I was in your shoes more than thirty years ago... I’ve seen those exact looks before. Those are truly the eyes of a man in love, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. Take it from me—he loves you."
Lucy fell silent for a brief moment.
But inside her mind, her thoughts began to spiral wildly:
’Wait... He loves the persona of "Maxi" that I just made up?! No way... How is that possible?! Does he love my alter-ego instead of the real me?!’
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