CHAPTER 102 BRIANNA’S POV The castle had become lively again with Sebastian back. Throughout the day, I couldn’t contain the joy bubbling inside me. I was happy all the way, smiles easily playing around my lips. The other castle maids were quite surprised. They didn’t know me as someone who smiled that much. Well, because I never did. But this time was different. I felt really good and it was hard to hold it back. There wasn’t much work to do around the castle, and if even they were, the other maids hardly let me do anything. They treated me as though I was made of glass. They said Sebastian gave them strict orders not to allow me to do much work around the castle, so they were considering that. I thought as much. And the last thing they wanted was to make him angry especially as he just returned. So I didn’t bother anymore. I retired back to my chamber early since there was nothing for me to do. But before I did, I borrowed some romance novels from one of the maids. She

CHAPTER 104SEBASTIAN’S POVFor a moment, I lost myself. I forgot how to think and react. I lifted my head from the letter, blinking severally in confusion, scoffing in disbelief as I tried to wrap my head around what I just read.That was Catherine’s mum, Regina Hardwell, the woman who once saw and treated me as a son threatening and wishing me bad. It hurts. It hurts really bad. My heart bled in my chest. How quickly people can turn against you especially when you’re the innocent one?Now I understand the saying, “An apple never falls far from the tree.” It wouldn’t surprise me if Catherine got her rude and mean behaviour from her mother. I wish I had known that before I married Catherine and got to know her family.I closed the letter and put it back in the envelope, trying not to fall apart, trying to get myself back together.Should I be scared? No. Empty vessels make the loudest noise. Those were empty threats. They meant nothing. She wouldn’t dare touch even a strand of my hai

CHAPTER 106BRIANNA’S POVSebastian carried me in his arms against my wish to my room like a programmed robot. I tried beating him off but he won’t budge or even listen to my pleas. I know it’s been a month. I know Catherine has been buried even though he didn’t attend the funeral for reasons I still didn’t know about. But I feel I still need more time. For some reason, I was…scared. Scared I won’t be able to return the love he wanted to show me. Scared I won’t live up to expectations. Scared that my past life might just pop up like a virus and infect what we were going to share. Scared the gap between us was too wide. Scared…I wasn’t good enough for him.But I didn’t know how to tell him all that. I didn’t want to tell him at all. No doubt he’ll get pissed and feel like I’m pushing him away despite all his efforts. The last thing I want is to push him away again and lose him. I’d be crazy if I lost him. I’ll lose my sense of living if I give him up. He is the rarest of gems, and I

CHAPTER 108 SEBASTIAN’S POV My rage and frustration-filled gaze at her softened the moment she revealed I wasn’t the problem. That Hermes was. “Hermes?” I uttered in disbelief, my features scrunching up. “Yes,” she mumbled. Her lips pressed firmly together as she tried to speak from the ocean of sobs and whimpers racking her insides. “That bastard caused me a great deal of pain….he broke me and now, I can’t live my life without those memories replaying in my head and hunting me. It hurts…it fucking hurts Sebastian. I want to forget….I want to stop thinking about them but I don’t know how…” She gave into the compulsive sobs that shook her like a violent tremor, letting it all out. She was shaken, unable to maintain a steady control. The moment I noticed, I rushed and held her close, preventing her from crumpling to the floor. I let her take refuge in my body as she feebly wrapped her hands around me. Her sharp intake of breath filled the room and her outburst of emotion

CHAPTER 110SEBASTIAN’S POVI felt a pillow land roughly on my face, causing me to jolt from the bed as if electrocuted. My eyes snapped open only to see Brianna standing a few meters away from the leg of the bed, her hand on her lips as she tried to hold back her giggles.My eyes flickered in confusion as I couldn’t understand why she threw a pillow at me and stood there giggling. What was so funny? It was then I noticed she was wearing my oversized shirt. My eyes popped wide open, enough to shake off any remaining drowsiness in me. That wasn’t just any shirt but the customized birthday shirt my uncle made for me on my 14th birthday. It had my big smiley face in the centre and was so big it could fit an elephant. My uncle, Joe from my mother’s side wanted me to wear it for my birthday party. My parents supported the idea because they thought it was cute and didn’t see anything wrong with it. But I didn’t wear it because it was too big on my skinny self then and worse of all, embar