They were sitting facing each other, but it was as if they stood on parallel lines that would never meet, nor touch. If anything, she was the normal one; what wasn’t normal was the man in front of her.

This was the man who had abandoned her so cruelly five years ago, yet had come to see her as if nothing had happened. He suggested that she become his mistress again, throwing all sorts of insults at her, and now he suddenly wanted to be friends. But whenever she brought up her son, the man acted like a snake whose tail had been stepped on…

Rowena took a deep breath in utter frustration.

“He’s my everything.”

The hardest time, the most unbearable time.

He was the gift that made her days of wanting to die bearable. She held him in her womb for ten months and raised him for another five years.

She remembered the moment he first started crying, the moment he took his first steps, and when he called her “mom” for the first time.

Everything was extraordinary, and every moment was with happiness beyond belief.

“He’s my…”

As she spoke, her heart clenched at the feeling that came over her. Rowena covered her heated face with both hands. She tried to calm herself down, but something lingering in her chest began to well up.

Her eyes went completely dark, and she ran out of breath.

“Rowena.”

“…”

“Rowena.”

Killian extended his arm to Rowena, whose shoulders began to shudder.

Guilt, sadness, anger. Unlike her, who was swept away by every emotion, he sounded calm.

When she tried to shake him off, he brushed her ear with his thumb. Brought to you by your one and only The way he approaches her like this–it was a habit that surprisedleila her back when she initially became his mistress for the first time.

He was a man who did whatever she wanted but never said the words ‘I love you’ to her. But in times like this, she sometimes had the illusion that she was loved.

Rowena stiffened like a rabbit caught in a trap. He wrapped his hands around her neck and leaned back. She froze in place while his hands made their way around her waist.

“Calm down.”

Killian buried her face in his chest as he spoke softly. It was as if he was soothing a young child. He stroked her blond hair until her breathing stabilized.

After some time, she finally stopped trembling. Rowena had to face reality. Killian Devonshire was a man who, when confronted forcefully, would thoroughly destroy his opponent.

And if it took her to throw away her pride, she was willing to do so for the sake of protecting Damian. No, she had no dignity or pride to begin with, so she had to act smart.

“If I behave, the child… Will you allow me to see him more?”

“…”

He lifted her head slowly, and with a soft grip on her chin, Rowena relaxed a bit as she expected him to be more understanding towards her. 

Her eyelashes, covered in tears, flickered pitifully like a butterfly’s wings. Underneath the thin woman’s figure was a stern mother trying to protect her child. Wiping away the tears with his fingertips, Killian withdrew his hand.

“Let’s go back to the castle. I have a present waiting for you.”

It was a blunt rejection and a dismissive remark. Rowena bit her lower lip instead of responding.