Chapter 146 : A Mother’s Denial
༺❀ Chapter 146 : A Mother’s Denial ❀༻
“Master Max, your godmother told you to avoid the rain first.”
Max Russell, or Isaac Prim, turned his head as he took off his jacket, which had become heavy from drinking water.
He thought he had long abandoned that name, but the way his body instinctively reacted proved otherwise.
“Sure.”
He was simply grateful that he hadn’t been kicked out at the door.
Isaac muttered, smiled bitterly, and took shelter inside the mansion.
The place hadn’t changed at all since the day he left.
As he wandered the familiar hallways, he felt a presence behind him. He knew it was Old Mrs. Russell, but he couldn’t turn around.
“…I’ve sent you countless letters in my name, haven’t you seen them?”
A cold voice finally responded.
“Well, I don’t know. What is your name?”
She hadn’t changed. Her words were empty of warmth—just like when she cast him out.
Isaac forced himself to turn. Her eyes held no joy, no longing. It was as if she was staring straight through him.
You haven’t forgiven me yet.
“Max Russell. I discarded that name… but I thought you might take it seriously if I used it.”
Her face hardened.
“I burned the letters in my son’s name. Impersonating a dead child is horrific.”
She genuinely believed he had died.
He already knew his mother could be cold—but to erase her own son from memory entirely…
She was the one who had made him sign away his inheritance the day he left.
“Did you even read them?”
No response.
“You didn’t even open them, did you?”
“You have no right to send prank letters in a dead man’s name.”
Isaac clenched his fists, swallowing his pride.
“The royal family is after your granddaughter… my wife. They’ll kill her, and maybe our daughter too.”
But Old Mrs. Russell didn’t flinch.
“If you help us…”
His voice trembled.
“So?”
“Please… one last time, Mother. Save them.”
“Are you asking to return to the family?”
“If that’s what you wish—”
She scoffed.
“After enjoying a life of luxury, now that you’re desperate, you want our wealth again?”
“How could you—”
“The weather’s bad. Come out of the rain. And I’ll allow you to call me ‘Mother’… just this once.”
“Mother!”
“I can’t listen to this anymore!”
Her eyes burned with fury.
“My son is dead. He had a funeral. Don’t desecrate his memory again.”
She turned away coldly.
“Butler, pay him off.”
Isaac sent more letters. Letters that were never read.
Until one final letter came:
[Candice is gone. My daughter might not be safe either. Please, Mother… take us in, just once.]
Old Mrs. Russell never replied.
And that was the last she heard from him.
She felt nothing. The death of the commoner who had taken her son was irrelevant to her.
But when the years passed with no word, when her men could find no trace of Max…
That was when she felt it.
Perhaps… she had killed her son herself.
From that day on, she began desperately searching for him.
“Duchess, you’re being ridiculous. Do you really expect me to believe this?”
Old Mrs. Russell’s voice was strained, her breath ragged.
I didn’t care how those letters had ended up in the box. They were enough to inflame me.
“Do you think I’d tell such a lie just to avoid punishment?”
I knew it was hard to believe.
She had always hated commoners. To accept that I was her granddaughter…? Inconceivable.
“I don’t know how you found out about my son, but fine. I won’t punish you for going through my things.”
But I didn’t stop.
“Was it such a crime that my mother was a commoner? Worth sending them both to their deaths?”
Her jaw tightened.
I continued, heart pounding.
“Now I understand why my father warned me to stay away from you… I didn’t know you treated him so cruelly.”
“Isaac is dead?”
Her eyes widened.
She approached me, fast and shaky.
“Try again! My son—my Max—is really dead?”
Her hands gripped my shoulders. Tears fell freely down her worn face.
Her voice broke.
“Tell me!”
