Chapter 286

Carissa kicked the back of Aurora’s knee, sending her sprawling to the ground.

“Do you know how they died? Each was stabbed eighteen times. Why eighteen? Think carefully!”

“No!”

Aurora’s face turned ashen. She swallowed hard, her eyes darting around as memories resurfaced. She recalled the Westhaven junior general they had captured, who had turned out to be royalty. He had been stabbed eighteen times, and they had even cut off his…

“Impossible! The crimes were committed by Westhaven people. My family was killed by spies. It has nothing to do with me. Not in the slightest!”

Aurora tried to rise and flee, but Carissa firmly held her shoulders, pinning her to her knees.

“Because of what you did at Victory Pass, my entire family was wiped out. They didn’t even spare my youngest nephew. He was frail from birth and constantly on medication. Eighteen stab wounds… his entire body was hacked to pieces, and there was blood everywhere. The whole Northwatch Estate was drenched in blood. This is your sin, Aurora. Tell me, do you think I hate you?” Carissa spat through gritted teeth.

Her eyes ached, though no tears fell. The heart-wrenching pain often came silently.

Aurora crumpled to the floor, unable to look at the plaques. Her entire body was ice-cold, and she struggled to breathe. It felt as if countless hands were gripping her throat, choking her. Fear pierced her temples like needles, causing intense pain in her head.

She mumbled, “I didn’t do anything wrong. Those civilians were hiding soldiers—they weren’t innocent. I wasn’t wrong for killing them. Your family died at the hands of Westhaven spies. It has nothing to do with me…”

“Yes, it has nothing to do with me. It really doesn’t. I am innocent.”

As Aurora spoke, she swallowed harshly and tried to crawl away.

Carissa’s voice came from behind her. “My fifth sister-in-law also crawled the way you’re crawling now. She wanted to protect her child. She was stabbed many times but refused to die, crawling on the ground toward her child. Blood trailed behind her, and she died next to her child in the end.”

Aurora froze mid-crawl, her body trembling uncontrollably as the horrifying scene Carissa described played in her mind.

“You think I hate you because you took Barrett from me? Compared to my family, Barrett is nothing. I don’t care about him at all.”

Carissa slowly lit the candles in front of the memorial plaques, methodically.

“My hatred for you is beyond words—you’re the reason my whole family was annihilated. But I can’t kill you for revenge. I can’t even tell anyone about this, as it would be a disgrace to our kingdom. I’ve endured it all. My father and brothers sacrificed themselves on the Southern Frontier battlefield, giving up their lives to protect the kingdom. So, I’ve endured.”

Chapter 286 +25 BONUS

Having lit every candle in the hall, Carissa suddenly turned and fixed a cold stare on Aurora.

“But how dare you say that my family aren’t loyal martyrs! It’s outrageous. What right do you have to say that? Didn’t you ask why I didn’t save you? I’ll tell you—because I couldn’t. You brought it upon yourself.

Liam came to the Southern Frontier to target you specifically. They had already occupied that area. When they attacked Simonton City, their numbers were few because they were waiting for you in the mountains.

Was I supposed to lead tens of thousands of soldiers to face their hundreds of thousands head-on just to save a group of traitors who violated the agreement between our two kingdoms? Sacrifice those soldiers just to save you?

I wouldn’t have been the only one to not do that—no one would. And when I say you brought it upon yourself, I’m not only referring to what happened at Victory Pass. On the Southern Frontier battlefield, the Hell Monarch wanted to save you. That was why he assigned your unit as the reserve forces.

But you were greedy for merit and took risks. You disrupted our formation during the siege, rushing in ahead of us. You sought to claim credit but fell into Liam’s trap. Everything was your own fault. No one is obligated to sacrifice their lives to save someone as reckless and self-serving as you.”

The passage has been corrected for grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Several instances of inconsistent tense and awkward phrasing have been addressed. Paragraph breaks have been adjusted for better readability.