Chapter 16
Severin's head buzzed. He couldn't believe he had a child, questioning whether the chubby, adorable girl, Selene, was truly his daughter.
"That little girl… is my daughter?" He shook his head, finding it hard to believe.
Diane approached, gritting her teeth. The suffering of the past five years crystallized in the tears welling in her eyes. She slapped him without hesitation. "You bastard! Don't you remember the night before your apprehension? Do you have any idea what I've endured these past five years, the anguish I've borne?"
Severin was so dumbfounded, he didn't even flinch from the slap. He understood the hardship a pregnant, aristocratic daughter faced when expelled from her home. She'd likely endured a solitary nine-month pregnancy, without support.
Her life was already difficult, yet she'd sent money to his parents for years—likely her hard-earned income from food delivery.
Finally, Severin remembered the night before his arrest. He'd knocked Easton unconscious, smashing a beer bottle over his head. Shocked by his actions, he fled, knowing he was in trouble. Panic-stricken and terrified, he found himself in a bar after wandering aimlessly. He drank heavily, numbing himself in the hope of forgetting everything.
Later, a woman, seemingly in a bad mood, entered. They sat opposite each other, clinking glasses and drinking without exchanging names. Inebriated, they stumbled out and got a room at a nearby hotel.
Severin woke up the next day in a haze, naked, as was the woman. Blood stained the sheets. His memory was fragmented; he couldn't recall who initiated intimacy or how he'd even ended up at the hotel.
After waking, the woman coldly told him to leave. He assumed she merely wanted sex and that nothing more would come of it.
Downstairs, he was arrested. Before prison, he saw Lucy, who promised to wait for him.
In prison, Severin felt he'd let Lucy down. He vowed to make amends upon his release. Unbeknownst to him, Lucy had cheated on him within months, while the woman he'd forgotten—whose name he didn't even know—was pregnant with his child and kept the baby.
Yet, despite her suffering, she'd gone to the Richemont Hotel to save him.
He recognized Diane's kindness and strength; otherwise, she wouldn't have carried the pregnancy to term and raised Selene alone. Her support of his parents demonstrated her genuine goodness.
"Aren't you supposed to hate me? Why save me?" Severin didn't understand her actions after her earlier outburst.
Diane laughed. "Don't assume I'm in love with you. I saved you so Selene wouldn't lose her father. She's longed to meet him since toddlerhood. She needs a father's love. Understand?"
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