Chapter 266: Olga held her breath

Olga held her breath as she probed the personal question right infront of Cixi. Cassian had revealed a few grim details about the kidnappers who took her daughter away, but hearing about it second-hand was not enough. She needed to know how Cixi felt.

Cixi lowered the porcelain cup to rest against her thighs, holding the warm ceramic between both hands. The polite smile vanished soon from her face, replaced by a shadowy stillness.

“My parents were not my biological parents,” Cixi informed after a moment of pondering.

She did not entirely understand why she was sharing her past with Olga. Usually, she guarded her past fiercely, never opening old wounds for strangers to inspect. Perhaps she wanted Olga to realise that unconditional kindness made her uncomfortable, or perhaps she hoped that by laying bare her upbringing, Olga would understand why Cixi kept a wall between them no matter how gently she was treated.

“It turns out they kidnapped me when I was an infant,” her tone was eerily steady. “They raised me only to sell me to Cassian the moment I turned seventeen. But fortunately or unfortunately, someone shot them dead on my birthday before any transaction could take place.”

No tears welled in Cixi’s eyes as she spoke. She had shed all her tears years ago. What remained inside her was an empty, hollow ache that had long turned numb, especially after witnessing countless murders.

“They treated me like I was invisible, or perhaps like a piece of old furniture sitting in the corner. But now, at least, I understand why they acted that way. I was never their real daughter.”

A firm tightness gripped Olga’s throat when she tried to swallow. And her heart fractured into a thousand sharp pieces as she listened to her precious daughter describe years of neglect with empty calmness.

A stinging burn rushed behind her eyelids, and moisture glazed her vision, but Olga bit the inside of her cheek, fighting with every ounce of her will not to show Cixi her tears.

“I am so sorry, Cixi. I am truly, deeply sorry that you had to go through all of that alone.”

Olga tried to keep the pain from reaching her voice, but she could not hide it from her eyes. Cixi saw the sadness there immediately that felt strangely personal, as though Olga was not merely sympathising with what had happened to her but grieving it.

For a brief moment, Cixi found herself wondering why her suffering seemed to hurt Olga so much. Then a sudden, fragile question formed in Cixi’s mind, one she had never voiced to anyone, not even to Cassian. “May I also ask you something, Olga?”

Olga nodded quickly, her tear-glazed eyes watching Cixi with infinite tenderness. “Anything, my dear.”

Cixi hesitated at first. “What do you think… how do you think my biological parents would treat me if I ever met them?…” Cixi bit down on her lower lip. “I am not even sure if they would want me in their lives. After so many years, I might just be a total stranger to them.” She lifted her gaze, searching Olga’s face with a vulnerable, desperate need for reassurance “Do you think they had looked for me all this time? Or do you think they might still be waiting for me?” Fragile hope threaded through Cixi as she kept asking. “Do you think they will be happy to see me?”

Olga pressed her lips together, battling against the sob threatening to shatter her chest. Every maternal instinct in her body screamed at her to throw her arms around Cixi, pull her tight against her heart, and confess the truth right then and there. She wanted to tell her that she had wept for her every single day, that her mother had never stopped loving her, and that she would spend the rest of her life showering her daughter with the love stolen from them both.

Yet the reality of their situation held her in check. Cassian wouldn’t tell her, inform Cixi, that she was her mother for hell knows what reason he was stopping her.

Olga swallowed the sorrow choking her throat and looked directly into Cixi’s searching grey eyes, pouring the entirety of her maternal soul into her words. “I am certain beyond any doubt that your mother is waiting for you,” her voice rich with unwavering conviction. “The moment she sees you, she will feel like the luckiest and most blessed woman in the entire world. I am sure, Cixi, she would treasure you like a precious daughter. And you deserve it also.”

Hearing Olga’s kind words, Cixi felt her tensed body relaxing. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I hope so too,” Cixi whispered softly. She lifted the teacup to her lips and took another warm, peaceful sip.

While Olga and Cixi shared warm herbal tea upstairs, a bitter, suffocating rage festered inside Tatiana’s chest. She sat alone on the velvet couch in the main living room of the palace, spooning cold ice cream into her mouth in a futile attempt to cool the fury burning through her veins. No matter how hard she tried to distract herself, her thoughts kept circling back to the pregnant gold digger occupying the top floor.

That shameless opportunist had not only seduced Cassian Crown and trapped the crown with a child to steal the majority shares of the empire, but she was now stealing Tatiana’s own mother right out from under her nose.

Tamara was passing through the grand corridor when she noticed the girl sitting alone in the dim light, angrily digging her spoon into the crystal bowl at this late hour.

“Is something troubling you, dear?” Tamara sauntered into the living room, her silk dressing gown trailing behind her as she settled onto the couch beside Tatiana. “Why do you appear so lost in thought? Are you not happy with the arrangements regarding Rafael?”

Tatiana turned her attention to the older woman, searching Tamara’s composed features for a moment before setting the bowl of ice cream down on the marble coffee table with a sharp clink. “Why can my mother not be more like you? Instead of looking after her own daughter, she spends all her time running after that filthy slut.”

Tamara drew her finely arched brows together. “Slut?”

“Yes, the same ungrateful slut who has claimed the entire top floor for herself and swallowed up the major shares of the Crown empire that rightfully belong to your son, Rafael.”

The instant Tamara realised whom Tatiana meant, her expression soured with distaste. She lifted two fingers and rubbed her temple as though the mere mention of Cixi’s name brought on a migraine. “She is a constant pain in the ass who refuses to leave. You have no idea how ashamed I am that such a gutter-born lowlife is living under the same roof as us. I wanted to throw her out onto the street myself, but Michael stepped in and forbade it because she is supposedly carrying Cassian’s child.”

Tatiana’s lips twisted into an ugly sneer. “This is not fair to any of us.”

“I know, darling, it truly is not,” Tamara muttered under her breath with resentment. “If only that brat in her belly were not in the picture, she would never be enjoying a single one of these privileges.”

“What if a miscarriage happens?” Tatiana suggested without thinking twice, the vile idea slipping off her tongue with chilling ease. Cixi’s existence grated on her nerves so severely that she wanted the girl erased from her life by any means necessary.

A slow, calculating smile curved Tamara’s lips as she studied the younger girl’s venomous expression. “Aren’t you a vicious little thing, Tatiana!… Still, we must be exceptionally careful with whatever we do to Cixi. Even though Cassian has vanished and there is still no confirmation on whether he is breathing or dead in a ditch, we cannot afford to gamble recklessly. If he is still alive and returns to discover he lost his unborn child, there is no telling what kind of slaughter he will unleash. I am not even certain he cares about the baby, but if he genuinely intended to marry that dirt-poor slut, crossing him would be suicide. He already murdered my elder son in cold blood, and I have no desire to lose anyone else in my family.”

Tatiana curled her hands into tight fists on her lap, her manicured nails digging deep into the soft flesh of her palms. “If an accident happens outside the Palace gates, no one will ever trace it back to us.”

“Walls have ears in this house, Tatiana,” Tamara warned, patting the girl’s knee with a cool, measured hand. “You are still very young. Leave certain delicate matters to the adults. If you are having trouble sleeping, you can always go upstairs to Rafael’s room. I am sure he knows how to entertain a refined lady like you.”

Rising gracefully from the couch, Tamara smoothed down her gown and left the living room, retreating down the quiet hallway toward the master suite where Michael sat reading a book in bed.

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