Chapter 1897
As Carola listened, her anger simmered hotter with every word, yet mixed within it was a strange, aching sense of relief.
Fortunately, Belinda had a good grandmother.
It was also a blessing that Kenia had raised Belinda with such care.
Mose furrowed his brows. “So, when you were a child, apart from secretly injecting you with hormones and leaving that mark on your face… Holley never harmed you? She never struck or even scolded you?”
“Yes,” Belinda nodded.
Lucas quickly added, “This actually reveals how calculating Holley was. What she sought was never physical punishment but psychological control. She wanted to shape Belinda into someone who couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, to turn her into a woman without integrity, condemned to live a small and ordinary life. Moreover, Holley knew very well that if she had beaten or scolded Belinda while she was still young, it would only have planted suspicion in Belinda’s heart as she grew—suspicion about why Holley treated her that way and whether Holley was truly her mother.”
After a brief pause, he continued, “And when Belinda returned from Chixdon, she had already learned about the hormone injections and the cause of the dark mark on her face, but she never knew who was behind it. She never once suspected Holley because Holley had always shown her such kindness and affection. To her, it was unthinkable that her own mother could be the one who harmed her.”
Lucas then turned toward Belinda, his gaze softening as it settled on her. “But imagine the opposite. If Holley had mistreated Belinda since childhood, wouldn’t Belinda have suspected her immediately? This just shows how cunning Holley truly is.”
Belinda spoke up as well. “And because of that, as I grew up, I obeyed everything she told me. After I discovered my lineage and returned to the Wright family, Holley warned me to stay cautious and to endure whatever grievances or harm came my way. Because, as she said, I was only an illegitimate daughter. I should be satisfied simply to meet my real father and live in a wealthy household. I didn’t have the right to ask for anything more.”
Carola suddenly seemed to recall something, and tears welled up in her eyes again. “So that was why you endured the servants’ bullying without ever fighting back?”
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“Yes,” Belinda nodded. “When I told Holley about it, she only told me to endure it—that being bullied was inevitable for someone like me, an illegitimate daughter. She said it was the price I had to pay for wanting to meet my biological father.”
As she spoke, a faint smile touched her lips, and her eyes shimmered with gratitude as she looked at Carola. “Honestly, if it hadn’t been for your intervention, I can’t imagine how—”
much worse things would have become for me back then.”
At that moment, Carola felt a deep sense of relief that she had intervened when she did.
At first, she hadn’t cared about Belinda at all, believing her to be Baker’s illegitimate child, and she had even treated her as if she were invisible.
Yet when she saw the servants mistreating Belinda, an unfamiliar unease and anger had risen within her. That was why she had punished those servants and warned the others.
In hindsight, Carola thought that perhaps this was what people meant by family ties.
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