From Substitute To Queen novel Chapter 182

Chapter 182

I waited, watching his face.

“You want to hear what answer?”

“The truth. Did you kill him?”

‘Yes.’

Tears of rage filled his eyes. “You monster! How could you!”

“You didn’t even let me see him one last time! He was my son!”

Marcus struggled to sit up higher, his voice rising. “You know what you are? You’re a murderer!”

“He tried to kill Sable. I was returning the favor.”

“He was your brother! Blood should mean something!”

“Brother?” I kept my voice level. “When did he ever treat me like one?”

“You were jealous of him from the beginning! Jealous that he had my love!”

“Your love?” Something cold settled in my chest. “What love?”

“You destroyed everything! Destroyed our family!”

“Did I destroy this family? Or did you?”

“I should have seen your true nature years ago! You and your mother-both of you cold-blooded!”

“Don’t mention my mother.”

“Why not? She was just as selfish! Only cared about competing for my attention!”

Marcus suddenly grabbed the glass from his bedside table. ‘You don’t deserve to live!

He hurled it at me with surprising force.

I dodged sideways, but glass fragments caught my cheek. Blood trickled down my face.

“You’re insane.

“Yes! I’m insanet Because of you!

I touched the cut on my face, my fingers coming away red. “Why? Why didn’t you ever love me?

“Love you?” Marcus’s laugh was harsh. What reason did you give me to love you?”

‘I’m your son too! Your blood runs through my veins!”

“But you’re not the son I wanted.”

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12:06 Fri, 22 Aug PM.

Chapter 182

“You know what I did as a child? Just to get you to look at me once?”

“I don’t want to hear your complaints.”

My voice cracked despite my efforts to control it. “I studied constantly, trained relentlessly, tried to be the perfect heir…”

“That was your obligation.”

“I thought if I tried harder, if I was better, you might love me…”

“The love you wanted, I couldn’t give.”

“When I was six, do you know what my greatest wish was?”

Marcus looked at me with cold indifference. “I don’t want to know.”

“I wished that someday you would hug me. Just once.”

“That was only your fantasy.”

Tears burned behind my eyes. “Yes. Just a fantasy. I understand that now.”

“Tell me what exactly made me inferior to him? Why did your love belong only to him?”

“Because he shouldn’t have had to endure this pain. But you… you were born to bear it.”

“Your existence itself was a mistake.”

I was shocked. “What?”

“I never wanted you. When your mother was pregnant, I hoped she would…”

“Stop!”

Marcus smiled with vicious satisfaction. “Did you think you were the rightful heir? You were just an accident!”

“You know why Sable will leave you? Because she’s seen your true nature,”

“Don’t mention her.”

“She’s a smart girl. She knows being with you only brings suffering.”

I’m warning you…”

“Just like your mother-eventually she’ll regret ever meeting you.”

My voice dropped to deadly calm. I understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“Why I’m alive. To make you suffer.”

“You…”

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12:06 Fri, 22 Aug O

Chapter 182

“And now, you’re suffering enough.”

I walked toward the door. “I won’t be visiting you again.”

Marcus shouted behind me, “You’ll regret this! You’ll end up alone like me!”

“Goodbye, Marcus.”

“I curse you! I curse you to never find true love!”

I stepped into the corridor like a man walking away from his own grave. Edward was waiting by the door.

“Your Majesty, are you all right? Should I take you somewhere to rest?”

I raised my hand to stop him. “No. Go back, Ed. I need some time alone.”

I walked to the hospital entrance. Outside, rain was beginning to fall. Heavy drops splattered against the concrete.

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That’s when I saw them-a father and son running in from the rain. The father held an umbrella over his child, his own shoulder soaked through. The man was completely focused on protecting his son.

They burst through the hospital doors, shaking off the rain.

The father knelt down, concern written across his face. “Are you cold, sweetheart?”

The boy shook his head. “No, Daddy.”

The father gently wiped raindrops from his son’s face. “When we see the doctor, don’t be scared, okay?”

“I will be scared…”

The father pulled his child into a tight embrace. “Don’t worry. Daddy will stay with you the whole time. I’ll always protect you.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Daddy loves you more than anything in the world. You’re my little hero, right?”

The father removed his own jacket and wrapped it around his son. He smoothed the boy’s damp hair with gentle fingers. The child gripped his father’s hand trustingly.

The father answered every one of his son’s questions with infinite patience.

The scene before me felt like a knife twisting in my chest. I watched this man shield his child from rain, give up his own comfort without a second thought, offer unconditional love and protection.

Why can other children have this kind of father’s love, but I can’t?

Am I truly not worth loving?

If I’d been afraid, would he have comforted me?

Maybe… maybe I really was just an accident…

At that moment, I recalled some fragments of memories from my childhood.

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12:06 Fri, 22 Aug PM.

Chapter 182

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Seven-year-old me sat by the living room window, watching the driveway. I’d been there since four o’clock, waiting for Marcus to come home. The servants had decorated the entire house with balloons and streamers-bright blue ones, my favorite color.

When his car finally pulled up, I ran to the front door and waited. My heart hammered with excitement.

Marcus walked through the door, briefcase in hand, talking on his phone. He strode right past the decorations without even glancing at

them.

“Dad, today is my birthday…”

“Oh, is it.” He didn’t look up from the papers he was shuffling through. “Have the servants buy you a cake.”

He walked straight to his study and shut the door.

I stood there in my new birthday outfit, surrounded by decorations he’d never noticed, waiting for something that would never come.

I was ten, racing home with a trophy from my first competition victory. I burst through the front door, excited to share my achievement.

“Dad! I won! I came in first!”

Marcus glanced at the trophy with disinterest. “Good. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

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From Substitute To Queen