Heiress Unmasked: Shaking the World With Geomancy novel Chapter 2483

Maybe it was the demonic bloodline in him because somehow, Cornelius survived.

For countless times, Francesca told herself that he had nothing to do with her anymore. Ten years had passed, and everything had changed.

She was no longer the abandoned woman; she had a home, a family with responsibilities.

Besides, she was afraid to face him and be met with condemning eyes.

Thus, all she could do was quietly leave a baguette outside his door from time to time. She had saved them from her own meals.

She knew her husband noticed her actions, but he never said a word. He also knew she secretly treated their child like her second son, but he pretended not to notice.

With that, life dragged on for another five years. The villagers started to notice something strange about Cornelius.

While Francesca's youngest son changed year after year, Cornelius, left in the cabin, looked exactly the same as the day he was brought back. He didn't grow at all.

Fear took hold of the villagers, with some calling him a monster and some planning to drive him out of the village.

Francesca heard it all. Her heart clenched with panic, but she was powerless. Deep down, she knew better than anyone that Cornelius wasn't ordinary.

Still, she couldn't let them drive him out.

She remembered something she had once heard about people born unusually small. She walked for miles through the mountains, all the way to the city, asking questions until she finally found the answer she needed.

Someone kindly gave her some printed materials, and she brought them back to the village. Then, she knelt before one of the village elders and begged him to help.

"Please," she said, "tell everyone that he isn't a monster… He just has a condition that stunts his growth. In the city, people call it dwarfism."

Francesca knew that if she tried to explain it herself, no one would listen. In contrast, if it came from a respected elder, the villagers might just believe it.

In her final moment, she felt relief. Her life, so full of hardship and quiet pain, had finally come to an end.

"But what about my child?" she thought. "He's still so young… His life is just beginning…"

In the end, she couldn't let go of him.

As smoke and fire filled the air, she saw a small figure running toward her.

A sudden, aching sorrow rose in her chest, and she called out his name—the name she had given him, after the place where they had spent the most time together.

"Timber, my baby…"

If only she had a little more time with him… Perhaps, one day, he might finally say the word "mother".