The Rise Of The Unwanted Girl (Athena) novel Chapter 516

Chapter 516

Jessa blinked rapidly, her eyes growing moist.

Then she stepped forward and pulled Athena into a tight embrace, her voice rough with emotion. “I’m alright. I’m still alive.”

Jessa’s warm body enveloped Athena, filling her with an overwhelming sense of security.

After repeatedly convincing herself this wasn’t a dream, she finally reached out tentatively and hugged Jessa back.

“Jessa, I’m sorry… If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have gone through all this,” she said.

Jessa held Athena close and murmured, “This isn’t

sins.”

ourf

fault. The ones who tried to hurt us, they’re to blame. You don’t have to carry the weight of their

Athena’s expression faltered, a wave of profound warmth washing over her.

Since childhood, the words she had heard most were, “You’re wrong. You shouldn’t have done that.”

Yet here was Jessa telling her she wasn’t to blame.

Jessa’s quiet comfort loosened the weight Athena had carried for years, as though someone had finally rolled the boulder from her soul, letting the light in at last.

Athena’s tears soaked Jessa’s shoulder.

A laugh bubbled up in her throat, but the sorrow was too deep, the tears just kept coming.

These were the words she had longed to hear her entire life, yet of all people, it was Jessa who finally said them.

The ones Athena had once called family ignored her, belittled her, even tried to crush her. But now, with Jessa’s words, it felt like she had finally been set

free.

“She’s right,” she thought. “It was never my fault. The blame belongs to the ones who tried to hurt us, not me,” she said to herself.

Athena’s hand brushed against something warm and wet. In the flickering firelight, she saw blood on her fingertips, only then realizing that Jessa’s back was a gruesome mess of torn flesh.

Despite barely escaping death, Jessa came straight to find Athena.

“Jessa, you—“Athena’s words caught in her throat as she suddenly felt Jessa’s head slump heavily onto her shoulder.

With the neighbors‘ help, Athena settled Jessa into another inn.

Upon closer inspection, Athena discovered just how badly Jessa’s back was wounded.

It seemed she had been caught in the explosion; shards of debris had been driven deep into her flesh.

ding to her

11:27 Sat, 26 Jul GO.

Jessa lay prone on the bed and murmured softly, “It doesn’t hurt. These wounds are nothing compared to what I’ve endured before.”

Athena’s hand froze. She realized Jessa, too, was no stranger to suffering.

She was a solitary figure, always keeping to herself and avoiding crowded places.

Back at the estate, Trina and Marquita had tried to connect with Jessa, but she rebuffed them all.

Like a proud wild creature, she withdrew into her own world, impenetrable to others, with no desire to come out.

Even when she smiled, her eyes remained cold and distant.

Jessa, like Athena, had a tragic past of her own.

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Athena picked up some medicated cotton and gently dabbed at her wound, making small talk as she said, “Prince Xander sent you to protect me, right?”

To Athena’s surprise, Jessa didn’t deny it. “Yes, I owe him a life debt.”

Athena looked at Jessa in surprise. “A life debt?”

“He pulled me out from a heap of the dead. If not for Prince Xander, I wouldn’t be alive today,” she replied.

Then, Jessa slightly lifted her upper body and looked at Athena, her eyes unusually gentle. “Lady Athena, you’re special to him. To Prince Xander.”