The Scarred Queen's Rise (Athena) novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Athena stepped forward, meeting Michael’s panicked gaze. “You, of all people, should know the kinds of torture people face in the military. You knew exactly what would befall a woman in a place like that, yet you turned a blind eye, pretending it was for my own good, just so I’d ‘learn my lesson. Well, I’ve learned it now. Aren’t you pleased?”

Michael stared into Athena’s icy eyes, stumbling back in a panic.

Michael thought desperately, ‘No… this isn’t how it was supposed to be.

This was never my intention. I… I just wanted to…‘

Athena let out a soft chuckle and swept her hair forward across her chest.

Athena deliberately tugged her collar aside, exposing the scar at the nape of her neck to Michael.

She said calmly, “They branded the word ‘shame‘ here with a hot iron. They forced me to choose between my face or my body. I chose my body, because if it had been on my face, it would have ended my life.”

Michael’s pupils trembled slightly, there was indeed a palm–sized scar on the nape of Athena’s neck.

The skin there was wrinkled and shriveled, but to his confusion, the branding was gone.

She added, “Michael, spare your doubts, I carved that word out of my own flesh with a knife. There are plenty more experiences like this. Do you truly wish to hear about them all?”

Athena closed in on Michael step by step, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze.

He couldn’t fathom how Athena had endured such excruciating agony.

He remembered that when they were kids, Athena was such a crybaby, even a minor cut would have her in tears for hours.

Back then, it always took Michael ages to soothe her.

He thought, ‘How excruciating the pain must have been for her, how utterly hopeless she must have felt back then!

‘Yet she had steeled herself to carve a piece of flesh from her own body.‘

Michael could bear the thought no longer. Athena was right that he was no better than the monsters in the barracks.

Michael couldn’t meet Athena’s gaze. His fists clenched so tightly that veins bulged on the backs of his hands.

Michael forced himself to speak through the pain in his heart. “The only reason the Mcgee family seeks to marry you is because Ferris is terminally ill. The doctors say he has less than three years to live. Don’t you dare agree to this marriage lightly.”

Athena looked at him with mild surprise. “So, you came here just for this?”

Michael nodded slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. “Yes.”

Athena gave a soft, humorless chuckle, her expression calm. “You needn’t concern yourself with my affairs, Lord Osborne.”

Now she understood why the Mcgee family had sought marriage with her.

With Athena’s reputation in ruins and Ferris not expected to live long, no noble lady was willing to marry him. So the Mcgee family set their sights on her instead.

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She thought, ‘No wonder those noble ladies had looked at me with such pity in their eyes.

Seeing that she showed no surprise and had even accepted it calmly, Michael asked in confusion, “Since you already know, why not go to Margaret? She dotes on you most. Just say the word, and she’ll surely turn down this marriage proposal for you.”

Athena met Michael’s anxious gaze, gave a wry chuckle, and said, “Why should I refuse? Do you think someone like me has any better options?”

Michael’s pupils dilated slightly, his voice growing urgent. “Athena, I know you’re angry, but marriage is a lifelong commitment. Don’t throw away your future just to get back at me.

“Even if your reputation is in tatters, must you really marry into a noble house? As long as you’re willing, I can help you find another way…

Michael’s gaze burned with feverish intensity as he looked at Athena.

Yet Athena regarded him with the detached gaze of a complete stranger.

Athena stared straight into Michael’s eyes, enunciating each word. “Michael, by what right do you presume to dictate my life? You’ve already ruined me once, dare you try to ruin me again?”

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