Newton poured a ss of warm water for Jasper, handing it to his grandson, who sat across from him.


    “Thank you, Grandpa.” Jasper gratefully took the ss, sitting up straight. He cupped the ss with a


    hand around the body and another at the base.


    “How’s your injuries, Jasper?” Newton asked gently.


    “They’re mostly surface wounds but have healed a lot,” Jasper replied, masking most of his weakness


    and


    pain. “Don’t worry about me, Grandpa. I’m stronger than you think. I was in the army once, after all.”


    “Then why didn’t you fight back when your father hit you?” Newton scowled. “That vixen, Sophia,


    clearly


    influenced him to hurt you for no good reason. Why didn’t you just snatch the whip away and hit her


    back?!


    He’d called Jasper over just to question him about this.


    Jasper looked down at his ss of water. To Newton’s surprise, he stayed silent.


    After a moment, Newton asked in a softer tone, “You’re my grandson, Jasper, and blood of blood. You


    don’t still feel like you owe it to our family, do you?”


    Jasper’s lips pressed into a thin line.


    When he was five years old, he once had to survive in a filthy, narrow little slumhouse with his sick and


    frail mother. It was a stormy night when those cars arrived outside the house. Rainwater had drenched


    the building, and the biting cold wind numbed their fingers.


    Jasper had been sitting by the bed, trying to feed her mother some water.


    Javier had been younger then, d in a smart suit and tie as he walked into the room. Not even his


    leather shoes had a drop of rainwater on them.


    All Jasper had in mind at that time when he saw this man was-


    “Please. Please save my mom, sir!”


    Javier had marched over to the bedside. Tears welled up in his


    eyes as he hugged Jasper’s thin and sickly


    mother. He cried out, “Oh, Anne! My sweet Anne! I’m so sorry it took me so long. I’m so sorry! I’m


    finally


    here for you and our son.”


    Jasper still vividly remembered his father’s devotion to his mother, insisting on marrying her no matter


    the pressure from his family and the public. Thus, Jasper, a child born out of wedlock, was legitimized.


    He never understood, though. Did Javier really love his mother? If he did, why would he turn his


    affections elsewhere, causing his mother tomit suicide when she crumbled under her depression?


    Jasper often wondered whether it would have been better for his mother to die on that cold, stormy


    night sick in bed or from the torturous existence the love of her life had caused her.


    “You don’t owe a single thing to us, child. We’re the ones who owe you.” Newton ced a hand on


    Jasper’s shoulder, unshed tears in his eyes. “I’m the one who’s to me for what happened all those


    years ago.


    “I knew just how much your father loved your mother, but the economic crisis had just hit us. We would


    have faced bankruptcy, what with the projects we took on being halted and our assets worth


    diminished. That’s why I had your father marry the Dutton girl from Minestrom-your brother’s mother.


    “It’s all my fault, dear child. The suffering that you had to go through when you were a kid


    “No, Grandpa. You were only doing what was best for the family and thepany. I can empathize


    with


    your reasons. It’s okay.” Jasper didn’t me Newton at all.


    Newton didn’t have to hear him say it out loud to hear it. He sighed long and hard in response.


    “I didn’t fight back earlier because of Justin,” Jasper said. ‘Before he left the city for Mosgravia,


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    that I don’t get on Javier’s bad side too much, for his sake.”


    he asked