54. The Truth!

Emerald's POV

My heart skipped a beat when I saw my mother walking away. This woman will get me killed someday.

"Mom!"

I grabbed her hand and stopped her. 

"What did you do?"

She stood there unfazed. 

"I told him that it wasn't you but me... I deserve the punishment..."

"Are you fucking out of your mind?"

I screamed at her. 

"I can't see you lose everything every time for me... It's time that you live for yourself."

She said with glossy eyes and a sad smile, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her chest. 

"You sacrificed yourself for me, it's enough now."

I shook my head. 

"He will kill you... He is insane, you don't understand..."

I panicked. 

"Stay here with Ruby... I need to talk to him."

I grabbed my gown and started running to look for Egon. He wasn't in his room, he was nowhere in the castle. 

Now there is only one place where I might find him. 

I ran towards the beach and halted when I saw him standing there. His face was towards the ocean, his jacket was missing, and his hands were fixed in his pockets. 

He was thinking about something. I have never seen him in deep thoughts like this. 

My legs trembled as I closed the distance between us. 

"Egon?"

My voice was merely a whisper. 

He flinched a little, maybe I snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned around and his sad eyes held me captive. 

I took a deep breath as I couldn't read his face. I don't know what he is thinking right now. 

"Mom___"

I gulped. 

"She is naive... She doesn't know anything... Whatever she has told you, forget it..."

For a second, I couldn't understand what happened. I was in his arms. He was holding me tightly in his embrace, as if I would vanish into thin air in no time, and he couldn't afford that. 

This is not what I was expecting. 

"Where our love was so weak that you didn't think it was necessary to tell me why you did it? "

He questioned, still holding me tightly in his arms. 

"Did you let me explain?"

I questioned. 

"You were so hurt that you believed what you saw. Never thought that there might be hidden secrets behind it... I don't blame you, I would have done the same..."

He broke the hug and looked at me with guilt. 

"You owe me truth... Without filters!"

I nodded. What's the use of shielding vulnerable parts of life when he has seen everything? It's of no use. 

"But first you have to promise me that you will let Ruby and Mom go..."

I have to make sure that they are safe. 

He nodded. 

"I won't hurt them..."

I signed in relief and sat on the sand. I hate the texture, but the sound of the waves is soothing. I need their help to recall my past. 

He sat beside me, ready to listen.

"I was five years old, hardly understood things and emotions, but I used to understand my mother Martina... She was loving and caring, I have seen her struggle with blood and sweat so she could feed us at least one time a day... She was protecting us but she was scared of something or maybe someone... She was under constant terror. She would sit in her bed the whole night like she is scared to sleep, or maybe scared of not being aware of her surroundings. Ruby was too young to understand things... I was always confused about her changing places, she never used to stay at one place until she got the job in the orphanage. It was paying her well and they were providing her children with all the facilities... I couldn't understand much, but one thing was clear: my mother was hurt, and I needed to protect her... She was minding her own business and doing her job while her coworker was harassing her now and then. Even after multiple complaints, they didn't take any action because he was good at hiding proofs... I couldn't take it, my love for my mother was too strong to let it slide. I was always a problematic child, and I never learned to control my anger. And now I was angry at that man, he needed a lesson. 

I planned, he used to go to the washroom at the same time and in the same bathroom. I made sure that his water has an electric current and he won't come back... I succeeded and he died, but I couldn't hide it for long. Authorities found out that I killed him, and that was the biggest mistake and turning point of my life because it uncovered my mother and brought her out of her hiding place..."

"She was hiding from the mad king!"

Egon confirmed. 

I nodded. 

"Right! She was hiding from the mad king. The man who was obsessed with her. Who made her pregnant with two children without getting married and abusing her day and night... She was running away from him but got caught because of me... He found us, he found me... Mom said he would have killed us because we were a threat to his reputation, but he saw something in me... When he met me, he was impressed by the way I killed that man... Later Mom told me that he is impressed by me because I am exactly like him, nature, eyes, and anger. I gave him hope, unlike his other children, who were disappointment for him. He finally found an heir to his kingdom, me!... He didn't care that I was a girl. He just wanted someone to be as cruel and fucked up as him, and he started doing that with me... He separated us from our mother. He used us to control her and used her to control us. He introduced us as Bertha's children. Our mother was non-existent to the world, and that always broke my heart. My mother never got the love and respect she deserved... He was so obsessed with making me queen that he wiped out my real identity and called me queen since childhood so I could get obsessed with the power and throne... He made me heartless, controlled me by using my mother. I was powerful but just a puppet for him..."

"What is your real name?"

Egon asked, curious about many things.