Chapter 7 - Four years

"Mommy, what is outside?" A soft glutinous voice sounded. A three-year-old baby girl stumbly asked the young woman beside her.

The woman smiled gently at her baby. She remembered she once used to ask her mother this same question.

Looking out the dark sky outside the tower, the same view as it has always been. She sighed.

"Sweetheart, the world is scary." She also said the same words as her mother.

The little baby pouted and turned back from the window. Kids this age are easily distracted. She pulled the picture book beside her and played with it.

After a moment, she pointed at the prince.

"Prince! Little princess has, me no?" The little girl asked her mother. The innocent baby only has a few playthings and no playmate. She can't help but look at the princess in the book and also wants what she has.

The young woman's eyes dropped to the picture book, the only book the both of them shared.

It was the same book she also read when she was young.

"Well, you will have Prince soon." She answered her daughter as she caressed her soft hair.

"Mommy has one?" The baby asked again as she tilted her head to the side.

The young woman was taken aback, and the memory from four years ago resurfaced, a memory that did not even leave her mind through these years.

His handsome face, gentle and low voice, everything was as clear as day.

"Mommy, mommy had one." She whispered.

She had never seen that man again, and she didn't know if she will see him soon. Her mother said she would meet him at a right time. But for a long time she waited, but he didn't appear again.

The memory of him felt very distant, as if he was in a place she would never reach. After that night, months later, she conceived her daughter. Her mother said it was her and his child.

"Mommy!" The voice of her daughter woke her up from her reverie. She realized she dazed off again.

She smiled at her daughter. She had the same features as her, the color of her eyes and hair. But she feels like her eyes held the shadow of that man. This baby was what she had received from him. When she arrived, her life did not seem too dull anymore.

She was still young, innocent, and pure, having a daughter of her age, she had a companion and playmate. So, she was not that lonely anymore, especially when her mother became weak and always recuperated in another room.

The woman put away the picture book and hugged her daughter.

"Okay, time for bed!" She took her daughter and laid her on the bed. She also laid beside her and patted the baby to lull her to sleep.

Soon, the little child felt drowsy and later fell asleep.

The woman stared at her daughter silently in the dark night.

She then put her hand under her pillow and pulled out the thing under it. She slowly opened her hand and looked at the piece of wrapper in her hand.

It was the packaging of the delicious treat he fed her that night. She had kept it with her, as it was the only proof that night was real. That he was real. The only thing she had of him aside from the seed he planted in her womb.

On nights like this, she always goes back to the memory of him. The young woman's being that tasted the intimate lovers' affair was not able to move on even after a long time.

She snuggled in the pillows and closed her eyes to get ready for dreamland, the only place she might see him again.

.........................................................................

"You treacherous bastard!" An angry voice burst from the company's hall. A middle-aged man angrily pointed at the person standing a few feet away from him.

"I did not expect I raised a snake in my own territory! You shameless man!" Anastacius furiously roared at the man who he personally brought up, but unexpectedly stabbed him in the back.

Leon looked coldly at his adopted father as he made a fuss.

"Get your hands off me!" Anastacius brushed off the bodyguards' hands surrounding him. His men behind him also pulled him to stop, but he was very vexed at the moment.

"You cannot steal the empire that my family had built for generations. You're not even a real Albrecht! I loathed I even picked you up from the dumpster!"

Leon only kept a straight face as Anastacius spit flew around the place as he spoke.

He can keep blabbering as much as he wants, but nothing will change. Right now, he was the head of the Albrecht Enterprises.

Four years ago, Leon had cut ties with his father's company and built his own. Using his own talent, connections, and maybe, the influence of his family name, success easily followed him.

From meeting the right people, getting the right opportunities, and sealing the best deals, it was not long before he soared to power.

And when he was powerful enough, he acquired and took hold of the Albrecht empire. Leon became the President of the Albrecht even before it was passed down by his adopted father.

So perhaps it was true, he stole this empire using their own family name.

Call him shameless, but he will take advantage of everything in his favor to get what he wants.

"Do you know how you got in your position? It is because of me, and the tradition you detested the most!" Anastacius added.

He knew how this man had soared in just these short years. It was undoubtedly the power of the goddess.

"Admit it, you benefitted from that power, right? And you try to act righteously as if to be the hero that saves the beauty, but the truth, you wanted to own it alone!" Even with the vague words, Anastacius spilled what is unspoken.

And as expected, Leon's face sank. Any matters about her had always hit him.

For years, he didn't forget, and he even did all these things to stop the atrocious practices of this family.

He didn't ignore the idea that maybe, the smooth success that he had was because of her power. This means the Goddess' blessing shouldn't be doubted.

'Are you helping me, sweetheart?'

His heart whispered.

'Well, if this is so, I will use this power to protect you and take you away.'

The words "only the President knows" finally fell in his hands. He was now the head and President of the Albrecht, and right now, in his hands was the information he had been longing for.

'It wouldn't be long, and I will see you again.'

Wait for me.