All Chapters of Claiming The Archduchess: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

Chapter 131 ALEJANDRO POV There’s pain that hurts more than a gushing wound; the one that cuts right through the strands of the soul. The one that aches, dull, slowly chafing away at everything you’d ever know. And silence that’s louder than bullets and drums. That kind of pain was what I was feeling, and that silence was what she was giving me. No screams, no curses, no tears… just her body turned away from me as though I hadn’t spent nights lying beside her, imprinting it to memory with the soft touches of my fingers.And it killed me softly because I deserved it. It felt like I had switched roles with Lorenzo and I was the one lying on a hospital bed with IVs hooked all around me to keep me alive. But in my state, it was the promise of her warmth that kept me going. Not the IVs with expensive medicines. You see, my pain ran far deeper than the physical ache. It was like the was a tear on my soul, and every time her eyes looked anywhere but at me, the tear expanded, the loud

Chapter 133ALEJANDRO POV The old fuck decided to leave with all the air that was in the room. Silence stretched like elastic, his words playing on a broken reel inside my brain, clanking against my skull like church bells. Or perhaps, a chance. I chanced a look at Rayana to find her rigid and unmoving in her stance, her spine straightened and her chest rising and falling with calculated breaths. But I saw it, the slight tremor in her fingers as she clutched onto the Manila envelope for dear life. The pull between us, that rope that held our hearts together once again twisted, coiled, and hardened. And the ice around her began to thaw. Heck, Vladimir’s words charred me so good that there was no stubbornness left in me. I just needed my wife, and the old man was right: no empire was important than the one inside this home. With that, I walked from where I stood in small steady strides, then rounded the couch before dropping beside her. She didn’t flinch, and my heart skipped a fuc

Chapter 135 ALEJANDRO POV I was elated. There was once a time I bought myself a five-hundred-thousand-dollar wrist watch, made with real diamonds and bedazzled all over. I remember walking out of the store feeling like I had made it in life. I thought that was real happiness, that having all the money to waste and burn was all a man could ever need. But it was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. Heck. I thought of it and realized how stupid I had been to think an expensive watch could be something that could fulfill someone. But this… this was on a whole other level. There was just something euphoric about the idea of being wanted. About the idea of being loved. Knowing that there was that certain somebody who will you choose you over and fucking over despite all of you visible flaws… the one person who will stand beside you, who will help move mountains with you while never letting go of your hand… That feeling surpassed any I thought I ever knew. My wife chose to sta

Chapter 137 RAYANA POV The scream ripped through the night like a soul being yanked from its cage of flesh and bones. I was jolted awake, heart hammering like a drum in my chest. Sweat covered my skin, and the sheets were a tangled mess at my feet. My hand instinctively shot to my left, only to be met by piercing coldness and not the warmth of my husband’s body. Another scream tore through the air, louder, longer. More pained like it was being dragged right off someone’s ribcage. I pulled myself upwards and blinked rapidly, my eyes falling everywhere and around the place. I was still in our bedroom, but it was dark. The clock on my nightstand signalled it was a few minutes right after midnight. The screaming continued, coming right out from outside the window. It was loud, raw, and pained. I jumped off the bed and stared at the orange that seeped through the edges of the curtains. I flung them far and wide, only to gasp at the sight before me. I yanked the glass doors open and

Chapter 139KAITO POVThe night was colder than it should have been, or maybe it was just the ice creeping around my heart and squeezing the little delicate organ in its coldness. The moon hung low and pale, like a silent witness to a man unraveling in a coil of emotions. The boss and Rayana left earlier, leaving with the little air that was left. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, like they were alive, and that shadows had red eyes and shiny teeth. So I stepped out. I climbed onto the worn-out mat where Viper used to drill me. The echoes of our past still clung onto the concrete like stubborn ghosts I couldn’t shake off. The fire had licked away everything, burning all the littlest of details that tethered me to my lost brother, everything gone. But the marks remained. My fists found their marks, but there was no power, no precision, and no strength in my knuckles. Just a hollow sound of hitting air, the connection dying with every ticking second. Each breath was a r