The Devil's Betrothed novel Chapter 549

Chapter 549: Talk About ’Father’

The next morning, Oriana didn’t find Arlan next to her, and she didn’t feel surprised about it, though there was a little disappointment in not being able to see him for the rest of the day.

She had a peaceful morning meal with her grandfather, where her family used to gather for meals. Later, she took Philip out into the sunlight after ensuring he was wearing warm clothes, as she had things to discuss with him.

The servants had made arrangements for them to sit in the open lawn of the garden, which was glistening with morning sunlight. As they settled into two comfortable chairs, servants served tea for them.

"Are you feeling better, Grandpa?" Oriana asked.

"Hmm," the old man nodded silently, "Thank you for bringing me back here. I thought I would never be able to return here."

Oriana simply nodded and heard the old man, "You probably still have many questions to ask me. Feel free to."

As he had already said it, Oriana didn’t wish to hold back either.

"Grandpa, don’t you have any portraits of my mother? I wished to see her, even though it’s just an image."

The old man shook his head lightly as he let out a helpless sigh. "Before leaving this place, I had ordered the butler of this mansion to burn everything that would give away our identities."

She sighed helplessly as well, "Then, it can’t be helped."

"My apologies that you can’t see your mother," he said regretfully.

"It’s alright, Grandpa. Maybe I will get to see her in my dreams if I am fortunate enough," she replied, offering him a comforting smile. "Grandpa, after that night when Mother trapped Edna in that room, what happened with my mother?"

"She passed away," Philip replied, his voice heavy with emotion.

"Then, can you tell me where you have..." Oriana couldn’t say it loud and clear, "...I can at least visit her."

"I don’t know where she is," he answered. Every answer to her questions was nothing but words of regret from the old man. "The man who claimed to be your father showed up and took her cold body away."

"My father?" Oriana exclaimed, finally getting some insight into the mysterious man. "Who is he? Where..."

The old man looked into her hopeful eyes and replied dejectedly, "Even I am not aware of who he is?"

Oriana was shocked. "Mother didn’t tell you about him? You never asked. She was pregnant with a child, and then how could she not tell you about him...."

"This is the truth," Philip replied. "Your mother could hide her pregnancy well for a few months, but when she couldn’t anymore, she told me. As a father, I was angry with her and told her to bring that man so she could get married to him, but she didn’t listen to me."

"Then did you agree to let her give birth? I know it’s not acceptable among people when an unmarried girl gives birth."

"When I asked why she couldn’t bring him to me, she said she couldn’t say the reason. All she told me was that giving birth to this child she was carrying was important and it was another responsibility that had been bestowed upon our bloodline. At that time, I was not aware of what she had done with the flower and why she was so desperate to carry on this new responsibility, which I didn’t know was thrust upon us."

"In the end, I had accepted it because I believed in your mother and had blind faith in her. Later, as we know, we could not hide it for long. We explained it by saying your mother secretly married someone I didn’t approve of, but that man abandoned her and left. No one must have believed it, but they could only criticize behind our backs. Due to the Royal family’s protection, no one dared to say anything about it. Later, there were so many tales about your mother regarding how she got pregnant, but she paid no attention to them. All she did was focus on giving birth to you."

Oriana was taken aback by all this. A responsibility was given to her mother, but why and by whom? Was her birth, the rebirth of a demoness, predestined in this family?

"Grandpa, when did you meet him?"