Chapter 64: When Blood Calls

Chapter 64: When Blood Calls
A few days passed when I woke up feeling unwell. I got out of bed and felt dizzy for a moment.

I went straight to the bathroom, washed my face, and took a deep breath. I tried to shake off the uncomfortable feeling. This was not the right time for me to feel weak.

After getting dressed, I went down to the living room. I chose not to tell anyone. I went straight outside, got into my car, and quietly left the mansion.

I hoped he received my message. I wanted us to meet that morning. I left the letter at the border where I brought him before. That was the place he told me to go if I ever needed him.

What I did was desperate. I did not even know when he would come back to town again but I needed to talk to him. He was the only one I knew who could help me this time.

After almost an hour, I stopped the car. The area was completely quiet. Tall trees surrounded the road. Hardly any cars passed through this part of town.

I looked at the road in front of me. It was a long, empty stretch of asphalt leading to the next town.

I stayed in the driver’s seat and waited. If he did not arrive within an hour, I had to leave. I knew I was not supposed to be doing this.

After a few minutes, I felt movement around me. I became alert. From the woods, a familiar man came out. I felt relieved right away.

I opened the car door and stepped out. I noticed he was holding the letter I left.

“This is dangerous,” he said. “If I hadn’t passed through here yesterday, I wouldn’t have seen it.”

“But you always pass here,” I said. “This is the place you told me to come to if I needed you.”

He did not come closer. He stayed a few steps away from me. I was inside the border, within Elwood territory. A line was marked on the road, the boundary. As long as he did not step past it, he was not breaking any town law.

I noticed he was staring at me. His eyes moved to my neck. He sighed.

“I want to be happy for you, Cosette. But what you did only made things harder for yourself,” he said. “The clan’s plan to bring you back may have failed because of your choice, but that does not mean they will stop. You don’t know what your family can do.”

“They are not my family,” I said. “Families don’t destroy and control each other’s lives for the sake of belief.”

“I do,” he suddenly said. “I am your family, but I would never wish that on you.”

I froze. “You’re what?”

“It’s me, Cosette. Yuan Zedler.”

I blinked. My strength left me at what I heard. He smiled gently when he saw recognition on my face.

I did not know if this was real or just a long dream. Aunt Lethia said I was too young to remember that place but there was a time in my childhood when my father took me to the town where he grew up.

I remember parts of it. The large house. The people coming in and out. The eyes watching me. I remember my dad going into a room and leaving me alone in the hallway. I remember angry voices shouting behind the huge doors. I remember crying because I knew Dad was inside and I heard him shouting. And I remember a young boy approaching me.

He was older than me. Even at a young age, he looked calm and proud. I remember how the servants bowed to him. I remember how he spoke as if he understood everything.

“Don’t cry. Grandpa is just scolding your dad because he was gone for a long time.”

He smiled at me, a real and warm smile. I remember the name he told me. Yuan.

I waited in the hallway with Yuan. He was a charming boy. No wonder everyone in that house adored him. The looks I received were filled with betrayal and disgust but the boy did not leave me, even when the adults told him to stay away.

While waiting for Dad to come out, the boy talked. Simple things, like where he liked to play, the people he knew, and his grandfather.

“Is he strict?” I asked.

“Everyone is scared of him. Even my dad but he’s kind to me because I’m his grandson. If he sees you, he will be kind to you too. There will be two of us.”

He asked me questions too, like which mansion of Grandpa I would stay in and why my mom was not with me. I could not answer any of them. I never even got to see the grandfather he talked about.

When Dad came out of the room, he took me away right away. He was very angry. He muttered something about never coming back. His eyes were full of anger, sadness, and disappointment. He held my hand tightly and whispered to me.

“I will never give you to them.”

At that moment, all I could do was look back at the big house. I saw the boy standing at the door, waving goodbye, confused but smiling.

Now, after more than ten years, he was standing in front of me. Now I understood why some things about him felt familiar, especially the pendant he wore.

“Your father was supposed to take Grandpa’s position,” he said. “But he left the clan. My father died from a terminal illness two years ago. Grandpa only has his grandchildren now. He wants you back.”

“But I don’t want to go back,” I said firmly. “I don’t need to follow the choices of a family I never grew up with.”

“But he doesn’t understand that,” he said. “Grandpa is still the clan leader. And this is not even half of what he can do. I tried to explain everything when we met again after many years, but he wouldn’t listen. He will not allow one of his blood to be connected to a hybrid.”

He took a deep breath, clearly tired of the situation.

“I ask only one thing, Cosette,” he said. “I want to fix this mess as much as you do. Before things get worse, please go back and explain everything to him.”