Chapter 69 Guilt

Chapter 69 Guilt
Coriander’s Point of View

“Who told you this thing you believe? ” I asked coldly.

He did not answer right away. He just stood there, staring at me blankly, as if his mind were still struggling to process everything I had just said. He is caught between the old lies he had held onto for years and the truth that was now crashing down around him.

It had never been part of my plan to tell him about our child or to explain everything that had happened five years ago. My only goal when I came here was to bring Elder Mara back to the Hundi Pack so she could no longer cause trouble or harm to anyone else. But his words had pushed me too far.

I could have taken all the insults he threw at me. I did not care if he called me names or accused me of anything. His opinion of me no longer mattered that much. But what I could not bear was for him to speak that way about my son. It hurt me deeply for Elo. Mavros was his father, and it felt like a knife to the heart, as a mother, to hear my own child called a bastard by the very man who helped bring him into this world.

Emmitt Pluto, my Elo, was the sweetest boy anyone could ever meet. Even at only four years old, he was already wise beyond his years, gentle and kind. I knew without a doubt that if Elo ever heard his own father speak of him like that, it would break his little heart. And that was something I would never allow. Any pain my son felt felt like my own death. I would protect him from it, no matter the cost.

“S-She claimed that she belonged to the Hundi Pack…” he stated in a serious tone.

My brow furrowed deeply. “She?” I repeated, pressing him for more details. “What did she look like? Describe her to me.”

He took a deep breath, as if trying to steady his thoughts and push past the confusion and shock that still clouded his mind. It was clear he was still struggling to fully process everything that had just been revealed, but he forced himself to focus.

“She was a woman who did not seem particularly elderly, probably in her early or mid‑forties at the time, when she suddenly showed up at my office, asking to speak with me privately,” he replied. “She introduced herself as a mage from the Hundi territory, said she had come on her own initiative, and insisted that what she had to tell me was critical to my future and to the bond between us.”

The moment his words settled, my fingers curled tightly into fists at my sides. There was not a single shred of doubt left in my mind. That was her. It could only be Elder Mara.

My jaw tightened. Now everything finally made sense. I understood exactly who was behind all the suffering and pain we had endured all these years.

“What else did she tell you?” I asked gravely. “What kind of stories did she feed you to make you believe something so ridiculous?”

Mavros stared back at me, his eyes searching mine as if trying once again to separate truth from lies. The boldness and confidence he had shown earlier were gone, now his gaze was filled only with uncertainty.

“S-She said the real reason you chose to leave me and stay at the Hundi Pack was that you had fallen in love with someone else,” he recounted. “She showed me a photograph… it was blurry, but it looked like you standing beside a stranger. She claimed you were carrying his child, that you had chosen him over me, and that you would never come back.”

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “A photograph? That was all it took for you to turn your back on everything we shared? Just one stranger’s words and one blurry picture and you didn’t even have the decency to ask me for my side of the story?” I asked. “I had only been there for two days, Mavros. I had barely arrived when we spoke that same day. Do you really think what I felt for you was so shallow that I could fall in love with someone else in just forty‑eight hours?!”

I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes, but I immediately tilted my head upward to stop them from falling.

“That woman is Elder Mara. One of the highest-ranking leaders in the Hundi Pack five years ago. But she is also a traitor, greedy, power-hungry, and ruthless. She wanted the Solar Sigil that I possessed, and she knew that if I were bound to you, if I were protected by our mate bond, she would never be able to lay her hands on it. So she made sure you would hate me, that I would have nowhere left to turn, and that I would be forced to run and hide just to keep our child safe.”

His face paled as the full weight of the truth began to sink in. The walls he had built around his heart for five long years started to crack open, and for the first time since we met again, he looked truly shaken but confused and horrified by what he had accepted as fact.

“O-Our child?” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “You mean… he is mine?” he repeated, as if he had not fully heard what I had said just moments before. “Tell me… tell me it’s true,” he pleaded desperately. “All this time… I believed I was the one who had been betrayed. I thought you had thrown away everything we shared, and I let that hatred consume me, day and night. But was it all a lie? Was every single word she spoke nothing but lies?”

“Every last bit of it,” I answered firmly. “From the moment I discovered I was carrying your child, I wanted nothing more than to tell you, to let you know that a part of you was growing inside me. But I also wanted to become stronger, to grow into someone worthy of standing beside you as your Queen—your equal. I wanted people to look at me not simply because I was your mate, but because I had earned my place and because I was capable enough to stand right by your side. That is why it hurts so deeply now—to realize you were willing to cast aside everything we had fought for, all the trust and love between us, just because of… just because of one blurry photograph and a story you never even bothered to question.”

He dragged a hand roughly through his hair, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of five years of anger and regret had finally crashed down on him. “God… what have I done?” he muttered. “Fuck! I called our son a bastard. I insulted you, doubted you, pushed you away… all because I let a stranger’s words mean more to me than the bond we were born to share. I failed you. I failed both of you. I am so sorry…”

For the very first time since I had known him, I saw tears glistening in his eyes—tears heavy with remorse and guilt. When he looked at me again, all the arrogance, pride, and authority were gone, leaving only a man who understood he had wasted five precious years of happiness because of his own foolishness.

“Where is he?” he asked softly, his tone gentle and cautious now. “Where is our son? Is he safe? Is he… like us?”

I did not blink, nor did I offer him even the faintest, warm smile. I simply stared back at him with cold eyes—the exact look he deserved.

“He is safe. He is far away from here, far from anyone who would harm him or judge him without knowing the truth,” I replied sharply. “And yes, he is like us. He carries both your blood and mine, along with all the strength that comes with it. But that changes nothing.”

I took a small step back, putting more distance between us, as if his very presence were still something I needed to shield myself from.

“Do you think saying sorry fixes everything, Mavros? Do you think regret can erase all those years I spent living in fear for my life and his? Do you believe it can undo every single night I cried, wondering if I had made a terrible mistake ever loving you at all?” I held his gaze without flinching. “I did not come here to reopen old wounds or give you a chance to make things right. I came only to stop Elder Mara from causing more harm and destruction. As for you… you already made your choice five years ago. You chose to believe lies instead of trusting me. You chose your pride over our bond. And now? You have no right to ask questions about him and no right to demand a place in our lives.”

“C‑Cori, let me—”

Mavros never got to finish what he wanted to say. The quiet garden where we stood was suddenly filled with the soft sound of clapping. Both of us turned sharply toward the source of the noise.

“Aw… how touching this reunion of yours is…”

Anger flared instantly in my chest the moment I laid eyes once more on the very reason we had suffered through all of this.

“Elder Mara!”