Chapter 375: I Am Leaving

Chapter 375: I Am Leaving

Caspian explained, "Tristan is recovering from an injury, so he probably can't go out for now."

Harriet smiled faintly, "Wasn't he eager to make things official with Tamsin? Why does he suddenly need to recover now?"

"I'm not really sure about that."

Harriet didn't dwell on it any further.

To her, Tristan was already a stranger. Getting divorced a few days earlier or later made no difference.

When they returned to the villa, Della came running up on her little legs, "Mommy!"

"Della!"

Harriet crouched down and hugged her tightly with excitement.

"Mommy, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too." Harriet's eyes immediately reddened. "From now on, you'll live with Mommy, okay?"

Della asked curiously, "What about the big meanie?"

"He has to go work somewhere very, very far away, so he can't live with us anymore."

"Really?" Della wondered, "But the big meanie said he would never leave me and Mommy. He's someone who keeps his word, so he wouldn't lie to me, would he?"

Harriet didn't know how to explain it to her, so she just said, "If he has time, he'll come visit Della. Would Della like to live with Mommy?"

Della answered without hesitation, "Of course I would!"

"Good." Harriet smiled brightly. "Let's go play."

"Okay!"

Caspian breathed a sigh of relief.

He had discussed it with Tristan before deciding to bring Della here.

With Della around, it would distract Harriet and make her life more fulfilling.

Caspian stayed to have lunch with them.

During the meal, the Romanov family called, saying Qiana wasn't feeling well.

"Caspian, Qiana is important, you should hurry home," Harriet said immediately. "I'm not a child anymore, I can take care of myself and Della too."

"Then I'll go check on her."

"Go quickly."

Caspian didn't bother finishing his meal and left right away.

When he returned to the Romanov family villa, Qiana was already asleep. Her normally fair and tender little face was flushed red, as if she had a fever.

The doctor and Ondine were both there.

"Ms. Smith, what happened to Qiana?"

"Just a common cold, but she had a high fever just now, so it was a bit scary." Ondine said, "With physical cooling methods and some medicine, she'll be fine soon. No need to worry too much."

"That's good."

"How's Harriet?"

"She's physically fine. With Della moving in to live with her, her mood should improve a lot too."

"That's good." Ondine said, "I'll keep an eye on Harriet. You stay home and spend more time with Qiana. Even though she's young, she needs her father."

"I understand."

Caspian stayed with Qiana for a while, then went to see Mason.

"You're back." Mason raised his hand, gesturing for him to sit. "How's Harriet?"

"She's okay."

"You must keep a close watch on Griffin, but don't act rashly. Discuss things with Tristan more."

"I know."

Mason sighed, "I can't help much, but fortunately you and Tristan are both very capable. I trust you can take good care of Harriet."

"Don't worry, Grandpa. I'll do everything in my power to protect Harriet."

"Is Harriet the only one you want to protect?"

Caspian's expression turned cold. "I know what you want to say, Grandpa, but I don't want to part on bad terms with you over these trivial matters, so you don't need to continue."

Mason smiled and shook his head. "Fine, I'm old indeed, and I can't control you anymore. I won't interfere in your private affairs from now on. Now I just hope Harriet will be well, and that Qiana and Della will be well."

"Thank you for understanding, Grandpa."

"I can understand that you don't love Coralie, but Qiana is your biological daughter. You can't not love her."

"I understand."

After leaving Mason's room, Caspian went to the yard and smoked two cigarettes before returning to the second floor.

Coralie was doing physical cooling for Qiana, her eyes red.

"Didn't Ms. Smith say Qiana is fine?" Caspian said. "Why are you crying?"

Coralie choked up, "It's because I didn't take good care of Qiana that she caught a cold."

"It's normal for kids to catch colds and have fevers. If you're going to cry over this, you're too fragile."

Coralie tucked Qiana in and turned to look at Caspian. "I want to go see Harriet."

"She's rebuilding her life. I don't want you to influence her."

Coralie frowned, "How could I possibly influence her?"

"She's trying to remove Tristan from her heart bit by bit, and you've always put love above everything else. Of course someone who's obsessed with romance would influence her."

"Putting love above everything..." Coralie's lips twitched. "Caspian, do you really look down on me that much?"

"You should ask yourself what you've done that's worthy of respect."

Coralie's nose tingled, and tears nearly fell.

Caspian looked at her with cold, indifferent eyes. "Grandpa can't control my affairs anymore. You don't need to try to please him or get him to take your side."

Coralie shook her head, "But I've never asked Grandpa to take my side."

"You're too embarrassed to say it directly, but you parade around in front of him every day looking like you've suffered all kinds of grievances. Naturally, he thinks of me and puts pressure on me." Caspian smiled coldly. "Coralie, I didn't dislike you that much originally, but what I can't stand most is this kind of sneaky behavior behind people's backs."

In the heat of summer, Coralie felt coldness spreading throughout her body, almost freezing her. "Am I really that terrible in your eyes?"

"What do you think?" Caspian asked back.

Coralie closed her eyes in pain, tears sliding down her pale face. "I understand. I'm sorry, Caspian, I'm really sorry."

Seeing her tears, Caspian felt inexplicably irritated.

"You really should learn from Harriet. Tears are the most worthless thing in this world." He said coldly, "I have things to do. I'm leaving. Take good care of Qiana."

Coralie stared blankly at his figure disappearing through the doorway and muttered to herself, "Caspian, maybe I really was wrong. From beginning to end, I should never have fallen in love with you."

That evening, Harriet gave Della a bath and carried her to bed.

"Della, Mommy will tell you a story. What story do you want to hear today?"

Della thought for a moment and said, "Mommy, I want the big meanie to tell me a story."

Harriet froze. After a long while, she pulled back her wandering thoughts and said, "Della, Mommy told you, he went to work somewhere far away. He's not in Emberfall."

"Really?"

"Really." Harriet gently kissed her forehead. "Be good, Mommy will tell you a story, okay?"

Della pouted, unable to hide her disappointment. "Okay then."

Harriet told two stories before finally getting Della to fall asleep.

She put down the storybook and looked at the sleeping Della with heartache.

"I'm sorry, Della. I lied to you... But I believe we'll both be strong, and we'll both forget about him."

Harriet closed her eyes, about to force herself to sleep, when suddenly a sharp pain shot through her heart!

Harriet's hand clutched tightly at her pajama fabric. Afraid of waking Della, she endured the pain and got out of bed, stumbling out of the master bedroom.

As soon as the door closed, Harriet could no longer bear the stabbing pain in her heart and cried out in agony.

"Ms. Getty?"

A servant downstairs heard the sound and came upstairs, seeing Harriet curled up on the floor by the master bedroom door, trembling in pain!

"Ms. Getty, what's wrong!" the servant exclaimed. "Someone! Come quickly!"

Ondine had just walked through the villa's front door when she heard the commotion upstairs. She immediately rushed up and began examining Harriet.

"Harriet, how are you? Say something, don't scare me!"

"It hurts..." Harriet said with difficulty. "It hurts so much..."

Ondine suddenly realized something and quickly got up, taking out her phone to quietly make a call in the corner.

The call was answered quickly, and a low, hoarse voice came through. "What's wrong?"

"Are you outside the villa!"

"What's wrong?"

"Harriet's in pain again, leave now!"

Tristan's voice panicked. "I am outside, but I haven't gone in."

"There's no time to worry about that now, just go!"

Tristan immediately ordered the driver to drive!

Ondine hung up and returned to Harriet's side.

After a while, the pained expression on Harriet's face eased, gradually returning to calm.

Ondine breathed a sigh of relief and helped her up to sit on the sofa in the nearby sitting room. "Harriet, how do you feel now?"

"Much better." Harriet asked, "What happened to me?"

"I'm not sure either, but it should be fine. Don't worry too much for now."

Harriet was a bit suspicious but didn't dig deeper.

Ondine took a tissue to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead. "Harriet, go rest. I'll be in the room next door. Call me anytime if you need anything."

"Okay." Harriet nodded. "Thank you for going to so much trouble for me. You should rest early too."

"I will."

Ondine watched Harriet return to the master bedroom before going to the adjacent room and taking out her phone to call.

"How's Harriet?" Tristan answered quickly.

"She's not in pain anymore. After resting for a bit, she's gone back to her room."

"It looks like what Griffin said is true. As long as I get close, even from that far away, the spell can sense it." Tristan closed his eyes in pain. "Godmother, I didn't mean to look for her. I just wanted to see where she lives from afar, to see the light in her room. Even that would make me feel a little better."

"Tristan, I know you miss Harriet very much, but you can't come anymore." Ondine's heart ached. "Harriet is suffering too much."

"I know. I won't come again." Tristan's strained voice came through. "Godmother, please take good care of her."

"Don't worry, I'm staying here. I'll take good care of her and her daughter for you."

"Thank you."

After that night, Harriet's body returned to normal.

She paid special attention to her heart but didn't notice any discomfort.

Her body had been strange these past days—stomach pain at first, then heart pain. She had wondered if she might die at any moment.

Her memory was missing, but she didn't have any particular fear of death.

The only things she couldn't let go of were Della and the Romanov family.

So as long as she was alive, she would live each day well and take good care of Della.

In the afternoon, just after Della had fallen asleep, a servant knocked and came in to report, "Ms. Getty, Coralie is here to see you."

"Okay."

Harriet tucked Della in and followed the servant downstairs.

As she walked, she asked, "Do you all usually call Coralie by her first name?"

The servant was startled and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again!"

"Don't be nervous, I was just asking."

Only then did the servant relax and explain, "Coralie grew up in the Romanov family since she was little. I watched her grow up too. She's very sensible and well-behaved, and everyone likes her."

"She's the driver's daughter, so naturally we call her by her name."

"Later, she had a sexual relationship with Mr. Caspian Romanov. Mr. Mason Romanov decided he wanted her to marry Mr. Caspian Romanov, so in our eyes, her status naturally became different."

"Originally everyone agreed to start calling her Mrs. Romanov, but..."

Harriet guessed what happened. "Caspian wouldn't allow it, right?"

"Yes." The servant answered honestly. "We'd only been calling her that for a couple of days when Mr. Caspian Romanov overheard it by accident. He was very angry and directly fired the servant who called Coralie Mrs. Romanov."

"Mr. Mason Romanov knew Mr. Caspian Romanov was upset and didn't intervene, but he secretly compensated that servant with half a year's wages. After that, we all went back to the original way of addressing her, just calling her Coralie."

"I see." Harriet nodded. "So you all accept Coralie."

"Coralie is a really good person, and very proper. Even after she had a relationship with Mr. Caspian Romanov, her character didn't change. She never orders others around for things she can do herself." The servant said, "We servants are naturally selfish in hoping Mr. Caspian Romanov would marry Coralie. She's much better than those pampered young ladies."

Harriet smiled and said nothing.

When Harriet entered the side hall, Coralie was sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at the garden outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Coralie." Harriet called softly.

Coralie came back to her senses, stood up, and gave Harriet a bright smile. "Harriet, I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"Not at all, please sit."

The servant brought tea and snacks for them both, and seeing they had things to talk about, tactfully left.

"Coralie, why did you come so suddenly? How have you been feeling lately?"

"I'm fine. I've wanted to come see you for a while, but you were in the hospital before, and I was afraid of disturbing you."

"Why didn't you bring Qiana?"

"Qiana is napping at home. It's rare for me to get out and get some air. I wanted to come talk to you."

"You look like something's weighing on your mind." Harriet asked, "Did something happen?"

Coralie picked up her teacup and took a sip, gently shaking her head. "Nothing happened. I'm fine."

"Coralie, even though I've lost my memory, we're still good friends. You don't have to pretend in front of me." Harriet took her hand. "Even if I can't help you, at least I can listen."

Coralie's eyes immediately reddened. "Harriet, I've made a very, very difficult decision."

"What decision?"

Coralie hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Can you promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise."

Coralie sniffled. "I'm leaving. Leaving the Romanov family, leaving Caspian."