Chapter 171 The Rose Is Always a Rose
Her praise made Alexander's ears burn, and her open longing melted something inside him like ice melting under the sun.
He stroked her back gently, voice low. "Did I wake you?"
"No." Caroline shook her head, still nestled against him, tilting her face up to look at him.
"I think I was dreaming. I heard someone talking near me, really soft and nice... and then I woke up. I didn't know it was you. Will you keep reading? I like listening to you read."
How could Alexander possibly refuse?
He picked up the book again, adjusted his position so she could lean more comfortably against him, and continued.
He read about the fox waiting to be tamed, the one-of-a-kind rose, the pilot meeting the little prince in the desert and their parting.
The sun sank slowly into the horizon. The sky shifted from gold-red to deep purple, then finally to rich indigo as stars appeared one by one.
Kenna and Felix stood far off on the villa's terrace, watching the two figures embracing on the beach. They didn't interrupt.
Alexander's voice became the only gentle sound in the world, accompanied by the rhythm of the waves.
Caroline leaned against his chest, eyes closed, listening quietly.
When he finished the last sentence and closed the book, Alexander looked down and thought she'd fallen asleep again.
He started to lift her to carry her back to the room.
"Alex..." Caroline spoke suddenly.
"Mm?" Alexander paused.
"That story..." She shifted in his arms, finding a more comfortable position. "I really liked it."
Alexander's heart stirred, a smile tugging at his lips.
He was about to say, "I'll read to you often then." But she continued.
"But not because it's a famous book."
Alexander froze slightly, looking down at her.
"Then why?" He couldn't help asking.
"Because the fox said it takes time and patience and rituals to create ties... because once you tame something, you become unique to each other, and you have to be responsible for it forever."
"And because of the rose. The little prince thought his rose was unique because he spent time on her, sheltered her from the wind, pulled her weeds, listened to her complain, even her silence... because he tamed her. But actually..."
She looked up at Alexander.
"A rose is just a rose."
"She grows there, blooms or has thorns—that's just who she is. The little prince can love her or leave her, and she might be sad, but eventually she'll keep being a rose. Right?"
Alexander's heart lurched. His arms around her went rigid.
She wasn't just retelling the story.
She was using it as a mirror for something else.
These past five years, hadn't he forced a painful kind of taming on her?
He'd used hatred to create a twisted, profound connection.
He'd made her responsible for Edith's death.
And himself... hadn't he also been tamed by that connection, unable to leave her?
Caroline was that rose he'd misunderstood and hurt, yet she'd kept her thorns, fighting to survive.
He'd thought Edith was his one-of-a-kind rose. He'd been blind, obsessed.
Now he finally saw—Edith had never truly belonged to him. She might have even been poisonous.
The real rose had been beside him all along, overlooked, trampled, yet blooming stubbornly through her scars.
"You..."
Alexander's throat tightened. Looking at the quiet profile of the woman in his arms, panic and hope surged through him in equal measure.
For one moment, he wished he could turn back time to when they first met.
He would smile gently and say, "Caroline, if you don't want to stand behind me, then let's walk side by side, okay?"
But the thought lasted only a moment.
He knew time couldn't be reversed. And even if he went back, eventually he and Linus would still end up crossing swords.
How could these blood-stained hands ever hold her?
For the first time, Alexander felt he didn't deserve Caroline's love.
"Hmm?"
Caroline opened her eyes.
She seemed to think her words had been casual, just confused by Alexander's complicated expression.
"What's wrong, Alex? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, you didn't say anything wrong."
He forced down the storm inside him, managing a gentle smile as he smoothed her wind-tousled hair.
"You're absolutely right. A rose is a rose. Whether or not there's a little prince, she'll keep blooming."
He paused, pulling her tighter against him, voice dropping to something almost like a vow.
"And the little prince—if he realized he got the roses wrong, that he hurt the one that really belonged to him... he'd spend the rest of his life making it up to her, protecting her, making sure she knew she was the one-of-a-kind, most important thing in his universe. Whether she remembers him or not. Whether she forgives him or not."
Night wind carried the scent of the sea. Warm lights glowed from the distant villa.
Caroline listened, not quite understanding, only feeling how tightly he held her, how warm it was, how safe.
She sighed contentedly, closing her eyes again, leaning against his chest, mumbling softly.
"Mm... anyway, I love listening to you tell stories. You have to tell them to me and our baby all the time, okay..."
"Okay." Alexander pressed a reverent kiss to the top of her head.
"From now on, I'll tell you stories every day. So many stories... until you get tired of hearing them."
He added silently in his heart, 'Until the day I die.'
Caroline's belly grew day by day.
But her pregnancy symptoms didn't ease after the first trimester—they got worse.
She'd barely manage to eat a little something, then turn around and vomit violently.
Alexander watched it all, anxiety eating at him, but he was powerless to help.
Behind closed doors, he'd lost his temper more than once with the medical team he'd hired at great expense from Grandhaven.
"This is what you call stable?! She can barely keep water down now—do you people have any solutions at all?!"
The doctors went pale under his fury, but could only steel themselves to explain. "Mr. Hamilton, please calm down... you know Mrs. Hamilton's situation better than anyone. Her baseline health was extremely poor. Long-term malnutrition, severe psychological stress, history of medication abuse."