Chester lowered his gaze, lost in thought for a moment. “Actually, I don’t know where the missing daughter is.”
Fearing that Katelyn wouldn’t believe him, he quickly added, “I really don’t know. Besides, when the Ruiz family tragedy occurred, their youngest daughter had already been missing for several years.”
The revelation sent shockwaves through the room. Katelyn stood frozen, her mind racing. This contradicted everything she had uncovered in her investigation.
She had been convinced that the destruction of the Ruiz family and the youngest daughter’s disappearance were simultaneous events, threads of the same dark story. Never had she imagined they might be separate mysteries altogether.
What had happened? Katelyn’s mind churned with questions, pieces of a puzzle that refused to align.
If the King’s involvement in the Ruiz family’s downfall proved true, she would make him answer for his crimes—to give the fallen family the explanation they deserved.
Just as Chester dared to hope Katelyn might release him, she fixed him with an unwavering gaze and asked in a voice barely above a whisper, “When you moved against the Ruiz family, was it simply because you perceived them as a significant threat?”
She had to uncover the reason. If her suspicions were correct—if she truly carried Ruiz blood in her veins—then vengeance would be her sacred duty against all who had destroyed her family.
Though years had passed since the atrocity, she wouldn’t allow anyone involved to escape justice. She would make sure the world understood that no one could trample her kin with impunity.
Chester felt the cold waves of hostility radiating from her, and his heart hammered against his ribs. He dared not conceal anything now. Chester knew that failing to explain himself today would only lead Katelyn to extract the truth from someone else—someone perhaps less careful with their words.
: g?ν?
Too many people knew the dark details of that event. Every family patriarch had been privy to it. Even if they tried to bury the truth now, Chester couldn’t guess how many would crumble under Katelyn’s methods of persuasion—both threatening and enticing.
He had witnessed firsthand the depths of Katelyn’s ruthlessness. Rather than allowing others to color the narrative, he chose to reveal the tale himself. This approach might ultimately serve his interests better.
Chester hesitated, weighing each word carefully before continuing. “The situation back then was rather complex. Initially, the current king was enamored with the Ruiz family’s youngest daughter. Later, after she rejected his advances multiple times, she simply… vanished.”
Katelyn was confused. She struggled to process this revelation—a scandalous romantic entanglement lurking beneath the surface of her investigation. She had initially set out to uncover the truth behind the tragedy, only to stumble upon the story of spurned advances. Katelyn fixed Chester with a penetrating stare and uttered a single word, her voice taut with restrained emotion. “Then?”
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