Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Sobering Clarity
This just goes to show that the father and son were cut from the same cloth.
No matter how they trumpeted their deep affection and forbearance, they couldn’t hide their selfishness, their deep-seated misogyny, and their pretentious air of superiority.
They were unwilling to give up the enviable resources and privileged lifestyle, yet they insisted on passing down their family name at all costs. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too, all while acting shamelessly self-righteous about it.
Under these circumstances, if something happened to Caleb Croft, their "precious only heir," and he couldn’t produce another son to carry on the Croft name, wouldn’t the father-son duo completely lose their minds?
’After scheming for half their lives, only for it all to come to nothing... anyone would go crazy, right? I just wonder, if it really came to that, would Julian Croft just drop dead from rage? Or would he hurry up and find someone else to pop out a backup heir while he’s still relatively young? And could Caleb Croft really accept that outcome peacefully, instead of turning on his own father?’
It was just a half-baked idea, but Arabella Donovan grew more and more excited as she mulled it over. She wished some powerful force would swoop in and deliver justice right then and there so she could sit back and enjoy the juicy drama.
Lillian Donovan was just as excited. After learning Julian Croft’s true colors, she had imagined countless ways to get her revenge on him.
But after thinking it over and over, she realized none of her ideas were as satisfying as the outcome Arabella had just described. It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.
And to think, these words came from her dear friend, who didn’t even know the full story, yet had managed to hit the nail on the head with just a few fragments of information. ’Is this what they call "an outsider’s perspective is always clearer"?’
As she thought about this, the look Lillian Donovan gave Lucy Ingram grew more complicated.
Lucy Ingram noticed and snorted. "Why are you looking at me like that? You think my idea is too extreme? Too cruel?"
"No, no, not at all! I think your idea is brilliant. I’m just a little surprised. You were always going on about all the drawbacks of pregnancy and childbirth—how difficult and taxing it is when you’re pregnant, how long the labor pains last, and how you might even need to get sliced open and be left with a huge, hideous scar if you can’t deliver. I thought you hated the idea of having kids. Besides, you and Liam only ever had Joyce."
At this, Lucy Ingram couldn’t help but roll her eyes. "I really don’t like having kids. Who would if they had a choice? When I had Joyce, I went through all the suffering, while that bastard Liam Lowe got to enjoy all the blessings. The first word she ever said was even his name."
Lucy Ingram was still indignant when she brought this up, clearly bothered that her daughter’s first word had been "Dada."
"But *not being able* to have kids and *not wanting* to have kids are two completely different things. Whether or not I’m willing to have a baby is my own choice. To be stripped of that right is an affront, an act of oppression. And that’s not even getting into forcing someone who is perfectly fertile to take sterilizing drugs. The damage from that would surely go far beyond just their reproductive health."
"If you’re trying to kill me, am I supposed to sit here, lay out the facts, and reason with you? Am I supposed to have a sudden bout of saintly compassion and let bygones be bygones? If I don’t grind your bones to dust, if I leave you a whole corpse at all, that’s me being generous!"
CLAP CLAP CLAP—
The moment Lucy Ingram finished speaking, Arabella couldn’t help but applaud wildly for her in her mind.
’Auntie Lucy, you’re so refreshantly clear-headed! That’s exactly how you should treat scum like them—as ruthlessly as the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Mercy for your enemies is cruelty to your own family!’
’Come to think of it, when Caleb Croft’s son came of age, Joyce Lowe was only about forty. She hadn’t suffered any accidents; she just passed away, supposedly from being frail. It’s hard to believe the drugs Caleb had fed her before had nothing to do with it.’
Lillian Donovan shivered violently, her face turning grim.
Arabella was young and didn’t know much about such drugs, so she could only guess. Lillian, however, knew all too well.
The working principle of so-called birth control pills was simply to suppress ovulation and alter the uterine environment, tricking the body into thinking it was unsuitable for conception and thereby preventing it.
Taking these drugs frequently would mean tricking the body on a regular basis.
Over time, the body’s ability to regulate itself would decline, and its internal systems would fall into disarray.
The text hadn’t specified which sterilization drug Caleb Croft gave Joyce Lowe, but regardless of the type, its effects would have been far harsher than birth control pills. How could her body possibly not break down after taking it for years on end?
Certain things exist for a reason, and this is especially true of the human body.
The drugs Caleb Croft fed Joyce Lowe not only destroyed her chances of becoming a mother but also severely damaged her health, leading to her premature death, a death filled with resentment.
The sick joke was that the monster who killed her was still alive and well. After her death, he was practically dancing on her grave, feasting on the legacy she left behind, and living a better life than ever!
Lillian Donovan was so furious her head was buzzing and her vision started to go dark.
And yet, Lucy Ingram, the mother of the murdered victim, was still completely in the dark. After delivering her eloquent tirade, she shot Lillian a suspicious glance.
"You’re acting so strangely today, saying all sorts of odd things. Don’t tell me your husband has done something to wrong you, has he?"
The moment she said this, the other three people in the room froze.
Arabella’s eyes shot wide open, a look of dawning realization on her face.
’That’s right... I was just thinking about Joyce Lowe, and then Auntie Lucy brings up sterilization and being secretly drugged. Isn’t that a little too much of a coincidence?’
Lillian Donovan: "!!!"
Seeing the daggers Mrs. Donovan shot her with her eyes, Lillian broke out in a cold sweat.
"What’s so strange? I’ve just been bored staying in the hospital these past couple of days, so I was scrolling through the news online. This morning, I happened to see a story about a rich woman who was being plotted against by her husband. They’d been married for years without children, and a hospital checkup revealed that the issue was with her. The two of them sought medical help everywhere, but she still couldn’t conceive. Finally, left with no other choice, they adopted a child from an orphanage."
Lucy Ingram raised an eyebrow, curious. "And then?"
"Then, as the child grew up, the rich woman noticed that he was looking more and more like her husband. At first, she thought it was just because they’d been living together for so long; people can start to resemble each other. But after enough people pointed it out, she couldn’t help but become suspicious, so she secretly had a paternity test done on the child and her husband. And you know what the result was?"
"The child was her husband’s, biologically?"
Lillian Donovan clapped her hands. "Exactly! It turned out her husband had another woman on the side and had even fathered a child with her. So that this child could join him in his wife’s wealthy home and enjoy a life of luxury, he drugged his wife to make her infertile, then convinced her to adopt his own son. He tricked her into raising the child he’d had with his mistress."
"And the poor woman, when the doctor told her she had a medical problem and couldn’t have children, she actually felt guilty toward her husband. A few words of comfort from him were enough to move her to tears. Only in the end did she discover that her infertility was all that scumbag’s doing."
