Investing in My Crippled Wife: Every Return Makes Me Stronger

Chapter 205: Ethea’s Tale [3]

’Ethea. I think your father might have been behind the entire thing from the very start. And I believe he is the one who forced the police to drop the investigation.’

The link fell quiet for a moment, as if she were weighing his words against her own deep understanding of the man who ruled their family.

’I am not sure if he was fully involved in planning Julian’s plot,’ she replied. ’But I highly doubt he was completely ignorant of it. My father is a man who insists on controlling everything. There is no way Julian could have acted without his tacit permission. But you are right about the police part.’

So I was right about that much.

Soren thought and decided to strike while the iron was hot.

’What do you think of him, Ethea? What kind of person is he, in your opinion?’

’I... I can’t read him,’ she admitted, her thoughts carrying a rare note of frustration. ’I never could. To the world, and even to us most of the time, he perfectly embodies the role of a loving parent and a devoted husband. But there are rare moments when the mask slips. Just for a fraction of a second, you catch a glimpse of something entirely hollow, as if the warmth he displays is nothing more than a carefully rehearsed act. And honestly, I suspect even those slips are deliberate, perhaps to show us who he really is or to make us think he is like that.’

She paused, organizing her thoughts.

’He projects benevolence, yet he is utterly ruthless when required, especially when anyone threatens anything he treasures, including the family. Beneath all that, he is incredibly scheming, calculating every move three steps ahead. It is impossible to ever truly feel safe around him.’

’I see...’ Soren squinted his eyes, his own opinion matching hers. Since she had no trouble talking that way about her father, he decided to lay his cards on the table. ’Ethea. There is something else you should know. Before you woke up... I had a confrontation with your father. Do you want to hear it?’

Ethea agreed without hesitation as she had already suspected it.

Soren took a deep breath, sorting through the memory of that tense meeting. He then relayed the conversation to her, piece by piece, explaining why Darius had abandoned her, his deliberate choice to designate Soren as her partner, and the chilling reason he had allowed both the assassination attempt and the latest attack to occur. However, he carefully omitted the parts where he had admitted his feelings for her and how he discovered Darius’s true nature thanks to Advanced Appraisal.

’...That is everything,’ Soren finished detailing the exchange. ’...What do you think? Knowing him... how much of what he told me do you think was actually true?’

Ethea remained silent for a long moment as she processed everything Soren had shared.

’As I mentioned earlier, he is truly benevolent when he wants to be. He doesn’t hesitate to bestow favors or gifts when it suits him. So the things he gave you, most of them, should be genuine. It aligns with how he maintains his image.’

’As for why he ’abandoned’ me, I also don’t know what to believe. In the past, whenever he told me to make more friends and live a simpler life, I always took it as a test. I assumed he was challenging my resolve, so I only pushed myself harder to become the perfect successor. Hearing what he said to you, though, makes me think that perhaps I might have misread those moments. But even that doubt could be exactly what he wanted to plant in my mind. He is entirely capable of predicting that we would have this conversation, and he might have tailored his words to make me question my own memories.’

Soren nodded slowly while his eyes squinted. ’What about your past, then? How much of what he told me was actually true? And... If you are comfortable sharing, I want to hear it from you. Your real past.’

’...’ A relaxed ripple passed through the link, suggesting she was smiling.

’Most of what he said was true,’ she admitted. ’For as long as I can remember, I have always been incredibly curious. I was drawn to books before I could even read them, fascinated by how letters combined to form words. Once I figured out how to piece those symbols together, it felt like unlocking a game, and the process of learning became genuinely fun. I absorbed everything around me.’

’But to the adults in the family, that must have been pretty shocking. They praised me constantly, calling me a genius before I even knew what the word meant. As a child, I naturally loved that positive attention and wanted to keep seeing those proud looks. I pushed myself as hard as I could to keep impressing them, wanting to meet every new standard they set. And perhaps, my father was right in that regard. I did end up trapped in a cycle of striving to be the perfect successor. But...’

Her mental tone grew a bit firmer.

’He was wrong about one important thing. While my upbringing differed from what most people envision as a typical childhood, it was the only normal I knew. I had fun. I genuinely enjoyed what I did, and I never hated my life back then.’

She paused, the mental connection carrying a faint trace of nostalgia before it quickly faded.

’But that simple joy was bound to end eventually. As I grew, the praises slowly became expectations, and those expectations turned into rigid demands. I started to notice how the warmth in my relatives’ eyes depended entirely on my performance. If I excelled, they smiled. If I struggled, their expressions chilled.’

The link grew cold as her thoughts turned practical.

’With that realization, my perspective shifted. I slowly began to understand the real world, the family politics, and the true nature of the relationships around me. Studying and training were no longer just a hobby. They transformed into a necessity for my survival, so I pushed myself even harder, eventually becoming the so-called ’Ice Empress’ everyone knew. Though, obviously, all of that effort was not enough to prevent me from ending up in this state.’