Trick Him Into Divorce, Then Flee With His Unknow Kid

Chapter 183: Chapter 183 The Child She Never Told Him About

Rose didn’t flinch under Ryan’s gaze.

The moment the words left her mouth, she watched his fingers tighten around the lighter until his knuckles turned white.

Ryan seemed genuinely stunned by what she had said. For a split second, Rose saw his pupils contract.

She found it almost amusing.

So Ryan could be affected after all.

So she could still stir something in him.

Though she couldn’t quite tell what that emotion was.

“You... what do you mean, ‘you have a child’?” Margaret’s hand, still resting firmly on Rose’s shoulder, tightened involuntarily.

Ryan said nothing.

But he, too, was waiting for an answer.

Rose smiled indifferently, as though it didn’t matter at all, and casually allowed Mrs. Alice to continue taking her pulse.

“I did have a child,” she said. “I had a miscarriage. I just never told Ryan.”

For a moment, the room seemed to freeze.

Especially because she had called him Ryan.

The name sounded intimate, almost affectionate.

Yet she was calmly admitting that she had never told him something so important.

The contrast only made the situation feel even more ironic.

“When did this happen?” Margaret demanded. “Why didn’t you tell the family the moment you found out you were pregnant? Is a miscarriage the same thing as giving birth?”

She was both shocked and furious.

If Rose had told them earlier, the family could have taken care of her. Perhaps the baby could have been saved.

Rose had expected this reaction.

She remained calm and deliberately avoided looking at Ryan.

Even though she could feel his gaze fixed on her.

“Grandma Alice,” Rose said, “you should know that a miscarriage can severely deplete a woman’s vitality and blood. In many ways, the pulse is very similar to that of someone who has given birth. I didn’t take proper care of myself afterward, so my condition became much worse.”

Mrs. Alice nodded. “That’s true. Traditional Medicine recognizes that. However, your body was depleted far too severely. Was it a miscarriage, or was the pregnancy terminated intentionally?”

The question instantly changed the nature of the conversation.

Rose didn’t answer.

When she gave birth to Ariel, she had suffered massive blood loss. The situation had been critical, and at one point, her life had hung in the balance.

“That’s all in the past now,” she said quietly. “There’s no point dwelling on it.”

Margaret became even more agitated.

Her fingers moved rapidly over the prayer beads in her hand.

“What nonsense!” she snapped. “This proves there’s nothing wrong with your fertility. You and Ryan need to try harder. Have Grandma Alice prescribe something. Get the herbs prepared and start taking them immediately.”

Rose hated medicine.

She had hated it her entire life.

From childhood until now, suffering seemed to follow her everywhere—physical pain, emotional pain, and even the simplest suffering of all: enduring bitter medicine.

But as always, no one cared what she wanted.

The Knight family had never given her much say in anything.

Ryan remained silent.

Rose didn’t even spare him a glance.

She could sense the tension hanging in the room, but it had nothing to do with her anymore.

This situation was entirely of their own making.

To protect Ariel, she needed a believable explanation.

If she insisted there was nothing unusual, Ryan would become even more suspicious.

He wasn’t someone who could be fooled easily.

Margaret’s emotions had been all over the place tonight.

She was angry that Rose had hidden her pregnancy.

At the same time, she felt relieved that Rose was still capable of having children.

Soon, people were sent off to gather herbs and prepare a medicinal decoction.

Amid the chaos, Ryan remained seated exactly where he was.

His gaze was lowered as he slowly ran his thumb across the lighter, now missing its flint.

Margaret, both frustrated and unsurprised by his reaction, finally snapped.

“You ungrateful boy! Your wife suffered through all that. You should have had a healthy child by now. The least you could do is comfort her.”

Everyone in the family knew Ryan had never treated Rose kindly.

To them, his indifference now seemed completely heartless.

How could Rose ever willingly bear children under these circumstances?

Wouldn’t even a few words of comfort have made a difference?

Ryan ignored the comment entirely.

Instead, he looked at Margaret and asked, “Have you taken your blood pressure medication?”

Margaret knew he was deliberately changing the subject.

She waved him off in irritation.

There was no point saying anything more.

Rose understood his attitude perfectly.

He truly seemed indifferent.

Neither of them spoke again.

In that moment, they felt farther apart than ever.

Even after hearing that his wife had once suffered a miscarriage, he hadn’t offered a single word of concern.

Rose no longer cared about things like that.

All that mattered was that the crisis had been resolved.

Margaret immediately ordered them to stay overnight at the old estate, citing the pleasant weather and beautiful scenery as an excuse.

It wasn’t until she personally escorted them back to their room that Rose finally stepped inside.

As she entered, she could still hear Margaret whispering to Ryan behind her.

“Rose is emotionally vulnerable right now. Be gentle with her tonight. Who knows? Things might go smoothly.”

Then the door closed.

Silence settled over the room.

Only the sound of their steady breathing remained.

The bedroom wasn’t unfamiliar.

They had spent many nights here in the past.

Rose sat down quietly and waited for time to pass before she could leave.

Coincidentally, the sofa where she sat faced the tatami area where Ryan had settled.

Suddenly, their eyes met.

Ryan was looking at her.

Rose couldn’t decipher the emotion in his gaze.

She knew that regardless of how indifferent Ryan was toward her, he would probably ask a few obligatory questions.

Something superficial.

Something meaningless.

Perhaps, “You should have told me.”

Or, “It’s over now. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Something along those lines.

“How did you lose the baby?” Ryan finally broke the silence.

His voice was slightly hoarse, likely from smoking earlier.

Rose hadn’t expected that question.

She hadn’t even had time to fully prepare her story.

“You remember when I flew overseas to find you during our second year of marriage?” she asked.

Ryan raised his eyes and looked at her calmly.

“I was already pregnant when I went to see you,” Rose continued. “But you told me not to use a child as a bargaining chip to secure my position in the Knight family.”

Ryan’s expression remained composed.

Rose smiled faintly. “So when I came back, I had an abortion.”

She didn’t sugarcoat it.

She ripped away every layer of pretense.

The words Ryan had spoken seven years ago came back like a boomerang, striking him directly.

Rose would never forget that day.

Or the pain those words had caused.

Part of her wanted him to feel that pain in return.

At the same time, she knew perfectly well that telling a man who didn’t love her, “I aborted our child because of what you said,” carried no real power.

Still, she needed to say it.

She was speaking in metaphors.

That was one of the reasons she had been so determined to keep Ariel a secret.

She would never give Ryan another chance to become Ariel’s father.

This was the one thing in the Knight family that belonged entirely to her.

The one decision she could make independently.

The one thing no one could take away.

Ryan remembered that day.

He remembered exactly what he had said.

He also remembered Rose’s face when she had appeared before him after flying halfway across the world.

Her dimples.

Her bright smile.

The excitement in her eyes.

Now he realized that she had carried what she believed was wonderful news through more than a dozen hours of travel.

Comparing that memory to the detached expression she wore now, Ryan’s face seemed to dissolve into the endless darkness beyond the window.

A long silence followed.

Finally, Ryan spoke. “Then that’s fine.”