Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress

Chapter 1724: A battle won, but not the war.

Chapter 1724: A battle won, but not the war.

"I found out I wasn't Naylani and Enzo Pierson's son. I was just a child they were raising... because they thought I was theirs."

Penny held her breath, disbelief and shock flickering in her eyes. She just stared at him, opening and closing her mouth, but no words came out.

Seeing her reaction, Zoren let out a faint, bitter laugh. He shrugged weakly and leaned back against the headboard, resting the back of his head on it. His eyes drifted ahead as he thought back to how he'd learned the truth.

"In my first life, while I was investigating your case, I found out I wasn't actually their son," he muttered. "To mock Naylani even further, Nathalie swapped her son with another. According to Nathalie..."

He paused, recalling the exact words that woman had spat at him during their confrontation.

"You should've seen Naylani's face when I told her that kid of hers... is long dead," he quoted. "That I cleared his innards and used her child as a bag to smuggle some things. She was livid-it was a sight to behold."

Penny's breath hitched. She didn't know whether to shudder from the cruelty or recoil from the horror of it. Her heart clenched as she focused back on Zoren.

'Just... how could she...'

Her chest rose and fell slowly, heavily, as her gaze remained on him.

Nathalie being that cruel shouldn't surprise her and yet, she couldn't help but wonder how Zoren endured it. She hadn't known him personally in their previous life, but even now, she knew how much he had respected and looked up to Enzo.

She clutched the bedsheet tightly, her throat going dry.

Zoren exhaled again, forcing a faint smile. "So that's why I couldn't accept that he died saving a kid he thought was his—"

He stopped abruptly as Penny suddenly jumped on him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. A soft, surprised chuckle escaped him as he placed his hand on her back.

"I'm fine, Penny," he said softly. "It was something I barely came to terms with before, but now..."

Again, his voice trailed off as he felt her body trembling. Then came the hiccups, soft and muffled against his chest.

"How can you just say it's fine?!" she burst out through quiet sobs. "It's not fine for me. How can she-how can she play with people's lives, with people's hearts, with families like that?!"

pressed against his chest, her grip on his shoulder blades

spilling down her cheeks as she struggled to comprehend

Her voice broke. freewebnovel.com

it all made sense

it all. He had wanted to destroy

her first instinct had been survival—to live differently. Perhaps, even

his life touched. He

even if he never said it,

who learned the truth late, chose redemption, swearing to

But Zoren?

might've been the only one who, upon remembering

Why?

was hopeless-but because he thought his existence itself was a mistake. It showed just

he'd come to terms with

It wasn't that simple.

for Nathalie's cruelty, but for the fact that

crumpled. Slowly, he tightened his arms around

him-but helplessness

wife was

he came to terms with it, when in

[Short Flashback]

night unnervingly quiet. Yet, in a remote mansion far removed from civilization,

estate, two figures stood several meters

pupils dilated slowly, his breath halting as he stared at the

say?" he

the woman as she strolled casually to the cement railing. She leaned against it, utterly unfazed

he had everything, only to find out none of it was his

turned and blinked at him. "Zoren Pierson, do you know how Naylani reacted when I told

pause stretched between them, her smile slowly curling

yours,"

so brightly