Chapter 3

If I didn't look so horrifying right now, Raymond would probably punish me by locking me in my room or cutting off my allowance for weeks, like he used to..

Raymond clearly knew I'd been kidnapped and sold to the mountains, where I was tormented for ten years. After returning, I'd always been careful and cautious, never once blaming him for not watching over me back then.

Yet now he called me vicious?

In the end, Raymond left with Jasper, not even sparing a glance at me lying on the ground barely alive.

The angina and the pain of electrode patches piercing my chest seemed to pale in comparison to the pain in my heart.

I was Raymond's biological son. Before being kidnapped, I too had been his little prince, held in the palm of his hand.

Until I returned after ten years of being kidnapped, only to find a strange boy in the house who also called Raymond "Raymond."

The gentle father in my memory seemed to have changed overnight.

He was still as attentive as before, wishing he could pluck the moon from the sky for his son -- except the person in his heart wasn't me, but Jasper.

Blood had already blurred my vision when a sudden angina attack jolted me awake.

I hadn't gotten my heart transplant yet. How could I just die like this?

I drifted in and out of consciousness in the basement, unable to tell day from night. After recovering a bit of strength, I forced myself to crawl to the iron door and kept banging on it.

"Save me... is anyone there?"

"It hurts so much... let me out..."

The rough iron door cut my hands, but I could no longer feel the pain.

Finally, after I no longer had the strength to lift my hand, I heard footsteps outside.

I grasped at this lifeline and called for help again.

"Save me..."

But hearing my plea, the maid outside snorted coldly.

"Stop shouting. If you disturb Mr. Blackwood and Jasper, you'll really suffer!"

"A poor kid thinking he can fight Jasper for a heart? So what if you're the real son? In Mr. Blackwood's heart, Jasper is the Blackwood heir. Don't even think about replacing him."

Because of Raymond's differential treatment, even the household maids could humiliate me at will.

I was a year older than Jasper," calling me Owen to my face and "poor boy" behind my back.

I swallowed these humiliations and forced myself to speak.

"My heart hurts terribly. I already feel like I'm suffocating. If this continues, I'll die."

"Let me out now... If something happens to me, Walter won't let you get away with it!"

Though the maid was snobbish, she understood I still mattered to Walter. If I died in the basement, Walter would definitely seek justice for me.

After thinking it over, the maid decided to call Raymond.

"Sir, Owen says he's having a heart attack and is about to die. Should we let him out?"

Raymond sounded puzzled.

"He was fine when we left. How could he be dying now?"

After a pause, Raymond said hesitantly, "Why don't you open the door and check the situation inside..."

I thought I heard hope, but Jasper interrupted Raymond with certainty in his voice.

"I specifically consulted foreign specialists about using electrode patches to strengthen the heart. There definitely won't be any problems. Raymond, if you don't trust me, do you not trust the specialists either?"

Hearing Jasper's slightly displeased tone, Raymond panicked and quickly reassured him that he believed him.

The call continued. When speaking to me, Raymond's voice returned to its usual coldness.

"Owen, you'd better behave yourself!"

"He's just trying to trick you into letting him out so he can go to the hospital and steal Jasper's heart source. I already said I'd find him another heart. Can't he wait even that long?"

"Besides, I'm already strengthening his heart using the method the specialist recommended. What more does he want? Don't pay any attention to him. If he wants to make noise, let him."