Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 117

r 117 The Truth Unravels

“Is it inconvenient to say?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” he replied shortly.

Jasper’s gaze lingered on her, intense and searching. “I need to tidy up my office again.”

Although she recognized it as a feeble excuse, Tatiana nodded in agreement. “Alright.”

Inside, Jasper wrestled with a restless energy he couldn’t quite control. He didn’t understand why his heart felt so unsettled, but he sensed that only by keeping her close—under his watchful eye—could he find some semblance of peace.

Tatiana, exhausted beyond analysis, chose not to dissect his behavior. She simply sensed, faintly but unmistakably, that he was beginning to lose his balance.

Jasper himself was painfully aware of the turmoil within. Something was undeniably wrong.

Memories began to surface, unbidden and vivid.

He thought back to the years she had spent chasing after him, years he had never truly acknowledged or valued. But now, with closed eyes and a mind tracing the past, every moment came into sharp focus.

It felt as though the grip he had on his own life was slipping away, and his mind was no longer under his command.

Midway through these reflections, he found himself at the old family estate, visiting his ailing grandfather.

The elder man had caught a cold with the changing season and was visibly unwell. When Jasper arrived, his grandfather’s demeanor was cold and indifferent.

“If you have nothing better to do, then leave. You don’t need to waste your time visiting a dying old man,” he said, eyes barely opening.

Jasper ignored the harsh words and approached slowly. “Has the doctor seen you?”

Without lifting his eyelids, the old man replied, “What’s there to see? I’m old. I could go at any moment.”

“Must you say things like that?” Jasper asked, a hint of frustration in his voice.

“If you don’t want to hear it, then leave. The girl would never have spoken to me like that back then.”

Jasper said nothing.

The old man opened one eye and glanced at him sideways. “Where is the girl? Even if you divorced, you’re not enemies. Why hasn’t she come to see me?”

For once, Jasper was at a loss for words.

Is it because she’s pretending to have amnesia?

“Did you do something to her? Why hasn’t she come around for so long? When I ask people, they only give vague answers. What really happened?”

“She isn’t in Dalliston.”

“Then where did she go?”

“To clear her mind.”

The old man muttered to himself, unconvinced but hopeful, “Clear her mind, you say… that’s good. She should do that more often. She loved you so deeply; the divorce must have broken her heart. She needs to unwind.”

“After you returned safe and sound, you were… different. You brought back that disreputable woman! I saw right through Summer’s intentions immediately, but you—what kind of spell were you under?”

The old man’s voice was thick with disappointment and anger.

Jasper’s eyes glazed over. He had never known any of this.

But he faintly remembered that after he came back, Tatiana had disappeared for a long time.

“She was hospitalized for a long time, and you, heartless as you were, didn’t even visit her once. You only cared about that other woman! Even if there was no love, there should have been some kinship. Yet, you showed no concern at all!”

“And when she was finally discharged, she rushed to see you. What did you do? You were harsh, yelled at her for being annoying, made her cry. I wanted to throw you out of the family right then!”

The old man’s frustration poured out, dredging up every bitter detail of the past like a filthy, worn rag—long, foul, and exhausting.

Jasper remained silent.

At last, the old man’s voice softened, weary and disheartened.

“The girl was truly good. Anyone else would have run away long ago if treated like that. But she still gave you her whole heart. Whenever you were sick and throwing tantrums, refusing medicine and locking yourself away, no one dared to challenge you—except her. She forced you to take your medicine, stayed up all night caring for you.”

Jasper couldn’t remember any of this.

He rarely fell ill, but when he did, he suffered memory loss and had no recollection of his actions.

It was clear now—whenever he was unwell, Tatiana was the one who cared for him.