Love's Unexpected Awakening Elowen's Choice novel Chapter 367

Chapter 367 A Dying Regret

She paused for a moment.

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“Lydia was utterly stunned,” Elowen said. “Aunt wrote that she just stood there, her face drained of all color. Then it was like regret finally hit her all at once. In the freezing cold, she suddenly collapsed on the spot. After that, she fell gravely ill.”

Cassian listened quietly. There was little surprise on his face.

“She went to great lengths to marry the Marquess of Havenstead in the first place,” he said calmly. “All because she wanted the comfort and luxury of the marquess’s household. What she never expected was that the estate was already hollow inside. The one person who truly held the purse strings was the very aunt she’d spent years pushing aside.”

He paused.

“And she managed to thoroughly offend the one person who could have saved her.”

“Exactly!”

Elowen nodded vigorously in agreement.

“And it only got worse,” she continued. “When she tried to frame Aunt before, she actually took poison herself to make the scheme believable. They treated her in time, but the toxins never fully left her body. Her health was already fragile. When this illness struck, it became extremely dangerous.”

She leaned slightly forward as she spoke.

“At first, the Marquess of Havenstead still hired physicians for her and kept her alive with medicine. But those remedies had to be taken every single day, and the dollars were draining away like water through a cracked barrel. Money going out, none coming in. Before long, the estate’s accounts were completely empty.”

She looked at Cassian. “Can you guess what the marquess did next?”

Cassian already had a good idea, but he played along. “What did he do?”

Elowen gave a soft snort.

“He simply stopped paying for Lydia’s medicine.”

The answer did not surprise Cassian at all. Elowen continued, “To save his own reputation, he

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Chapter 367 A Dying Regret

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even told people that Lydia had lost the will to live. He claimed she refused treatment and no longer wished to take any medicine.”

She shook her head.

“In the end, it was Nina who couldn’t bear to watch her mother suffer like that. The secretly ran to Aunt’s residence and begged her to save Lydia’s life.”

Cassian glanced sideways at her. “Aunt must have gone.”

Elowen nodded.

poor child

“She did. Aunt wrote that she never truly liked Lydia, and their past grievances weren’t something she could easily forget. But in that moment, it was still a life hanging in the balance. She simply couldn’t bring herself to turn away.”

Her voice softened. “And Nina is such a little thing. She was crying so hard, begging over and over. Aunt said she couldn’t bear the thought of such a young child losing her mother.”

Cassian nodded slightly.

“Aunt has always been like that. Sharp-tongued on the surface, but soft-hearted underneath. She looks decisive, yet she cares deeply about the people around her.”

Elowen sighed quietly. “But she still arrived too late. Lydia had gone without medicine for far too long. By the time Aunt got there, Lydia was already at death’s door.”

She paused briefly. “Aunt said Lydia regained consciousness for a short while before she died. Almost like a last flicker of light. She held Aunt’s hand and cried while she spoke… words of regret, more or less.”

Cassian raised a brow slightly.

“Oh?”

Elowen continued, “Lydia said she had always loved that kind of carefree, luxurious life. She knew it wasn’t right. She knew it was vanity. But she couldn’t stop wanting it. She also said she had Nina to think about. In her mind, the more wealth she had, the better life she could give her daughter. Because of that, she lost her way and did everything she could to break Aunt and the Marquess apart. She forced herself into the role of marchioness.”

Elowen lowered her gaze slightly.

“But later, she slowly realized how foolish she had been. The Marquess of Havenstead was nothing special. Just a handsome face. In truth, he was selfish and calculating, always weighing

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Chapter 367 A Dying Regret

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his own interests. Not someone worth entrusting your life to.”

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She exhaled softly. “But by then, it was already too late. There was no way to turn back.”

She said quietly, recounting the letter, “Lydia said the only thing left in her heart was guilt. She held Aunt’s hand and begged her to take Nina in. She didn’t ask for anything else. She only hoped Aunt would let Nina study and grow up understanding the world… so that one day she wouldn’t make the same mistakes.”

As she spoke, a faint heaviness settled in Elowen’s heart.

“Aunt wrote that she felt a little sad at the time,” she said softly. “She used to take some satisfaction in Lydia’s downfall. She thought Lydia deserved it. But when she saw Lydia crying like that in her final moments… she realized she couldn’t hate her anymore.”

Elowen frowned slightly. “To be honest, reading that part of the letter made me feel a little sad

too.”

Cassian scooped a small bowl of oatmeal for her. His voice remained steady and warm.

“That’s because both you and Aunt are kind-hearted,” he said. “Even if Lydia did wrong in the past, when faced with life and death, you still feel compassion for another woman walking the same fragile path.”

He looked at her calmly. “That empathy is precisely what makes you both admirable.”

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