Reborn I Refuse To Save The Traitors (Margaery) novel Chapter 158

**TITLE: Whispers Shape Distant Tomorrows by Aren Cole Vale**
**Chapter 158**

Tessa’s voice trembled as she spoke, her cheeks glistening with tears that cascaded down like a sorrowful rain. She turned her gaze toward Mark, her eyes pleading for understanding.

“Mark, please, I need your help to convince Russell. He must have heard something, some cruel rumor, that claims I am not a true member of the Wallen family.”

Her words hung in the air, heavy with despair. “In Russell’s heart, it seems he only recognizes Margaery as his real sister. Why do I always feel like I’m never enough?”

She cast a fleeting glance at Raul, then lowered her gaze, a picture of humility, as if the weight of the world pressed down upon her.

In that moment, it was as though she had been crushed beneath the heel of a boot, left to languish in the dirt.

Raul’s heart twisted at the sight of her, stirred by the vulnerability she displayed.

If it weren’t for Margaery usurping her rightful place, would Tessa have been reduced to this pitiful state?

Now, it seemed Russell had taken up the mantle of defending that insufferable Margaery, turning his back on Tessa and bullying her instead.

“How outrageous!”

Raul’s fist slammed onto the table, the sound echoing like thunder in the tense room. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, a testament to the pain he felt. “That wretch has brought our family to the brink of ruin, and you still have the audacity to defend her! I am your father! Do you think I can’t recognize my own children?”

Though he wished for Mark to falter, it didn’t mean he lacked trust in him and Halle.

After the blood kinship test, Raul had become resolute in his beliefs. In his mind, it was Margaery who had supplanted Tessa as the noble daughter, stealing away Tessa’s rightful position.

Mark, acutely aware of the stakes, knew he could not risk exposure in this volatile moment. Offending the Chancellor’s estate was a danger he could not afford.

He turned his attention to Russell, his voice steady yet urgent. “Lord Russell, you are gravely mistaken. Lady Tessa is indeed the biological daughter of the Lord Chancellor—your own sister. Lady Margaery, however, does not share the same blood.”

Russell stood in the doorway, his hair a wild mess, eyes bloodshot and wild as he glared at Mark, trembling with barely contained fury. “You and that wretched Tessa have conspired, haven’t you? You tampered with the water used for the blood kinship test. Did you think I wouldn’t uncover your deceit?”

Mark felt a cold jolt of fear shoot through him.

He hadn’t anticipated that such a closely guarded secret would be unearthed by Russell.

In truth, Russell had only been speculating.

But witnessing their reactions, he realized his hunch was correct. A sneer curled at the corners of his lips, “What’s this? Did I strike a nerve?

“You resent Avery for taking your place, so you’ve allied yourself with that wretched Tessa. As for this so-called blood kinship test, if it were truly reliable, why keep it a secret? Why not announce it to everyone?

“You didn’t even confide in me.”

Russell turned to Raul, his voice laced with desperation. “Father, let me pose a question. If Margaery truly is your biological daughter, and if you had never brought that wretched girl into our home, if our family had remained intact as it was a year ago, would we be facing this turmoil?”

A heavy silence enveloped the room, thick and suffocating.

Raul felt as though he had been struck by a hammer, the truth of Russell’s words sinking in.

Indeed, had it not been for the series of events that transpired over the past year, Margaery—the once-beloved Star of Fortune—would still be that little girl who chased after him, calling him ‘Father’ with innocent glee.

Regardless of whether she ended up marrying Dominic or Dashnell, the Wallen family would have remained intertwined with the Star of Fortune, and everything would have thrived.

In that fleeting moment, Raul was lost in a haze of confusion.

Russell, observing his father’s dazed expression, pressed on. “If one day you discover that the daughter you mistreated and cast aside was your own flesh and blood, while you kept a malicious wretch by your side, bringing ruin to our family, how will you reconcile that with your conscience?”

His words dripped with anguish, a desperate plea to awaken Raul’s dormant sense of morality.

Raul’s heart quaked at the thought.

He didn’t want to confront such a reality, nor did he dare entertain the possibility.

In a fit of rage, he seized the inkstone beside him and hurled it at Russell.

“Unfilial son! It seems you’ve been brainwashed by that wretched Margaery to utter such nonsense!”

Raul’s eyes were ablaze with fury, his chest rising and falling in violent heaves.

“Let me make this clear: even if the dog I keep outside were my own child, it could never be her.”

As for the blood recognition ritual, he placed his faith in Mark.

The inkstone struck Russell, splattering ink across his body, staining him with the dark mark of his father’s wrath.

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