EMBRACE YOU: Presence & Poison
Episode 183

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“What?” I asked back, a little surprised to hear my father's voice.

“The reasons? The reason why you're Rose.”'s adopted daughter Dad's eyes were still fixed on a single spot in the koi pond.

I glanced at him then thought for a moment, the right word to describe my current feelings. “My curiosity has expired.”

Dad glanced at me, now look at my face with a curious face. “Why?”

“I'm an adult, not a late time about my relationship with you. What I now think about is how I live my life in the future, how to create my own happiness. Since long ago mother's attitude also did not care about me, so even if you guys did not care all this time, I did not want to force.”

“Sorry.”

“For 24 years I have lived, if father and others do not come, it means that I am not needed here. So, maybe when the time comes that you will come to me for some reason, I will refuse with confidence. I also don't want to get involved with all your corporate competition conflicts like yesterday's attack. I want to live quietly.”

“Actually, it all started with your grandmother's wish. Back when I married Rose, your grandmother wanted grandchildren so badly but since Rose wasn't pregnant yet, my grandfather asked me to find another woman. Lucky I loved a woman as good as Rose, she understood and chose her best friend to be my second wife but on condition that she wanted to divorce me. At first I thought he hated me but he did that to keep the feelings of the three of us.” Dad looked at the clear blue sky this morning, the look on his longing eyes was clearly visible there.

“Even though I never loved your real mother, but I respect her as my wife. I intended to try to love her when she was pregnant with you but it turns out that when you were born, your mother died without being given a chance to love her.” I never knew the figure of the woman who had given birth to me, but if it was Aunt Rose's best friend, maybe she had a warm embrace like her.

“Then, I didn't expect that grandma wouldn't want to acknowledge you as her granddaughter because you were a daughter. I want a grandson to inherit all of this. That was, right when the conflict about Red was

Apple's popping. The conflict that made me have to be willing to leave you to Rose. Once again the good woman helped me by disguising your identity, I don't know what deal Rose made with her sister but finally your foster mother wanted to put your name on their family card, and it just so happened that it was right when your adoptive mother mourned that her first son died, born premature. That's why people looking for you from Red Apple couldn't find you all this time.“

I frowned, trying to deduce what I had just heard. Dad left me with Aunt Rose, and then Aunt Rose made me the adopted daughter of her brother so she could take care of me up close, which at that time she had just lost her first child, so when my name was listed on my mother's family card, no one suspected it.

“Conflict about what is it?” My toot. Even from birth, I was in the middle of a conflict like this.

“Hah?” I nodded in disbelief at what I heard.

“After about the heir of a big company like this, now dad says royal descent?! This is not a fairy tale or a fiction story, ‘kan?”

“Then, when this company was at its peak, your grandfather joined a group whose members were business monsters. But after a few months, one by one its members were suddenly killed with poison. Only your grandfather and two others survive. The culprit who killed them left a red apple next to the corpse, because it was called a red apple. At that time, information about our family who are descendants of the royal family suddenly appeared, even though no one knew about the origin of our family. The person who spread all that also said that our family has hidden treasures, two people who survived the poison along with your grandfather began to move and dare to threaten us.”

“Harta muted? In an age like this?” I asked not to believe.

“Enormous gold and petroleum mines. Whoever spread it we didn't have a clue until now. But anyway they are looking for hidden treasure that will never meet because it was not there from the beginning. When they found out that you were born, the daughter of this family, they were in a race to propose a future match. Dangerous situation like this, I never wanted my son to experience it, then dad was forced to hide you.” Dad glanced at me at the end of his sentence. He looked me straight into the eyes. There's a highlight of decisiveness emanating there.

“For so long we never saw you because we didn't want you to get involved in any of this. I wish you better not even know us, in this family there is only danger waiting. The status of royal bloodline used to mess with our lives. I even understand Kenzie's fear, he's been married a long time

but I dare not have children. Then grandpa rashly wanted to match you up to make you have to come here, those people must have known that you are our hidden daughter.” The tone of the father's voice sounded worried and resigned at the end of the sentence.

“Then what is the current situation? Are the people who are eyeing about the hidden treasure still bothering?” Dad nodded to answer my question.

“After handing you over to Rose, they no longer pressured us until now, it has been almost twenty-five years, I do not know if they have given up or are actually working on a plan.”

“If the treasure does not exist, father and grandfather should not have to worry about anything. I'm sure if they'd investigated this family for twenty-five years and they didn't find anything, they might have given up. At least, even if I had to hide all this time, you should live happily. That's the only way I can accept being a descendant of this family.”

“Natasha—“

“And I stick with what I said just now. I have no intention of coming here to occupy a position as your hidden daughter. I just want to live my normal life with him. So—“ I got up, stepped closer to see the koi fish pond.

“So, if you don't mind, dad can come to the next family meeting as my family.”

“Natasha, you should have scolded dad for letting you suffer all this time.” I turned to face Dad. The look on his face was sad and his longing was clearly visible. Her eyes were reddening withstanding the crying.

I'm shaking. “I don't want to live a life full of revenge. Maybe that time when dad handed me over to Aunt Rose, it was the best decision, I wouldn't argue with that. I may be your real son, but I don't want to get involved with anything here. I just want to have a normal but happy ordinary life.”

“If that's what you've decided, I won't bother you anymore. But remember, in the future if you need something you can't get yourself, come to me. Here will always be your home, I will always welcome you home whenever, as long as you are alive. You're still a princess

irreplaceable father.”

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