Chapter 4 Break

A week after the wedding, I asked to go back to Sterling Estate to retrieve some personal belongings.

"Are you sure you want to go back?" Altera asked worriedly, "What's your family's attitude towards you...?"

"I know," I said, "but I want to get back the handmade doll my grandmother left me. It's my only keepsake."

Altera nodded: "I'll go with you."

We arrived at Sterling Manor aboard a Sky Tribe aircraft. From the air, the building where I had lived for twenty-two years looked both familiar and strange.

After we landed, I tried to enter the door lock code, but it showed an error.

"They changed the password," I said with a sneer.

I rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Through the window, I could see people moving around inside, but they were deliberately not opening the door.

"They are humiliating you," Altera said angrily.

"It's okay." I took a deep breath. "Since they won't open the door, I'll just go in myself."

I took a few steps back, then kicked the door hard. The solid wood door made a loud thud under my feet and was finally kicked open.

I rushed into the house and went straight to my room.

But when I pushed open the door, the sight that greeted me instantly enraged.

Edmund was sitting on my bed, scissors in hand. He had shredded my handmade doll to shreds, the cotton filling scattered all over the floor. To make matters worse, he had spat on the pieces.

"What are you doing?!" I roared.

Edmund looked up, a malicious grin on his face. "Oh, Alexander, you're back? I'm helping you clean up this mess."

"That was given to me by Grandma!" I rushed over and grabbed his hair.

"Grandma?" Edmund sneered. "Do you know what she told me before she died? She said her biggest regret was being too good to you, you bastard."

"You're lying!" I angrily slapped him twice across the face.

"I lied?" Edmund wiped the blood from his mouth, a more venomous glint in his eyes. "She also said you didn't deserve the Sterling name. You were just a pathetic orphan, and if she hadn't been so soft-hearted, you would have been sent to an orphanage long ago."

Every word felt like a knife cutting into my heart.

"Edmund!" Earl William burst into the room. "Alexander! How dare you hit him?!"

He rushed over to hit me, but Altera stopped him with one hand.

"Let me go!" Earl William cried out.

"You have no right to hit him," Altera said coldly.

"Not qualified?" Lady Catherine burst in. "This is our home! He's just a bastard!"

Illegitimate child, bastard, abandoned child... these words gnaw at my heart like venomous snakes.

I looked at the broken, dirty dolls on the ground; they were my last warm memories, and now they had completely destroyed them.

"That's enough." I stood up and looked at the three people.

I grabbed the bedside lamp and smashed it against the mirror on the wall. Glass shards flew everywhere, making a piercing sound.

Then I overturned the desk and swept everything onto the floor.

"You're insane!" Mrs. Catherine screamed.

"Yes, I've gone mad!" I sneered at them. "You've driven me insane!"

Just then, an unusual heat wave suddenly swept in from outside, and the numbers on the thermometer began to rise sharply.

Extreme heatwaves have triggered an apocalyptic scenario ahead of schedule!

"What is this?" Earl William looked out the window in horror.

I know what this is. This is the beginning of Judgment Day.

"Let's go," I said to Altera. "Let's get out of here."

"Alexander, you can't leave!" Lady Catherine said urgently, "It's dangerous outside!"

"Danger?" I sneered. "The most dangerous place is right here. Being with you vipers is the most dangerous thing."

I picked up the broken doll from the ground, grabbed Altera, and left without looking back.

As we walked out the door, I heard Edmund shout viciously behind us, "Alexander! You'll regret this! Without our family, you are nothing!"

I didn't turn around.

When we returned to Sky City, the outside temperature had already begun to rise sharply. Alfred immediately activated the emergency plan, and everyone entered the underground shelter.

"What's the situation outside?" I asked.

"This is bad." Altera checked the communication equipment. "The temperature is still rising, and the ocean is starting to evaporate."

I sneered inwardly. Edmund was probably enjoying his newlywed life in the deep sea right now.

"Any other news?" I asked.

"There are some distress signals," Altera said, "including... Sterling Manor."

"Ignore it," I said coldly.

"but..."

"No buts." I looked at her. "Altera, some people are not worth saving."

A few days later, more news came in.

"The Deep Sea Kingdom has also sent out a distress signal," Altera reported.

A surge of vengeful pleasure welled up within me. It seemed Neelion and her daughter were in trouble too.

What did they say?

"They say the food chain in the deep sea has collapsed, and many marine creatures have died," Altera read the message. "They hope to establish trade relations with survivors on land."

Has anyone responded?

Not yet.

I imagined Edmund's current predicament and felt a surge of vengeful pleasure.

When the marine ecosystem collapses and food becomes scarce, what choices will a hungry siren princess make?

She will remember the nature of the fish-men and treat humans as food.

And Edmund, that greedy fool, will become her first "meal".

This is the fate he deserved.

This is the fate that all those who have hurt me deserve.

I held the broken doll, feeling a cold sense of satisfaction.

Grandma, did you see that? Those who bullied me have all gotten what they deserved.

And I have finally found a home of my own.