Chapter 247: Are They Still Human?
At this realization, Mrs. Cain completely broke down.
"How could this be? It wasn’t supposed to be like this! Those are my children! Those were supposed to be my children! They stole my children!"
The thought that the two children who should have been born into her family had been cruelly snatched away, becoming someone else’s, made Mrs. Cain feel as if a tightly wound string in her mind had finally snapped. She wished she could storm over to her brother-in-law’s house right this instant, demand her children back, and make them pay in blood for the child she had so tragically lost!
Mr. Lewis hugged his wife tightly, his eyes filled with anguish. "The timing of my brother’s change in fortune was just too much of a coincidence," he said. "And back then, my father had mentioned he wanted revenge on all of us. Bringing my brother home was the first step. Driving my mother to her death was the second. Not long after that, he had a huge fight with my grandparents at my mother’s funeral, and then he just vanished without a trace, never to be seen again."
He hadn’t been there when his father argued with his grandparents, so he wasn’t entirely sure what the fight was about. All he knew was that not long after, his grandparents fell ill. Less than half a year later, both of them had passed away, one after the other.
At that point, everyone who had directly caused the separation between his father and his girlfriend was dead. He was the only person his father hated who was still left.
’But after that, I never saw him again, let alone faced any direct revenge. I was relieved, even a little glad. Blood is thicker than water, after all, I thought. Even if he hates me, a tiger won’t eat its own cub. He must still have a tiny bit of love for me in his heart.’
Looking back now, he realized how laughably naive he had been. The reason his father never reappeared, never took direct revenge, was probably just because his goal had already been achieved.
’He didn’t take my life, but he found an easy way to make me suffer for the rest of it!’
"Of course, the most important clue is what Master Donovan just mentioned," Mr. Lewis said. "The conditions for swapping fates are extremely demanding."
As soon as Mr. Lewis said this, everyone in the room turned their attention back to Arabella Donovan.
"That’s right. A person’s fate isn’t something you can just swap at will. The two individuals involved must have nearly identical birth details, and their family backgrounds and life experiences also have to be quite similar. Only then is it possible to temporarily deceive the eyes of the Providence and achieve the goal."
According to Mr. Lewis, he and his brother were born around the same time, which gave his father the opportunity to bring the other baby home and claim they were twins. They also grew up together and were close blood relatives. With all these conditions stacked together, his father found the perfect opening.
"Then can these swapped fates be switched back?" Mrs. Cain couldn’t be bothered with her husband’s family drama right now. All she cared about was whether her and her husband’s fates could be restored, and if the children she was destined to have could ever return to her.
"It’s possible, but your problem isn’t as simple as just having your fates swapped."
Hearing Arabella say this, the color drained from Mrs. Cain and her husband’s faces once more. "You mean... there’s something else wrong with us? Is it a curse, or...?"
Arabella Donovan shook her head. "If I’m not mistaken, the fate of your son—the child from your unfortunate miscarriage—was also swapped."
"What?" Mrs. Cain’s face twisted for a moment. "It was them again, wasn’t it? It wasn’t enough for them to steal my other children—they had to take his fate, too? Those animals! Are they even human?"
Although Mr. Lewis was also furious and chilled to the bone, he managed to keep his composure. "But our child... he was never born. How could he have a fate?"
"He wasn’t born safely, that’s true, but a five-month-old fetus already has a human form. Add to that the fact that he died an unjust death, so he was already filled with immense resentment. And after that..." Arabella trailed off, her expression turning grim.
Mrs. Cain’s heart lurched. She had a terrible feeling her child had suffered even more. "And after what?" she asked urgently. "What else did they do to my child?"
"Have you ever heard of the practice of raising a ghost child?"
"Raising a ghost child?!"
It wasn’t just the couple; everyone in the room was stunned. Mrs. Cain began to tremble uncontrollably, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted dead away.
"Honey! Honey!" Mr. Lewis, who was still reeling from the earth-shattering revelation, was terrified by his wife’s sudden collapse before he could even process the news.
For a moment, the private room was filled with cries of alarm as chaos erupted.
The people around Mrs. Cain called her name and pinched the pressure point below her nose, and after a short while, she groggily came to.
Her first act upon waking was to tightly grip Arabella Donovan’s hand and ask for confirmation. "You’re saying... they took my child to be raised as a ghost? Is that what you mean?"
Arabella Donovan looked at her with an expression of pity, but still nodded truthfully. "Yes."
At that, Mrs. Cain finally broke down completely. "How could they? How dare they! I’ll kill them! I am going to kill them!"
"I know, I know." Mr. Lewis said, pulling her close. "It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I’m the one who brought this upon our child."
Mr. Lewis was filled with unbearable regret. He hated his father’s cold ruthlessness, hated his brother’s treachery, and most of all, he hated himself. ’How could I be so old, yet still so naive and foolish?’
’I knew my father hated me and my brother resented me, yet I still wishfully believed I could resolve the last generation’s grudges with sincerity. I thought I could bridge the rift between my brother and me with affection and money.’
’In the end, I didn’t just harm myself; I harmed my beloved wife and my children.’
Overwhelmed by a torrent of negative emotions, the couple could no longer hold back and wept bitterly in each other’s arms, right in front of everyone.
Seeing this, Ms. Kerr and her son felt a pang of bitterness. Blood relatives were supposed to be the people with the deepest bonds, the ones you could trust with your back and who would always support you. Yet sometimes, it was those very same people who would stab you in the back when you hit rock bottom and needed them most, pushing you into an inescapable abyss of even greater suffering.
It was a feeling the mother and son understood all too well, and they deeply empathized with the couple’s pain.
"To do something like this to an unborn child... those people are completely depraved. They don’t deserve to be called human." Ms. Kerr turned to Arabella. "Serena, is there anything you can do to help them? To free that poor child from his suffering and make sure those animals get the retribution they deserve?"
"There is a way, but..."
Before Arabella could finish, Mrs. Cain stumbled toward her, grabbing her hands. "Master Donovan, please help us! Help my poor child! I’ll give you whatever you want. Even if you ask for my life, I won’t hesitate for a second."
Arabella was taken aback for a moment, then replied with a helpless sigh, "What would I do with your life? Don’t worry. The art of fate-swapping is already an offense against the natural order, to say nothing of this act that outrages both gods and men. I won’t stand by and do nothing. It’s just..."
"Just what?"
"It’s just that to free the child from his suffering, we first need to find his physical vessel."
"His physical vessel?"
"...His remains."