Didn’t anyone teach her how things were done?
Finding such an honest and open-book daughter-in-law felt like a blessing but at the sa ti, worry started overwhelming her.
If she was like this, then didn’t that an that others could step her all over in the future?
Madam yer’s eyes suddenly reddened as she removed her hand from Briar’s head and said, "Briar. Thank you. Thank you for everything," in a choking tone while finishing why she was grateful in her head.
’Thank you for liking my son. Thank you for loving our family and treating us as one.’
’For keeping the secrets that might have sent the family and the empire into disarray, thank you.’
’For just continuously loving us, protecting us in your own way and above all, for loving the kids like their own and never once made them feel the loss of their mother. I will always be eternally grateful!’
Briar, upon hearing it, she knew that this round she had won with a landslide.
The gamble she made paid off.
The way Madam yer was emotional wasn’t just about thanking her for being alive and not dying. These people should have found sothing and whatever it was, they were grateful for it. But which of Selena’s secrets did they find out for them to be so grateful like that?
It seed that Selena might be losing this round big ti.
She should be grateful to her.
Maybe in the future, visit her grave and offer so incense. She would probably turn in her grave if she did that, right?
Just thinking about it, Briar was determined to do so one day.
After all, how could she not go there and tell her in person the wonderful things that she had helped in making?
However, while her thoughts were like that, on the outer side, she was looking at Madam yer with a teary and guilty expression.
Seeing her like that, both mother and son felt even guiltier towards her.
"I ....Auntie, I ... I_"
"No, don’t call Auntie. I am now your mother, just call that. Aren’t you married to Logan, now?" Madam yer, seeing her struggling to say a word and still continued to call her auntie, which made it feel like there was a rift between them, couldn’t help but interject and correct the address.
Briar was more than a daughter to her now. She can’t let this child feel unwanted.
When Briar heard that, there was a flash of surprise in her eyes, which then turned to excitent. Unable to hide her excitent at getting such permission, she let her real thoughts spill out, but she didn’t regret it.
"A - ... no, Mother, can I really call you that?" she nervously and excitedly asked, her eyes wide and filled with pure excitent.
The two hearing and seeing that, the tinge of guilt and frustration, overwheld them once again.
However, they didn’t let it show.
"Um, you can call that without restraint," Madam yer cald her emotions and answered calmly with an encouraging smile on her face.
She didn’t know why, but the word mother coming out from Briar’s mouth sounded pleasing to the ears. Most importantly, it sounded genuine.
Could there be a reason why it was like that?
Suddenly, she felt like there were secrets about her daughter-in-law and her son might be aware of a few things.
She would ask him later and see what was wrong with Briar. If there were issues, deal with them as soon as possible, so that no one would use them against their family in the future.
Problems should be nipped in the bud before they bloom and cause a lot of trouble.
Briar on the other end was even more convinced that the crazy move she did this ti was worth it.
Although she nearly lost her life, she had gained so much this ti.
She shut Alice up, gained the sympathy of the family, gained her husband’s affection and above all, though she hadn’t checked it yet, probably revealed a few ugly sides of Selena.
Of course, she wasn’t aware that in Logan’s eyes, Selena was stripped bare. All the secrets that should have followed her to the grave were all dug out.
With a single move, she won big ti against Selena. And if she could return as a ghost, she would haunt Briar badly, regretting not dealing with the other when she was still alive.
Unfortunately, the other wasn’t in the world anymore. So, she wasn’t able to witness all that.
With stars in her eyes, Briar lunged at Madam yer like a child and wrapped her arms around the other while her face was buried in the stomach.
Madam yer, taken aback by what just happened, was about to ask what was going on but then Briar started choking as she tightened her hold on her.
"Thank you, mother. Thank you .... You don’t know how much this ans to . I really ..... sniff .... Sniff," Briar started choking as she held Madam yer.
This ti around, she wasn’t pretending.
She was twenty-five years old and all these years; she didn’t rember the last ti she really felt like she had a mother.
Her mother never liked her. No matter what she did, she was never there in her mother’s eyes.
While growing up, she thought that it might be because of the influence that her mother and many won in the village had regarding the patriarchal system. However, seeing the way her younger sisters were treated when they were all just female, she knew it then. She was the unfortunate child.
She was the unlucky one among the batch who didn’t manage to grab any ounce of love from her parents but attracted all the hate.
Even her brother was much better. Maybe because he was male.
So having Madam yer, the woman she had idolized and worshipped in secret giving her assent to call her mother, Briar’s emotions were in turmoil.
The kind of joy that filled her was that of an abandoned child who had finally been accepted by her family.
"Briar, you ...." Madam yer didn’t know what to say as she looked at Briar, who had started crying unexpectedly.
She looked at her son for help, but he rely looked at her with a reassuring smile on his face, which seed to speak volus.
Seeing her son like that, she could only pat her back coaxingly, hoping that Briar would vent out whatever grievances she had in her heart and let it all out.
Briar knew that what she was doing was embarrassing, but she couldn’t help it. Apart from the happiness of being accepted and winning, she cried because she was sorry for what she was doing. The deception, the sches and holding the truth back.
For manipulating their thoughts and feelings, she was sorry for everything. However, she was selfish. She could only feel this deep down in her heart, but wouldn’t show it or expose it no matter what.
Because she knew one thing for certain. If sothing like that happens and an opportunity presents itself, she would do it.
To get her man and the family, she was willing to threaten the ancestors and the spirits, so what of re human beings?
She could beco the devil itself. That’s how far she could go to get this family’s approval.
And the fact that what they were seeing was a fraction of who she really was, she felt guilty and could only cry and repeatedly apologized for the past and more troubles that she would cause in the future.
After all, how could things move swiftly just because they all wish for it to happen so?
Life was full of dramas, and this was just the beginning.
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