The mont those words entered her ears, Lana paused completely.
Then slowly... she looked toward lody quietly.
For a long mont, Lana simply stared at her biological mother silently.
If another person had spoken those words, Lana would have imdiately thought they were unreasonable.
But when she looked into lody’s eyes... she suddenly realized sothing.
lody genuinely did not understand her pain.
Not because she was cruel.
But because she had never experienced anything remotely similar.
After taking a deep breath slowly, Lana finally smiled faintly.
"Then let ask you sothing."
Her voice remained calm. "What if one day you discovered that you were swapped at birth?"
lody imdiately froze. Lana continued quietly.
"You still grew up in a wealthy family, but this ti... your parents don’t love you."
Her golden eyes gradually darkened.
"You have to earn your own pocket money. You spend all your energy trying to please your three brothers because they’re the only blood-related family you have left..."
A bitter smile slowly appeared on her lips.
"But all you receive in return is coldness."
The atmosphere around the table slowly beca suffocating.
"Your parents don’t care about you. Your brothers look down on you. Slaps beco normal. The coldness becos sothing you experience every single day."
Lana’s voice remained terrifyingly calm.
"Would you still feel happy?"
lody’s lips trembled slightly.
However... she could not say a single word.
Lana continued quietly.
"What if one day the truth gets exposed, and suddenly everyone points fingers at you?"
Her eyes slowly turned red.
"They call you a fake daughter. They accuse you of stealing soone else’s life..."
A faint bitterness filled her smile.
"When in reality, even more luxurious life was originally supposed to belong to you."
lody remained completely silent.
Lana continued speaking.
"What if you’re suddenly forced to pay thirty million dollars even though you don’t even have a stable source of inco? What if your education gets threatened because the real daughter resents your existence? What if the three brothers you desperately tried to love suddenly turn against you?"
Her voice gradually beca softer.
"And what if... you eventually discover that every single terrible thing happening to you was secretly arranged by the imposter who stole your life?"
The restaurant beca deathly silent.
Even lody’s breathing beca unsteady.
Finally, Lana chuckled softly. "Trust ."
Her eyes glistened faintly. "If you were in my position..."
Her voice trembled slightly for the first ti.
"You would cry so much that eventually even your tears would dry up."
At this point, genuine sadness finally surfaced inside Lana’s heart.
Especially when she rembered those old videos.
The videos where lody lovingly looked at Thessy with warm eyes.
The videos where lody publicly defended Thessy proudly.
anwhile... in Lana’s previous life, there had never been anyone who protected her.
Nobody stood beside her. Nobody defended her. Nobody loved her unconditionally. Except Lucian...
She struggled alone until the very end.
Thinking about this, Lana suddenly choked slightly.
"There was never anyone protecting ."
Her voice beca hoarse. "Except for the few people who genuinely treated well."
Tears slowly pooled within her eyes now. "So please..."
She looked directly toward lody. "Never ask to be understanding."
Her voice trembled faintly.
"It’s easy to preach kindness when you’re not the one suffering. It’s easy to talk about forgiveness when you’re not the one being hurt."
A bitter smile slowly appeared on her lips.
"But when you’re actually standing in my position..."
Her voice gradually lowered.
"It becos difficult to endure. Difficult to understand. And even more difficult to forgive."
The mont she finished speaking, Lana slowly stood up.
Her appetite had completely disappeared.
Oddly enough... she already felt full. So unbearably full that her chest almost hurt.
Without waiting for lody to stop her, Lana imdiately turned and rushed out of the restaurant.
Even she herself did not understand why tears were threatening to spill from her eyes.
’It’s not like I expected anything from them anyway...’
Yet despite telling herself that repeatedly...
Her heart still hurt.
The mont Lana stepped outside, cold rain imdiately poured down heavily from the dark sky.
Looking at the stormy night, she could not help murmuring bitterly.
"Seriously..."
A self-mocking laugh escaped her lips.
"Today is one of the worst days ever."
Then suddenly, her foot slipped against the wet pavent.
Her exhausted body lost balance completely.
For a brief mont, Lana genuinely felt like collapsing.
And at that exact instant... the emotions she had been suppressing finally burst apart completely.
Tears imdiately poured down her cheeks uncontrollably.
She clenched her fists tightly before suddenly shouting bitterly into the rain.
"Petersons are truly my bad luck..."
Even Mr. Crow could not help feeling slightly helpless seeing her like this.
Still... for the first ti in a long while, he genuinely felt a little sad for her.
Without hesitation, he quietly used his psychic power to stop her falling body midair.
Lana herself did not even notice it properly.
Soon afterward, Mr. Crow carefully guided her toward a nearby shelter using his invisible power.
Rainwater continuously dripped from Lana’s soaked clothes while cold wind brushed against her pale face.
Finally sitting down beneath the shelter, she took a deep, trembling breath before covering her eyes weakly.
"I’m so pathetic... right, Mr. Crow?"
For once, Mr. Crow did not tease her. Instead, he calmly replied, "You are."
Hearing that honest answer, Lana suddenly laughed bitterly.
"I already knew they would never truly accept ."
Her laughter sounded hollow and broken. "I even knew they could break my heart soday."
She lowered her head weakly. "I knew I would probably never receive their love."
Rain continuously poured outside while the cold atmosphere around her beca increasingly lonely.
"And yet..."
Her voice cracked softly. "I still subconsciously worried about hurting them."
A self-mocking smile slowly appeared on her face. "I honestly wish I never cared about them at all."
Then she laughed again. However, even her laughter sounded painfully bitter.
"So pathetic..."
"You aren’t. You are right though when an adult can’t reach a solution..."
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