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Chapter 37
After Divorce, My General Husband Chasin...
Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
On the other side, Claire lay in a coma, her dreams awash with a chaotic sea of bright red.
She saw herself back in that hellish prison, stripped bare by those vicious women. Their cruel laughter echoed as they stomped on her and humiliated her beyond measure. "Ah!"
She jolted awake with a scream. Blinking rapidly, she realized she was in a hospital, not in that dreadful prison.
Her mind whirled in confusion. Why was she in the hospital?
She vividly recalled the terror of the previous night when she was unwillingly dragged to that pervert Jacob, who then ushered her into that place of dread...NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
She tried to piece together the fragments of her scattered memory when the familiar voice of Frederick sliced through her fog.
"Are you awake?"
Claire could hardly trust her ears. Her head snapped towards the tall figure by the floor-to-ceiling window. There was stood Frederick. Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
Last night flashed in her mind. The blood-red tools on Jacob's walls had triggered her panic, shoving her back into the abyss of her schizophrenia.
It felt as though every fiber of her being was still pulsating with the intense pain that had racked her body, yet inexplicably, she found herself unable to muster any resistance.
She yearned to resist, to thrash about with wild abandon, but her body remained motionless as if paralyzed. The four years she spent in prison must have cast a long, dark shadow over her, leaving her spirit shackled even when her limbs were free. Beyond that, she could fathom no other explanation for her inertia.
She gazed at Frederick, who stood silhouetted against the French window, and her heart skipped, nearly ceasing to beat in her chest.
One thought burned brightly. Frederick had saved her.
Otherwise, he would not be present. Despite the certainty that settled in her heart, a part of her still refused to believe it.
Could Frederick, who haunted her nightmares, truly be her savior?
"Was it you..."
Her voice trembled, barely a whisper.
Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
At this moment, her heart fluttered with a cocktail of nerves, fear, and an overwhelming sense of anticipation.
"Yes, I saved you."
Sensing the question teetering on her lips, Frederick provided an answer with unwavering certainty.
Claire was left speechless.
His simple words struck her like a thunderbolt.
She mused silently, "He had saved me!
If so, did that prove, in some tender corner of his heart, that I held significance to him?
No, that couldn't be. Frederick must be afraid to see that I would meet my end at the hands of that vile man.
Frederick must have rescued me to keep me alive for Caroline."
At the thought, her brief glimmer of hope extinguished, and her heart sank once more.
"What's with the scar on your stomach?"
His voice sliced through her swirling thoughts, tinged with a rare note of concern. Claire snapped her gaze upward to meet his, momentarily stunned by the unexpected warmth in his tone. Her heart raced.
Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
She pondered, "Could I have misheard? His tone suggested he actually cared for me.
Did he truly care about me?"
As the weight of his words settled upon her, she felt the sharp sting of tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Claire, last night, I saw the doctor sew dozens of stitches into your abdomen," Frederick said.
Noticing her silence, he turned to lock her eyes.
Claire stood there, lost in a daze, her appearance eerily
reminiscent of how she lay sprawled on the floor of Jacob's villa the night before.
"Why didn't you fight back last night, Claire? Where's the proud little princess of the Prescott family?"
When Frederick beheld Claire in this state, his mind flooded with images of that fiery and fearless girl of yesteryears who was unafraid to love or hate. Finally, he couldn't help but voice his question. Such a simple question brought a wave of tears to Claire's eyes.
Claire thought, bitterness slicing through her, "Why hadn't I resisted? Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
What a cruel irony! Wasn't it all precipitated by him in the first place?
Because of his orders, I had been broken during those fourt years in prison.
What did he mean by asking now? Did he orchestrate last night,
too?
Indeed, hadn't he always suspected that my demeanor since my release from prison was nothing but a facade?"
At this thought, Claire felt as though a blade had sliced through her skin and plunged into her heart, the pain so acute it nearly robbed her of breath.
The very man she loved most was now her deepest wound.
She managed a bitter smile, "It's just a scar. As long as I'm not dead, I'm fine."
"Just a scar? Claire, what happened to you in prison?"
Frederick was aghast. He approached to gently lift her quilt and unbuttoned her hospital gown, pointing at the scar with a trembling finger.
But no sooner had he uncovered it than the memory of Claire's bloodied abdomen from the day before flashed before his eyes.
Reflecting on how delicate Claire used to be, he still recalled the
Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
time when she, in her playful nature, got a cactus thorn lodged in her hand.
Consequently, the entire Prescott family rallied around her, descending upon the hospital with a storm of indignation. They were intent on extracting the minuscule yet vexing cactus thorn from her hand. For days afterward, she found herself enveloped in the heavy shroud of melancholy. But now, there was a significant scar marring her belly, requiring dozens of stitches. Yet, without a murmur of complaint, Claire had merely remarked with a dismissive air, "It's just a scar."
He found it nearly impossible to gaze upon the wound directly, and his eyes unwittingly brimmed with a silent, poignant ache.
For the first time, he truly felt heartbroken.
Even as he made his way to the hospital the previous night, his mind was besieged by the harrowing fear that she might not survive.
At that moment, their proximity afforded Claire a clear view into the depths of his eyes, where she could see the unmistakable pain etched within.
She rubbed her eyes almost instinctively, seeking to confirm the sorrow she glimpsed in his, and at last, she was convinced that his heart ached for her plight.
She thought, "Could it be that Frederick truly felt sympathy for
Chapter 37 Truly Heartbroken
me? He even ventured to inquire about the trials I had endured during my four years behind bars.
Wasn't the harsh reality I faced within those prison walls all orchestrated by his command?"
Claire had borne four years of agony and torment akin to being cast into the depths of hell, and during that time, no one had shown concern, and no one had offered her a word of comfort.
Now, Frederick, the man she had loved most ardently and chased for half her lifetime, finally came to ask for her past.
"Frederick, over these past four years, not one day has passed in peace for me..."
Claire could no longer contain herself and began to speak, but the moment she parted her lips, tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her emotions overwhelmed her, making it nearly impossible to form a full sentence.