Chapter 314 – Her Sudden Departure: A Tale of Love and Redemption (Lucian & Roxanne)

Lucian sensed her gaze and felt his head aching. “Essie, come on. We should be heading back too.”

I’m used to getting the cold shoulders from Roxanne, Archie, and Benny, but now even my own daughter is taking their side and suspecting that I was the cause of Roxanne’s change of mood.

Estella pouted as she dragged her feet over to Lucian’s side. Lucian reached for her hand but did not get her.

Dipping his gaze, he saw Estella grasping onto the hem of his shirt in a depressed mood. Her gaze lingered at the door where the trio left.

Lucian’s brows furrowed at her look but still led her after them. They needed to pass through the beach to get back to their rooms. It was the busiest time on the beach.

Even though the crowd was smaller compared to the night before with the firework display, Roxanne and Lucian still kept a close watch on the children. “Daddy!”

Estella yanked on the hem of her father’s shirt roughly when Roxanne didn’t look over her shoulder at her even once.

Lucian dropped his gaze as he could not read what was on Roxanne’s mind. Estella glared at him as she asked, “Did you make Ms. Jarvis mad again?”

Lucian’s eyelid twitched at her interrogation. Well, I was right. She’s blaming me.

Lucian stayed silent for a few seconds to suppress his feeling before he asked, “Didn’t you see what happened earlier? Do you think I was the one who made her angry?”

Estella contemplated with a frown at her father’s rebuttal. She slowly shook her head. “I can’t think of anything you did that would make her angry.”

All Daddy did was accept Archie’s and Benny’s presents, then Ms. Jarvis took them away. That can’t be Daddy’s fault. Lucian nodded and swung his dark gaze at the woman walking in front of him. “I can’t think of anything too.”

Everything was going swimmingly, but after I accepted the boys’ presents, Roxanne’s expression changed, and she hurriedly took the boys away. She even left Essie there. Does she want the boys to keep their distance from me so badly?

Both Archie and Benny were holding hands with Roxanne as they walked. Roxanne had been silent the entire way, and the twins couldn’t help but worry for her.

They had no idea what happened, but they could tell that all of a sudden, their mother was unhappy. “Mommy…” Benny cautiously called out to her. “Are we not taking Essie with us anymore?”

Roxanne snapped back to reality when she heard him. She then remembered that she had forgotten about Estella due to her fear. However, it was not possible for her to go back to pick the young child up then.

Roxanne hesitated for a while before caressing Benny’s head. “Mr. Farewell will bring Essie home.”

Archie and Benny nodded at that. “Mommy, why are you sad? Weren’t we having loads of fun just now?” they couldn’t help but ask.

Although they had been focusing on doing artwork, they were aware that Estella and their mother had exchanged gifts with each other.

Roxanne should have been happy about it. However, she seemed to be in a panic instead. Archie frowned as he looked up at his mother. “Is it because we gave Mr. Farwell a gift?”

A look of astonishment flashed in her eyes as she was taken aback by his words. Archie gripped Roxanne’s hand tightly.

Now that he had found out about his family background, he naturally knew what his mother was worried about. “We gave Mr. Farwell gifts because he had helped us out a lot these two days,” Archie said with a serious expression. “If you don’t like it, we will avoid Mr. Farwell in the future, Mommy.”

Benny joined in as well, “We love you the most, Mommy. We won’t like anyone you don’t!”

Although those words were what they said, they still felt saddened. They had been happily spending time with Lucian during these few days. The latter had been taking good care of them as well.

If it was possible, Archie and Benny wanted their parents to get back together. However, Roxanne obviously did not think the same way. Therefore, the twins could only respect her wishes.

Roxanne was moved by their words, but she did not want them to know that she was afraid. She could not show that she was fearful. Upon listening to her children, she pursed her lips and smiled. “Mommy loves you two the most too.” Archie and Benny smiled sweetly at her.

Benny, however, could not help but look back. Just as he did, his eyes met Estella’s aggrieved gaze.

When their gazes met, Benny quickly tugged at Roxanne’s hand. “Mommy, Essie’s behind us! Should we wait for her?”

Roxanne instinctively turned back to look as well. However, she ended up locking eyes with Lucian who had an unfathomable look.

Her heart clenched, and she quickly looked away, not even sparing Estella a glance.

“There’s no need for that. Mr. Farwell is there with her,” she told Archie and Benny as she turned back around. Roxanne tried to suppress the panic inside her.

Because Benny noticed the sad look on Estella’s face, he wanted to say something further. Moreover, Roxanne might start avoiding Estella again after returning from the trip.

He had been hoping that Estella would be able to spend more time with Roxanne. Regardless, when he noticed Roxanne’s expression, he could only keep quiet.

Suddenly, Roxanne halted in her tracks and turned around to face the duo behind her. Noticing her movements, Lucian and Estella stopped walking.

“Please go on ahead and take the children back, Mr. Farwell. I want to stay here for a while,” Roxanne said with a distant look.

When she thought of how she had to stay under the same roof with Lucian after returning to the hotel, her heart was filled with mixed feelings. After mulling it over, Roxanne decided to remain on the beach to calm down.

Lucian’s eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at the twins next to her. “We’re going to stay with Mommy!” Both of them held Roxanne’s hands tightly.

Roxanne had no other choice but to let her children stay with her. She then said to Lucian, “You can go on ahead and take Estella home, Mr. Farwell. The kids and I will go back after a while.”

Lucian could notice Estella tugging the ends of his shirt strongly. It was clear that she did not want to leave as well. However, Roxanne had already turned around to leave with Archie and Benny.

“Ms. Jarvis…” Estella looked at Roxanne sadly. Lucian’s gaze darkened. In the end, he still worried for the three of them, but he knew that Roxanne would not want him and Estella to tag along. Hence, he decided to take Estella to a nearby restaurant to wait for them.

Roxanne, on the other hand, brought Archie and Benny over to a place that was not as crowded. She took off her shoes and sat down on the sand.

With the refreshing sea breeze blowing on her face, she soon started to calm down.

Archie and Benny remained by her side. As they could tell that Roxanne was not in a good mood, they did not dare to play around and instead sat down quietly next to her.

It was after a long while that Roxanne had calmed down finally. She then stood up and rubbed the boys’ heads. “Let’s go.”

Realizing that their mother looked much better, they both breathed a sigh of relief. They held onto Roxanne’s hand and made a move to stand up.

Roxanne was about to pull them up when she suddenly felt a sharp pain underneath her foot. She made a sound of pain when something seemed to have scraped her foot.

Both Archie and Benny were shocked at her sudden reaction. They quickly stood up and patted the sand off their clothes before helping Roxanne to sit back down on the beach.

“What’s wrong, Mommy?”

Roxanne tried her best to endure the pain as she looked down at the spot that she had been standing on. All she saw was a shell silently laying on the sand. There were traces of her blood on the sharp edge of the shell.

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