CHAPTER 146: BLOODLINE AND DESIRE

Rhane followed Jenna’s father, his expression apprehensive. The man had never spared him a look, and even when he did, Rhane noticed the disdain in it. And it all began the day Rhane saved the man’s daughter from drowning.

To Brown, his daughter wasn’t saved but defiled, and even when he found out he was wrong, a typical man of high standing couldn’t risk accepting he’d wronged a commoner, so he never spoke of it. But that didn’t end in Brown’s crime; his pride and greed had made him put himself first before his only daughter’s happiness.

The marriage with Gerald was more beneficial to Brown, Rhane had found out. Also standing by as an onlooker to the insults hurled at Jenna just so he wouldn’t look weak. All of these were the crimes of Brown, and Rhane was never going to forgive him.

Though it came as a surprise that the man had come to him first to speak, Rhane expected his father but not Brown. Thinking about it now, Rhane scanned the place. Nikolai was not in sight.

Percy had reported of same thing the previous day. Rhane knew Nikolai, none of the man’s actions were ever for nothing.

Rhane moved a short distance away from Brown, waving for Percy to come over to him, and when the young man did, he whispered something to him.

"I will do just that," Percy said in reply, then turned and left.

Rhane returned to the man’s side, feeling a sharp pain around his arm and stomach. Rhane grunted; he needed a little time to rest before the next event.

As if sensing Rhane’s worry, Brown stopped and turned to look at him, his expression a frown. "Do you not have any sense of dignity as a man?" was his first question.

Rhane turned to see if the man spoke to someone else. Not seeing anyone, Rhane’s eyes fell on the man’s face.

"How could you throw away your achievements for a woman that will never be yours?" Brown continued with a sneer. "Won’t you try to win and show the other women something... I mean if it’s not Jenna there could be—"

Rhane humored the man with a chuckle that made him stop talking. "If it’s not Jenna..." he drawled, his eyes a distant gaze.

Brown nodded. "Yes... there are many women willing to have you as their own. I’m saying... you might not have the best bloodline but you do have the strength. A profound aura," the man cleared his throat; he didn’t want to render any praises to the man beneath him.

"Jenna has been married before, why bother yourself when you’re eligible and single? Leave my daughter alone, Rhane." Brown remarked with a sigh. "I can help you with lands enough to start your life, and for a family seal... I’m sure with my influence you can have it in no time. That’s enough, isn’t it?"

Rhane shook his head.

"No?" Brown raised his hands tiredly. "Young men... I knew you were just as greedy. Fine! I’ll add one of my ships that—"

Rhane leaned forward, bending to the man’s height. "If your daughter isn’t part of the offer then it’s never enough. Give Jenna to me, and take the offers you make back."

Brown snarled, his grip around the cane tight. "I said you cannot have Jenna!"

"Why?" Rhane asked calmly, a contrast to the harsh voice of Brown.

The man closed his eyes and sighed tiredly. "Children... you would never understand. Whatever fire burning inside of you isn’t love, it is chaos waiting to ruin. What you feel will ruin Jenna!"

"And so will it me, if I can’t have her," Rhane replied, his voice even lower. "If that is all, I’ll go ahead first, I have a drink—"

"You are humiliating Jenna!" Brown barked, ruffling his short hair. He paced, then walked back to Rhane. "You are making a jest out of the woman you claim to love."

Rhane stood straight, his head moved to the side.

"You don’t know it... or maybe you do, and your selfish desires won’t let you see it," Brown continued, his voice a little shaky.

"My daughter has been married, and she left her husband to live with another man! Do you know the look I get whenever I walk into a room? The council men are trying hard not to speak about it in my presence because of respect for me, but I don’t know how long that would go on. You won’t understand what that means, do you?"

Brown popped his fingers into his mouth and chewed, his eyes shaking a little. "You had been furious that night when Jenna was mentioned, weren’t you? Do you know how many gatherings I had to sit in knowing they speak of my daughter, and of course they would because she left her home to warm another man’s bed! And a commoner at that, one beneath her status."

Rhane smirked, but his eyes remained serious. "If it was above her status, would it have been enough?"

"T-hat..." Brown sputtered. "You are not getting the point, are you? No matter what happens, other men will speak of Jenna’s body, why? Gerald will have a lot to say. So if you really love Jenna, I’ll say let her hand go and stop hurting her. Make her return to her husband, let all this mess end."

Rhane hummed, as if understanding everything the man had said. Raising his face, he smiled. "What about Jenna?" he asked.

"What about her?" Brown asked.

Rhane moved his palm forward. "Everything you said was beneficial to you, how about Jenna, what does she gain from all of this?"

Brown threw his head back and laughed out loudly. "I knew you were a fool when you gave up your point for a woman! Did you not hear everything I’d said? Jenna gets to return to her husband’s home as a woman with dignity. The morals are met, and balance is returned!" He clapped his hands to prove his point.

"Oh—" Rhane nodded slowly. "Returning to Gerald will help meet morals, or will make you stand tall again before the council of simpleminded kin of yours."

Brown clenched his teeth. "Do you dare insult the council and I?"

"I agree on one thing," Rhane ignored the man, choosing to say what he wanted. "If I’m a fool for putting Jenna first, then that makes two of us... where I put her first, you put your ego. I wonder whose foolishness rankles."

Brown’s face reddened. "I won’t stand here and watch you... you lowly filth insult a man like me. I was only pitying your poor existence, but I see you don’t deserve any of it."

"So you’d rather sit and hear other men speak ill of your own blood? Let me guess, it’d be nicer because they are nobles, it gives them that right." Rhane didn’t pay mind to the man’s rage.

"Every point you made to me wasn’t about Jenna but yourself, I’d have gone on my knees, ripped my shirts and begged you to take me as your son-in-law if I truly was harming Jenna."

Brown puffed his chest. "I love my daughter, that is why I am doing all these."

"Yet you love your name even more." Rhane sucked his teeth. "The things other men say to you... Jenna looking at a man below her status. It’s a stain to your household, and for the rest of your life, if a man like me is your son-in-law, nobility will leave your home. These are your reasons, are they not?"

Brown remained silent, his teeth gritted.

"What you love so much isn’t Jenna, if you did you’d ask your daughter why she had left her husband’s house. What happened? If you loved your daughter as you claim, then you’d put her first and listen to her without pride involved."

Brown hissed. "You are only training her to be wilder than she already is, did you not see her madness earlier? Speaking in a council of men. She will soon leave you saying the same thing she did with Gerald. That is why women need to be controlled."

"A woman that has a mind of her own wrecks her home with her hands, now it’s the first marriage, soon it’ll be second and more and more... you are fighting for her, giving her the idea that it is fine to leave her marriage anytime she sees it fit. Any more women like her, and men will be dying."

Rhane opened his mouth to talk but closed it. There was still a long way to go, and even long talks wouldn’t help. This was the society they were in. The reason Jenna had endured everything for a long time. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"You’re more concerned with what happens in the nearer future while Jenna is covered in scars that could have killed her."

Brown narrowed his eyes. "Scars? What scars?"

It was then Rhane realized Jenna hadn’t told her father everything. "It’d be best if you set your ego aside and listen to your daughter. After you do... then maybe we can have this conversation again... father-in-law." With a small bow, Rhane turned to leave but was stopped by the man.

"I will do as you have said but promise me one thing," Brown dropped his hand to his side. "If you truly love Jenna... and not for her body, then don’t sneak around with her until you can proudly bring her out as your wife. Respect her body. If things are going to be made right, let it be done well."

Rhane stared at the man for a moment, with a soft hum. He walked away from there.