Chapter 265 To Wear the Crown, Bear Its Weight

• The voice was soft. Yet it made Edward Raine curl a faint smile. He turned and saw Qin Ye staring at him, eyes dark and heavy. Qin Ye shrugged and folded his hands behind his head. “Kind of.” As he spoke, his gaze grew distant, words dropping to a murmur. “You know, I used to be just like you. I had a mom who loved me like crazy. She’d give me anything—hell, even the stars.” “We were actually a happy family. My parents loved me. And I was born into the West Shu Qin family—a big-name clan—so I never worried about food or clothes. My dad’s position in the Qin family wasn’t top-tier, sure, but the man had brains. He was doing just fine.” “Then one day—one damn day—the sky just caved in. My whole world flipped.” As he said it, Edward saw the hate and menace rising behind Qin Ye’s deep gaze. “My mom had just gotten pregnant with the second kid. Ha… don’t laugh—I know it sounded nuts. I was already grown. The gap was huge.” “But pregnant is pregnant. What, I was supposed to stop my own parents from growing the family?” The cigarette burned to ash. Qin Ye lowered his head, unhurried, and lit another. He drew on it, speaking through the smoke. “Then my bastard father cheated while my mom was pregnant. Got tangled up with some twenty-something fox. Stuck to her day and night, stopped coming home. Didn’t care about anything back at the house. Even dumped every Qin family duty he was in charge of.” “It rocked the entire Qin household. You know how big families care about face. The head of the Qin family stepped in, ordered my dad to cut it off with that fox, or he’d strip him of everything he handled in the clan. My dad refused. Said what they had was goddamn true love.” His tone sharpened with anger. Edward didn’t stop him. He listened in silence. He was shut down inside. This was the first real conversation he’d had all week. “I knew what my dad was thinking—he was leaning on the Qin name. Even if they took away all his duties, he’d still be loaded with that badge of the clan. He could live his ‘true love’ dream with that fox and not miss a meal.” “My mom was so furious she landed in the hospital a few times. I went to that fox more than once. She used my dad’s favor to puff herself up and actually threatened to kill my mom. The side piece wanted to take the main seat?” Qin Ye raised his right hand slowly, curling it into a fist. His eyes burned with hate. His teeth ground down. “I hate myself for not choking her out right then. Would’ve saved the horror that came next.” “Then what?” Edward asked. Qin Ye took the cigarette in his right hand and rubbed his face. When he lowered his hands, his face had gone cold as ice. “It was at night. Pouring rain. I remember it clear as hell. My dad was drowning in pressure—from my mom, from me, from the Qin family, from that fox. He drank himself stupid. Then, with her crying in his ear, he actually decided to kill my mom.” “He used that rainy night to come home. First time he’d come back in the eight months of her pregnancy.” “After that, my bastard father killed my mom. He cut her open and ripped the baby out of her. Then he slashed the baby’s belly, too.” Edward’s pupils tightened. His brows knotted to a point. The cigarette in his fingers snapped clean in two. Qin Ye trembled. His eyes went red, wet with tears, but his gaze was steel—cold and lethal. He lifted both hands, voice breaking, sketching the scene in the air. “You know what I saw when I walked in? My mom was lying on the coffee table in the living room. Blood everywhere. Her belly ripped straight up the middle. Eyes staring wide.” “And the baby—dumped like trash in a lake of blood on the floor. Eight months. It already looked human. So small. I looked close—it was probably a little brother. A knife stuck in his tiny belly.” Qin Ye’s shaking got worse. His eyes flipped through terror, rage, raw murder. The man was teetering on the edge. “Two cuts. That’s all it took. My mom was gone. My brother was gone. My family was gone. Tell me—shouldn’t he and that fox be slaughtered?” “They should.” Edward’s voice came out cold. It was the first time he truly understood Qin Ye’s past. No wonder both Qin Ye and Mr. Murphy kept this under wraps. It was too brutal, soaked in blood and tears. Maybe they wanted to keep shame inside the house. Maybe his father was such a monster that the Qin family head gave Qin Ye one last, insane lifeline: run a hundred-and-fifty-million play and win a shot at staying alive. “So yeah. We both had moms who loved us. And they both died horribly.” Tears slid from the corner of Qin Ye’s eyes as his gaze eased back to normal. “Back then, I didn’t hesitate to help you. I mean, I’m already a patricide, right? What’s one more? If a lightning bolt drops from the sky and fries me, so be it.” “Thanks.” Edward said it hollowly. Qin Ye slanted him a look, rolling his eyes. “See? What I went through was worse than you. I felt the sky fall too. I fell straight into hell. But I clawed my way out.” “I followed you because of you and your mom. If you can’t climb out of hell now, I’m gone.” Edward looked at him, his eyes darkening again. He lowered his head, pulled a cigarette from the pack, lit it, smoked like he’d done it a thousand times. Smack! Qin Ye slapped the cigarette from Edward’s lips. “I ripped open my scars to get you to wake up. You’re really not gonna react?” Edward calmly lowered his head, lit another cigarette. “Edward, I know you’re crushed and hurting. But shutting yourself down like this? It’s not gonna work. You’ve got a lot to do. A lot of people worry about you.” Qin Ye’s emotions spiked. Edward’s calm made him want to tear the walls down. “Cry if you need to. No one’s gonna laugh. Let it all out. When you’re done, stand up and do what you gotta do.” But Edward stayed cold, smoke curling at the corner of his mouth. “Edward!” Qin Ye exploded, smashing a fist into Edward’s face and knocking the cigarette away. “My mom told me—don’t cry, or the crown will slip.” Edward sat up slowly. One side of his face was already swelling. He still lowered his head, took another cigarette, lit it, then closed his eyes. “You cry first, then you earn the right to wear the crown!” Qin Ye’s voice cut like a whip. “To wear the crown, you gotta bear its weight. This is the price. Only when you truly wear the crown will your mom’s death not be in vain!” His roar shook the room. And as he let that shout rip, Edward’s closed eyelids trembled. Two tears slid quietly from the corners of his eyes.