I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

"Carlisle and Jed have been raging since yesterday. Who would have known that they would become so close," Helen came up to me sadly.

"I couldn’t imagine that this will all end.”

Bearing in mind how Jed and Carlisle first met, it was a tremendous progress.

When he first saw him, Carlisle was very scared of this healthy bear.

He cried just at the sight of Jed. And after that Jed went to great lengths to get through to Carlisle.

Gifts poured in an avalanche, and Jed sometimes stopped by to fool around in funny masks.

But in the end, Carlisle's choice fell on outdoor activities, not toys.

After a rush through the gardens, Carlisle opened his heart to Jed.

It seems that at times Jed replaced his father, what I couldn’t do in any way.

Now, if Raymond was with us…

I let my imagination run wild and imagine Raymond in Jed's place.

He and Carlisle laugh and play merrily. The image of an ideal family that I once dreamed of.

And at that moment.

"I will never love you," like a flash of lightning, this cold voice pierced my mind.

And what was I just thinking…

What nonsense I am making up.

I threw Raymond out of my head. If he were here with us, he wouldn’t have become a loving father to Carlisle. Even to my own child.

"Let's go higher!"

"Is it so fun to you?!"

Jed and Carlisle had fun together.

It worries me that my son has been stolen.

"Carlisle doesn’t get bored with him."

"That's what it is for sure."

I entered the mansion with Helen.

"Carlisle, let's go."

Soon Jed and Carlisle followed us.

"Huu. Surrender, I'm really old. I can’t plow like before."

Jed sat down on the sofa and grabbed the lower back. When I saw this, I laughed easily:

"I’m not going to lie to you, it’s the way it is."

Carlisle excitedly ran up and asked Jed to roll him around.

By this time, Jed was already looking exhausted, but in the end he gave up under Carlisle’s pressure.

"Aren't you tired yet?"

His back cracked, but Jed only squeezed out a smile, putting on a look as if he hadn't lost his spirits.

"In these moments you are even weaker than me. If you do everything that he asks for, his requests won’t end."

"Well, I don't see Carlisle every day. But when he's around, I want to please him. How can I say no? Look how cute he is."

"Really."

I couldn't help smiling.

I couldn't say no to him either. But not because he was my child, but because he looked at me with his wide eyes.

I glanced at the already asleep Carlisle.

He's so charming, how could he be denied anything at all?

"Ellie, how things are going?” Lumont keeps repeating to me: it's bad. He said the newspapers were silent.

I turned to Jed.

"So be it. Let no one write about me. It doesn't matter at all. Rumors will not cease."

"Are you talking about blue diamonds?"

"Yeah."

"Lumont is still hysterical that you threw 4 000 gold and blue diamonds into the wind."

Jed also found Lumont's screams amusing.

"I wasn’t hysterical!"

I carefully handed sleeping Carlisle to Helen.

When Helen left the office, I smiled approvingly at Lumont.

"Everything will be okay, Lumont. According to our plan, we no longer have big expenses."

"And I could have taken more. Phoenix is ​​your work anyway. You know it."

Jed shrugged as if nothing had happened.

"But those diamonds… they're so bright."

Lumont still can't calm down.

And he could be understood. The price of one diamond is one thousand gold coins.

"Lumont. Don't you think that my trick will only increase sales?"

Lisa was now the center of attention in secular society.

Everything in which she appeared, all the dresses, jewelry, shoes, all of this instantly became popular.

The blue diamond was originally a gem, but if news is spilled that Lisa received such a gift, even more noble ladies will desire it.

In pursuit of fashion, they will buy them, even if the cost is beyond reasonable limits. And then, when this wave subsides, they could resell the stones even more expensive.

Lumont suddenly smiled playfully. That was the signal to us that he was done with the calculations.

"I need to speak urgently with the head of the store. So that they put up a maximum of diamonds. Sales will up to the sky!"

Lumont's eyes gleamed as if he were in awe of the prospect of profit.

This is the first time I see business better than Jed.

I looked at him with surprised eyes, but Jed just shook his head, as if he wasn’t going to wedge into the plan.

"Lumont. I need answers. "

After taking a sip of hot tea, I remembered another important topic.

"Oh, firstly, we looked at the movements of Sios over the years. We didn’t find anything suspicious.

He cleared his throat and continued.

"After coming to power, their family's influence has grown in all directions."

"Is there anything like that? I mean, what is the benefit for them in the fall of Duke Croft?"

"There was nothing linked to the Duke other than an unusually generous investment."

Lumont shook his head.

"Then maybe… His target isn’t my father, but me?"

Today I clearly saw Lisa's hostility.

The hatred hidden under her delicate face burned brighter than that of the Marquis himself.

Faced with this, I thought that I was the main target here, not my father.

"It makes no sense for them to aim at you. You have already sailed away for six years. If it was all about you, they would have come for you much earlier," Jed said calmly.

And he was right. There is a discrepancy here.

"But why then? This moment remained unknown to me. After all, the Duke and the Marquis have nothing to share."

Confusion loomed over Lumont's face.

"Hmmm," Jed drawled. "Perhaps the Duke himself will give us an answer?"

"As much as it worries him, he can’t know. He has no connection with Sios. He even said that he hadn't even spoken to him at all."

My father laid it out to me like he was disappointed.

Sios just couldn't have a reason.

"What such indignation caused the Duke, if Sios went to the conspiracy? For forgery? This is really strange."

"Ah… well. If they want war, Marquis Sios will get it."

Lumont nodded.

I thought for a moment.

A fraud case cannot be set up in a day or two.

It was a trap carefully designed to surely drown Duke Croft.

Such a waste of effort and money, so what is the Marquis’ benefit?

Sios in general was not crazy, and there was no reason to take such a risk.

Duke Croft…

If the fall of the Duke was only part of his plan, then…

Who would suffer the most from the collapse of the ducal house?

At that moment, an image came to my mind.

"Well, of course it's you…"

"Ellie? Why have you turned pale?"

"Are you sick?"

At that moment, I was so surprised at my own thoughts that my face turned white. I slowly replied to two alarmed men:

"I'm okay".

"Okay? You have glass eyes!" Jed said, frowning.