Heaven's Last Heir

5: An Illusion

Alessia lowered her gaze, clearly intimidated by the stern elderly woman. She nodded slowly. "Yes, Grandma."

Grandmother Rhodes' wrinkled face reddened with fury. "Do you not know how important today is for our family? Why did you bring him here?"

"Grandma..." Alessia glanced timidly at Jordan before speaking in a small voice. "Brother Jordan was imprisoned because of what happened to my cousin. They're still officially engaged, and he's practically a member of our family."

"Shut up!" Alana snapped at her cousin, her beautiful face filled with cold fury. "I'm the daughter of one of the prominent families in the Republic of Vespera."

She pointed toward Jordan without even looking at him. "He's an ex-convict and our country's traitor. How is he worthy of me?"

Jordan's hazel-gray eyes flickered with a cold light. His fingers clenched tighter, digging into his palms. The air around him suddenly grew colder.

Yet Alana remained oblivious to the change. Her eyes were fixed on Alessia as she took an intimidating step forward.

THUD!

"That engagement ceased to exist the very moment he stepped into prison."

SWOOSH!

The temperature around them dropped sharply. Several members of the Rhodes family shivered and instinctively looked around. Why did it suddenly feel so cold?

Jordan remained perfectly still in his wheelchair. However, blood slowly trickled from his tightly clenched fists, staining his prison uniform and the armrests beneath them.

"And what was it you said just now?" Alana's face was still flushed with anger. "I'll only tell you this once, Alessia, in case you've already forgotten."

Her voice became colder. "He was imprisoned for deserting the army and committing treason. It has nothing to do with me."

She pointed a finger at Alessia, who had already shrunk back timidly. "If you dare say such nonsense again, you will only have yourself to blame."

BOOM!

Jordan stared at Alana in disbelief. More blood slowly oozed from his clenched fists. He didn't think it was possible to feel any more pain. Yet at this moment, it felt as though his heart had been dragged through hell all over again.

'Is this the same woman I've been longing for all these years? How did she become like this?'

Alana felt like a complete stranger. There was not even a trace of the woman he had loved six years ago.

The young woman who had once held his hand and promised to stay by his side until he reached the top... Had she ever truly existed?

Jordan's shattered heart gradually turned cold. The saying that love was blind had never felt more true. He must have been blind to fall for someone like Alana.

"I'll be honest with you." Grandmother Rhodes finally turned her stern gaze toward him. There was a faint hint of disgust in her eyes.

Yet when she looked at Alana, her expression immediately softened with indulgence. "A distinguished figure fell in love with my precious granddaughter. They've been together for six years."

Shock was an understatement. Jordan stared at the grandmother and granddaughter in disbelief.

Six years?

Alana had been with another man for six years?

His fingers tightened around the arms of his wheelchair. But then another thought struck him. What about the child?

Grandmother Rhodes' expression became even prouder. "If nothing goes wrong today, he will propose to Alana."

She affectionately took her granddaughter's hand. However, when she looked back at Jordan, her face became condescending and icy.

"One is a distinguished figure in this country while..." Her wrinkled eyes slowly traveled down to Jordan's crippled legs. "...the other is the country's traitor, sitting in a wheelchair."

A mocking smile appeared on her face. "Who do you think Alana would choose?"

"The answer is obvious, isn't it?" One of the Rhodes family members scoffed.

"Why is Mom even asking?" Alana's mother rolled her eyes. "There is no way my daughter will spend the rest of her life taking care of a cripple."

"I will never accept a disgrace like him as my son-in-law." Alana's father snorted and turned his face away.

"Of course... Of course..." The other members of the family laughed.

"Your daughter is beautiful and exceptional. Only a distinguished man is worthy of her."

"We should get someone to throw this lowly cripple out of here."

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of Jordan's lips as he listened to the ridicule. These people were really determined to burn every bridge. After everything he had done, this was how they chose to repay him.

Yet, despite everything they had said, he had only one question left.

"What about..." He stopped himself before saying 'our'. "...the child?"

"Huh?" Alana stared at him in confusion.

For a moment, she couldn't understand what he meant. Then her gaze followed his eyes. They were fixed on her stomach. She suddenly remembered.

"Pfft!" A short laugh escaped her lips. "You really believed that?"

Jordan's expression remained blank. Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Alana couldn't help but laugh.

She couldn't believe that after all these years, this fool had actually continued clinging to the lie she had told him.

Back then, countless women had been interested in him. She had been afraid of losing him, so she needed something that would cement her position in his life. The pregnancy had been the perfect excuse.

Besides, she was secretly grateful that she had never actually been pregnant. Otherwise, her child would have been forced to live with the stigma of being an ex-convict's child.

Her laughter gradually faded. She looked at Jordan with an expression that was colder than ever.

"There was no child." She paused. "I was never pregnant."

Jordan's pupils contracted as she finished. "That was all a lie."

For a moment, he forgot how to breathe. The pregnancy... It had all been a lie? There had never been a child?

His gaze slowly became hollow, like a bottomless abyss. Everything he had held onto throughout those six years... it had all been built upon a lie. An illusion that had existed only in his mind.

How cruel!

However, Alana didn't give him time to dwell on his despair. She folded her arms and looked down at him coldly.

"Will you leave on your own..." She paused, her gaze filled with disdain. "...or should I get someone to make you leave?"