306 Exposed
Selma Payne’s POV:
“Forgive me for being slow-witted, Your Majesty. I don’t understand what you’re referring to,” Benson said dryly.
My father ignored him and said to me, “Oh, really? My dear Benson, why don’t you take a good look at me and your former playmate? Do you really have nothing to say to me?”
Benson’s face turned even paler. He gulped and stubbornly said, “I don’t know…”
“You don’t know? Okay, okay, it seems that the life of an Alpha has degenerated you. Even the memory you were so proud of has degenerated.”
My sharp and unkind comment caused my adoptive parents and the Walton Family to be terrified – this wasn’t a heartwarming scene of an old friend reuniting.
“Come on now, Selma,” my adoptive mother said softly. “Benson was very concerned about you. He helped a lot after you went missing.”
I chuckled and stared at Benson’s evasive eyes. “Is that so? You’ve been helping Mom and Dad to find me?”
Benson didn’t answer. I disdained his silence.
“This is really interesting. A good show. The Midnight Opera House needs a talent like you.”
The Walton couple finally couldn’t help but hurriedly say, ” Your Highness, perhaps Benson has offended you in some way in the past, but I promise you that he’s a good boy.”
I interrupted them and asked, “Promise what?” Guarantee that he will do his best to find me? Guarantee that he didn’t expect me to disappear forever? To make sure that he wouldn’t cry out like a thief or hypocritically analyze the reason for my suicide?”
Rhode, my adoptive parents, and my biological parents were all confused.
“Don’t say that, Selma,” Rhode said with a frown. “Benson was indeed concerned about you.”
“Of course, he should be concerned about me.” Looking at Benson’s trembling figure, I smirked and admired the embarrassing scene. “Of course, he should pay attention to every piece of news about me. Whether I’m dead or alive, whether I’ve returned or disappeared, whether I’m still unconscious or awake, whether I’ll reveal the secret he’s been trying so hard to hide from the public…”
“Stop!” Benson broke down. He fell to the ground and held his head in pain. “Please stop! Just stop!”
I suddenly stood up and walked up to him. I lifted this coward’s collar and shouted angrily, “Are you scared? The mask of a good person you’ve painstakingly maintained is about to be taken off, and you’re so scared that you’re about to pee your pants, right? If you knew this would happen, why did you do it?”
“Selma, what happened? What are you doing?”
My adoptive parents stood up in fear. They reached out but retracted their hands. They were shocked by this change.
I threw Benson to the ground. “Since he doesn’t dare to admit it,” I said. “I’ll do the talking. It’s about my suicide by jumping into the river.”
Benson grabbed my skirt’s corner and squeezed a sharp wail from his throat. “Please, I beg you, I beg you, I beg you!”
I kicked him away and let the truth see the light of day again. “The truth is that Benson was the fuse that led to my suicide. While I was in the Shadow Pack, Benson kept using the ‘fated mate’ tag to bait me, neither agreeing nor rejecting. After I expressed my feelings to him, he ruthlessly humiliated me. Back then, he thought I was a human, so he denounced me for being a lowly human and told me to disappear from his sight forever. I was heartbroken, and in my agitation, I jumped into the river to commit suicide.”
A sudden clap of metaphorical thunder rang out from the ground, stunning the ignorant crowd.
Benson was still hoping to quibble. “How can you blame me for this? Love is a matter of mutual consent. Don’t I have the right to reject a mate?”
“Of course you do, son of an Alpha, a future leader with a bright future. Not only do you have the right to reject, but you also have the right to waste a little girl’s feelings and youth, to abuse her coldly, to bully her with your bad friends, to insult your friend’s sister, and to pretend to be a good person with a hypocritical mask!
“Your power is so sacred. After all, in your heart, strength and status are everything. A noble Alpha’s son can naturally bully a human girl.
“Even if she died because of you, she’s only worth worrying over for two or three days. How to maintain your reputation is the most important. For this, you hid the truth, deceived your friends, and deceived your parents. As long as you are still a leader worthy of trust in everyone’s hearts, then my life and death are not important.
“But what are you afraid of now? Power and status are your beliefs, aren’t they? So now that you’re beneath me, who has a higher status and more power, you should be happy with it!
“Benson Walton, in the five years I was gone, have you been watching Rhode and my parents with such a heart-wrenching pain? You’ve been hiding the truth with a clear conscience and watching them walk from hope to despair, haven’t you? Have you been sitting in the office and enjoying the pride and satisfaction of an Alpha’s power?
“When you look down at your pack from the floor-to-ceiling window, have you ever thought that my family is grieving because you hid this from them? Have you ever thought that more vicious bullies will unscrupulously bully the weak in their eyes because of your twisted backbone?”
Benson trembled as he curled up into a ball. I couldn’t see his expression, but I knew it would make me lose my appetite.
