Pampered By My Three Brothers: The Return Of The Neglected Heiress - Chapter 1164

Chapter 1164: history is written by the victors
Everyone knows the narrative of how Zoren’s mother, Naylani, tried to take his life. They say it was out of jealousy because Naylani wanted all of her husband’s attention, love, and affection. For a woman like Naylani, who had come from a humble background, people called her a woman who won the lottery.

Enzo Pierson was not only an enigmatic businessman who charmed everyone with his charismatic personality, but he was also born with a big heart. The wealth he grew up with and the infighting for power and control never affected who he was. Instead, he used that as fuel to not be like his family. Despite having all eligible women from the upper echelons showing interest, he fell in love with a woman from a small town during one of his trips.

They said it was love at first sight.

Naylani, after all, was indeed a stunning woman. Besides her background, she was intelligent, delightful, and naturally elegant. No one had imagined she had something twisted hiding behind that beautiful shell. Only when she was arrested for stabbing her son and leaving him in the attic to burn him alive did everyone find out she was not just the Cinderella everyone thought she was.

She was the witch — insane. She deserved to be in a psychiatric ward.

But what everyone didn’t know was that the narrative was completely twisted. Because, at the end of the day, history is written by the victors, and the histories of the losing parties belong to the shrinking circle of those who were there.

*****

[Flashback — a continuation of Zoren’s flashback from Chapter 1094: *You Made Me Sick.*]

“You… you are the reason this has all failed. I will kill you — I will kill you!”

BOOM!

Naylani froze upon hearing a loud explosion somewhere downstairs. If the explosion was heard in the attic, she knew it was big enough. Just as she was trying to figure out what it was, she heard quiet laughter beneath her.

Slowly, her eyes fell on the little boy, lying on the floor. His little mouth stretched into a twisted smile, his eyes squinting as he said,

“She’s dead.” His words were harsh for such a little boy, and the look of amusement in his dark eyes looked a little misplaced. “That woman, Mother, she’s dead.”

“What did you do?” she asked, only to catch a whiff of gas and smoke in the air. Her eyes dilated, and her breathing slowed. Her grip on the shard loosened, causing it to fall from her hand as her knees hit the floor.

The young Zoren touched his neck after almost being strangled to death. He sat up, facing the woman who seemed to have just blanked.

“What did I do?” the young boy repeated. “I’m ending our suffering, Mother.”

Naylani’s eyes shook as she slowly lifted her gaze to the boy. “You…”

“I sent her away, telling her that she had to pick up something from grandma’s house. It’s about that time when Grandma sends us something — I requested it, of course. Otherwise, she would’ve just been suspicious, right?” He cocked his head to the side, unbothered by the growing fire on the first floor. “So, while she was away, I… loosened the gas hose and let it seep through the house.”

Considering that the maid, who was also a spy to harm Zoren and Enzo, was doing her job as a maid properly, Zoren was aware of her routine. Once she came back from Old Pierson’s Residence, the maid would store the dishes Old Madam Pierson had prepared for the family of three. And then she would start cooking some.

And that was what happened.

Turning on the stove caused the explosion, just as he planned.

“You… are a demon,” Naylani breathed out, shaking her head, her eyes fixed on this diabolical child. “A real demon.”

The young Zoren shrugged indifferently. “Didn’t I say I’d let you go, Mother?”

“…” Her breath hitched as her eyes darted around. “I need to get out of here.”

“It’s too late,” he said. “The first floor is probably engulfed in flames. Even if you try, there’s a high chance you’ll suffocate first. If not that, then you’ll be crushed by the debris.”

Naylani clenched her teeth and glared at him, reaching for the shard she’d momentarily let go of. She raised it and pointed it at him.

“Don’t you dare come close to me,” she warned, despite her hand shaking. “If you have a death wish, then go ahead and die for all I care! You should burn in hell!”

“…” The smile on the young Zoren’s face disappeared as a layer of frost coated his eyes.

Naylani lifted herself up and kept the shard pointed at him, taking careful steps toward the door. When she opened it, sure enough, the smoke outside was already thick. However, the fire hadn’t reached the attic yet. It gave her the courage to proceed.

But alas, just as she was ready to go, the young Zoren yanked her arm.

“You can’t go!” he yelled. “You! This is what you want! So, let’s just die!”

“Stop it!” Naylani shrugged him off, but with him hugging her arm, it proved to be a challenge. “Let me go! I don’t want to die! Not with you!”

The struggle lasted for about a minute until Naylani forcibly pushed him, unaware that the shard had impaled his side. When Zoren’s body landed on the floor and blood quickly spread on his clothes, Naylani dropped the shard in shock.

Her eyes shook as she paled, her entire body trembling at the sight of blood tainting his clothes. Her mouth quivered as she stared at the demonic child on the floor. However, as the smoke wafted through her nostrils, she clenched her teeth and fled, leaving him there to die.

She would rather take her chances and survive. If Zoren died, wasn’t that good for her as well? After all, she didn’t think she could live another second with that demon incarnate.

“Let him burn in his own scheme,” she told herself, covering her nose with her arm as she made her way down. ‘May he not die from that stab… and let him feel the pain of burning alive.’

Perhaps, at this point, one could finally say they were mother and son. For once, they had something in common — their twisted hatred for each other.

When Naylani reached the second floor, the flames were already quickly crawling up. She tried going down, but something fell before her. Naylani was forced back to the second floor, thinking of how she would survive this.

She found a way — although it wasn’t conventional. However, she still had a chance to live if she jumped off the second floor, right?

And so she did.

*

*

*

As for Zoren, he lay in the attic, putting pressure on his side. His breathing was constricted, and with the smoke slowly filling the attic, he could almost feel he was being strangled once again.

“She can’t… live,” he breathed out, trying to maintain consciousness. “She can’t…”

The rest of his words were pushed back in his throat as he coughed loudly. Each cough squeezed out more blood from his open wound. Yet, all he could feel was bitterness — bitterness not for the fact that he could die, but for not seeing her take her last breath.

After a moment, Zoren stopped coughing, but his strength was slowly slipping away. He weakly gazed up at the ceiling before a shallow smile appeared on his face.

“At least… I can protect one person,” he whispered. “Even with this tiny body… *cough* he could live.”

Despite being left there to die from either bleeding out or burning, his eyes finally showed peace. His eyes slowly closed, ready to succumb to an early death rather than live another lifetime trapped in a web of lies.

But as his consciousness left him, he suddenly heard a man’s voice.

“Renren?!” The man’s frantic yelling echoed. “Zoren?!”

Using every bit of his strength, Zoren forced his eyes to open and gazed at the door. “Dad…?” he whispered. “Why are you… back…? Dad…?”

The young Zoren tried to move, but he was already too weak. He couldn’t even shout, and all the things he whispered used up every ounce of his strength. By the time Enzo, who had bravely forced his way into the burning house to save his son and wife, arrived, Zoren was already on the brink of death.