?Chapter 400:


    She had sacrificed her youth to the Evans family, borne Bertram two sons—one of them the very man now confronting her. She had poured everything she had into this household. Yet, the one thing she craved most, Bertram’s love, had always been out of reach. It remained her most bitter failure—the wound that never healed.


    Jason didn’t stop. “It’s because you dreamed too big. Dad hated the weight of your ambition. That’s why, no matter how much you gave up for him, he never loved you.”


    Irene said nothing. Because he was right. She had always wanted more. Years back, after Cole’s mother abruptly vanished, Irene had stepped into the vacuum, running the Evans estate with ruthless precision as the acting matriarch. But just being the acting matriarch wasn’t enough for her. Watching Jarrett sink into despair over his missing wife, she’d pushed Bertram again and again to seize the reins of the Evans family, to overthrow the broken Jarrett and be the family’s patriarch. She wanted to stand beside a man who ruled.


    But Bertram had never bitten. He lived for antiques, not dynasties. Every time she brought up power, he’d shut her out—emotionally, physically—sometimes banishing her to sleep alone for weeks.


    When it became clear Bertram would never involve himself in power struggles, Irene had shifted her sight onto Jason, molding him into the future heir. But Ruben had already chosen his sessor, and it wasn’t Jason. It was Cole. Her n copsed like sandcastles in a rising tide. Now, stripped of her role as the acting matriarch after ten long years of service, Irene stood alone in the grand house she had helped sustain. Unseen. Unwanted. Thus, she had pinned all her hopes on Jason.


    “Is it so wrong to have ambition? Who doesn’t want to better their own lives?” Irene’s voice cracked, equal parts defiance and heartbreak. “Why is it so wrong for me to want more in life?”


    Jason’s response came steady and deliberate, each sybleced with quiet intensity. “Mom, whether it’s a country or a family, the deadliest threat neveres from beyond—it festers within. Those meant to stand together pull in different directions; no enemy is needed. The copse bes inevitable. And if the Evans family falls, where will your dreamsnd then? In rubble?”


    Irene’s jaw clenched, her silence sharp as a de. She grasped the logic in his words. She always had. But logic was a far cry from surrender. She couldn’t yield. Not to Jarrett. Not to Cole. Not to some noble ideal of harmony that never once fed her hunger to matter.


    g?????0ν??????.??????, ???????????? ????????


    Jason softened, his voice losing its edge but not its conviction. “Dad never wanted power. He let Jarrett lead, not out of weakness, but because he didn’t care for power. And I’ve never had any desire to push Cole aside. Weplement each other—we’re building something together. You don’t need to keep tearing at the foundations to prove your worth. You could just breathe and enjoy what’s already here.”


    The look Irene gave Jason was carved from frustration—piercing, pained. Then, without a word, she turned around, her back to him. Back then, she had staked everything on Bertram, hoping to ascend through him as the Evans matriarch. That dream had crumbled in his apathy. Now, she had thrown her hopes onto Jason, herst bid for power through legacy. But he had refused the crown she so desperately wanted him to wear. Twice she had tried. Twice she had been denied. And now, there was nothing left to chase but the bitter taste of defeat.


    .


    .


    .