Elara opened the laptop and pressed her finger against the sensor. The device turned on instantly.
She stared at the picture on the screen and her lips pursed tightly. A familiar ache tugged at her chest, realizing that no matter what she did, Grandpa was still in the hospital.
It had already been months.
A few seconds later, Zia suddenly climbed down from her couch and walked over. She carefully squeezed herself between Elara’s arms and the laptop resting on her lap before climbing into her embrace. She wrapped her arms around Elara’s waist and rested her head against her chest.
"Elara is bad," she muttered after a long silence, staring at the picture on the laptop screen.
Elara looked down at her in confusion. "Why?" she asked, furrowing her brows.
Zia hugged her tighter and pouted in a way she rarely did. "Because I always tell you everything. But you didn’t even tell where Grandpa is." She sniffed. "Grandpa didn’t like Zia anymore. He didn’t even tell when he was leaving."
She looked up pitifully. "I thought he liked . Did I do sothing wrong? Is he angry at ? Am I a bad girl?"
Across the room, Ziva looked up from where she was sitting and quietly watched them.
Elara lowered her gaze to the little girl. Part of her pondered if she should simply tell her the truth since she was just a small child.
But Zia wasn’t just any child. She was far too smart for her age. If Elara told her Grandpa was sick, the next question would be why a sickness could keep soone in a hospital for almost a year. And then there would surely be more questions... Questions Elara wasn’t ready to answer.
So instead, she gently pulled Zia’s head back against her chest and patted her hair. "Grandpa still likes you," she said softly. "And you’re not a bad girl. You’re a very good and lovely girl."
Zia imdiately looked up and giggled. "Ah, Elara. I got what you’re thinking." She pointed at herself proudly. "I’m not lovely. In school everyone calls Little Disaster Commander. And no boy dares to bully the girls anymore because I already told them not to."
Elara smiled despite herself and pinched her cheek gently. Then she turned her attention back to the laptop and unlocked it. She went through her inbox for a while, scrolling absentmindedly.
A thought crossed her mind and she tried to dismiss it imdiately. Yet a few monts later, she exited the page she was on and moved the cursor to another app. She clicked it.
Video after video appeared as she scrolled.
Just as she expected, the videos still hadn’t stopped. If anything, they had beco even worse. And it made her wonder whether people simply refused to let certain things go, or whether soone was actively making sure the rumors never disappeared.
From everything she had seen so far, the second possibility seed far more likely. Adrian had more enemies than anyone could count.
One particular video caught her attention.
RELANIE DESERVED BETTER. ADRIAN VALE TREATED HER HORRIBLY.
Elara pressed her lips together as she stared at the title. She didn’t scroll away.
The video consisted of short clips of Adrian and Relanie together. For a random person, it painted a very clear picture.
Adrian is cold, distant and uncaring.
At one point, the creator froze a photograph and highlighted Relanie’s face– More specifically, her stiff smile. The video zood in repeatedly, trying to show how uncomfortable and unhappy she looked standing beside him.
The woman narrating continued speaking over the clips. "Now we know why. He’s not even a real Vale. He’s just a murderer... a bastard... a fraud."
Elara’s eyes darkened and her grip on the laptop tightened. She suddenly felt the urge to throw the laptop across the room.
The comnts were even worse.
"Why is everybody saying Scary Suit Uncle is bad?" Zia’s voice suddenly sounded from beside her.
Apparently, she had been watching everything too. But for so reason, that question only made Elara even more irritated. She snapped the laptop shut.
"Careful!" Ziva exclaid, looking at her strangely. Then she stood up and stretched her arms, yawning tiredly. "Goodnight anyway, and don’t do anything stupid."
With that, she headed toward her room.
Elara let out a slow breath and opened the laptop again, her eyes darkening. She clicked on the live stream button. But a second later, she exited it as Ziva’s words flashed through her mind.
It was true. She shouldn’t do anything stupid.
Yet sohow, less than two minutes later...
"I wasn’t planning to talk about this. And before anyone starts making assumptions, no!. This isn’t about supporting Adrian Vale."
Seeing that Zia had finally fallen asleep, she quietly carried her to the bedroom and tucked her in before returning to the sitting room. She sat back down and stared at the flood of comnts appearing on the livestream screen.
Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I don’t know whether Adrian Vale is guilty of anything. But really... So of you enjoy destroying people far too much. Every single day there’s a new article, a new rumor, a new insult. Don’t you ever stop to wonder whether any of it is actually true?"
She stared directly into the cara.
She hadn’t wanted to do this. She really hadn’t. But sotis soone needed to speak, especially when the person everyone was talking about refused to defend himself. And when nobody else seed willing to say anything either.
"Let’s talk about the bastard part... How exactly is soone supposed to control who their parents are? If Adrian Vale isn’t a real Vale, then what exactly did he do wrong?" She leaned back against the couch. "Because as far as I’m concerned, the circumstances of soone’s birth shouldn’t determine who they are."
She paused, choosing her words carefully. "I believe he’d still be exactly the sa person no matter where he ca from."
"And the funniest part is that the people saying he doesn’t deserve the Vale na have probably achieved less in their entire lives than he’s achieved in a decade."
Elara’s fingers curled into a fist, her eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"As for his sister... Aurelia."
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