Daryl opened the basement door, and a faint smell of blood wafted through the musty air. The men inside quickly bowed their heads and stepped back at the sight of Daryl, revealing Anthony, who was tied to a chair and hanging his head. His face was swollen and bruised all over, a pitiful sight.
“Anthony.”
“…”
Despite Daryl’s call, Anthony didn’t respond. A man standing next to him splashed water on Anthony, causing him to gasp and lift his head. As Anthony blankly looked up at Daryl, a light gradually returned to his eyes. At the same time, his face crumpled miserably.
“Why did you do this?”
There was no hatred, resentment, or any other emotion in his dry voice towards Anthony.
“…”
“How did you know there was a letter in the safe?”
“…”
“This man here is a top expert in this field. If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to order him to force your mouth open. Is that okay with you?”
“…”
Anthony gritted his teeth.
“…Damn, and you call yourself my brother?”
“Of course. If you weren’t my brother, I wouldn’t be giving you this warning. No, I wouldn’t have even ordered them not to touch you until I arrived.”
“…”
“But this is the last favor I’m giving you as your brother. Answer me. How did you know about the existence of that letter?”
“…”
Anthony tried to spit out phlegm, but his parched throat couldn’t even produce phlegm properly.
“Damn, how would I know? I just cracked the safe and it was there. If you didn’t want to get caught, you shouldn’t have left it in a safe in the first place. If it were me, I would have burned such a dangerous letter as soon as I received it. Isn’t that obvious?”
“…”
Daryl had also considered burning the letter. If he had intended to hide and bury it forever, he would have done so without hesitation. The reason he kept the letter was because he was contemplating whether or not to reveal the truth to Eleanor until the very end.
“So why did you target my safe?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You’re the one who’s always doing well and acting smart, but you don’t know such a simple thing?”
Daryl looked down at Anthony with a calm gaze.
“Was it for the money?”
“Yeah, damn it. Of course. Do you know how I’ve been living since you cut off the money you used to send me every month? How miserable I’ve been while you and Layla were living it up in that fancy house? Damn it, why do I have to be like this when we were born to the same parents, why!”
“It’s all your choice and your responsibility. It’s not anyone’s fault that your name was left out of father’s will, or that the territory you inherited early on ended up like that. It’s all the result of what you’ve done.”
“You cut off the remittance and this happened, why is it my responsibility? It’s obviously your damn responsibility!”
“I gave you money because I thought it was the simplest and most certain way to control you. But it wasn’t. You proved it.”
“…”
“Tell me, what did you want? You touched Eleanor before, and now you’re selling the disgrace of the Duke’s family to the newspaper. What on earth are you gaining from this? If you needed money, it would have been better to threaten me rather than selling gossip for a few pennies.”
Of course, if Anthony had really tried to threaten Daryl, he would never have succeeded. But what Anthony actually did was just as self-defeating.
“Damn, did you ignore what I said before? Have you forgotten what you did to me?”
Daryl stared at Anthony expressionlessly.
“You’re not trying to say all this is because of Bella Huntington, are you?”
Bella was the girl Anthony had a crush on when he was young. Anthony knew that Daryl had flirted with her and was under the delusion that his brother had stolen his girl.
“Bella was just the beginning. You’re the one who made me like this. Just because you were born a few years earlier, you took everything that should have been mine, and you act as if you’re something!”
Anthony rattled his chair and gritted his teeth.
“Are you happy? Finally, you’ve become the Duke of Griffith that you’ve always wanted. You married a woman you didn’t even like just for that, and it was so funny how you fell for her late. And it turns out brother was the enemy of that woman you fancied? How much must your insides have burned? I can smell the charred remains all the way down here.”
“…”
“That’s the truth. That’s the real face of the great Duke of Griffith. The father is a murderer, the mother is an adulterer. You’ve inherited the blood of those hypocrites who only look good on the outside. So I exposed the reality of this trashy family to the world. The newspaper said so too. The public has the right to know the truth. That’s right. If anyone, Eleanor should know, right? She has the right to know. The man who’s all over her is the son of the enemy of her parents!”
“…”
“It’s a good sight. It’s nice to see. I should have taken a picture of that expression and put it in the newspaper. That’s the only thing I regret.”
Anthony’s snickering echoed ominously in the quiet basement. Daryl quietly looked at his brother and suddenly turned his heels.
“Hey, where are you going? I’m not done talking yet!”
Looking at Daryl’s retreating back, Anthony raised his voice.
“What are you going to do with me? Are you thinking of burying me without anyone knowing? Are you going to commit a murder of existence like father? Damn, it won’t end like this. Do you think the newspaper will stay still? They clearly know that I provided the letter from father. If I disappear overnight, do you think they’ll let it go? You’ll get caught too. Someone will uncover the truth! Because that’s justice! Because justice wins!”
As he closed the basement door, Anthony’s screaming abruptly cut off as if his mouth had been covered.
It was perfect soundproofing.
After returning to his office, Philip asked.
“What should we do?”
Daryl kept silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Exile him to Yelton Island as I said before. Make sure he is closely monitored and never leaves there until I give the order.”
“Understood.”
Philip bowed and left Daryl.
Left alone, Daryl leaned back against the backrest. He had never tried to understand Anthony until now. Even after hearing his explanation, he still didn’t understand him.
Nevertheless, there was one thing Anthony said that Daryl agreed with. Eleanor had the right to know. It was shameless of him to try to win her heart while hiding the fact that he was the son of her enemy. So it was only natural that Eleanor reacted that way.
It was unforgivable. It was unacceptable…
Daryl closed his eyes quietly. How nice it would be if he could die like this. But even that was not allowed for Daryl. He had to live in this hell until his life was over.
Even if he died, Eleanor wouldn’t be sad, but she would think it was her responsibility.
****
A few days later, a formal statement was issued from the Duke of Griffith. The content was as follows:
[I, Daryl Lloyd, Duke of Griffith, acknowledge that the letter recently disclosed by the Daily Post is indeed a handwritten letter from the former Duke Frederick Lloyd, and that everything described in it is true.
The late Duke of Griffith has committed an indelible sin against those who lost their lives, Eleanor Townsend, and her mother, Mrs. Sylvia Townsend. I intend to make every effort to compensate for this and restore the honor of the Townsend family.
I apologize with a heavy heart to Eleanor Townsend and everyone who was shocked and surprised by this incident.]
I mean, Anthony is absolutely right about the trashy nature of his family, he even had the childhood trauma of knowing about his mother’s affair, I dare to say, he turned out the way he did because of his parents, he was the only one who knew about their true nature, he is bad but Daryl and their parents are worse.
Absolutely. Daryl was selfish from the begnning. Never tried to understand or take care of his siblings. Not even going to talk abt their trashy parents. Anthony has all the rights to be resentful. Atleast he is fair in his assessment and never harmed any innocent person intentionally