Chapter 35 POV Ethan

I didn't feel the need to elaborate on my family, though I wasn't even sure if what I had could be called a family.

To cut to the chase, I wasn't a child born of anticipation. My birth was the result of coercion, violence, despair, and screams.

The sole reason my mother didn't abandon me wasn't out of love, but because by the time she became aware of my existence, I had been nestled in her womb for so long that getting rid of me would have caused her irreversible, fatal harm.

That was the story of my birth.

It was undeniable that, as far back as I could remember, my mother's care for me was genuine. She despised the world that had been so cruel to her, yet her care for me was meticulous.

I believed it wasn't maternal love but rather pity that drove her actions.

"My poor boy, what will you use to combat your father, your tainted bloodline, your unwanted future, and the fate that turns a blind eye and lashes you?"

This was the most frequent refrain she used with me.

Pity was the