The Masked prince
Chapter 128: The Shocked Oliver

Chapter 128: The Shocked Oliver

When Gianna stepped inside her son’s room, she smiled softly seeing that he was busy reading a book.

Oliver put down the book in his hand as soon as he saw his mother.

"Mother..."

He whispered and picked up his stick and tried to stand up. However, Gianna immediately walked to him and held his hand to stop him.

"There is no need, Oliver. How many times I have told you that there is no need to do all this!"

Oliver smiled but it was very light. He knew that his mother didn’t want him to put much strain on his legs.

He sat down on the chair and Gianna sat down on the bed closer to him.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Yes, Mother."

Oliver’s whole attention was on his mother.

Gianna was silent for some time before she started to speak.

"Do you remember I had told you before that I had arranged your marriage with a girl when you were nine?"

Oliver frowned but nodded his head.

"Yes, Mother. I remember."

Then a moment later, he said suddenly

"But Mother I think we should break it now. With my situation, I am sure that the girl’s family might not be happy."

Oliver said this calmly but Gianna’s heart ached when she heard him say this.

An year ago, an accident occurred and Oliver’s legs lost their ability of walking. His right lost had stopped working completely and his left leg was able only to the half extent than before. Her son had been traumatized for a few months before but soon he had accepted the situation calmly.

She and Cooper were relieved to see this but the accident still left a deep wound on their hearts. Still, they had to accept the situation.

A few weeks ago, Gianna had suddenly remembered the promise she had made to Layla and then she had talked about it with her husband. It was then that her husband suggested that they should go and tell Layla and Silas everything so that they would not keep waiting for them.

In other words, they had gone to break the betrothal not to bring Evelyn with them.

However, Gianna had never expected that Layla and Silas were no longer alive. The new revelation turned all the events and now she had brought Evelyn with herself.

Concealing her conflicted thoughts, Gianna finally told her son who was also waiting for her to say something.

"Oliver, the girl outside you saw just now ...she is your betrothed."

Needless to say, Oliver was shocked.

He was so shocked that he didn’t have any words to say for a few moments. Then a moment later, he finally whispered a question

"How old is she?"

"Five."

Gianna answered calmly but Oliver was not calm at all.

"Mother, she is too young...and her family...did you tell them about my legs?"

Gianna had not expected that Oliver’s reaction would be this or perhaps she did but she prepared herself well to pretend to be ignorant. After all, she could easily manipulate her husband then Oliver was still her son, a fourteen-year-old boy.

"Oliver, calm down."

She held her son’s hands and said softly.

Oliver was still frowning but he stopped speaking so Gianna continued

"Her parents are no longer alive, Oliver. She has her uncle and aunt but believe me you wouldn’t want to witness how they treat her. Have you seen how thin she is? She doesn’t get enough to eat there. Such a young girl but she does all the chores of the house..."

Gianna had talked to Evelyn on their way and she had realized that Evelyn knew how to cook at such a young age. It could be sensed from her talks that the girl must be aware of all this because it was she who did all the chores of the house...yet she never got enough to eat.

Seeing that her son was still frowning, Gianna sighed and whispered

"I couldn’t leave her there, Oliver. Her uncle and aunt are very vicious. Do you know? I even heard them saying that they would sell her once she grows old enough."

Oliver’s eyes went wide when he heard this.

He had seen slaves in the town where he had gone twice or thrice when his legs were still fine. The slaves’ life was not good at all.

They were treated very harshly.

The young girl’s tender face flashed in front of his eyes and even if he didn’t know her he felt his heart aching at the thought that such a young girl would need to spend her life like that.

"Mother did right by bringing her here."

Oliver said suddenly and he looked at his mother with newfound respect. He had only heard his mother talking about her friend but he didn’t know that her mother loved her friend so much.

Otherwise, why would she bring Evelyn here?

Gianna was relieved to see that Oliver had finally accepted Evelyn’s presence. She knew that for now, only this much could be done.

She left her son’s room and went to her own to sleep.

Everyone slept in their own rooms.

The next morning, Gianna woke up first and then went to unlock the door of Evelyn’s room. After that, she went to the bathroom to do her routine.

However, she had not expected that when she would step inside the kitchen, she would find Evelyn there.

"Evelyn"

Gianna called out in surprise and walked towards her. She saw that Evelyn had already burned the stove.

"What are you doing?"

She asked as she looked at the girl.

"Aun...Mother I am making breakfast."

Evelyn corrected herself and told Gianna. Gianna was surprised but only for a moment because she soon realized where did this habit come from inside Evelyn.

She was silent until Evelyn asked her

"Mother, what kind of pancakes do you like?"

Gianna came out of her trance and smiled as she patted Evelyn’s head and said

"You make how you like. Today we will eat Evelyn’s favorite."

Evelyn’s eyes brightened up when she heard this and she nodded her head vigorously.

"Alright, Mother."

Gianna smiled. Though she let Evelyn make the breakfast, she stayed there just to ensure that Evelyn would not burn herself or anything else.

But she was surprised to see how such a young girl could do everything so efficiently.

If something was heavy then Evelyn would use a bowl to transfer that thing to some other utensils.

It was such a simple method but it could be seen that the child was wise and knew that he just needed to do the work ...regardless of what kind of difficulty she would face.

What Gianna realized was that no matter what Evelyn faced, she never complained.

At such a young age, such a good quality she had inside her...something that many people older than her don’t possess.

Perhaps that’s why Evelyn would be best for Oliver.