Chapter 359 I Won't Have It

Jessica jolted and turned around.

Selena smiled to hide her deliberate intent.

Jessica raised her eyebrows, a glint of understanding passing through her eyes as she explained, "You mean the butterfly birthmark on my back? I had it when I was a child, but when I grew up, it slowly faded."

She answered casually, with not a trace of nervousness or doubt, as if she was describing something perfectly normal.

Selena pursed her lips.

"Is that so? What a magical thing, a disappearing birthmark."

Jessica chuckled, "You don't say? But it's not unheard of. After all, it's just pigmentation in the body. It's common medically."

Selena nodded.

"I see, so that's what it is."

The two didn't click with their conversation. After eating, they didn't go back to soak, and returned home after sitting around for a while.

Old man Kawn heard they'd gone out that afternoon and frowned right away realizing it couldn't be anything good.

He was a man, but he knew how those girls thought and felt.

Ever since Jessica had come back, Selena had been cold to her.

With that incident happening last night, Selena had even more reason to ignore her or even mock her.

But she didn't do either and invited her out after lunch?

Wilhelm could smell that something wasn't wrong, so he called Selena to him in secret after the two of them got back.

"You're looking for me, Grandpa?"

Selena walked inside the room, asking respectfully.

Wilhelm was seated on a rocking chair, eyes slightly closed.

Hearing her voice, he opened his eyes and motioned for her to close the door.

Only then did Selena turn around, close the door, and walk over to him.

"Did you need something, Grandpa?"

Wilhelm stared at her, rumbling, "Where'd you take Jessica just then?"

Selena jolted and pursed her lips.

Lowering her head, she said softly, "Nowhere, really. We went to soak in the new hot springs resort." Wilhelm looked at her dubiously. "Really?"

Selena chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"If you don't believe me, Grandpa, you can ask Jessica. Or are you still worried I'm bullying her?"

Wilhelm's brow furrowed.

After a while, he said, "You don't need to provoke me with that sort of language. She might be back now, but you have an equal place to her in my heart. I raised you from when you were young and never once treated you like you were an adopted granddaughter."

Selena stood there in silence.

Pausing for a few seconds, Wilhelm suddenly asked, "Have you heard that the Bissels refused the union with Jessica?"

Selena nodded. "I have."

"What do you think about that?"

Selena started.

She looked at the old man in a bit of confusion.

"I... I don't have too many thoughts."

What thoughts could someone who had nothing to do with it have over Jessica and Ontario?

But the old man didn't seem satisfied with the answer.

He frowned, looked at her, and seemed a bit upset with her passiveness.

"Then what do you think about Ontario Bissel?"

Selena froze there in a daze for a few seconds, then seemed to understand something as disbelief flashed through her eyes.

"What do you mean by asking me that, Grandpa?"

Wilhelm scoffed. "What else could I mean? Jessica messed up at keeping such a good man, but someone else from the Kawn family could. Selena, I raised you from when you were small and watched you grow up. You're not like her. You're a real noble lady. If you married into them, the Bissels wouldn't have anything to say about it, and you could help out the Kawn family in the future. What do you think?" Selena shook harshly.

She'd never thought the old man would make such a request of her.

Her face sank as she looked at him disbelievingly. "Grandpa, now that Jessica couldn't get in the Bissel family, you're turning your sights on me? Giving me a man she's not having?"

The old man's brow arched and he raged, "Nonsense! What do you mean a man she's not having? Ontario might be the youngest of the Bissels, but he's always done things properly and his ability is acknowledged. Most importantly, he's handsome. Besides, the family had only tried to pair them, and they haven't really been together. How is she a man she's not having, then?" Selena didn't even think about it as she rejected angrily, "I won't have it!"

Wilhelm's expression wasn't pretty.

"Why?"

"I'm your granddaughter, Grandpa, not a tool to be used for barter. I know you want to unite with the Bissels to preserve the family legacy. But I think that should be with our own ability, not a union of the younger generation! If we can't manage on our own, even if we climb up with the Bissel family, we'll be subject to their every whim in the future. How is that any different from begging?"

Old man Kawn's expression darkened instantly as he spat, "What are you yammering about? How is our family inferior to theirs? How are we begging? How do you think your fancy clothes and high end food came to be? Do you really think that one can achieve power and wealth with personal ability? Eqitin is a mire with more a web of relationships and conflicting interests more complicated than you can even begin to understand. Our union with the Bissels is an alliance in preparation. Otherwise, the moment I die, what do you think your two uncles are going to manage? You still think you're going to stay a noble lady of the Kawn house at that point?"

Selena shook her head.

"Even if I'm not a noble lady, it's better than marrying someone I feel nothing for."

"Tomfoolery! You're still young and you think that love and freedom trump everything. But when you grow old, you'll come to understand that those are all meaningless beliefs, held up by people who have nothing. True freedom is achieved when you stand at the highest point of power, understand?"

Selena found it ridiculous.

She'd always known that her grandfather was a power-hungry man.

And it wasn't that he hadn't tried to use her and to achieve his goals through marrying her off.

But he'd given up on it all, and she'd thought he wouldn't bring it up again.

Now he was trying to marry her off to Ontario?!

Selena chuckled helplessly.

"I don't understand what you're saying, Grandpa. I also don't care about the heights of power. As for the family legacy, you can have me do anything, Grandpa, but please don't use my marriage as a pawn to the ends of your own glory! I can't do it, and I can't possibly agree to it!"

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