You Are The Apple of My Eyes
Chapter 394 A Slap In The Face

Nina and Anne locked eyes, refusing to give in.

The room was so quiet that the only thing that filled it was the sea breeze. Anne donned a serious exterior, facing Nina's indifference. It was a stalemate.

"Nina, I've handled everything for you. Don't worry." Anne had always been strict as Nina's mother, and even the comforting words from her sounded stiff. However, Nina could be persuaded by reason but not be cowed by force.

"You mean by announcing I'm dead? So you faked my death certificate, canceled my household registration and said that I'm dead." For the first time in Nina's life, she hated her mother.

Since Nina was a child, she hadn't experienced her mother's nurturing hand. She had been restricted by various rules and learned different skills. She had complained inwardly at first and eventually become numb to that.

But she couldn't accept what Anne did this time.

Everyone she met in Lexingport City brought her different experiences to treasure. She had her own home and friends. It was like she finally had flesh and blood.

"Nina, I did all this for your own good." Seeing the hatred in her daughter's eyes, Anne's heart shuddered and her voice softened.

When her daughter ran away from home, she was angry. She sent people to search for her to no avail. Anger swiftly dissipated and turned to worry.

A year later, it turned to regret.

Anne missed her daughter more than anything. In every spare moment, she would come to Nina's room and sit down. Her fingers would feel the coldness as she touched the lifeless objects in the room. The whole room just felt cold.

But even Nina was here now, Anne still felt cold.

"Every mother hurts their child while saying they are doing it for their child's sake. It's common," Nina said bluntly.

He retort was seen as nothing short of rebellious in all honesty.

It was just because Nina had never defied her mother like this before.

In the past, Anne would have exploded in a white hot rage. What Nina wasn't expecting though was nothing but a subdued sigh from her mother.

"Your brother is right. You hate me for what I have done."

Hearing her mother's words, Nina remembered that she hadn't seen her brother since she woke up. If her brother knew that she had come back, he would've come to her.

"Where is Leon?"

"I arranged a study tour for him in another country."

"You did it?" A look of worry appeared on Nina's face. Since the incident with Valerie, her brother had been fond of studying abroad.

Anne didn't like Leon leaving C Island. Then why did she send him away to study abroad herself?

For this to happen, there must be some reason.

"What did he do wrong?" Nina felt that studying abroad was definitely going to be almost a punishment for him in a sense.

As she had expected, Leon and Wynn were living a hard life in a foreign country with little to no money.

Anne got angry at the mention of her son. "As a brother, he shouldn't have let you live a hard life outside C Island."

Anne was blaming Leon for covering for her. She was punishing him and letting him experience what Nina had experienced in the past two years.

To Nina, these years weren't a tough life to live, but rather a rebirth.

"It has nothing to do with Leon. I begged him to help me. Mom, please let him come back." Nina's voice softened.

Now Nina finally understood how her mother could replace her. She must have extorted confessions out of her brother.

'Poor Leon...'

"There is no room for negotiation, Nina." Anne was determined to teach her son a lesson.

A light bulb went off in Nina's head. "Mom, I want to contact Leon."

Her mother didn't give her anything to communicate with, fearing she'd call John or her friends. Nina thought maybe she could call Leon instead.

"Do you want to contact him or your friends in Lexingport City?" Anne saw through her daughter in an instant.

Nina was speechless.

"Nina, you're the princess of C Island. You can't just act on a whim anymore. Sometimes you just have to give up on what isn't good for you," Anne said earnestly. "Just treat your life in Lexingport City as a dream. When you wake up, you have to return to reality. They just "

"I agree. I should give up what isn't right," Nina interrupted her mother, raising her head nobly. "I'm giving up my identity as the princess of C Island."

The air suddenly became suffocating.

Anne stood up abruptly and looked down at her rebellious daughter, gritting her teeth to give Nina another chance.

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear what you just said."

Raising her eyes to look at her mother's stern face, Nina slowly stood up fearlessly. "My husband and my friends are not a dream, but my reality. They are what matters and I can't let them go. So..."

Anne's lips trembled slightly, and her pupils suddenly shrank. Her hands shook at her sides as if she couldn't control them anymore.

Nina ignored the anger that was about to burst out of her mother and continued, "I would rather give up my identity as the princess-" Slap!

Anne hit Nina and glared at her with red eyes.

She seemed to use all her strength behind that forceful blow.

Nina had just recovered from a serious illness and was pregnant. She fell to the floor with a bang. Her hands swept the objects on the table to the floor.

"Your Majesty, what happened?" Rebecca, who was guarding at the door, rushed in with two bodyguards when she heard the commotion.

Nina lay on the floor, and Anne pointed at Nina in anger. Anne opened her mouth and wanted to curse, but she couldn't say a word. All she could do was point with her trembling finger.

"Your Majesty, Her Highness is..." Rebecca was about to mention Nina's pregnancy, but she remembered that she had to keep the secret. "Her Highness still hasn't recovered..."

Nina felt her stomach ache but the main pain was spreading through her face. Without thinking too much, she staggered to her feet with the help of Rebecca.

"I'm fine." Nina waved her hand. "I've told you once. So you know what I want. I don't even need to say it again."

Anne wanted to help Nina up, but her feet seemed to be frozen on the spot, unable to move. She could only lower her head as if she lost all her strength.

Seeing that her daughter was so determined made Anne's heart sink. She could do nothing but trudge out of the room. She sent more guards to guard the room.

Nina stayed in the room for a few days. Most of the time, she stood on the balcony to watch the ebb and flow of the tide.

It was not until her father, Bruce Lu, came back that Nina saw a turning point.

The first thing that Bruce did once he came back was visit his daughter. They hadn't seen each other for two years. Nothing else seemed to matter. He rushed over before he could even change his clothes. Anne played the strict mother role and Bruce was definitely the kind father.

At the age of forty-seven, Bruce was still handsome and strong. Aside from him being somewhat portly, he had no shortcomings. There wasn't even a wrinkle when he smiled.

"Nina, my dear daughter, you're finally back. How have you been doing in the outside world these two years? Have you enjoyed yourself?" Bruce didn't know that Nina was married, nor did he know how his daughter came back. He just thought that his daughter was tired of that life and decided to come home.

When he heard the news that Nina ran away from home, Anne shouted and cursed him because of how he reacted. He didn't see anything wrong with her behavior and it actually reminded him of himself when he was young.

He felt comforted that his daughter seemed livelier than two years ago.

She looked like a normal girl now.

However, something about her smile felt fake. It was forced and seemed to be hiding something.

"Yes. The last few years have made me very happy."

"Then why do you look so sad?" Compared with his wife's communication with his daughter, Bruce was much more connected with her. They were very close.

Nina blinked her innocent eyes and lowered her face. "I can't contact my friends anymore."☐☐☐☐☐☐