Chapter 14
At that moment the old, cracked bowl she had been clutching slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a dull, hollow clatter, coins scattering in all directions.
But she didn’t care, nothing else mattered.
With a choked sob, she stumbled forward and threw her arms around Tyler, clutching him tightly as if afraid he would vanish again if she let go.
More tears streamed down her face, soaking into Tyler’s tattered clothes. She buried her face against his chest undermining the smell, her thin, fragile body shaking with uncontrollable emotion.
“My son… my son…” she wept over and over, her voice broken and raw.
Tyler stood there, stiff at first, feeling her hands clutch at him desperately. His heart ached so fiercely he thought it might rip apart. He slowly, carefully wrapped his arms around her, shielding her like he should have done years ago.
She cried harder at his touch, she had thought she lost him.
Five years ago, when the Miraculous Doctor had kicked Tyler out of the competition- banished him like trash–she had waited. She had waited and prayed, hoping every day that her boy would come back, smiling like he used to.
But days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. And months dragged into years of silence.
No letters. No word. No sign of life.
As time passed, her hope crumbled. A terrible, cold belief rooted itself deep inside her–that Tyler was gone forever. Dead, perhaps. Forgotten by the world. Forgotten even by fate, and it
broke her.
Year after year, she carried that grief in her heart, a wound that never healed.
Until today, Until this moment here he was.
Her son, alive, breathing, standing before her after five long, cruel years.
Then She pulled back just slightly, her trembling hands cupping Tyler’s cheeks, her teary eyes scanning every inch of his face like she was trying to memorize him all over again.
“Tyler… is it really you?” she whispered, her voice shaking.
Chapter 14
“Tyler… is it really you?” she whispered, her voice shaking.
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“Where have you been, my son? Where… where have you been all this time?” Her words cracked as she spoke, a mixture of sorrow, disbelief, and overwhelming joy flooding through
her.
She touched his hair, his arms, as if to convince herself he wasn’t a dream.
However Tyler said nothing at first. He just looked at her–the woman who had endured so much pain, the woman who had survived when no one thought she would.
The woman he should have protected.
She didn’t even seem to care about the dirt on his clothes or the roughness in his appearance. To her, he was still her son.
Her precious boy, the one she thought she had lost.
Even though Tyler hadn’t returned with the glory she once dreamed he would bring… even though he carried no shining titles, no grand wealth…
She didn’t care, she was just happy.
Happy beyond words that her son was alive, that she could hold him in her arms again.
Again she wrapped her arms tighter around Tyler, refusing to let go, crying freely in front of
everyone.
From this moment on, nothing else mattered.
All she wanted… was to stay by Tyler’s side.
At that moment Tyler slowly tightened his arms around his mother, pulling her closer into his
chest.
He held her like he never wanted to let go again.
The warmth of her frail body, the sound of her broken sobs–it tore straight through him, deeper than any wound he had ever suffered.
He leaned down a little, burying his face against her shoulder as the guilt crushed him harder than any enemy ever could.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Tyler whispered hoarsely, his voice trembling. “I’m so sorry for everything.”
Tears stung his eyes, but he forced himself to stay strong–for her.
“It was never my intention…” he continued, squeezing her gently. “I thought those good–for- nothing families were taking care of you. I thought they kept their promises, but after they kicked me out… I never knew… I never knew they threw you out like this…”
Chapter 14
His words cracked as the guilt overwhelmed him.
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“I failed you,” he said in a low, broken voice. “I disappointed you, and I’m sorry. I’m very, very sorry for everything you’ve been through because of me.”
He pulled back slightly, enough to look into her tear–soaked face.
“I don’t even know how to apologize properly…” he whispered bitterly.
“But I swear, Mom… I’ll make it up to you. I’ll make it up to you a thousand times over if I have to. Everything you lost because of me, I’ll get it back. I promise.”
His mother shook her head weakly, still crying, but now there was a soft, fragile smile on her lips.
At that moment she reached up and gently cupped Tyler’s face with her trembling hands.
“My son… no need for all that,” she said, her voice filled with pure, aching love. “You’re alive. That’s all that matters to me now. You’re alive and you’re here. That’s enough.”
Tyler’s throat tightened painfully.
For five years, she had suffered, and yet she asked for nothing but his life, his
presence.
He could feel her hands still shaking against his skin, feel the years of pain she had hidden away just to survive.
He couldn’t stay here a second longer, this wasn’t where she belonged not here.
“Mom…” he said firmly, taking her hands in his. “Stop what you’re doing.”
He rose to his feet, lifting her gently with him.
“Let’s go,” he said, his voice filled with determination. “Let me take you out of here.”
Then Tyler gently held his mother’s hand as they turned to leave, shielding her from the gazes around them. His steps were steady, but inside, the anger and sorrow still churned violently.
But just as they moved toward the exit, the atmosphere shifted.
A sudden, heavy clatter of boots echoed through the courtyard.
Tyler’s body tensed immediately.
A squad of Royal Guards stormed the scene, their military armor clothes flashing under the sun, their expressions cold and merciless. Behind them trailed a woman in a maid’s uniform, her face twisted with arrogance and disgust.
“There!” the maid shouted, jabbing her finger forward without hesitation. “That’s her! That’s the filthy beggar who’s been disrupting the king’s summoning! That’s the one causing a nuisance!”
Chapter 15
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