Chapter 250: Psychological Matricide

Elaine Hughes’s face turned deathly pale at Melody Summers’s words. She could only wave her hands frantically and stammer, "No, that’s not it! I don’t hate you, you’ve misunderstood me..."

Elaine Hughes looked at Melody Summers’s cold expression and swallowed hard. In Elaine’s mind, the worst thing she had ever done was try to marry Melody off to that fool.

But she had been forced into it. ’I have to explain this to Melody first!’ she thought.

So, she explained to Melody Summers, "I was forced! You know what our family’s situation was like after the disaster. I didn’t want to marry you off to that fool either, but I had no choice..."

But Melody Summers just shook her head gently. "Forced? Then why didn’t you marry Sylvia Lancaster to that fool instead?"

Elaine Hughes was stunned by her question. She opened and closed her mouth, not knowing how to answer.

Melody Summers gave a small smile. "You bullied me so brazenly, but you didn’t dare bully Sylvia Lancaster. That’s because you knew Sylvia isn’t your biological daughter. If you treated her poorly, she might just run away, right?"

"But me? I’m your biological daughter. No matter how you treated me, I could never escape our blood ties."

"So you chose to constantly put me down in front of Sylvia Lancaster. You hurt me without a second thought to show Sylvia your favoritism, all to preserve your mother-daughter relationship with her. Am I right?"

Meeting Elaine Hughes’s panicked and helpless gaze, Melody Summers sneered. "You are far too greedy. Did you think that just because you gave birth to me, I would love you unconditionally? You really thought wrong."

As Elaine Hughes listened to Melody Summers’s words, an extremely complex mix of emotions welled up inside her.

There was the ugliness of having her thoughts exposed, the regret for her past actions, and the guilt she felt toward Melody Summers...

She just felt a tangled mess in her heart, and her throat ached as if it were blocked.

Suddenly, she felt a cool sensation on her cheek. She subconsciously raised a hand to touch it, only to realize her face was covered in tears.

Elaine Hughes subconsciously reached out a trembling hand, trying to grab Melody Summers, but Melody sidestepped her immediately.

Elaine Hughes looked at Melody Summers pleadingly, her voice choked with tears. "My daughter, I know you’ve been wronged... Before, Mom was blinded by the need to save the Lancaster Family’s company. It will never happen again. Can you give Mom another chance, please?"

Seeing the tears on Elaine Hughes’s face, Melody Summers felt nothing. She answered coldly, "No."

Elaine Hughes was stunned. She asked, unwilling to accept it, "Why? I already realize I was wrong. Why can’t you just give me a chance to make it up to you?"

Melody Summers lowered her gaze and said softly, "Because I’m afraid of hurting my mother’s feelings, too."

As Elaine Hughes stared in astonishment, Melody Summers continued, "Ms. Hughes, if you keep appearing in front of me, I’m afraid my mother will get the wrong idea."

"Just as you don’t want to see Sylvia Lancaster get upset because of me, I don’t want to see my mother get upset because of you."

"I’m not greedy like you, wanting both. The mom who raised me is enough. I don’t want you."

"So, I hope you can understand. Let’s not have anything to do with each other for the rest of our lives."

Hearing Melody Summers’s words, Elaine Hughes felt as if she’d been struck on the head, leaving her dizzy and disoriented.

She suddenly bent over, clutching her chest. Her heart felt tight, so tight she could barely breathe.

But Melody Summers acted as if she didn’t see Elaine Hughes’s pain, continuing to muse aloud, "Still, you were right about one thing. I am your biological daughter, after all. Look, we even make the same choices. You chose your adopted daughter, and I choose my adoptive mother."

Elaine Hughes struggled to grab the hem of Melody Summers’s clothes. Her lips trembled as she begged, "Don’t say any more..."

Elaine Hughes felt like her head was about to split open.

The Melody Summers before her and the obedient Melody Summers from her dreams who called her "Mom" began to overlap, and Elaine Hughes suddenly found it hard to distinguish dream from reality.

All she felt now was a profound sense of regret.

But Melody Summers simply brushed her hand away and spoke into her ear, "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you... You probably don’t know this yet, but the person who switched me and Sylvia Lancaster back then was named Lily Adler. She’s your precious daughter Sylvia’s biological mother."

Elaine Hughes looked up at Melody Summers blankly, her mind failing to process the information. ’Lily Adler? Sylvia Lancaster’s biological mother?’

Melody Summers pulled up a photo of Lily Adler on her phone, held it in front of Elaine Hughes’s face, and asked, "See? This is Sylvia Lancaster’s biological mother. What do you think? Doesn’t she look a lot like Sylvia?"

Elaine Hughes frowned at the photo on Melody Summers’s phone, momentarily confused. The face looked familiar, but for a moment, she couldn’t place it.

Melody Summers had said all she wanted to say. Ignoring whatever Elaine Hughes was thinking, she stood up, brushed off her clothes, and prepared to leave.

Before she left, she looked down at Elaine Hughes and said coldly, "You keep saying Sylvia Lancaster was also a victim in the baby switch... So the child of a human trafficker, the one who benefited, is also considered a victim? Elaine Hughes, the Lancaster Family is a real joke."

With that, Melody Summers turned and left.

Elaine Hughes watched helplessly as Melody Summers walked away, then sat silently in the pavilion for a long time.

Her thoughts were a chaotic mess, but her mind kept replaying the image from the photo.

Suddenly!

In a flash, Elaine Hughes remembered!

The woman in the photo was a former nanny for the Lancaster family!

Back then, Elaine Hughes had just given birth to her second child. The Lancaster Family had posted a job opening and hired a new nanny.

The new nanny looked a bit frail and delicate, but she was an incredibly diligent worker.

She was sharp-eyed and detail-oriented, able to keep the hundreds of flowers and plants in the garden in perfect order. Elaine Hughes had once praised her highly.

She worked for the Lancaster family for a few years, and when she resigned, Elaine Hughes even felt it was a shame.

Elaine Hughes murmured, "So it was her... Lily Adler... She was the one who switched my child..."

So Lily Adler had used her position as a nanny in the Lancaster family to switch her own biological daughter, Sylvia Lancaster, with the true heiress, Melody Summers.

At this thought, Elaine Hughes couldn’t help but bite her lip. Her eyes filled with hatred, her heart a mix of shock and fury—

This wasn’t a mix-up at all. It was a premeditated plot by Sylvia Lancaster’s mother to have her own child usurp another’s place!

******

As Melody Summers walked home, she couldn’t help but find the turn of events somewhat ironic.

’Melody remembered how in her past life, Elaine Hughes had always been condescending and aloof when facing her, like an emotionless goddess on a pedestal.’

’Elaine Hughes would only look down on her and critique her, occasionally showing a look of disappointment.’

’And she, in her efforts to prove that Elaine loved her, had fought and argued with her. But Elaine dismissed all her tears and tantrums as being unreasonable.’

’Now, perhaps because Elaine Hughes’s life after the disaster was so much more miserable than in her past life, she had been worn down by hardship. Her sharp edges were gone, and she had fallen from her pedestal. Only now could she finally speak to Melody properly.’

’In her past life, Elaine Hughes knew that Melody cared for her, so no matter how much of a scene Melody made, she could act with impunity, remaining completely indifferent.’

’In this life, Elaine Hughes could feel that Melody no longer loved her, so she grew anxious and, in turn, began to pay attention to her.’

’Human emotions are just that strange sometimes.’

’From the moment Elaine Hughes began to beg for forgiveness, their roles had completely reversed. Melody Summers had become the one on the divine pedestal.’

In psychology, there is a term, "patricide." Melody Summers wasn’t sure if she had just completed the act of "matricide."

But she knew that after their conversation, her obsession with her biological mother was, as of today, finally and completely gone.

It was as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun; all the shadows that had loomed over her heart vanished.

Just then, a few black snowflakes fell onto Melody Summers’s cream-colored coat, the stark black-on-white contrast making them exceptionally conspicuous.

Melody Summers looked up. In the glow of a streetlight, she saw a light flurry of snow begin to fall from the sky.