PAMPERED BY MY THREE BROTHERS: THE RETURN OF THE NEGLECTED HEIRESS
Chapter 1725: Things he’d never believed he deserved.

Chapter 1725: Things he’d never believed he deserved.

Penny sniffed, snuggling against her husband as tightly as she could. They were still leaning against the headboard, but that didn’t stop her from clinging to him like a koala.

"Don’t cry," he chuckled, his low baritone soothing her. He wiped the corner of her eye with the back of his finger. "Maybe you were right, but... knowing you’re here with me doesn’t just make things tolerable—it makes them livable."

Penny hiccuped and looked up at him. Then she let out a sharp huff and pulled herself away until she was sitting upright. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, clearing her throat.

When she dropped her hand and looked at him again, she ground her teeth.

"I’ll kill that bitch!" she declared, her grief shifting quickly into rage. For some reason, Zoren could even see the fire engulfing his wife materialize.

She pointed a firm finger at him. "You stay right there. I’m going to march over there and stab her a hundred—no, a thousand times! I don’t care if I get thrown in jail for it! Grace will keep me out of it! If not, then I’ll be the prouded murderer there is!"

Zoren chuckled and leaned forward to gently pull her back. "Penny, calm down."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!" she echoed, eyes glistening again. "That woman makes me angrier now than she ever did with all the stuff we’ve uncovered. How am I supposed to calm down when she threw punches in our past life faster than I grab samples at a free food stall?!"

"I can’t calm down until I see her suffer a hundred times more than he made you suffer!" she screamed.

His laughter echoed, warm and surprised. He moved closer and wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Looking up at her, his eyes softened with nothing but affection. A gentle smile curved the corner of his lips. Penny, however, just frowned and looked back at him.

"Don’t give me that look," she muttered. "It doesn’t make me any less angry at her."

But it did make her pause.

"Penny," he said softly. "Our past... it was heavy. Especially when I woke up as a child again. I thought I was trapped in a nightmare I’d never wake from—no matter how many times I tried. But—"

Zoren pulled her closer, holding her tightly. "That all changed when you crawled into that bush because of a pet."

His eyes softened further, the memory lightening his heart. Those moments, and all the ones they’d created since, brought balance to a heart that had long been worn and darkened.

"At the time, I didn’t understand it," he continued. "But now, I know that moment became everything. Because that simple encounter... led me to my wife."

He had been a sickly boy, desperate to disappear—even without remembering his past life, the present already felt like too much. He thought hiding in that bush would let the world pass him by.

Then came a chubby little girl, crawling in beside him with her first words:

"What are you?"

Not "Who are you?" — "What."

And somehow, that ridiculous moment had changed everything.

Looking back, he realized it was never Zoren who found Penny in either life.

It was always her who found him.

She might not realize it, but if not for her appearance on television—made a public spectacle by the world—he might never have known her. If he hadn’t seen her tearful plea, he might’ve lived longer... but only as someone already dead inside.

In this life, too, she found him again—in that bush. And again later, as adults.

All he had ever done... was take the chance she gave.

"And now I have to face all this," he murmured, "knowing I’m not alone. Knowing someone else will cry in my stead, rage in my stead, say it’s not fine when I can’t."

He raised his brows slightly, giving her a quiet, knowing look. "So even if things aren’t fine... I’m not breaking. Not just because I refuse to—because I can’t. Because you won’t let me."

What she had given him wasn’t just hope. She gave him a family—friendship, love, and acceptance. Things he’d never believed he deserved.

Penny pressed her trembling lips together as her eyes stung once more. She swallowed hard and lowered her head, holding his arms where they wrapped around her.

"Well... you were the only one on my side back then," she muttered, finally mustering the courage to face him again. Her vision blurred with tears, but her lips curled into a smile. "And if we’d been given the chance, I’d have stood by your side too."

In their past lives, they weren’t given that chance.

Maybe they had crossed paths. But neither had taken the opportunity to change anything.

Perhaps that was why they had to relive the nightmare they once thought inescapable—because this time, they became each other’s strongest support in a war they couldn’t win alone.

And maybe—just maybe—this nightmare was never truly a nightmare. Maybe it was a dream, made painful only because they once refused to believe pain could also be a beautiful scar.

Zoren smiled and tightened his embrace.

"So?" Penny cleared her throat, her brows lifting slightly. "What did you do when you finally confronted her?"

"Hmm..." He hesitated, then admitted with a shrug, "I killed her."

"You did?"

"Mhm. Emptied my gun into her."

"You should’ve brought an extra magazine," she muttered. "Or at least two more."

He laughed, amused—and slightly in disbelief—that she wasn’t even shocked. If anything, she was annoyed it wasn’t enough.

Surely, their relationship was healthy... with questionable parts.

"But... if you confronted her," Penny said, narrowing her eyes. "And you ended her... then how?"

She studied him carefully. "I know you eventually found where Nathalie was hiding. But Renren, not even with the Phantom Circle’s help could you have just waltzed in and killed her."

"That’s true," he admitted with a small nod, smacking his lips. "I managed it because... I got the code. And I know where it is."

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