The Heiress's Comeback-Chapter 365: [ Volume 1] Chaper - Might be alive.

"She loved you," Aron continued. "That shine in her eyes—it wasn’t a lie. Whatever answers you’re looking for, don’t forget that."

Ray closed his eyes, his free hand gripping the edge of the shelf for support. Aron’s words hit him harder than he cared to admit, but they only fueled his need to uncover the truth. "Tell me, Aron," he said, his voice firm despite the turmoil in his chest. "What happened on that day?"

Aron hesitated, his breath audible over the line. "January 15, 2017," he said finally, his voice carrying the weight of the answer Ray had been dreading. "...was the day Esme proposed to Cain."

Hearing Aron’s words, Ray continued to stare at the trophy, his eyes unwavering. The air around him felt dense, thick with the weight of his thoughts. His lips parted after a long, heavy pause, his voice low, but filled with the kind of intensity that could pierce through any uncertainty. "Aron... how do you remember all of these things with such detail?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

There was no childlike curiosity in his voice—Ray had grown beyond that. He wasn’t a fool, nor was he someone to cling to idealistic notions of love and loss. He had lived through too much, seen too much, and he wasn’t blind. He wasn’t blind to the fact that Esme hadn’t been mourning Cain like a woman who had lost her true love. The months they had spent together had shown him that much. The times Esme had mentioned Cain—or even hinted at missing him—could be counted on a single hand. When she did speak of him, it was not with a passionate longing, but with a faint, almost imperceptible sadness.

It wasn’t the kind of mourning one would expect from someone who had lost their beloved. Ray had always doubted, wondering if Esme’s detachment had been a result of the deep, unspoken pain that still lingered from Cain’s death. Maybe she couldn’t bring herself to express the depth of her grief. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized there had to be another reason.

The moment she saved him from the second ambush came to his mind. The expression on her face had been something entirely different from someone suppressing anguish. There was no trace of helplessness, no struggle to endure pain. Instead, her features had been alive with a fierce rage—an anger that boiled within her, threatening to spill over. The way she had killed the second aunt in cold blood—it wasn’t the act of someone who was silently drowning in sorrow.

If Esme had truly loved Cain as much as everyone believed, why would she have left the Florence family alive? They were the ones responsible for his death, after all. Surely, if her love for Cain had been as strong as Aron seemed to think, she would have had no mercy for them. But Esme’s actions never aligned with that idea. She didn’t seem to care about revenge.

Ray’s mind couldn’t make sense of it. And that’s when the truth hit him: after Esme died, when everyone expected the memories of her to bring him nothing but pain, it had done the opposite. Thinking about her brought him happiness—an unexpected sense of peace and strength. So, how could Esme have loved Cain so deeply, so overwhelmingly, and still agreed to marry them so easily?

Aron remained silent on the other end, his thoughts heavy, before he spoke up. His voice was tinged with the weight of the past, and Ray could feel the shift in the air between them. "Esme asked me to note down all of these things when she was dating Cain. She told me that no matter what, I had to have these documents at any cost... She also asked for it when my wedding with Helga was coming up, as she played matchmaker."

Ray’s mind raced. The pieces were slowly starting to come together, but there was still so much he didn’t understand. He shut his eyes, running his fingers through his hair as he processed the information. His voice was softer this time, more cautious. "Does... does she have more documents like that? Something she told you to keep together, maybe as gifts or... something else?"

On the other side of the line, Aron let out a quiet sigh. He turned his gaze toward the window, staring out into the distance as if trying to anchor himself in the present. He seemed to take a long time before responding. "I’m sending all of that to you," Aron said, his voice steady but laced with something Ray couldn’t quite place.

He didn’t know why Ray needed this information, but as he recalled Esme’s words, he remembered something else. Something that had once seemed trivial, but now felt like a cryptic puzzle.

"Ray... I’m not sure if you remember, but Esme once asked me to do something strange. She said, ’If someday I might not be in this world, and someone asks you for these documents, please give them to them.’"

At the time, Aron hadn’t thought much of it. Esme was always so pragmatic, even when it came to matters of the heart. But now, hearing Ray’s request, something clicked. Maybe, just maybe, Esme had been preparing for something even she couldn’t control, something beyond her understanding.

Ray’s grip on his phone tightened as he listened to Aron’s words. A chill ran down his spine as he tried to piece everything together. Esme had known something. She had always known something. Even when her actions seemed distant or detached, she had planned for the future in ways no one could have anticipated. She had prepared for this moment, for the questions that Ray was asking now.

Aron’s voice broke through his thoughts once more. "I didn’t understand why she asked me to keep those records, Ray. But now... I think maybe she knew this day would come. Maybe she knew you’d be the one asking for them."

Ray was silent for a moment, the weight of the revelation settling in his chest. Esme had never been the kind of person to act without reason. She had always been careful, calculating even in her relationships.