Chapter 1724: A battle won, but not the war.

"I found out I wasn’t Naylani and Enzo Pierson’s son. I was just a child they were raising... because they thought I was theirs."

Penny held her breath, disbelief and shock flickering in her eyes. She just stared at him, opening and closing her mouth, but no words came out.

Seeing her reaction, Zoren let out a faint, bitter laugh. He shrugged weakly and leaned back against the headboard, resting the back of his head on it. His eyes drifted ahead as he thought back to how he’d learned the truth.

"In my first life, while I was investigating your case, I found out I wasn’t actually their son," he muttered. "To mock Naylani even further, Nathalie swapped her son with another. According to Nathalie..."

He paused, recalling the exact words that woman had spat at him during their confrontation.

"You should’ve seen Naylani’s face when I told her that kid of hers... is long dead," he quoted. "That I cleared his innards and used her child as a bag to smuggle some things. She was livid—it was a sight to behold."

Penny’s breath hitched. She didn’t know whether to shudder from the cruelty or recoil from the horror of it. Her heart clenched as she focused back on Zoren.

’Just... how could she...’

Her chest rose and fell slowly, heavily, as her gaze remained on him.

Nathalie being that cruel shouldn’t surprise her—and yet, she couldn’t help but wonder how Zoren endured it. She hadn’t known him personally in their previous life, but even now, she knew how much he had respected and looked up to Enzo.

She clutched the bedsheet tightly, her throat going dry.

Zoren exhaled again, forcing a faint smile. "So that’s why I couldn’t accept that he died saving a kid he thought was his—"

He stopped abruptly as Penny suddenly jumped on him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. A soft, surprised chuckle escaped him as he placed his hand on her back.

"I’m fine, Penny," he said softly. "It was something I barely came to terms with before, but now..."

Again, his voice trailed off as he felt her body trembling. Then came the hiccups, soft and muffled against his chest.

"How can you just say it’s fine?!" she burst out through quiet sobs. "It’s not fine for me. How can she—how can she play with people’s lives, with people’s hearts, with families like that?!"

Her forehead pressed against his chest, her grip on his shoulder blades tightening.

"How can she mock people’s pain like that...?" Penny raised her head, tears spilling down her cheeks as she struggled to comprehend the pain Zoren had endured. "You’ve already gone through so much... and she..."

Her voice broke.

Now it all made sense to her.

Zoren’s plan to bring down the fake Naylani and protect Enzo from the chaos—it wasn’t about vengeance alone. It was the fastest way he could think of to end it all. He had wanted to destroy the ghost of Naylani and the child who didn’t belong in the Pierson’s home. That was why he orchestrated that fire—one meant to take both himself and the impostor down.

For Penny, when she was reborn, her first instinct had been survival—to live differently. Perhaps, even lavishly and peacefully.

Finn simply wanted to protect the few people his life touched. He didn’t aim to rewrite everything—just enough to make a difference.

Jonathan, even if he never said it, clearly remembered everything—and carried vengeance.

Slater, who learned the truth late, chose redemption, swearing to protect his sister.

But Zoren?

He might’ve been the only one who, upon remembering everything... immediately thought of ending it all.

Why?

Not because he believed it was hopeless—but because he thought his existence itself was a mistake. It showed just how deeply Nathalie had struck him—blow after blow—until he broke.

So when he said he’d come to terms with it, Penny knew... he hadn’t.

It wasn’t that simple.

Hence the tears—not for Nathalie’s cruelty, but for the fact that her husband had endured it all alone.

As she wept, Zoren’s face crumpled. Slowly, he tightened his arms around her, his breath heavy with restraint.

No tears came from him—but helplessness filled his chest.

Perhaps, his wife was right.

How could he say he came to terms with it, when in reality, he hadn’t?

---

[Short Flashback]

The sky was dark, and the night unnervingly quiet. Yet, in a remote mansion far removed from civilization, the sound of gunfire echoed in the distance.

In the pavilion of the estate, two figures stood several meters apart.

Zoren’s pupils dilated slowly, his breath halting as he stared at the woman across from him.

"...What did you say?" he breathed out, not blinking.

A soft chuckle echoed from the woman as she strolled casually to the cement railing. She leaned against it, utterly unfazed by the chaos around them.

"Pity," she murmured. "For a child... to believe he had everything, only to find out none of it was his to begin with."

She turned and blinked at him. "Zoren Pierson, do you know how Naylani reacted when I told her the child she used to sing lullabies to... wasn’t hers?"

A long pause stretched between them, her smile slowly curling up.

"Her eyes widened just like yours," she said. "Until they burned. They burned so brightly it nearly blinded her. It was... thrilling to watch. Knowing she’d die with the knowledge that she’d failed as a mother."

She laughed, covering her lips with the back of her hand. "And for what it’s worth—I made sure your father didn’t die without knowing that either. The shock on their faces? Amusing."

Zoren raised his pistol, eyes blank and grip trembling.

But she didn’t flinch. She smiled, as if death itself couldn’t touch her.

"It’s been a long battle, Zoren," she said smoothly. "But in the end, I’ve won. Killing me? That’s not victory. The Zorken Family will live on with or without me. But you? You lost the moment you were born."

BANG!

BANG!

Zoren stepped forward and fired again. And again.

BANG! BANG—CLACK!

The gun clicked empty, but his finger didn’t stop. He kept pulling the trigger, even when all he heard was the sound of nothing.

Blood pooled at his feet, soaking his black shoes, but he didn’t care.

Even in death, she had gotten the last word.

Because even if he killed her... The Zorken Family would live on.

And even if he killed her... It wasn’t a victory.

He had already lost too much.

He might’ve won the battle... but not the war — that had been raging on within him.