Baron Malcolm used a trembling hand to stamp his personal seal onto the contract he had just finished writing.
This was a contract severing blood ties and kinship. The seal was stained with his own blood, and therefore carried full legal force.
The instant the seal was set, Baron Malcolm felt an emptiness in his heart, followed by a sharp, violent pain.
It was as though a piece of flesh had been torn from his heart!
"Take it!"
He closed his eyes and, enduring the pain in his heart, pushed the contract across the table to Ronan. "Detective!"
The way he said those words was filled with gritted-teeth hatred.
"Thank you."
Ronan took the contract and read it over. Once he had confirmed there were no problems, he put it away.
He then pulled a gold-pound check from his pocket and placed it on the desk. "Baron, please take good care of Alice from now on. Don't make her toil alongside the farmhands. Let her learn some knowledge and skills."
Baron Malcolm's face instantly flushed crimson.
Malcolm had many illegitimate children. Though all of them were raised on the manor before they came of age, they still had to fend for themselves and earn their food and clothing through labor.
The Baron did not think there was anything wrong with his approach. After all, many rural nobles treated their illegitimate sons the same way.
But Malcolm also knew full well that he had been somewhat too harsh on Ronan in the past.
As for Alice, he was rather fond of her now.
Yet once this little daughter of illegitimate birth grew a little older, she would still have to endure the Baroness's strict discipline before being married off to someone of equal status in exchange for a bride price.
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