The Forgotten Hero

The disabled man

Luke reached out his hand, trying to hug the woman, to comfort her in his embrace. But before his hand could reach her, Regina quickly pushed it away, pulling herself away from Luke, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor without being able to hug her.

Luke fell to the ground, the chair he had been sitting on also falling behind his legs. Luke looked down in shock, stunned by what had just happened to him, lowering his head and not moving at all.

Regina stared at him with a trembling face. Her emotions were mixed, her eyes glaring angrily at her fate, which only made her feel more sorry for herself for having to deal with a pathetic person like Luke.

“What are you trying to show me? Do you want to show me that you're really disabled? Do you want me to feel even more sorry for you?“

”Stop trying to do what you can't do.“

She saw that Luke was trying to get up by dragging his legs.

”You don't need to do something useless and humiliate yourself even more than this.” Regina walked away, wiping away tears that were about to fall from her eyes. She didn't want to appear weak in front of him.

Her hand reached out to open the drawer where she kept a check, she returned to Luke and dropped the check right in front of him. “Consider it compensation from me.”

The check, written for one million dollars, lay directly in front of Luke, who sat with both hands supporting his body as he struggled to stand up, staring at the paper with a blank expression. The paper felt more like an insult or a label on his self-worth.

“Take it and let's end this.” Regina handed him the rest of the money she had.

In her family's tradition, children who had reached adulthood would receive ten million dollars as startup capital for their businesses. Regina had used her money to build her own company, but when she succeeded, her grandmother had devised a scheme that left her handing over all her possessions to Alex.

All that remained of her wealth was a check she threw at Luke. “That money will mark the end of our relationship.” The woman was ready to leave, abandoning Luke.

But Luke fought back with even more determination. “No.” He couldn't accept that insult.

With both hands gripping the chair, Luke kept pushing his body to get back on his feet.

He faintly felt his leg muscles responding to the pressure he was applying, his legs trembling violently, his muscles beneath his skin squeezing his flesh. He endured the excruciating pain by clenching his teeth tightly.

As he struggled to rise, he spoke, “We won't part ways. I won't accept the money you're offering.” He looked at Regina, fear of loss flickering in his eyes.

But Regina was on the other side, her eyes closed tightly, her hands clenched, and she took deep breaths. She shook her head. “I've made my decision. I don't want to be with you anymore.”

Luke continued to crawl forward and reached out his hand to grab Regina's leg.

What he did made the woman startle and look down in shock. “What are you doing?” the woman exclaimed, her pity wrapped in a harsh tone. “Stop, Luke! I said stop being so pathetic!” she shouted and pulled her leg away from the man.

Despite Regina's harsh treatment and her continued attempts to force him to agree to her demands, Luke, who knew that Regina loved him, refused to give up.

He touched the hem of Regina's dress and looked up at her. “Just one day…” He stared at her desperately. “Give me just one more day, Regina.” He pleaded with the woman while holding back the pain in his legs.

He was certain that the treatment he had been undergoing regularly would yield results for him. If he could leave today and receive further therapy, he believed he would be able to walk again and only need to undergo therapy one more time.

In response to what Luke did, Regina knelt down with a sorrowful expression on her face. “Please, stop this. I can't bear to torture myself with you and everything they have planned for me.“

”I want to stop all of this. I want to give up on my family conflict that has made me lose so much and suffer so much...“ She paused for a moment. '”Let me find peace!” Then a scream pierced the ears.

Emery entered the room with a shocked expression and walked toward Regina. “What's happening?” He grabbed his daughter's shoulders and glared at Luke. “What did you do to her?!” The sharp gaze of the woman demanded an answer.

Regina was still sobbing, ignoring Emery's presence as she pushed away her mother's hands that were holding her shoulders.

Emery ignored Regina's behavior, turning to Luke with anger and hatred that wasn't just from the shock of seeing the two of them on the floor in such a chaotic state.

“Tell me what you did, stop torturing her!“ The voice grew louder, thunderous like lightning, startling Luke back to his senses.

”Just go, please…” Regina turned her gaze away while taking a deep breath.

In the chaos going on, she didn't expect her mother to speak up for her. Because even Emery was no different from the other members of her family.

Meanwhile, Luke knew that the woman was suffering more than anyone else living in that house with the Moodie family. Luke didn't mean to add to her burden, but his situation forced him to bear everything alone without telling anyone.

Emery stared in disbelief at Regina, who sounded like she was still defending him. “What do you mean?” the woman snorted, glancing at Luke with contempt in her eyes. “Am I not right?! He's just making your life difficult! He's completely useless to you and still causes problems—”

“Mother, please stop!” Regina quickly turned around, snapping at Emery in frustration.

At that moment, everything flashed through Luke's mind. At first, Regina's attitude towards him wasn't too sentimental, but things between them had gotten worse because Luke left every month without a word, spending a lot of money. Regina didn't know the truth, while rumors continued to spread.

In fact, Luke was undergoing military rehabilitation to treat his paralyzed leg. And because of his decision to leave the military after what happened, he was forced to bear the costs of his treatment himself, which were quite large, regardless of the fact that they emphasized that the rehabilitation treatment was confidential and no one was allowed to know about it.

His eyes locked onto Regina with a fiery glare. “You're living a miserable life because you're stupid, Regina! Accepting him as your husband was a foolish decision! Staying with him for all these years was a crazy choice you kept making! You're naive; you don't know how to act in life.” The woman smiled arrogantly in front of him.

She glanced again at Luke, sitting on the floor, silent and deep in thought. Emery snorted, dismissing anything Luke might be thinking as useless. “Look… look at what you've gotten in life because you didn't listen to me! How many times did I tell you not to show off your abilities and just focus on rich men? You just need to flirt with them, and your life will be fine—“

”Stop.” Luke clenched his fists on the chair as he stood back up.

The two of them, who had been glaring at each other, now turned to him with different expressions.

Luke mustered all his strength to stand up. His jaw clenched tightly, and his hands slipped several times as he gripped the armrest too tightly, but the man didn't give up; he kept trying to sit back down on the chair.

"It doesn't matter what you say about me, but don't ask her to do something she doesn't want to do." As he said that, Luke managed to sit back down and stared at Emery coldly and sharply.

There was a moment of silence, and Emery was startled. Even though she looked down on Luke, every time she heard and saw him, she couldn't deny that Luke had a very dominant aura. He seemed unusual for someone who was paralyzed and helpless.

But of course, Emery's ego would be hurt if he had to admit that. Instead, he reacted loudly. “How dare someone like you tell me what to do! You damn bastard! Get out of my house! I'm completely sick of you!”

Emery, with a flash in her eyes, approached Luke, clearly trying to push his wheelchair roughly, but Regina held her mother's shoulders and pushed her away gently, as if she were powerless. “Mother, that's enough!” Regina stared at her intently. “What's wrong with you?” She complained with her eyes staring blankly.

“I should be asking you that!” Emery glared at her, her breath coming in gasps from the emotion she felt. "Use your mind, Regina! Stop sympathizing with a man who only brings you suffering."

Emery was right. Right now, all he brought her was suffering. She was powerless to counter his argument. Although her meridians had opened after her rehabilitation, her martial arts cultivation had not yet returned to the grandmaster level.

Due to her paralysis, her martial arts cultivation had dropped to the soldier level, which was the lowest of the five martial arts levels. Although her current position was relatively low, Luke's strength was still higher than that of ordinary people.

“Alright, if that's what you want.” Luke spoke in a low tone, causing the room to fall silent for a moment. "But we need to discuss this with Esme." He hoped Esme could stop him, though he knew she was the source of Regina's problems.