Chapter 701

Grandpa Whales was gone. He passed quietly, as though he had simply fallen asleep. Yet, faint traces of unresolved regret lingered upon his aged face, refusing to fade even in death. Life was fragile—like a flickering lamp. One moment it burned brightly, and the next, it vanished without a sound, leaving behind only silence. “Grandpa…” Simon’s voice came out hoarse, thick with restrained grief. He stood beside the bed, looking down at the old man who had once been the pillar of the Whales family. His sharply defined features were now shadowed, as if a heavy storm cloud had settled over him. The sorrow in his eyes was no longer concealed—it spilled through, dense and suffocating. From the side, Eleanor watched quietly. For the first time, she saw something in Simon she had never witnessed before— Vulnerability. It was raw, unguarded, and painfully human. Death was not unfamiliar to Eleanor. She had seen it too many times—enough that grief no longer struck her like a storm, but rather se