Days passed.
That morning, Klaus and Katrina stood in front of two graves side by side. One bore the name **Nico**, the other **Léana**. Katrina stepped forward and placed a bouquet of white flowers on Léana's grave.
"Do you think she's happy?" she asked softly.
Klaus remained silent for a moment.
"Yes… I think she would have been happy to be buried next to the man she loved."
Katrina nodded.
"Sometimes… I tell myself that Léana wasn't a bad person."
"No," Klaus answered. "Honestly… she never wanted to hurt anyone. It's just that she felt indebted to Vareck for giving her the chance to be with the man she loved. Without realizing it, that gratitude became a moral debt… and that debt went wrong. It led her down the wrong paths. But despite everything… I'm glad she was able to come out of the darkness and find the light. Even if it was the last thing she did."
Katrina turned to him, a gentle smile on her lips.
"And that… is thanks to you."
She rose on her tiptoes and stole a tender kiss from him, before focusing with him again on Léana's grave.
---
Later, everyone was gathered in the large dining room of Miria and Asher's manor. After hearing Miria's full account, the silence had first been heavy… then the comments had poured out.
"I can't believe Vareck was the only son of Founder Siobhan… and the nephew of Founder Noreen," Bryan declared, still in shock.
Marlie turned to Axel with a mischievous smile.
"Axel… so you have to call him great-grandfather???"
"Watch it, you… You risk a punishment," Axel growled half-seriously.
"It's crazy how much I'd love to get punished…" Marlie murmured, looking at him from under her lashes.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"But seriously, Axel… what's your degree of kinship?" Kira asked.
"Let's say… I'm a descendant of Founder Siobhan's brother. So Vareck is like my great-great-great-grandfather. But I'm from the secondary branch, I think."
Alix turned to Asher.
"And you, Asher?"
"Me what?"
"I should point out that your beloved is from his family," Eiden intervened. "If I'm not mistaken… Miria's mother should have called Vareck 'cousin'. Which means Miria should have called him 'uncle'… even if he's distant, right?"
"Exactly," Gale confirmed.
"So???" Klaus insisted.
Asher shrugged with a smirk.
"Glad he's dead. I don't want a father-in-law like that."
A new wave of laughter shook the table.
---
That evening, each person returned to their room with their soulmate.
In Katrina and Klaus's room, Katrina was already half-asleep in her companion's arms. She murmured, her voice sleepy:
"It feels good… that everything is finally over. No more danger… no more Vareck…"
"Yes…" Klaus answered, stroking her hair. "And now… we can think about building our life. And about our children."
Katrina blushed instantly and sat up slightly.
"Already… you're thinking about children??"
"Yes. You know… I didn't have a very happy childhood."
"What do you mean?"
Klaus remained silent for a moment, then sat up as well.
"Do you remember the first time we met?"
"Yes… You looked devastated."
"Indeed. At the time… I was madly in love with Isabella. So I tried to… rape her."
Katrina froze.
"And… did you do it?"
"No. Fortunately, Gale stopped me in time. However… he was disappointed in me. Very disappointed."
"Well… Gale is a righteous person. He can't tolerate that…"
"It's not only because of that," Klaus continued in a lower voice. "You see… he and I are children born of rape."
Katrina's eyes widened and she sat up completely.
"What…?!"
"Yes. My father was so obsessed with my mother that one day he kidnapped her… then raped her. After that, my mother became pregnant with me and Gale. The families decided to marry them to make some kind of honorable amends. My father was delighted… thinking he had finally gotten her. However my mother couldn't stand him. She hated him with all her being… even though he did everything to make amends. But at least… she was never unfair to us. On the contrary. She loved us with all her heart… as if we were her treasures. She kept us very far from our father. At eight years old, our parents divorced and our mother took us very far away. She didn't want us to copy our father's example. Gale, being born first… always did everything to be a very good example to follow. He was like a father to me… even though we were the same age. He was just… more mature than me."
Katrina listened in silence, her heart tight.
"Is that why you were so devastated that day? Because you had disappointed the one who had been like a father to you?"
"Not only that. That day… I had fought with Ray, when he found out I had almost raped Isabella. In that fight, Gale tried to separate us. Me… while wanting to stab Ray out of anger… I stabbed Gale by accident."
Klaus lowered his head, his voice full of self-disgust.
"Now that I think about it… I was a real bastard, wasn't I?"
Katrina placed a hand on his.
"No one is perfect. I should point out that… I also once said I loved my daughter. But when I saw Miria and Asher… I tried to separate them. I even tried to get Asher into my bed… out of pure selfishness and jealousy. So I think you and I… are made for each other. A bastard and a bitch."
She finished on an ironic tone. Klaus burst into a sincere laugh, relieving some of the tension.
Then he became serious again, his gaze soft.
"However… if I have a child… I would want to give him all the love that I myself never received from my father. To be a better example for him. And to make sure he is better than I was."