Chapter 9
Kaiden’s eyes, still wet from the water, twitched again. But this time, Chloe didn’t offer him a tissue. What he said was simply absurd.
“I told you, I have no intention of marrying you. What makes you so sure otherwise?”
“Because you need me, too.”
Kaiden leaned back lazily against the sofa after roughly wiping the water off. The confidence in his voice was beyond irritating.
“You think I’d marry you just to attend Melvin and Dure’s wedding together?”
“Even aside from that, I make quite a decent husband candidate.”
“……”
“With someone like me by your side, your ex-husband, your sister, and anyone else who looks down on you—I’ll crush their pride. Oh, and it’ll probably help you secure that geology professor position more easily, too.”
The way he boasted was incredibly annoying. But what he said was true.
He was none other than the son of the famous Duke Verder. And on top of that, Kaiden was a strikingly handsome man—someone anyone would turn to look at. Any unmarried woman who didn’t know the truth about him would absolutely want to be by his side. But Chloe was not just any woman.
“You think I’m crazy enough to get married twice?”
Marriage was madness. Getting married again was even more insane. At least, that’s how Chloe saw it.
Six years of love had collapsed pointlessly in the face of marriage. Could something that started so lightly possibly last?
Doing all this just to show off in front of Dure and Melvin? That wasn’t worth it.
“Once is enough. I have no intention of getting divorced twice.”
“I hear a famous actress in Roem has been married six times.”
“Well, I’m not a famous actress, am I?”
“Then let’s make a promise—you’ll never have to go through a divorce again.”
“……”
“As long as we meet each other’s needs, there won’t be any arguments. Just think of it as one of those strategic marriages.”
“You really are all talk, aren’t you?”
Chloe glared at him and stood up.
She couldn’t stand braggarts like him. He reminded her too much of Dure.
“I feel sorry for your situation, but I have no intention of getting involved. Find someone else.”
“But it has to be you.”
“……”
“I need a new mana stone.”
She knew what he really meant by that. The sudden, blunt line nearly made her heart skip a beat.
This is exactly why I hate silver tongues.
“My decision hasn’t changed. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come looking for me again.”
“Then you can come looking for me. If you want to meet, just ask the owner of this café—”
“I said that’s not going to happen.”
Chloe spoke firmly and left her seat.
She would never be the one to go looking for Kaiden Verder.
But, as mentioned earlier, things in her life had never gone the way she wanted.
* * *
“All right, let’s wrap up today’s discussion. Next week, we’ll read and debate Cesare Nicol’s What Is a Human Being.”
“Thank you for today.”
The reading club meeting, which had stretched on for three hours, finally came to an end. Chloe packed her bag while thinking about where the nearest bookstore to the salon was.
Someone lightly tapped her arm just as she was about to rise from her seat.
“Miss Garrett, is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“That you’re dating Kaiden Verder.”
“……”
“More than a few people say they saw you walking arm-in-arm with a man on Barrington Street. They say that man was Kaiden Verder.”
I knew this would happen.
Chloe turned to the middle-aged lady whose eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“That’s ridiculous. I barely have time to write my dissertation, let alone date.”
“Oh, come on, don’t lie.”
This time, the comment came from Sarah Loomis, a ditzy young lady known as “the pigeon” for her tendency to carry gossip around like a messenger bird.
“My friend said she saw you two holding hands!”
“Then it must be true.”
“Exactly. Miss Loomis’s intel is never wrong.”
The room buzzed. The members of the club crowded around Chloe, chattering excitedly. Although the story was about her, Chloe found herself unable to speak.
Should I just deny everything?
But there were too many witnesses. And these women even knew she had stayed at the Cent Hotel for the past three days.
Maybe I could say we just met briefly?
Three days was far too short for a love affair and a breakup. People would just say she still hadn’t come to her senses after one divorce.
Or they’d assume her ex-husband still had a strong hold over her.
This is the worst.
Normally, Chloe would’ve stayed and shared dinner with the club members, but not today. She made a quick exit, using a supposed family matter as an excuse.
But at home, a real “matter” was waiting for her.
“Sis!”
“Melvin?”
Melvin—her giant headache—had come to visit.
“What are you doing here? Without even calling?”
“Do I need to call before coming home?”
Melvin’s cheeky tone made Ana, standing beside Chloe, frown. Though she had come to greet the visitor out of courtesy, it was clear she had no intention of welcoming Melvin warmly.
Ana spoke sharply on purpose. This was the only kind of revenge she could inflict on the illegitimate daughter brought in by her husband—the woman who stole her daughter’s husband.
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at your new home with your wonderful fiancé?”
Melvin had already moved in with Dure under the pretense of bridal training. So naturally, she should’ve been living at the Duncan estate, not at the Garrett manor.
“Maybe it’s because the wedding’s so close? I suddenly wanted to see my family. You know how emotional brides can get before marriage.”
What a load of nonsense.
Ana scoffed as she looked at Melvin’s sickeningly sweet smile.
She said she missed her family, yet only clung to Clara’s arm. She completely ignored Chloe and Ana.
“You’ve been through it yourself, right, Sis? So you know exactly how fluttery a bride feels before the wedding!”
With a bright smile and words dripping with spite, she was a master at passive aggression. Ana clenched her fist tightly.
“Anyway, I’m going to have a word with Mom. Let’s all have dinner together later, okay?”
“…Sure.”
Melvin, completely unconcerned with Chloe or Ana’s discomfort, waltzed off with her mother, heading straight up to the second floor.
“That, that, that little witch…!”
“Mother.”
Chloe gently pulled down Ana’s hand, which had risen in rage.
“What reason does she have to show up here after ignoring us for so long? She only came to rile you up. As if marrying your ex-husband is something to be proud of!”
“She’ll hear you from upstairs.”
“Let her hear!”
Ana huffed and puffed for a while, then suddenly grabbed Chloe’s shoulders.
“?”
Her earlier fury was replaced by a strange smile.
“Let her have that worthless chaff you threw away.”
Chloe, puzzled at first, soon understood the sarcasm.
“No matter how successful Dure Duncan is, he’s nothing compared to the Prince of Verder. The sight of her flaunting in front of you, who’s dating the Prince of Verder—it’s just laughable.”
“Mom…”
“And the Prince didn’t say anything about your half-sister marrying your ex? Didn’t he offer to completely ruin the wedding or something?”
“Please don’t misunderstand. We’re really not like that.”
“I get why you’re being cautious. You’ve been burned once already… but you don’t have to be that way in front of me.”
Unfortunately, Chloe’s embarrassed denial had no effect on Ana. In her eyes, her poor daughter was simply being careful in a new, budding romance.
“The Prince of Verder is coming to the wedding too, right? Be sure to tell him—this mother of yours is counting on him.”
As Ana’s eyes sparkled with excitement, Chloe let out a deep, heavy sigh.
