Chapter 215: Is that all your asking?
"What?" Esralda’s features went slack. Her tears halted mid-track, frozen by the sheer audacity of the remark.
Her mouth parted in stunned silence; the insult was so clinical, so devoid of any sororal affection, that it rendered her mute.
"You heard perfectly!" Victoria surged forward, the air between them vibrating with the tension of an approaching storm. "Do you imagine this path was easy? Enduring a sister content to be a re ornant, terrified of a single blemish or a mont of discomfort? Because I chose to exert the effort required to beco more than just a pawn for a political alliance, you envisioned yourself in so pathetic race with ?" She took another step, the silence of the garden amplifying the tense atmosphere, the crushing sound of her boots against the pavent.
"The depth of your self-absorption is staggering!"
"So now you unearth all of this," Esralda whispered, her voice returning as a thin, wounded thread, "rely to manipulate my emotions? Because I finally expressed an interest in soone? The man who saved ? You would do this only to punish my so called ’frail, envious’ nature?" She cast Victoria’s own unspoken accusations back at her, her voice gaining a brittle, desperate strength.
Yet her expression showed that she believed the sa thing, to Esralda, her sister had always been like a shadow hovering over her, competing with her in anything she tried, it had gotten so tiring that she even left the estate to attend the magical academy, just so she could get so distance from her own sister. But here she was, explaining that she had never once thought of her as a rival, did she really expect her to believe that she has no intentions of competing with her from the very beginning but did all this just so she could be noticed.
Victoria now stood directly in her sister’s space, a re breath away. She leaned in, her eyes narrowing into a gaze as piercing as shattered glass, boring into Esralda’s wide, trembling eyes. "Listen to , and listen well..." Her voice subsided into a frigid, almost predatory whisper. "I will never, under any circumstances, cease my pursuit of him. If you perceive that as an injustice, then let tell you that I... do not... care."
" If you believe a single act of charity constitutes a prior claim, I care even less." She maintained the stare for a beat longer, allowing the finality of her words to take root.
Straightening her posture, Victoria brushed past Esralda’s shoulder, forcing her sister to stumble back a half-step. She paused when they were shoulder-to-shoulder, refusing to look back.
"Should you choose to seek an audience with our parents, to petition them with your tears, I assure you it will not serve your cause. It will rely confirm your status as a temperantal child. It’s best for you if you abandon this fantasy now." She finally turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of Esralda’s ashen profile.
"Otherwise, I shall find even more reasons for you to despise ... sister."
With that final volley, Victoria strode away, her gait steady and resolute as she headed toward the mansion’s side entrance. She did not glance back. The amber glow from the conservatory windows offered a sanctuary of order and civility, away from the jagged, unrefined emotions of the garden.
Behind her, she left a silence more oppressive than any shouting match. Unseen by Victoria, Esralda’s hands, which had been hanging uselessly at her sides, slowly curled into white-knuckled fists.
The fine silk of her dress crumpled under the pressure. Around her, the very atmosphere seed to vibrate. A faint, ghostly distortion, similar to heat waves on a sumr horizon, warped the air around her clenched hands before evaporating.
Her latent magical energy, typically bound by etiquette and grace, had flickered for a brief mont, a turbulent surge of raw power which she quickly locked away behind a mask of terrifying calm.
******
’Tsk. What could a girl like her possibly understand about Master?’ Victoria’s internal monologue was a tempest as she marched down the plush, carpeted corridors of the mansion.
This ti she wasn’t talking about her sister but the very woman who had dared to close a door to her face.
The extravagant wallpaper, the portraits of stern patriarchs, and the ornate vases of flora were nothing more than a blur against the backdrop of her boiling thoughts.
’Does she take for a fool? It’s obvious there’s so unresolved tension between them. If there weren’t, she wouldn’t be working so tirelessly to obstruct ; she’d be out there herself, playing the damsel and batting her lashes.’
Victoria’s heels struck the polished parquet in a sharp, percussive rhythm that echoed her inward agitation.
"Given her blatant personality, I have no doubt she managed to offend him," she muttered to herself, her voice cutting through the stillness of the corridor.
"She likely played the entitled whore until he wanted nothing more to do with her." She clicked her tongue in a sharp display of revulsion, a sound that rang out in the quiet hall as she rounded a corner.
A passing maid had to flatten herself against the wall with a panicked, bowed head to stay out of her path. Of course Victoria payed her no head as she continued to storm towards her room.
’And now, having sabotaged her own chances, she expects to hoard him like a spoiled child clutching a broken toy? Absolutely not.’ Her resolve solidified, turning as cold and unyielding as a diamond.
One couldn’t help but wonder if she had suddenly developed a dislike towards children or if all these where the after effects of dealing with her sister.
’Even if she truly harbors so fluttery, infatuated sentint for him, I refuse to hand him over. He is already besieged by enough distractions as it is.’ The image of the Wolf King’s stoic, impassive gaze and the practical farm girl with her milk
jar flickered through her mind, stoking a protective, possessive fire.
User Comments
0 comments from readers