Chapter 52: Chapter 52

DAHLIA:

I brushed my thoughts aside. I must have seen it wrongly.

“Lady Livia, it’s an honor to meet you for the first time.”

She gave me a displeased and slightly irritated sideway glance once more, but she did not say anything.

I didn’t know what to make out of it. Confirming that I did see what I saw earlier made me speechless.

“My wife and I are happy that you can make it,” Tristan said, repeating part of what I had said. Surprisingly, the girl’s face broke into a smile.

“I am glad to meet you here too. Thank you for inviting me.”

“I heard it’s also your nineteenth birthday today, congratulations,” Tristan said.

It was astonishing to see Tristan pay attention to someone else’s birthday. Was my first impression true? Were the two of them close?

“Indeed, I have more than one reason to celebrate because of that, and since you brought it up, would you be a darling by being my escort for tonight, Count Abell? You wouldn’t mind it if I borrowed your husband for a bit, would you… countess?”

My mouth must have hung open for a few seconds.

If she was someone I had known for a long time, it would have been okay. But for her to ask such a favor when it was the first time we were meeting each other, I felt it was slightly unpleasant…

However, proper decorum dictated that I must be a good and gracious hostess. I quickly recovered from my initial shock and answered her, “No, not at all, Lady Livia. Be my guest.”

Tristan secretly sought my hand and squeezed it for a bit as if to assure me that everything was fine before he went to Lady Livia’s side.

She slipped her arms easily around Tristan’s own arm. It was giving me an unpleasant feeling, but I buried whatever vile thing I was starting to think of at the pit of my stomach.

“Thank you. Shall we get inside now,” Lady Livia asked as she walked ahead a few paces before me, hand in hand with my husband.

Since that incident, the two of them had slipped away from my eyesight, and now it had been about an hour since they disappeared.

After some more unbearable minutes of empty talk, I excused myself from socializing and retreated to the powder room.

I removed the shoes that were positively irking my soles and massaged my left foot for a bit, a little bit upset that Tristan had disappeared and that my papa hadn’t come at all when I even mailed him the invitation myself.

I did not use the powder room that was near the banquet hall. It was full of guests, and I needed some time alone. I wanted a quick reprieve from all the formalities and the questions of where Tristan could be.

As I result, I went through the west wing and used the powder room at the middle of the hall since I knew it was off-limits from the guests.

I sat by the sofa in reverie. Where was my husband, and where was my papa?

I felt a bit down. Even Kaist did not attend the banquet, but I could not blame him. It was his birthday last week, and he had to be present for his party, which lasted for seven days. He must be too sick of attending parties by now. Besides, how can he attend a post-celebration party for his runaway bride’s wedding?

I thought that at least there would be some familiar faces, but everyone here was someone I was not really close with…

And why did Lady Livia seem irked with me? Did I ever do something wrong to her? Did I see her before and had possibly wronged her without my recollection?

After a few minutes of resting, I was once again fully energized. I fixed my dress and shoes and prepared to face the bustling crowd once again.

I exited the powder room quietly, ready to make my way back into the garden where we set up an open air party to dispel the summer heat. I was about to go into the hall leading back to the party when a faint glow from Tristan’s study room caught my eye.

It was only natural for Tristan to have invited people and to talk about business with them, so I did not find it odd that he was cooped up in there all along. What I found odd was how small the light seemed to be. It looked like they were not using enough candles, but why?

Strange… Could this be some sort of a secret meeting, then?...

Before I could even stop my curious self from snooping around, I walked closer to the door.

The faint smell of a she-wolf immediately wafted into the air. It was lavender mixed with the scent of rain. There were so many people at the party that I could not recall who exactly would smell like that.

Could it be that Tristan’s guest in his study was a woman?...

Is this even a legitimate business transaction?...

When I was about two steps away from the door, I stopped. If I get any closer than this, I have no doubt that Tristan would be able to sense me, and I wasn’t going to expose myself like a fool and cause another misunderstanding between the two of us.

I was debating whether or not I should just announce my presence there. I was curious to death as to why he needed such a faint glow of light if he was indeed dealing with business proposals at this hour.

The moment that Eva smelled the scent, she started thrashing roughly around in our shared consciousness. ‘We have to find out who that she-wolf is,’ Eva hissed in my head.

I stood still, waiting… Listening… Feeling nervous, and frightened…

“Happy birthday, my baby” I heard my own husband whisper.

My heart stopped. Did I mishear his words? Did I just misinterpret it?

Even though the door was not firmly shut, I dared not move towards it. Instead, I inched a little and craned my neck into the crack at the edge of the door frame, which gave me a wide enough view of things.

At first I could not see anything but just the almost ethereal glow of the candlestick and some shadows. By and by, and thanks to the moonlight illuminating the place, my eyes started to adjust to the dimness of the room.

I was drawn into the small candle resting on top of the table. It was facing the crack at the door where I stood. On the chair opposite to it, I could see someone with pale, blonde locks. She was lifting the end of her curls upwards with a slender, white hand.

There was no doubt that I was looking at the figure of Lady Livia.

I caught sight of the glint of a diamond gemstone that was slipped by someone on her neck from behind.

I could not believe it. My ears did not deceive me earlier after all! It really was Tristan!

“It’s so beautiful,” the lady said. She fingered the diamond that fell just beneath her collar bone.

Indeed, the necklace was really pretty. Even I was almost taken aback by the sight of it – something that one could only give to someone really special…

Tristan’s face also broke into a gorgeous smile. “Do you like it,” he asked. “I worked hard to find this for you.”

“Hmm, maybe you shouldn’t have… Now I couldn’t ask you for my real birthday wish,” she said. I couldn’t make out her face properly, but it felt like she was pouting a bit based on the sound of her voice.

“And what would that real birthday wish be?”

She laughed a little softly before she responded. “I wonder… If I asked for it, would you really give it to me?”

“Go ahead; ask away,” Tristan said warmly.

Lady Livia stood from the chair and walked around Tristan. She hugged him affectionately from the back before she spoke.

“Then would you divorce your new wife? I really don’t like the idea that you are now married to that woman.”