Chapter 94:
With a single question weighing on her, she quietly said, “Kristian.”
He slowly looked up, as if bracing for what came next.
“Do you truly hold such affection for Ashley Bradley?” she inquired, her demeanor calm yet piercing.
“Yes,” he confirmed with a firm nod.
She pressed on, her voice soft yet laced with contempt, “Enough to keep alienating me time and again?”
Kristian remained silent.
Freya had finished discussing morals with him. She leveled her gaze, her voice firm.
“If you decide to go with Ashley and leave Alerith today, the next time we cross paths, we’ll be enemies.”
Ideally, they could part ways amicably with a peaceful divorce and then drift apart as strangers.
However, since he was backing out of their agreement, she was ready to make the separation as challenging for him as possible.
The sting of betrayal had deeply wounded her.
“Can you stop being so immature?” Kristian, clearly annoyed, retorted, “I wouldn’t have violated our agreement if not for Ashley’s grave predicament.”
“That’s none of my concern,” Freya replied, her tone icy.
“Freya!” Kristian exclaimed, his frustration peaking.
“I’ve made myself clear. The choice is yours,” she declared flatly. As she absentmindedly stirred her coffee, her indifference was palpable.
Your favorite tales live at gⱯlnσν𝒆𝓁s．𝒄𝓸𝓂
Kristian’s expression turned grim. “Do you really want to test me right now?”
“Your knack for distorting the truth is quite remarkable.” Freya put down her spoon, a cold smile on her lips as she continued, “You’re the one who betrayed me, yet you act like I’m the one in the wrong.”
“Ashley was violated.” Kristian’s tension eased slightly, reluctant to sever ties completely with her.
Freya’s response was tinged with indifference. “And how is that my concern?”
He weighed his words, a heaviness settling in his chest. He said, his voice a low murmur of distress, “You’re a woman too; you should understand the horror of that. She was trying to find me when it happened. I can’t just look the other way.”
At his words, a flicker of emotion stirred within Freya.
She harbored no fondness for Ashley, yet she couldn’t stand those who inflicted harm upon women.
Yet, she quelled the rising tide of her feelings, deeming it imprudent to waste her empathy on Ashley. As for the perpetrator, she trusted Kristian to deal with him.
“That’s her problem, not mine,” Freya declared, her voice icy, her demeanor controlled.
Kristian blinked, taken aback. “What did you just say?”
Freya’s lips twitched, stubbornly sealed—she wasn’t about to waste words twice.
His voice grew incredulous. “Since when did you become so heartless?” It was as though he was seeing a different side of her, his features hardening. “Even if you dislike Ashley, she’s still a human being. How can you remain so detached after what she’s endured?”
Freya’s emotions surged, igniting a fire in her eyes as they locked with his frown stare. She shot back, unyielding. “If I were truly heartless, I’d say she deserved it.”
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