Free Web NovelChapter 62: Widow’s Sigh; Deadly Poison
Evelina looked up at him, in complete calmness.
She was so calm that it made Ace feel a rage bubbling inside him.
"I am simply respecting the boundaries we agreed upon and I’m respecting your choices and decisions as well," she said softly, pulling her shoulder back to smoothly break his grip, letting his hand hover in the empty air, "You told the staff that Lady Isabella’s word is your own. If she wishes to handle the social and domestic heavy-lifting, I have no issues. I can simply use my free time for my own business..."
"Stop talking about the damn business!" Ace stepped closer, looming over her, his eyes bloodshot with a mixture of burning rage and complete helplessness.
He felt like a man striking a thick wall again and again, regardless of where he advanced from, "Look at me, do I look like I care about any of it. I just don’t get it... Why won’t you even look at me with anger like before? Why do you treat me like a stranger?!"
"Didn’t you dislike it when I did it?" Evelina blinked.
Ace froze. His mouth opened and closed but no words came out of it.
"One should know what they are asking for in life and stick to the consequences it brings. There was a time I clung to you like a pest and you naturally hated it. Now, I’m respecting your choices but that also angers you..."
Her words seemed to hit every right spot, especially the most tender parts of his heart.
Ace stood there, completely stunned.
"If you’ll excuse me, the air out here is getting a bit too cold for my liking."
She took a step to bypass him, but Ace moved quickly, blocking her path, his chest heaving as he stared down at her intensely.
For a second, he looked like he wanted to break her walls by force, to shake her until all the walls between them shattered.
But as he looked into her dead-eyed gaze, a sense of helplessness washed over him. He couldn’t do it at all. He couldn’t go against her wishes and decisions... at all.
Realizing his own defeat, Ace’s shoulders slumped a fraction.
He slowly stepped aside, his fists clenching so hard his leather gloves creaked in the dark.
Evelina walked past him without a single glance back, the soft rustle of her emerald silk skirt fading as she stepped back into the ballroom.
The moment the glass doors clicked shut, leaving Ace alone in the freezing dark, a crisp sound echoed inside Evelina’s mind.
[System Chime! Mini-Game: Speed Farmer! (COMPLETED)]
[Final Score: 5,000/5,000!]
[System Notification: Hidden Condition Triggered!]
[Condition: Drive Target ’Ace’ to absolute emotional helplessness while maintaining 100% composure during a high-society event]
[Mission Status: SUCCESS!]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[Bonus: +10,000 Heart-Wrecker Points accumulated!]
[Unlocked Active Skill: ’Social Butcher’ (Advanced Level); Emits a passive aura of high-tier psychological pressure over social rivals, increasing their error rate by 30% during verbal confrontations.]
[New Core Objective Triggered: The Crown Prince’s Arrival. Prepare for it.]
Evelina was calmly enjoying the burst of notifications until the last one hit.
The Crown Prince...? Why and how was she supposed to prepare for his arrival?!
...
The following morning, the chill in the Alvarez Estate seemed to have intensified further.
The servants moved with hushed anxiety, visibly disturned by the cold war going in between the master and madam of the Estate.
While Duke Alvarez spent his early hours savagely throwing himself into training drills to forget his feelings, Duchess Alvarez sat in the sunlit morning nook, her eyes fixed on her ledgers spread in front of her. free𝑤ebnovel.com
At this moment, a young and cute maid with wide brown eyes approached the table. Her name was Lila.
Unlike Marta, who was seasoned and personal favorite of the Duchess, Lila was a relatively new addition to the inner estate staff.
She carried a heavy silver tray, upon which sat a delicate porcelain teapot painted with winter pale roses.
"Good morning, Your Grace," Lila did a graceful curtsy, the fabric of her uniform rustling softly against the floor, "The kitchens prepared a fresh pot of herbal tea for you to help clear your mind after last night’s long festivities."
Evelina did not look up from her ledger immediately as she moved her quill through the high-grade parchment, tracking the skyrocketing value projections of her newly acquired flax fields.
"Set it down," Evelina said simply.
"Right away, Your Grace."
As the steaming amber liquid was poured into Evelina’s cup, a sweet aroma drifted through the air. It was a beautiful scent, combined of jasmine and dried orange peel.
But there was a hint of something else in it.
Evelina frowned.
But within a moment, she masked her expression and regained her composure.
Evelina lifted the warm porcelain cup, bringing it halfway to her lips.
[System Notification: HIGH ALERT!]
[Detection: Foreign substance identified in current beverage.]
[Substance Profile: Widow’s Sigh; An extremely rare, military-grade paralyzing toxin natively harvested from the southern borderlands.
[Effects: Total muscle nerve failure within five minutes of ingestion, leading to a state of living death before permanent collapse.]
[System countermeasure: Level 4 Auto-Detox Skill is primed and ready. Operational Cost: 500 Heart-Wrecker Points. Proceed?]
Evelina’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Proceed, she commanded internally.
Evelina watched Lila through the sharp periphery of her vision. The innocent facade of the young maid was slowly fading, her small fingers were white-knuckled against the handle of the silver tray, and beads of sweat had formed right near her hairline.
Evelina brought the cup to her lips and took a sip.
The liquid was hot, sliding down her throat with a sharp tingle that instantly attempted to lock the muscles in her jaw and freeze the nerves along her throat.
But before the paralysis could spread even a millimeter further, the [Auto-Detox] skill erupted from her core like an icy wave of pure energy. The deadly venom was instantly dissolved, converted into a harmless liquid.
Evelina allowed her freshly upgraded [Social Butcher] skill to activate. A sudden weight dropped into the sunlit morning nook.
