Free Web NovelChapter 176: One Devil finding another.
Nigel turned and glared at her.
"No need," he said, his voice laced with irritation. "Have it on your own. I can’t digest this meal."
Adelyn raised her brows at his words.
She glanced at the dishes laid out on the counter before turning back to him, her expression shifting into mild suspicion.
"Don’t tell me you added something wrong to it?" she asked, her gaze narrowing slightly.
Nigel’s expression changed instantly. His brows drew together, a flicker of disbelief crossing his face—
But before he could respond—
Adelyn spoke again.
Pointing at the food, she asked,
"Did you poison it?"
Nigel stared at her, utterly incredulous. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to decide whether she was serious or deliberately provoking him.
"... Seriously?" he asked, his tone flat with disbelief.
Adelyn shrugged, completely unfazed.
"You said you can’t digest it," she replied casually. "So I was just wondering what special ingredient you added to make it indigestible."
For a moment, Nigel said nothing.
He simply pressed his lips into a thin line, clearly holding back whatever retort threatened to escape him.
Adelyn, however, had already lost interest in his reaction.
Turning away, she picked up the dishes one by one, placing them neatly onto the table as if nothing had happened.
"Come on," she said over her shoulder, her tone light. "Don’t stand there sulking over something so trivial."
She paused—
Then added, her voice carrying a teasing lilt,
"If someone didn’t know better, they might actually think you’re upset because..."
Her hands stilled for just a fraction of a second as she lifted her gaze to meet his.
"... you have some secret feelings for me."
The air shifted.
Subtle—
But unmistakable.
Adelyn held his gaze, the faintest hint of mischief playing in her eyes as she continued—
"The kind you’ve been hiding for years."
Nigel’s expression froze.
Not just in surprise—
But in something deeper.
Something that flickered through his eyes before he could stop it.
For a brief, dangerous second—
He didn’t look irritated.
He didn’t look annoyed.
He looked... exposed.
And that silence—
Spoke far louder than anything he could have said.
"What?" Adelyn caught that flicker, her eyes narrowing as curiosity sharpened her gaze. "Don’t tell me, you actually—"
"F*cking shit!" Nigel snapped, cutting her off abruptly.
He grabbed a cushion and hurled it at her.
"Secret feelings for you?" he scoffed harshly.
"I’m not that blind."
Adelyn caught the cushion easily, her expression turning offended at once.
"Hey—" she shot back, "you don’t need to be blind to fall for me. People say I’m quite beautiful. One glance is enough to make men fall."
Nigel swallowed.
His eyes paused—just for a moment—on her face.
Petite. Fair. Beautiful.
Too easy to look at.
Too easy to get drawn in.
He snapped out of it almost instantly, coughing lightly as he looked away.
"Of course," he said dryly, "nothing about you is more deceiving than your looks."
"One would see you as an angel ... until they discover the devil behind that mask. And I’ve long discovered —and dealt with —that devil."
His gaze returned to her, steady and guarded.
"There’s no way I’d fall for your looks."
Adelyn held his gaze for a moment longer before a soft chuckle slipped past her lips.
"Good," she said, pulling out a chair and settling into it with ease. "At least you know how to think before jumping into something that only leads to destruction."
"Of course," Nigel replied, taking a seat across from her and serving himself a plate.
"Anything to avoid a tragic ending."
Adelyn hummed, serving herself as well.
But her thoughts drifted —somewhere they shouldn’t.
Not when she knew none of it meant anything.
And yet ... she couldn’t stop herself.
Was it her looks that had deceived Dylan Warren too?
The thought made her pause.
She shook her head almost immediately.
She might be beautiful—
But he was Dylan Warren.
What kind of woman did he lack that he would fall for something as shallow as looks?
That didn’t make sense.
Accept it already, Adelyn, she told herself silently. You’re the one who started this.
She might not remember exactly what she had done—
But just the thought of walking into a man’s room and taking advantage of him like that made heat creep up her neck. ƒrēewebnovel.com
It wasn’t her looks that had deceived Dylan Warren.
It was her own recklessness.
No matter how much she wanted to deny it —she couldn’t.
So now, the only thing left for her to do ...
Was to live the lies she had woven for as long as she could.
Lost in thought, she stabbed her fork into the meat a little harder than necessary.
Nigel paused mid-bite, looking up at her.
"What’s wrong?" he asked.
Adelyn blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. Only then did she realize what she had done.
She quickly pressed a smile onto her lips and shook her head.
"Nothing," she said lightly. "I was just thinking ..."
She paused —just briefly —before lowering her gaze to her plate.
"... I can’t be that much of a devil, can I? The way you make me sound."
If she had been, how would she have ended up trapped in her own web of lies?
The Devil had ways to escape...
But she couldn’t find even one.
She took a bite, chewing slowly, pushing away the weight of her thoughts.
But when she caught Nigel still looking at her —as if expecting her to continue —she added quickly, whatever came to mind.
"I mean, if I really were that bad ... how could I end up with such a handsome boyfriend?"
She tilted her head slightly.
"Wouldn’t he have run away by now?"
Nigel stared at her. His jaw tightened subtly once again.
"Of course, he wouldn’t run away," he said at last.
Adelyn paused. "You sound too sure of that." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Nigel’s fingers tightened.
Of course, he was sure —because he knew.
"Why wouldn’t he run away?" she pressed. "Didn’t you say one could do anything to avoid the worst?"
Nigel leaned back slightly in his chair, his eyes never leaving hers, his fingers tightening around the armrest.
"One would do that," he said. "But there are always exceptions."
"Exceptions like?" she asked, but—
For a moment, he said nothing—
As if weighing how much to reveal ... and how much to bury.
Then, finally—
His lips curved into a faint, humorless smile.
"Exceptions like ..." he said slowly, his voice quieter now —deeper, edged with something unreadable.
"One devil finding another."
