My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 155

Chapter 155 Radiant Debut

+5 Free Coins

When she smiled, the crescent of her eyes seemed to hook the soul; her skin glowed ivory pale with a hint of rose, lending a vibrant life to her every movement.

Lilith stepped around to face her sister, cheeks flushing with honest admiration. “Fiona, that Mr. Xavier is truly handsome. It’s not simply his features,” she added, “it’s the way he carries himself–a proper masculine presence.”

For a man, nothing mattered more than that taut, unspoken energy unique to his sex; a face alone could never rival such force.

Fiona laughed softly, teasing the younger girl. “Very well, I shall find you a husband just as pleasing to the eye.”

A shy red crept up Lilith’s cheeks. “I do not need anyone so handsome. I would fear I could not keep hold of him.”

Fiona’s smile dipped, memory touching her expression. “You are right; a husband need not be too pretty.” In my previous life, I learned that lesson all too well.

Meryl attached great importance to her daughter’s ceremony; she delivered every invitation across Jexburgh in person, carriage wheels rattling from dawn until dusk.

Even the Zonfrillo Estate, though relations had cooled between them and the Princess Royal’s Estate, sent representatives. Naomi arrived with Winnifred. In the original plan, the visit was to be led by Soren, for his presence would have signaled particular respect.

Yet at the last moment, Soren was called away on urgent business and excused himself.

When Winnifred caught sight of Fiona, she could not help but inwardly admire; each meeting left her convinced the young lady had grown even more stunning.

“What a pity,” Winnifred whispered, the sigh slipping from her chest like air escaping an old bellows. She had always held a mild fondness for Fiona, yet fate, it seemed, had never intended their paths to intertwine for long.

Halfway through the formal rites, Naomi’s gaze wandered and–across the sea of guests, veils, and flickering lanternlight–she caught sight of her third brother, Soren. He stood back in the shadowed elbow of a covered walkway, dressed in plain traveling garb that disguised every trace of rank. From a distance, he could have been mistaken for an attendant waiting on some young lord, not the notorious heir of the Zonfrillo bloodline.

“Soren,” Naomi called softly as she approached. He turned, a single glance acknowledging her

1/3

11:31 Thu, Oct 16

Chapter 155 Radiant Debut

77

+5 Free Coins

presence, nothing more. “Why are you here?” she murmured, falling in step beside him. “And why arrive like a fugitive instead of walking in with your head held high?”

Soren had not planned on attending at all. If, in that other life the sages swear existed beneath our own, Fiona had married Xavier instead of him, even their sliver of shared history would have vanished, and with it any obligation he felt toward her. Yet earlier that morning, Harriet had sent word: the orchid hairpin had arrived–carved from flawless white emerald, so delicate that even a soldier like him found it breathtaking. Curiosity drew him here, but duty sealed the decision. Custom held that when a woman was deflowered before marriage, the man involved must appear on the morning she came of age, stand in place of a husband, and witness the final knot tied in her hair. If he failed, the lady would shoulder a lifetime of whispered curses. Soren could not watch Fiona stumble through a blighted future he himself had helped create. Distance could come—must come–but only after today.

Not far away, Fiona, hand tucked around Meryl’s arm, moved through the crowd with an ease that said everything was, for once, going right.

“Go back to your seat,” Soren told Naomi, turning without stating where he intended to go.

Afraid of drawing unwanted attention, Naomi dared not protest aloud, though her heart hammered in silent alarm.

She watched Soren slip across the courtyard, disappearing into the opposite colonnade just as Fiona and Lilith approached from the other side, giggling over some private jest. Fiona did not recognize the plain–clothed figure; she spared him no more than a polite nod, believing him to be household staff. Naomi’s breath caught. The sunlight danced over Fiona’s features- every tilt of her head, every blink of her lashes radiated a beauty so luminous it almost hurt to witness. Then, as the two paths crossed, Soren lifted a hand. With the practiced ease of someone adjusting his own cufflink, he tucked a white–emerald orchid hairpin into the glossy waves above Fiona’s ear and moved on without breaking stride.

Tradition forbade an unmarried woman from wearing a stranger’s hairpin during her coming- of–age. The ornament must be chosen by the family or by the betrothed husband. Only one other exception existed–if the man had already lain with her, he might stand in for a husband, warding off the calamities that would otherwise hound her.

Color drained from Naomi’s cheeks. Soren, what are you doing?

Back in Bamboo Lodge, Fiona and Lilith paused to refresh their powder before the next round of guests arrived.

Fiona, the orchid hairpin in your hair–look how exquisitely it’s carved! Lilith gasped, eyes sparkling.

Fiona blinked in confusion. She did not remember placing any such ornament. Leaning

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify