My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 246

Chapter 246 Unexpected Visit

Chapter 246 Unexpected Visit

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Plans scattered as a servant hurried to the doorframe, breathless. “Lord Soren has arrived,” he announced.

At the news, Fiona excused herself with practiced grace and slipped toward Victoria’s wing of the house, choosing distance over yet another awkward tangle.

Only days earlier the two of them had stripped back painful truths. To confront him now, unprepared, would leave raw nerves exposed.

Soren stepped into the study. His gaze landed first on Xavier, then lingered on a porcelain cup nearby, steam still curling like phantom script. He withdrew the glance, expression smoothed to polished indifference.

Whoever had been sipping that tea had slipped away the instant his name was announced; the deduction demanded little effort.

He let one corner of his mouth twitch upward. Run all you wish, Fiona. I do not bite—at least, not here.

Xavier caught the fleeting look, yet he remained unfazed, shoulders loose, making no attempt to shield the evidence of a recent guest.

Neither man addressed the cup. They slipped instead into matters of supply lines and troop rosters. In mid–sentence Soren’s eyes strayed to the far wall, where a sable–black bow- Glowstrike–hung in deliberate pride of place.

If the dream that haunted him was truly memory, then Fiona had once pressed that very bow into his hands, coaxing him toward their bridal chamber.

Now Glowstrike rested beneath another man’s roof, its limbs polished to an obsidian gleam. Xavier must have rubbed every inch the moment he returned to Jexburgh.

A gift intended for Soren’s pleasure had become another’s trophy. The realization soured his mood, a silent, stubborn ache lodging behind his ribs.

Had I known she would hand Glowstrike to someone else, I would never have taken her to bed. Why should what is mine entertain another?

He forced the bitterness down and said, “Has there been progress on the grain shortage leak? Any word on where it started?”

The truth was hardly a mystery. Both men had followed the same trail of clues, and each

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Chapter 246 Unexpected Visit

understood the other’s silence.

Xavier’s thumb traced the delicate rim of his teacup. Steam rose in thin, silver threads, blurring the lamplight.

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Only after that contemplative beat did he lift his eyes. “And you, Lord Soren–what course do you mean to take?”

Soren set his cup down with deliberate care, porcelain kissing wood. “Even the sharpest proof dulls, Mr. Xavier, if His Majesty decides to look away. We feed him hints–imprecise, harmless -and watch which eye he opens.”

If Emperor Aldric chose to shield Cornelius, those hints would never rise to the level of accusation, and no one would lose face. But if the day arrived when protecting him no longer served the throne, the full weight of our evidence would still be waiting, sharp as a blade kept under cloth.

Xavier hardly blinked. The answer was the very one he had foreseen, yet he made no effort to voice it first; anticipation never tempted him into presumption.

Soren, for his part, never forced more from him. What mattered was Xavier’s flawless record- bribes traced to Matthew, bandits erased in Junbert, smuggled grain uncovered along the Brorchester border.

For a moment Soren studied the pool of tea reflecting the lantern glow. His voice slipped out in a hush. “In that other lifetime–after she and I wed–was it truly as miserable as I fear?”

He was anything but dull; long ago he had sensed the impossible truth–that Fiona and Xavier both carried memories from before. Fiona had now confessed, and Xavier’s silence sealed the revelation.

Xavier paused, his earlier detachment slipping. “You were forever buried in state papers. Replies to her were scarce. A woman can endure hardship if her husband treasures her, but indifference drains the marrow from her bones.”

So Fiona never truly called the Zonfrillo Estate home. Those three years inside your household were spent as a guest who dared not unpack her trunk.

Only after I returned to live that time again did I grasp the shape of her torment–loneliness tightening around her heart like winter twine. For us men the rear court is a footnote; for a wife it is the world.

Others distracted themselves with children, but she had none. Three barren years strangled her hopes, while court ladies whispered behind folding fans.

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Chapter 246 Unexpected Visit

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