My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 87

Chapter 87 Hidden Currents

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Relief washed over Fiona. She got to her feet, moved to the bamboo armchair opposite him, and eased herself down, fingers massaging the throbbing joints. “If I’m not mistaken, the hidden chamber of Clearsky Pavilion lies directly beneath the Zonfrillo Estate.”

Soren gave no reply, his silence thicker than the incense smoke curling between them.

She pressed on, voice low but certain. “Underwater construction is notoriously difficult. More likely, someone diverted a canal. Few residences in Jexburgh boast artificial rivers. Anyone with eyes would guess. I imagine only your closest aides know this place exists.”

Her analysis confirmed what he already suspected–in their previous life, she had never discovered the chamber. Husband and wife they might have been, but candor had never taken root between them.

At last, he inclined his head. “Go back.”

Just as the stick of sandalwood incense sputtered into ash, Harriet stepped inside. “Fiona, let me see you home.”

Soren must have sent word somehow; Harriet’s timing is unnervingly perfect.

Fiona fell into step beside Harriet and followed her toward the courtyard gate.

Halfway down the covered walkway, Harriet spoke without looking over. “Did you have a row with Lord Soren?”

Fiona forced a faint smile. “Lord Soren holds an exalted rank. I would never dare offend him.”

Harriet stopped beneath a lantern, pressing a sealed envelope into Fiona’s palm. “Junbert isn’t large, but it brims with local bullies. If Mr. Niven feels threatened, find the people named in the letter. Tame those factions, and your return to Jexburgh will be on higher ground.”

Later, back in her quarters, Fiona broke the seal. Every so–called ally listed within turned out to be a bandit lord.

A single beat of silence, no longer than the time it takes a candle–flame to flicker, and Fiona’s mind snapped the scattered clues together like magnets finding their poles. She understood everything.

The power brokers of Junbert were knotted to the grandees of Jexburgh. If one official shielded another, her father would struggle to act openly. Bandits, however, owned an abundance of blades and no conscience. Even the loftiest bureaucrat feared a knife without

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Chapter 87 Hidden Currents

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eyes. Using outlaws to handle bloody tasks was, therefore, the most convenient solution.

No wonder Xavier’s campaign against the bandits had dragged on so tediously. Soren must be keeping those ruffians alive, balancing Junbert’s rival factions. Until every faction is tamed, why would he allow the brigands to be wiped clean? Besides, Xavier and Soren are hardly strangers. Their friendship alone could explain the snail–slow progress—perhaps the delay was deliberate from the very first sword drawn.

When Fiona dispatched her letter, she signed Soren’s name. Soren desired peace in Junbert as well, so lending his seal to help Zachary would not raise suspicion in her father’s mind.

Half a month after Zachary requested the distant post, Stanley rose from senior fourth–rank Master of Ceremonies to junior third–rank Royal Equerry. The main branch of the Niven family cheered so loudly that the corridors rang.

Only Fiona and Meryl knew the true reason behind Zachary’s so–called self–exile.

Others assumed he had been disgraced. They whispered that the second branch’s prospects now looked bleak. Suitor families who had eyed Fiona promptly lost interest and stopped calling at the Niven house.

“How painfully pragmatic they all are,” Hannah sniffed, her displeasure crackling in the air. “I want nothing to do with such people.”

Yet her words carried a whiff of double standard. After all, the families she favored had also been weighed on the scales of profit.

Fiona lifted the spoon to Hannah’s lips, coaxing the bitter medicine down. She said nothing at all, her expression as calm as still water.

Since her father’s departure, Hannah had fretted herself sick and caught a chill. The fever was easing, but her strength had yet to return.

“Your father will suffer no small hardship in Junbert,” Hannah sighed. “That province has frustrated two emperors in the past. Though he asked to go, it is exile in all but name.”

“Grandma, he will be fine,” Fiona answered, her voice steady yet warm.

Later, when Meryl arrived in Ambrosial Garden, Hannah noted her bright complexion—no hint of worry. A fresh wave of irritation swelled. If my son must endure a year in that frozen hinterland, how could his wife remain comfortably behind?

In Hannah’s eyes, Meryl ought to follow Zachary north and see to his daily needs.

However, she remembered Zachary’s departing plea–Do not trouble Meryl—and dared not voice the rebuke forming on her tongue.

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Chapter 87 Hidden Currents

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