Chapter 52
Elise's POV
Liam's face began to flush. The color started at the base of his neck, crept up to his ears, and then spread across his entire face. His chest heaved violently, like a pressure cooker about to explode.
"She was the one who took you away," his voice began to tremble. "It was you—from my hands—"
He suddenly couldn't continue.
His gaze shifted to me, and I almost found it laughable, because for the first time, I saw something like grievance in Liam's expression. Someone like him—a young master from a prominent family who treated others as playthings—could actually feel wronged?
"You bastard!" Liam's voice exploded. "You're a priest at the church! You're clergy! And you actually—you made a move on your own nephew's girlfriend?"
He turned to look at me, his eyes containing something wounded and something accusatory. As if in this moment, I was both a fellow victim deceived alongside him and a sinner who had actively betrayed him.
"I may be your uncle, but we're close in age," Victor's voice cut in, calm to the point of coldness. "Are you saying there's a problem with my age? Or with my position?"
Liam was left speechless.
"You're her elder!" Liam shouted back. "You're an elder of the Sterling family! You're my uncle! And yet you got involved with your nephew's girlfriend—and you're a priest! You swore an oath on the Bible—"
Liam was so agitated he looked ready to jump up and punch Victor.
"It's true I swore an oath on the Bible," Victor interrupted him, the corners of his mouth lifting in something mocking. "However, your relationship doesn't seem to be the kind that would be recognized by God."
Liam's face turned the color of liver.
I wanted to say something, but my throat felt blocked by something. Embarrassment burned from the roots of my ears—these two men arguing back and forth here, as if I were some object without will being fought over, as if my opinion didn't matter at all.
"Enough," I spoke up.
Both men looked at me simultaneously.
"If you want to fight, go outside," I said. "This is my shop."
Liam opened his mouth as if to say something, but Victor laughed first—this time he really did laugh. Very brief, very faint, but definitely a laugh.
"You see," he said to Liam, "she has more agency than you imagined."
Liam's hands clenched into fists. I could see the veins bulging on the backs of his hands.
"Victor," Liam said his name through gritted teeth, word by word, "you and Elise—what exactly is your relationship?"
The question hung in the air. I wanted to know the answer too. Though I had my own guesses, there was a vast chasm between speculation and confirmation.
Victor didn't answer immediately.
He glanced at me. The glance was brief, but I read what was in it—he was asking me: How do you want me to answer?
The moment I realized this, I almost instinctively retreated.
No one had ever asked me what I thought.
What is our relationship? The answer to this question had never been in my control. I had only passively accepted others' declarations about it.
But Victor's gaze was clearly asking me, asking how I wanted to claim our relationship. This caught me so off guard I didn't know what to do.
"We're dating," Victor didn't wait long for my response and stated it directly.
Clear, direct, without any embellishment.
I actually felt relieved.
Just now, I had been somewhat afraid—what if he really made me speak for myself? What would I say? I had already decided to separate from Liam, but I couldn't be certain what position I held in Victor's heart. What if what I said didn't align with his wishes?
His answer rescued me.
Liam took half a step back, as if someone had pushed him.
"Dating—" he repeated the word, his voice dry as sandpaper. "You and her—are dating—"
Then his expression changed, shifting from shock to something twisted and mocking.
"You mean, you're now dating my girlfriend?" Liam's eyes took on a venomous quality. "Father Victor, my uncle?"
He seemed to have never considered that the person who took me from his side would actually be Victor.
Yet Victor's attitude was calmer than I had anticipated.
He merely said flatly, "Is that so? As the heir about to be engaged to the young lady of the Sinclair family, it seems your relationship with Elise is somewhat more improper. Taking a step back, who do you think the family would be more likely to support being with Elise—you or me?"
This statement seemed to devastate Liam.
"The problem is she's my—" Liam blurted out.
He didn't finish, because he realized what he had almost said.
But she was never yours. Though these words weren't spoken, everyone in the room heard their echo.
"Your what?" Victor's voice remained steady. "Your girlfriend? You've already broken up—though you seem not to have received the notification. Your pet? She doesn't seem to like that title. Your property? She's never spent a penny of your money."
With each statement, Liam's face grew paler.
"As for the priest matter—" Victor continued, his pace unhurried, as if stating the most ordinary fact, "you may not know this, but our denomination allows clergy to marry. So if I wanted to, marrying Elise would be completely within regulations. There's no moral obstacle."
Marriage.
The moment this word fell, the room went silent for two seconds.
Then Liam's voice rang out—sharp, high-pitched, almost unlike his usual tone: "What did you say?"
"I said, if I wanted to, I could marry her," Victor looked at him, his gaze level. "A legal, proper, blessed marriage. Do you have any objections?"
Liam's mouth hung open. His Adam's apple bobbed twice. His entire person seemed pinned in place.
I stood there, my fingers ice-cold.
He said he wanted to marry me.
He didn't ask if I wanted to marry him. He didn't consult me beforehand. He just—at a moment I hadn't anticipated at all, in front of my ex-boyfriend—said it. And in such a casual tone, as if discussing what to have for dinner.
"You—" Liam's voice trembled. "You're planning to marry Elise?"
Victor didn't answer this question.
He was looking at me.
This time it wasn't an inquiring gaze. It was something else—deeper, more complex, something I couldn't immediately decode.
And Liam was still waiting for an answer. Waiting for a "yes" or a "no." Waiting for an answer that would either completely devastate him or completely release him.
But Victor said nothing.
He just looked at me. In this room full of gunpowder, in this three-way standoff, he looked at me with a gaze that made everyone hold their breath.