Chapter 277 The Secret Map in the Wedding Dress
Chapter 277 The Secret Map in the Wedding Dress
It was evening in the dining room.
At the long dining table, only Cecilia and Elodie sat together in a heavy silence.
The red marks on Elodie's face had not completely faded yet; clearly, she had been punished by Rufus. She kept her head down, mechanically cutting the steak on her plate, not daring to make a sound.
Cecilia seemed calmer than before, though she still ate very little.
The oppressive silence was only broken after dinner.
Back in the living room, a servant brought over a plate of cut fruit and said carefully, "Please eat something, you have gotten so much thinner."
Cecilia said nothing, just stared blankly out the window.
Seeing that she would not respond, the servant tried to make conversation to cheer her up. "Ms. Martinez, you really need to take care of yourself. Once you are better, Mr. Chapman will surely prepare the grandest wedding for you. When you put on that wedding dress, you will definitely..."
"Wedding dress?"
Cecilia finally reacted. She repeated the words softly, a touch of sadness appearing in her eyes, as if some memory had been triggered.
Elodie, who had been eavesdropping from the side, felt her heart skip a beat.
"Yes," the servant thought she had hit on the right topic and quickly continued, "Ms. Martinez, you are so beautiful -- in a wedding dress, you would be absolutely stunning!"
"I designed one... for myself." Cecilia's voice was soft, carrying a hint of wistful melancholy.
As if prompted by the servant's words, she casually pulled a pen from the pen holder on the table and took a sheet of white paper.
"I wanted to use the finest Lyon silk, with a very full skirt."
Her pen moved across the paper, smooth lines quickly sketching out the outline of a wedding dress.
"The skirt would be embroidered with stars. Not random ones -- they would be done in silver thread, arranged according to a specific starry sky."
"The train would be shaped like ocean waves, layer upon layer, seven layers in total. The wave crests would be decorated with crushed diamonds that shimmered in the sunlight."
"The most special part is the veil -- not lace, but 'moonlight gauze.' It would have a crescent moon embroidered with pearls, and a tiny emblem pattern..."
She spoke as she drew.
With just a few strokes, an elaborate and beautiful wedding dress design appeared on the paper.
The stars, the waves, the crescent moon, even the miniature emblem of the Foster family's private shipping line in Harmony City -- she had cleverly incorporated them all into the design, transforming them into exquisite decorations.
When she finished, Cecilia seemed to wake from a dream. She suddenly snapped back to reality, her face showing intense self-mockery and pain.
"I am imprisoned here by that lunatic -- what is the point of talking about this?"
She crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it in the trash, heading upstairs without looking back.
The servant was frightened into silence by her sudden change.
But Elodie, sitting in the corner of the sofa, stared fixedly at that trash can, her breathing growing rapid and shallow.
After the servant finished cleaning up and left, Elodie immediately got up, walked over quickly, and snatched the crumpled paper from the trash.
She returned to her room and carefully smoothed out the paper ball.
When that breathtaking design sketch appeared before her eyes again, her heart pounded wildly with jealousy and greed.
She wanted this wedding dress.
She would not only get pregnant with Rufus's child -- she would also wear this wedding dress that should have belonged to Cecilia.
Elodie took out her phone and called Rufus.
As soon as he answered, she could not wait to speak, her voice carefully disguised with excitement and innocence.
"Rufus, I want a wedding dress!"
On the other end, Rufus's voice was full of impatience. "What are you going crazy about?"
"I am not crazy!" Elodie whined in a cutesy voice. "Rufus, I just... suddenly really want a wedding dress of my own. I will be pregnant with your child soon -- can this tiny wish not be granted?"
Rufus was already irritated by recent events and had no time for Elodie's unreasonable demands.
"It is just a stupid dress! If you want it, take it!"
He just wanted to end the call quickly.
"I will have someone make it for you! Stop bothering me!"
"Thank you, Rufus!"
The call ended, and a victorious smile spread across Elodie's face.
She immediately took a photo of the sketch, attached material details she added from memory, and sent everything to Rufus's assistant.
In Harmony City, at the Hensley mansion, Dione sat in the empty living room, looking as if she had aged ten years overnight.
Her son imprisoned, Cecilia missing... blow after blow was about to break her.
Just as Dione was reaching despair, an extremely strange piece of news reached her through the Hensley family's vast business network.
Rufus's assistant had contacted Aquilonia's top wedding dress workshop, asking them to spare no expense and work as fast as possible to create a wedding dress from an extremely unusual design.
A wedding dress?
Dione's first reaction was that it was absurd.
Was that lunatic Rufus trying to humiliate Amelia this way?
No, that was not right.
A strong intuition told her there was more to this.
"Get that design at any cost," she ordered.
Half a day later, a high-resolution digital version of the design was sent to her email.
Opening the image, Dione was instantly captivated by the stunning beauty of the design.
But she was not an ordinary woman. After the initial amazement, a strong sense that something was off washed over her.
The star pattern on the skirt, the seven-layered wave-shaped train, the crescent moon and tiny family emblem on the veil...
These elements were too deliberate.
Dione's heart raced as she immediately made a video call.
"Poppy, I need you to look at something."
On the other end was a highly renowned art critic with deep expertise in semiotics and classical aesthetics.
"Calling me so urgently -- did you find some treasure?" Poppy Harrison's voice carried a lazy smile.
"Look at this."
Dione shared the design on the screen.
The moment Poppy's eyes fell on the image, her expression changed.
"My God..." She adjusted her glasses, unconsciously leaning forward to examine every detail. "From a classical aesthetic perspective, this piece is absolutely genius. Stars, ocean, moonlight -- it combines the three most magnificent romantic symbols of the universe. This layering of symbols is bold yet remarkably harmonious."
Her instincts as an art critic were fully activated.
"But..." Poppy's tone shifted, her brow furrowing. "Something is wrong. The arrangement of these symbols is too precise -- so precise it did not seem like artistic creation, but more like... like an overlay of star charts and nautical maps!"
She suddenly zoomed in on the emblem of Harmony City and the Foster family shipping line.
"And this emblem! Its appearance here is too abrupt! In classical aesthetic systems, commercial logos pollute artistic integrity, unless..."
Poppy's breathing quickened.
"Unless it is itself a key piece of information needed to solve the puzzle!"
Dione's heart was in her throat. "Poppy, what does this mean?"
An expression of incredible shock flashed across Poppy's face. She pointed at the screen, her voice trembling with excitement. "Dione! This is not a wedding dress! This is a map!"
"The star chart represents longitude, the number and shape of the wave layers suggested latitude, the moon phase might mark time, and the Foster family's shipping line emblem was the decisive clue to lock down the final location!"
"These symbols combined create a unique geographical coordinate!"