Chapter 151 The Perfect Facade
“So what you’re saying is that you’re now ready to be with Avery instead of Leitana?” Charles Hale asked, one brow arched in clear skepticism. He fixed his gaze on Ravial, who sat across from him in the single-seated couch, while Avery perched on the arm of the chair beside him.
She forced a bright smile, even as cold sweat trickled down her spine. One arm rested on Ravial’s shoulder, and beneath her fingers, she could feel the relaxed tension in his muscles. He was calm. She, on the other hand, felt like she might shatter at any second.
“Yes, that’s exactly what we’ve been saying, Father. Ravial has finally come to his….” Avery began, but Charles cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand.
“For the third time, I did not ask you.” His voice dripped with venom. “Allow the man to answer the damn questions and keep your mouth shut.”
Avery’s lips clamped together instantly. Charles turned his attention away from her as if she were nothing and looked at Ravial, who met his stare evenly, then shifted his gaze to Leitana. She sat a few feet away with Alyssa, her posture slumped in carefully crafted dejection.
“If I remember correctly,” Charles continued, “you were the one who refused to marry Avery when I first brought her to you. So what changed? Though I’m pleased you’ve finally come to the right choice …” He pointed dismissively at Leitana. “That one was clearly just a placeholder. I still don’t understand what you ever saw in her. Still, it’s rather peculiar that you’d admit it so openly.”
Ravial’s lips curved into a slow, charming smile. He turned to Avery, who swallowed hard. Fresh beads of sweat formed along her hairline. That smile of his, meant to reassure Charles only wound her nerves tighter than her father’s presence ever could.
“I would agree,” Ravial said smoothly, “that when you first offered me this… placeholder,”he glanced at Leitana, whose brows creased at the repeated word, though she kept her heartbroken expression firmly in place—“I failed to see Avery’s true worth. But now that she’s been living in my home, I realize what a grave mistake I made. She is, without question, the right one for me.”
Avery’s heart hammered so violently she was certain Ravial could hear it trying to claw its way out of her chest. The sound seemed to amuse him. He lifted a hand, and she stiffened. What is he doing? But he simply tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with surprising gentleness, then looked back at Charles, whose eyes had narrowed to suspicious slits.
“I refused the marvelous beauty you had so carefully reared,” Ravial went on, his voice warm and confident, “but having her here has opened my eyes. She is indeed the one I want.”
He finished with that same easy smile. Charles stared at them for a long, heavy minute. His gaze flicked between Ravial’s seemingly pleased expression and Avery, who looked as though she might faint—or bolt—at any moment. To an outsider, Ravial appeared perfectly happy. Only someone paying close attention would notice that while his lips smiled, the blindfolded outline of his eyes seemed cold.
Then, to Avery’s immense relief, Charles leaned back in his chair and clapped his hands together once, startling Alyssa.
“That is excellent news!” he declared, beaming. “Finally, Ravial. I assure you, you’ve made a very wise decision. And since the entire country already believes you’re married to Avery and her name is the one on the court papers—there’s no need for a wedding at all. You two can simply continue living as a married couple.”
Avery released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. But her relief was short-lived. Charles turned to Leitana, his face twisting into a sour expression as if he’d just bitten into a lemon.
“As for you,” he said coldly.
Leitana lifted her head to meet his gaze.
“I wanted to ship you straight back to that wretched wasteland you crawled out of,” Charles continued, “but you are, after all, just as much my daughter as Avery is.”
Avery, Alyssa, and Leitana’s eyes widened in shock. Ravial, however, kept that same unsettling smile fixed on his face.
“There’s no point dragging this out,” Charles went on. “I’ll hold a press conference and announce that Avery Hale has a twin sister who… well, who was stolen from us, as it were.” He shot a pointed look at Alyssa, who quickly dropped her gaze to her hands. “Then we’ll properly introduce you into the family and get you a real education, one that will scrub that ridiculous accent from your mouth.”
He turned back to Ravial with a condescending smirk. “And Ravial, I know you might not want to admit it, but that ridiculous way of speaking must have been a major turn-off. Don’t worry, it will be fixed.”
Ravial’s lip twitched. “Yes,” he replied evenly, “we’ll get it fixed.”
Charles nodded, satisfied, and launched into more instructions about how Leitana should behave. Avery glanced at Ravial, who had finally released the strand of her hair. As Charles continued speaking in that awful, belittling manner, a dark urge flickered through Ravial—to end the man right there, consequences be damned. He could make the body disappear. He could erase the memories of everyone present, just as he had done with Lafu and the others when he rescued Leitana. He didn’t have the power to erase everything, but minutes or a few hours of memories? Easy.
But he couldn’t. Not with her.
Leitana was a vessel of the Creator. The last time he had tried to see if he could remove a few hours of memories, the consequences had been… unforgettable. Just like when he had hurt her before, he could not touch her without burning and revealing his true angelic-demonic form to the surface. He couldn’t risk it. Not even for the satisfaction of watching Charles Hale bleed.
“Thank you for allowing my wife and me into your home,” Charles said later, flashing a satisfied smile as he prepared to head upstairs.
“Of course,” Ravial replied smoothly. “The parents of my wife are always welcome.” He gestured for the staff to carry Charles’s bags to the guest room. Charles followed, with Alyssa trailing quietly behind.
The moment they were out of sight, Avery exhaled sharply and began pacing. “Can you believe he brought an entire bag? He actually planned to stay a week—like he thought we were lying and wanted to watch us!” She dragged a hand through her hair. “I can’t spend a whole week under the same roof as that man. I already survived nineteen years of it.”
Ravial paid her no attention. His focus was solely on Leitana, who leaned against the wall looking deeply wounded despite her efforts to hide it. The cruel words had cut her more than she would ever admit.
“Come here, lamb,” he said softly, opening his arms with a gentle smile. “I missed you.”
Leitana looked up, a small smile breaking through as she walked into his embrace. “Missed me? Mi didn’t go anywhere. Mi was right here with you.”
Avery stopped pacing and simply watched them, a quiet ache in her chest.
“Well, you weren’t in my arms,” Ravial murmured, pulling her closer. “I didn’t get to touch you.”
She giggled, resting her chin on his chest and gazing up at him. “You’re really silly, mi Ravial. It was just one hour.”
His smirk deepened, warm and teasing. “It was the longest hour of my life.” Then he leaned down and kissed her—slow, tender, and full of all he did not say.
Avery sighed as she watched them, the weight of the coming days settling over her like a storm cloud. She had thought this week would be hard.
She had no idea just how much of an understatement that was.