Chapter 71 You're Gorgeous
There was nothing romantic in Alaric's eyes. If you looked past his grown frame, those pupils could have belonged to a child.
"You're… really pretty," Alaric murmured, his voice barely audible, a faint shimmer like starlight flickering in his gaze.
Thea's smile spread so wide it crinkled the corners of her eyes. "Odette, it seems Alaric has an eye for beauty."
"Of course he does." Odette lifted her chin with quiet pride.
She had told him earlier—say something nice, tell Bianca she was the new bride his mother had found for him, that they would spend their lives together. She hadn't expected him to follow through so perfectly.
Let anyone dare say her son was slow now. He wasn't slow. He understood things instantly when he wanted to.
"Ms. Rodriguez, it's too noisy here for proper teaching. There's a lounge upstairs—why don't you take my son there? It's quiet, no one around, much better for… bonding—no, no, I mean for proper lessons."
Odette's excitement nearly made her slip.
"Yes, yes. The lounge has snacks and drinks. Whatever you need, the staff will bring it. No one will disturb you," Thea added quickly.
Their eagerness was written all over their faces. They were treating Bianca like a fool. Anyone with half a brain could taste the wrongness in their tone.
Bianca didn't rush to expose them. She knew that letting them believe she was oblivious was the fastest way to make them drop their guard.
"It is a bit loud here," she admitted, her brow furrowing with a look of polite hesitation. "But it's Mr. Sharp's birthday party. He's not here right now… it doesn't feel right to leave, especially when it's for his grandmother."
"This is nothing to worry about," Odette said, her voice impatient. "Alaric has already greeted his grandmother. It's fine."
She was so afraid of losing the moment she nearly pushed them toward the stairs herself.
Bianca's smile curved, her eyes narrowing in amusement as she watched them play their little game.
"All right," she said, feigning reluctance.
Thea and Odette exchanged a quick glance, their faces lighting up with satisfaction before they hurried to lead her upstairs.
Blair's lips curled slowly. In her mind, she could already see Bianca disgraced, spat on by everyone. The Anderson family would never allow Terrence to marry a woman who had been with another man. And then… with just a touch of charm, Blair could have Terrence for herself.
She pictured herself as Mrs. Anderson, standing above everyone else, and her smile widened until she could barely contain it. She almost wanted to run ahead just to watch Bianca's ruin unfold.
Unlike the others, Alaric was the only one uneasy.
He kept stealing glances at Bianca, looking away quickly whenever she caught him.
His gaze was too warm, too obvious, impossible to ignore.
As the two women ahead walked faster, Bianca dropped her voice so only he could hear. "Why do you keep looking at me?"
The question startled him. Then his face lit up.
"I… can we be friends?"
A man in his twenties, yet still carrying the innocence—and the clumsy naivety—of a child. He didn't belong anywhere. His height kept him from being one of the kids, but his mind kept him from joining the adult world. Loneliness was his default state, his own private universe the only place he fit.
Whatever Odette had told him, he probably understood only in fragments. Maybe not at all. He might genuinely think Bianca was just a friend his mother had found for him.
He had no idea he was already standing in the center of a trap.
Looking at him, Bianca felt a flicker of pity.
Odette's love for her son was real, but selfish. For a boy whose mind had never grown past childhood, words like love and romance meant nothing. What he wanted was someone to play with, someone to be family.
Knowing Alaric's limitations, yet still forcing him into the role of a grown man—it was cruel.
But none of it mattered to her. The Sharp family's affairs weren't her concern. She only wanted the Ember women to choke on their own schemes.
She pushed the pity down and kept her eyes on the hallway ahead.
She didn't see the fleeting shadow of disappointment in Alaric's gaze.
Thea and Odette had chosen a lounge so far from the main rooms that Bianca lost count of the turns they took.
If anything happened here, help would never come in time.
"Here we are. Perfectly quiet. Ms. Rodriguez, you can relax—no one will disturb you."
Odette's smile was sharper now, her mask slipping as her goal drew near.
The whole floor was theirs. Bianca wouldn't get far even if she tried to run.
Bianca ignored the malice on their faces and nodded slightly.
"I'll do what I can, but I'm not a professional," she said.
Thea's brows lifted in smug amusement. "That's fine. It's not important."
"Not important?" Bianca tilted her head, letting a touch of confusion into her tone.
Thea waved it off. "Just teach him a little, no rush. We still need to be downstairs for the guests. If you need anything, tell the staff. And drink the water in the room—it was prepared just for you."
Bianca nodded lightly, watching them leave.
She glanced around. Only a few servants lingered in the hallway. She couldn't see if anyone else was hidden nearby.
But she wasn't in a hurry.
Closing the door behind her, she crossed the room and dropped into the sofa, leaning back with one leg crossed over the other. She tilted her head toward Alaric and beckoned him closer.
"Come here."
He obeyed, stopping in front of her.
"Drink it."
Her slender finger pointed to the glass on the table.
Alaric tilted his head, hesitant. "But… my mom prepared that for you."
A grown man's body, yet such childlike words—it was jarring. Bianca pinched the bridge of her nose, her patience thinning.
"You want to be friends with me, right? Drink it, and we're friends."
His eyes lit up instantly. His throat worked as he swallowed, and then he grabbed the glass, drinking it down in one go.
When he finished, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and held up the empty glass toward her like a trophy.
"I drank it all. Not a single drop left. So… are we friends now?"