Semua Bab A Ruling Passion: Mr Tremont's Priceless Little Bride: Bab 1531 - Bab 1540

Mark was halfway out of his clothes when Arianne asked, so he adjusted himself before considering her. “What sort of business could possibly command such secrecy that you can’t wait to tell me until after I finished my shower?”Arianne leveled him a severe expression. “Mark, this is serious. Have you gone to your study as of today? Did you notice one of your photos missing? The one featuring your parents on their wedding day—it’s gone. Last night, I went downstairs for a glass of water, and I saw your aunt removing that photo from its frame before crumpling it into a ball of waste. And then today, when I went to check, both the picture and the frame were gone,” she explained. “To be clear, I’m not implicating something dark at work here. I’m just asking a question: did your aunt ever have, well, some unpleasant row with your parents before?”Mark’s eyebrows furrowed. “That can’t be, can it? I know little about their affairs, but can’t we infer from the way she treats me that she prob

Before Mary could react, storm clouds poured over Aunt Shelly’s mien. “Ex-cu-se me? Who taught you to call your housekeeper ‘Granny?’ Seriously, a bystander might not have known any better and thought you really were her grandson!”Mary shot Arianne a grimace of discomfort, who herself found Shelly’s irreverent attitude and tone rubbing her off. Still, outwardly, Arianne mustered her patience and explained, “The Tremont family hasn’t had an ‘older gen’ for so many years, and since Mary and Henry have been part of the family for so long, they’re like seniors to us. In this vein, there’s nothing wrong with having Smore call Mary granny, right? At the end of the day, it’s just a form of address. It’s far from the sort of thing up for debate. Come on, Smore. Mommy’s taking you to the shower now.”Shelly was usually self-aware enough to stop before things escalated, but this seemed to be an exception. She simply refused to let go. “The Tremonts haven't had an actual elder until now, you m

With a smile, Aunt Shelly rose from her seat and climbed the stairs.Arianne interpreted her approaching footsteps as Mark returning. She was about to call out to him to grab Smore’s towel from outside when she espied Shelly’s white fluffy indoor slippers falling into step before her.Shelly noticed Smore nearing the end of his bath and grabbed the boy’s towel herself before personally wrapping him with it. “Who’s all cleaned up and fragrant, hmm?” she cooed. “Come, let Granny inspect you and see if you’re as squeaky-clean as you look! Sniff, sniff—oh, you smell downright wonderful, sweetie! Smore is the cutest, best-smelling-thing in the whoooole wiiide wooorld!”Smore did not laugh or break a smile. Instead, he looked at his mother, watching her expression closely.It honestly stunned Arianne a little. Who knew that a child this young could so early learn how to read other people’s faces before acting?After her little play with Smore, Shelly turned her attention back to Arianne

Arianne could not even be angry. It was a misunderstanding, after all, and one that might require a lengthy explanation at that.In resignation, she dragged a chair and sat. “With all due respect, Aunt Shelly, methinks you’re reaching,” she began. “You’re right. My dad was an innocent victim who didn’t need to die in that plane tragedy. But the burden and pain that incident brought weighed more on Mark than it ever did me, and it would be unreasonable of me to judge him as the sinner and take him out as my revenge. And also, I call him ‘Mark’ out of deadset habit! Doesn’t mean I don’t love him.“Frankly, you shouldn’t be making these baseless, paranoid accusations. I’ve been with him for years, Aunt Shelly. Smore’s already past his second birthday. If my intention had always been to murder him, I have had many, many chances. For goodness’s sake, he sleeps with me every night. What’s keeping me from seizing the chance the first time it presents itself? A simple slit across his neck, a

“I didn’t feel a tinge of sadness when my husband died. In fact, I just felt elated; I was emancipated. There’s nothing I wanted more than to flee there, and I stopped for no one and nothing until I finally made it home. But then I realized something—I can’t stop hating him. He’s dead already, and yet I can’t cease to hate. Hell, I wish I had defaced him and crushed his bones into powder. And that’s when I learned, you can’t dissolve and let go of real hatred so easily; it’s nigh impossible. So, how could Arianne stop hating you? How is it possible for her to not only transverse hate but to come to love you? I don’t understand. I don’t believe it…”By this point, Shelly seemed to have lost control over her emotions, devolving into a crying mess.Mark took a piece of tissue for her. “I understand now, Aunt Shelly. It’s alright, trust me. I’ll talk to Arianne about this, and she’ll definitely understand you—she’s very rational,” he comforted gently. “Aunt Shelly, you should let go of t