Chapter 57: A Friend
"What is it?" Anna asked, arching a curious brow.
Robert hesitated, the pause stretching between them like an invisible thread. Whatever he was about to say clearly wasn’t easy for him. "Well... since you’re a foreigner and probably don’t have many social connections here, I was wondering—would you like to meet my fiancée?"
What? Anna barely kept herself from gaping at him in disbelief. She gritted her teeth, forcing a mask of indifference to keep him from seeing how absurd she found his suggestion.
"Why would I want to meet her?" she finally asked, her voice deliberately even.
Robert sighed and ran a hand through his neatly styled black hair, the gesture betraying his discomfort. "It’s just... my fiancée is a very shy person. She’s struggled to make friends because she was sheltered most of her life, so I thought—"
"Excuse me," Anna cut in smoothly, her lips curving into a condescending smirk. "But how old, exactly, is your fiancée?"
Robert blinked, caught off guard by the question. "She is twenty-eight," he answered, his brows knitting together.
Anna let out a soft, almost musical chuckle, her tone filled with mockery. "Ah, my mistake. The way you described her, I thought you were talking about a teenager making her debut in high society."
Robert’s jaw tightened, irritation flickering across his face, but he quickly cleared his throat, swallowing whatever retort had formed on his tongue.
Anna’s expression darkened as she studied his reaction, the pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. Of course—Marienne had never been the social butterfly Robert seemed to think she was. But sheltered? Hardly.
Her real problem had always been her devotion to Susanne, clinging to the Hydes as if they were her lifeline. She had once been Anna’s friend too—until she decided that maintaining her place among the elite was more important than preserving their friendship. Marienne had made her choice.