Chapter 77: The Trap
Knock.
Knock.
The sound echoed through the dorm room, followed by hurried footsteps and the soft click of a lock turning.
"You came?" Maria appeared in the doorway, her snow-white hair catching the afternoon light streaming through the hallway windows. Her almond-shaped eyes held a radiant smile that seemed to illuminate her entire face, making her look almost ethereal in the golden hour glow. She wore a fitted cream-colored sweater that hugged her curves in all the right places, paired with a flowing VERY short white skirt that swayed with her waist as she moved. Her hair fell in loose waves past her shoulders, framing her heart-shaped face perfectly.
"Yeah, I said I would," Asher replied, working hard to keep his emotions in check. It was oddly unsettling how much her betrayal back when he was Azalea still affected him.
The rational part of his mind knew it shouldn’t matter. As Azalea, he’d always been painfully aware that she despised him. Even a blind man could have seen it. The way she’d look at him with barely concealed disgust, even while maintaining that practiced smile she always wore around him. It had been as clear as a cloudless sky.
But this smile was different. This one made her look like someone who had wandered through a desert for years and finally stumbled upon an oasis.
Which made absolutely no sense.
Maria was supposed to be a heroine—one destined for a protagonist from the Arcane Legacy, not for Austin or anyone else at this stage. She’d been engaged to Ansley originally, though she hadn’t liked him much either. In fact, from the very beginning, she’d been portrayed as someone who had given up hope of ever truly falling in love. That was precisely why Austin, with all his smooth talk about being ’free,’ had never been able to make her look his way. She was just that difficult to reach.
The reason was simple enough: from childhood, she’d always known she would eventually be engaged to some random noble for political influence. The chances of that person being someone she actually liked were slim to none. Sure enough, her fears had materialized when she was engaged to Azalea. She’d tried at first to genuinely like the guy, but it simply hadn’t worked. Aside from the fact that he was an obvious simp for her friend Isabelle, he was weak, cowardly, and perpetually foolish. Instead of growing fond of him, she’d come to despise him thoroughly.
That was why when she’d gotten engaged to Ansley—who was infinitely more bearable than Azalea—she’d actually preferred it. She’d resigned herself to the fate of eventually becoming his wife, even without loving him. Well, that had all changed when that guy came around. With just the right amount of ’coincidences,’ she’d been swept off her feet completely.
But Asher could see no reason—absolutely no damn reason—for that to happen now. They’d barely spoken, and she already seemed like a maiden hopelessly in love. His logic couldn’t come up with any reasonable explanation for this development.