Charles stared at her as his brows slowly drew tighter.
However, after a moment, only a glint appeared in his eyes that seemed to agree with Lyla.
He turned his head back toward the front and stared into the empty space before him, slowly nodding.
“The Beaumonts have a tradition of daughters returning home after their weddings,” Charles said slowly.
His voice was calm, but there was an unmistakable intent behind his words —one that aligned perfectly with Lyla’s suggestion.
“Arrange for someone to bring Evelyn back home.
She is still a Beaumont, and she needs to follow the traditions of the family.”
Lyla smiled immediately.
She understood exactly what her father meant by that.
“Understood, Father …” she said.
Her voice remained cheerful, even though —she tried her best to hide her satisfaction.
“I’ll have the housekeeper go and personally bring her back.”
Charles didn’t say anything more.
And Lyla didn’t linger either.
Once she had accomplished what she came for, she excused herself and left the room.
Before leaving, however, she made sure to remind Charles that she cared about him more than Evelyn ever had.
Charles didn’t pay much attention to that.
But he did agree with her on one thing now.
He had been humiliated because of Evelyn.
And she deserved to suffer the consequences.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The night had been long.
But, after hours of darkness, dawn finally broke across the sky, bringing in a new day.
Evelyn had never intended to stay in Damian’s room.
Yet the exhaustion of everything that had happened the previous day had eventually overwhelmed her.
Despite everything, she had found herself dozing off there.
She only woke the next morning when she heard a soft knock at the door.
For a few seconds, still caught in the haze of sleep, she had forgotten where she actually was.
She had forgotten what had happened the last day …
It was only when she lifted her eyes and saw an unfamiliar face standing at the door —and then glanced around at the unfamiliar walls —that reality came crashing back.
She shifted where she sat, slowly straightening her posture before looking down at herself.
Her brows furrowed slightly when she realized she was still wearing the same shirt from last night.
She had been waiting for someone to bring her luggage.
And clearly, it still hadn’t arrived.
“Mrs.
Callahan,” a soft, polite voice greeted her from the doorway.
Evelyn looked up.
It was one of the maids from the previous night.
Do you have any special preferences?”
Evelyn paused.
She wasn’t an ordinary girl.
Having been raised in wealth, she might not have learned everything, but she had certainly learned to be particular about things like meals and even the smallest details of daily life.
However, she no longer felt like she could afford to be so demanding.
At least, not in the place that didn’t belong to her —and will never belong to her.
So she didn’t make much of it.
“No special preference.
However…” She said, but then paused before adding, “Please make sure there are no peanuts in any of the dishes.
I’m seriously allergic to them.”
“I’ll let the kitchen know this, Mrs Callahan.” The maid immediately nodded in understanding before taking a step back, preparing to leave.
But then —
“Also …” Evelyn stopped her, as if remembering something.
At her voice, the maid halted and looked back.
“Yes, ma’am.
Is there anything else?”
Evelyn stood and slowly asked, “Can you ask someone to bring my luggage here?
And an extra set of toiletries?”
The maid glanced at her before answering her politely,
“We’ve already arranged an extra set of toiletries in the room, Mrs Callahan.
As for your luggage, Mr.
Stone has asked us to inform that your luggage will be brought over today.
It should arrive here shortly.”
Evelyn’s brows couldn’t help but crease a little.
Last night, there was nothing had been arranged for her.
She had to borrow Damian’s clothes to get herself comfortable.
So … how had everything suddenly been prepared first thing in the morning?
Could it be that someone had come in after she fell asleep and arranged everything?
Her eyes drifted downwards —towards the floor.
She glanced at the spot on the floor where she had burned the dress the previous night.
It was spotless …
There wasn’t even the faintest trace of ash or scorch marks.
And the remnants of the gown were also gone.
Could it be…?
Before she could ask, the maid explained on her own.
“We came in last night to arrange everything.
You were already asleep, so we didn’t want to disturb you.”
Evelyn’s brows furrowed slightly.
But she nodded in understanding.
Her eyes moved around the room, searching for a trash bin —or anywhere the remains of the burned gown might have been disposed of. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
But no matter where she looked, she couldn’t find anything.
In the end, she asked, “Then did you also clean the room last night?”
The maid nodded.
Evelyn waited.
But when the maid said nothing more, she felt a strange unease filling her chest.
Unable to stop herself —she asked the question that seemed to be bothering her.
“Then, did you throw it away??”
The maid looked at her in confusion, clearly unsure what she was referring to.
“The remnants of the dress that I burned here,” Evelyn clarified, pointing toward the floor where she remembered dropping the lighter.
“Did you dispose of them?”
She shouldn’t have cared.
She had burned the dress with her own hands.
Destroyed it so that its presence could no longer deceive her more than she had already been deceived.
Then why was she still enquiring about it?
It almost frustrated her.
She closed her fingers into fists.
Just then —the maid began, “It was almost completely destroyed, so we—”
However, before the maid could finish, Evelyn stopped her.
“It’s fine.
You don’t have to tell me,” she said quietly.
“That dress was better off being disposed of anyway.
Thank … you for taking care of it for me.”
The maid stared at her for a moment, blinking in surprise.
Then she immediately lowered her eyes.
Evelyn noticed her reaction but didn’t think much of it.
It was better this way.
That deceptive piece of clothing was gone.
And that was all that mattered.
“You can go now,” Evelyn said.
The maid nodded before finally leaving.
Not long afterwards, another knock sounded at the door.
When Evelyn looked up, she finally saw two people wheeling her luggage into the room.
She watched them as they brought the bags inside, and she silently sighed in relief.
They were just about to leave after setting everything down, and Evelyn had just parted her lips to say something when —
A voice came from the doorway.
“Wait…” There was no urgency in the voice.
But there was unmistakable mockery laced within it.
“Don’t leave them here just yet.”