Halfway through the cocktail party, Bai Yue was already starting to feel exhausted.
It was not a physical exhaustion, but rather that kind of fatigue that comes from dealing with too many people, saying too much idle nonsense, and smiling too many times.
And yet, leaving was not an option.
Holding her wine glass, Bai Yue stood at the edge of the crowd, her gaze sweeping across the grand hall.
Jiang Manru was on the other side, chatting with several Omega family members of the Li family. Standing among a group of noblewomen, she smiled with gentle and proper grace. Whatever they were talking about, it caused the noblewomen to burst into laughter, with one of them even holding her hand and looking at her with evident affection.
Watching that scene, Bai Yue suddenly recalled Jiang Manru’s self-assessment during their very first blind date: “I am not very good at handling complex interpersonal relationships.”
Judging from now, her acting skills were superior to her own. Even when dealing with something she supposedly disliked, she could handle it with effortless grace.
“Bai Yue.”
A voice sounded from beside her.
Bai Yue turned her head to see an Omega in a deep blue long dress standing near her, holding a champagne glass. Her long hair draped over her shoulders, her brows curved, and a smile lingered at the corners of her lips.
She was one of the people who had greeted her earlier.
“All by yourself?” Lisa asked, taking a step closer.
Subconsciously, Bai Yue glanced in Jiang Manru’s direction. She was still talking with those noblewomen and had not noticed this side.
“Waiting for my wife.” Her tone was polite yet distant.
“I am not trying to do anything,” Lisa said with a smile. “It has just been a long time, and I wanted to chat with you for a bit.”
Bai Yue looked at her, a standard social smile hanging on her lips. “About what?”
Lisa tilted her head. “Why have you stopped going to Lost? And why did you suddenly announce your marriage?” She paused, leaning in a bit closer and lowering her voice. “How is your newlywed life?”
Bai Yue leaned back slightly, widening the distance between them.
“It is quite good,” she replied, her smile unchanged. “Thank you for not concerning yourself.”
Lisa looked at her, a hint of hurt in her eyes.
“Bai Yue, you used to be different.”
Bai Yue said nothing, merely raising her wine glass to take a sip. Her posture clearly conveyed the message: the past is the past, and now is now.
Lisa let out a sigh. “Fine.” Raising her wine glass toward Bai Yue in a gesture of salute, she turned and walked away.
Watching Lisa’s departing back, the corners of Bai Yue’s mouth curved upward.
Easily handled.
Just as she was about to turn around, she suddenly sensed someone approaching. Looking back, Lisa had returned.
“Right,” Lisa said. “I need to go touch up my makeup.”
She smiled and walked in the direction of the restrooms.
Watching that retreating figure, Bai Yue saw right through her intentions.
She raised her wine glass and finished the remaining sip of wine. Then, setting the glass down, she also headed toward the restroom corridor.
Unhurried, like taking a casual stroll.
The hallway was completely empty.
Reaching the restroom entrance, Bai Yue indeed found Lisa leaning against the wall.
Seeing her, Lisa’s eyes lit up.
“I knew you would come.”
Stopping three paces away from her, Bai Yue crossed her arms and looked at her.
“Spit it out,” she said lazily. “What is it?”
Lisa took a step closer. “Can I not look for you unless there is a crisis?”
“That depends on what kind of crisis.” Bai Yue raised a hand, displaying the wedding ring on her ring finger. “If you want my usage rights, you will need my wife’s approval first.”
Lisa choked on her own breath for a second.
“Bai Yue,” she looked at Bai Yue with a complex gaze. “You really have changed.”
Bai Yue raised an eyebrow. “Changed for the better or changed for the worse?”
Lisa thought for a moment. “Changed to become much harder to deal with.”
Bai Yue chuckled.
With her habitual roguish demeanor, her whole expression practically screamed “When was I ever easy to deal with?”
“Fine,” Lisa said. “Then I will be direct.”
Bai Yue waited.
Taking another step forward, Lisa closed the distance to half a meter.
“Was your marriage voluntary?” she asked. “Do you really plan on becoming a well-behaved Alpha wife from now on?”
Bai Yue looked right into her eyes. “Yes.”
Lisa stared into her gaze. “Why?”
“Because I met the right person.” Curving the corners of her lips, Bai Yue turned her previous serious declaration flippant once more. “Because I feel like it.”
Lisa fell silent.
The hallway was very quiet, quiet enough to catch the faint sounds of music and chatter drifting from the grand hall in the distance.
Lisa looked at her, her eyes holding a turbulent mix of emotions.
Resentment. Regret.
And a tiny trace of bitterness.
“It looks like I really have no chance left.”
Bai Yue remained entirely unmoved. To thoroughly extinguish any lingering attachments from this Omega, she decided to add fuel to the fire. “Do you know why I chose her?”
Lisa did not speak.
Taking a step forward, Bai Yue closed the distance and leaned right by Lisa’s ear, dropping her voice low and carrying a hint of amusement. “Because she never asks questions like that.”
Lisa froze.
Stepping back, Bai Yue looked at her. “She never asks what kind of person I used to be, never obsesses over why I chose her, and certainly never asks if there are others.”
Seeing the last shred of hope shatter piece by piece in Lisa’s eyes, Bai Yue offered a gentlemanly parting remark: “Head back inside, it is chilly out here.”
She turned and walked toward the other end of the corridor.
After a few steps, she glanced back over her shoulder.
“Oh, and by the way,” Bai Yue resumed her lazy tone. “I know about what you put in my drink earlier.”
Lisa’s expression shifted drastically.
“The dosage was small, just enough to make someone feel a bit uncomfortable,” she said. “Do not do that next time. Word gets around, and it does not sound good.”
She gave a casual wave of her hand.
Humming a tune, she strolled forward at a leisurely pace.
The melody was one frequently played at Lost, upbeat and carrying a subtle trace of ambiguity.
Behind her, Lisa stood rooted to the spot, completely motionless.
The expression on her face changed as quickly as a painter’s palette.
Bai Yue did not look back.
Yet she knew Lisa would not chase after her again.
Just as Bai Yue was feeling rather pleased with herself, her footsteps suddenly came to a halt.
The humming stopped abruptly.
Not far ahead, around the corner of the corridor, she caught sight of a figure.
It startled her so much that her breath caught for a second.
Champagne-colored evening gown. Rolled-up long hair, a slender silhouette. Jiang Manru.
She stood right there, holding a glass of wine, gazing in this direction.
She had no idea how long she had been standing there.
She had no idea how much she had witnessed.
Bai Yue’s heart skipped a beat.
Yet on the surface, she remained utterly calm.
She continued walking forward, her pace as steady as ever, the curve of her lips unchanged, though she stopped humming.
“Why did you come out?” Bai Yue asked.
“I came out to get some fresh air, it was far too stuffy inside.” Jiang Manru’s smile was identical to her usual self, gentle, docile, and completely harmless.
Only, right after speaking, she casually shifted her posture, glancing past Bai Yue to look at the person standing behind her. “That lady over there, is she a friend of yours?”
A slight pang of tension rippled through Bai Yue’s heart.
“Not really,” she said. “Our families know each other, we used to play together when we were children.”
“She seems to like you quite a bit,” Jiang Manru remarked.
“Does she?” Bai Yue feigned ignorance. “Even if she had a crush on me, that is all in the past.”
Jiang Manru smiled, linking her arm through Bai Yue’s. “Let us go back inside, Grandpa Li was looking for you just a moment ago.”
Bai Yue let herself be pulled along back toward the hall.
That strange, unsettling feeling flared up inside her once more.
Did she see? How much did she see? How much did she hear? Why is she not asking anything at all?
Bai Yue had no answers.
Back in the grand hall, Elder Li was indeed searching for her.
Scarcely had Bai Yue finished handling a round of greetings when a sudden commotion broke out near the entrance.
Everyone turned their heads to look.
Several people were walking in, led by a woman wearing a black evening gown. Tall, striking, with a sharp and formidable aura. Her pheromones marked her clearly as an Alpha.
Bai Yue did not recognize her.
However, as the woman passed by them, her gaze instinctively drifted toward Jiang Manru standing beside her.
Bai Yue was always sensitive to the gazes of her fellow Alphas, and as she followed that line of sight, she caught the hand holding Jiang Manru’s wine glass freeze for a fraction of a second.
It lasted only an instant.
So fast it was almost imperceptible.
“What is wrong?” Bai Yue asked.
Jiang Manru shook her head absentmindedly. “I probably had a bit too much to drink just now.”
“Then shall we go sit over there?” Bai Yue pointed toward the resting area in the corner.
Jiang Manru nodded.
Supporting her, Bai Yue led her over to sit on a sofa. “I will go get you a glass of warm water.”
Jiang Manru did not refuse. Leaning back against the sofa cushions, she closed her eyes.
Bai Yue turned and headed toward the refreshment area.
When she returned with the warm water, Jiang Manru was still in the same posture. Sitting down beside her, Bai Yue handed over the cup. “Drink some water.”
Opening her eyes, Jiang Manru took the glass.
“Thank you.”
She sipped it slowly, yet her gaze drifted past the rim of the cup toward a certain direction.
Lightly. Quickly.
Yet Bai Yue caught it.
That direction was precisely where that Alpha woman was standing.
The woman was conversing politely with several guests, her posture poised and her aura chilly. She offered the occasional smile, faint and distant, as if merely going through the motions or perhaps not caring at all.
Jiang Manru swept her gaze away from the woman, pulled her attention back, and continued drinking her water.
As if nothing had happened at all.
Sitting beside her, Bai Yue said nothing. But her internal suspicions grew clearer by the second, for they clearly knew each other.
Finishing her water, Jiang Manru set the cup down.
“Are you feeling better?” Bai Yue asked.
“Mmm.” Jiang Manru smiled. “Much better.”
She stood up and smoothed out the fabric of her skirt.
“Let us go, we should go say hello to Grandpa Li again.”
Bai Yue noticed that at the exact moment she turned around, Jiang Manru’s gaze drifted back toward that direction one last time.
Then, she linked her arm through Bai Yue’s, smiling sweetly.
“Let us go.”
Bai Yue allowed herself to be led forward.
After walking a few steps, she glanced back over her shoulder.
The woman in black was no longer where she had been standing.
Her figure was nowhere to be found among the crowd.
Bai Yue withdrew her gaze.
Beside her, Jiang Manru linked her arm, her steps entirely normal.
As they approached the main table, Elder Li was chatting with several old friends. Seeing them approach, the old man’s face crinkled into a warm, beaming smile.
“Yueyue, Manru, come over here!”
Releasing Bai Yue’s arm, Jiang Manru walked over and stood obediently beside Elder Li.
“Grandpa Li, are you having a good time tonight?”
“Yes, wonderful, absolutely wonderful!” Elder Li took her hand. “You young people go enjoy yourselves, do not rush off to leave.”
Jiang Manru smiled and nodded.
Standing nearby, Bai Yue found her gaze involuntarily scanning the crowd.
She had no idea where that woman in black had gone.
Withdrawing her eyes, she looked at Jiang Manru. Standing beside Elder Li, her profile was soft and her smile appropriate.
Just like her usual self.
Yet Bai Yue noticed that the tips of her ears were slightly flushed.
Not the flush of shyness.
It was tension.
Bai Yue narrowed her eyes.
How fascinating.
After enduring a few more rounds of socializing, Jiang Manru mentioned she needed to visit the restroom.
“Shall I accompany you?” Bai Yue asked.
“No need.” Jiang Manru smiled. “Wait for me here, I will be right back.”
She turned and headed toward the restroom corridor.
Standing in place, Bai Yue watched her departing back.
As she reached the corner of the corridor, Jiang Manru’s steps paused for a brief second.
Then she continued forward, vanishing behind the corner.