Chapter 221
Chapter 221
Sarah rushed over the moment she finished handling matters in the main hall, a small paper–wrapped bundle clutched in her hand
“Eliza! Guess what I brought you today?” she said excitedly, waving the bundle like it held treasure.
Eliza was in the middle of tending her herbs patch, replanting a rare medicinal herbs into the spot left empty after she’d moved the dendrobium to another section.
The soil there still held some residual spiritual energy, and she didn’t want it going to waste. So today, she was attempting something bold–planting an especially finicky variety.
And just beneath those broad medicinal leaves, she’d secretly tucked in two sprigs of Bloodshade Blossom, an herb so rare no one outside certain circles even recognized it by appearance.
Startled by Sarah’s sudden voice behind her, Eliza’s fingers slipped, nearly burying the delicate blossom entirely. But she quickly relaxed.
No one knows what this thing looks like anyway, she thought, and resumed planting with deliberate calm. “What is it this time?” she asked over her shoulder. “Something Mary asked you to bring?”
“No, no, not her.” Sarah said, flopping into a seat at the stone table and plopping the bundle down. “It’s from him. The one down at the foot of the mountain.”
Eliza didn’t need her to say more she knew exactly who Sarah meant. Her brow knit slightly. “Why is he always sending things Next time, just don’t accept them.”
“I can’t!” Sarah replied, chin resting on one hand. “If I don’t take them, he’ll just stand out there all day waiting. Poor guy’s been working in the village now, helping the locals to earn money?”
“He’s… working?” Eliza blinked, genuinely surprised.
Dylan–Stonor family’s pampered young master–doing manual labor?
Eliza opened her mouth to decline, ready to say she wouldn’t like it anyway. But when she walked over to the table and unwrapped the bundle, her words caught in her throat.
It wasn’t pistachio cake. It wasn’t lemon cake.
It was a plain, humble Basque cheesecake.
“He bought this?” Eliza asked, her voice oddly quiet, as her gaze landed on the creamy, slightly caramelized surface of the
cake.
A strange sourness welled up in Eliza’s chest, impossible to describe.
He still remembered.
Back when Sophie hadn’t yet entered the Stonor family, Dylan would return from the academy and always bring her desserts–usually from Dinsica House. More often than not, it was Basque cheesecake. Never lemon. Never pistachio.
He had remembered what she liked. And what she didn’t.
But once Sophie came….everything changed. The lemon and pistachio cakes increased. The Basque cheesecakes vanished.
She used to get mad. Used to snap at Dylan, “Have you forgotten what I like?”
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Chapter 921
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And Dylan had looked her in the eye and said, “‘s not for you. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. Thought it because Sophie likes it. If you eat it all, what is she supposed to have
The memory made her lips twitch in a bitter smirk.
She picked up a slice of the cheesecake, blank–faced, and ate it. Slowly. Methodically. Until every crumb was gone
Sarah waited until she was done. “Well? How was it?
Eliza stared at the now–empty bundle, her voice emotionless. “Terrible.”
“What? Really?” Sarah leaned closer. Smelled pretty decent to me…
“It was spoiled.” Eliza replied coldly.
Sarah sniffed a piece in disbelief. “It’s still warm! Doesn’t smell of to me
“If you like it, or just don’t care, then take the rest, Eliza said curtly. “Next time he brings anything, don’t accept it. And if he insists, it’s yours. Don’t bring it to me.”
Without another word, she turned and walked back to her herb patch.
She crouched beside her newly planted blossom, eyes dark and distant.
Things that have gone bad–no matter how carefully you try to revive them–what’s the point? It just makes the whole thing seem even more pathetic. Better they forget everything, like Benedict did. That would’ve been easier to accept
But even as she tried to harden her thoughts, her hands lost their focus, and she accidentally pricked her finger on a thorn. Blood welled up immediately.
Eliza stared at the droplet as it fell, watching it disappear into the dark soil.
Then she calmly bandaged the wound and got back to work,
He grabbed Dylan by the arm and practically shouted, “What the hell are you thinking?
This was already the third time he’d come to find him–and his patience was gone
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