Home / the Villainess they took for granted / Chapter 56: The Invitation

Read free on Ficlyn

the Villainess they took for granted

Chapter 56: The Invitation · Oct 27, 2026

Prev Chapter Novel Info Next Chapter

Chapter List (304)

Page number / 7

51 Chapter 51: The Morning After 2026-10-27
52 Chapter 52: The Last Day 2026-10-27
53 Chapter 53: Before Morning 2026-10-27
54 Chapter 54: When Morning Comes 2026-10-27
55 Chapter 55: The Return 2026-10-27
56 Chapter 56: The Invitation 2026-10-27
57 Chapter 57: Seeing You Again 2026-10-27
58 Chapter 58: Moonlight and Consequences 2026-10-27
59 Chapter 59: Dangerous Things 2026-10-27
60 Chapter 60: Uncomfortable Things 2026-10-27
61 Chapter 61: Habits 2026-10-27
62 Chapter 62: Anticipation 2026-10-27
63 Chapter 63: Arrival 2026-10-27
64 Chapter 64: Appearances 2026-10-27
65 Chapter 65: Distance 2026-10-27
66 Chapter 66: After 2026-10-27
67 Chapter 67: Questions 2026-10-27
68 Chapter 68: No More Pretending 2026-10-27
69 Chapter 69: Panic 2026-10-27
70 Chapter 70: Eye Contact 2026-10-27
71 Chapter 71: Things She Never Asked 2026-10-27
72 Chapter 72: The Distance Between Them 2026-10-27
73 Chapter 73: The Cost 2026-10-27
74 Chapter 74: Tomorrow’s Answer 2026-10-27
75 Chapter 75: Standing Still 2026-10-27
76 Chapter 76: Tomorrow 2026-10-27
77 Chapter 77: Morning 2026-10-27
78 Chapter 78: The Last Quiet Evening 2026-10-27
79 Chapter 79: The Truth 2026-10-27
80 Chapter 80: The Name 2026-10-27
81 Chapter 81: I Don’t Agree 2026-10-27
82 Chapter 82: Consequences 2026-10-27
83 Chapter 83: After 2026-10-27
84 Chapter 84: The Morning After 2026-10-27
85 Chapter 85: Homeward 2026-10-27
86 Chapter 86: Home 2026-10-27
87 Chapter 87: Father 2026-10-27
88 Chapter 88: A Father’s Problem 2026-10-27
89 Chapter 89: The Missing Piece 2026-10-27
90 Chapter 90: What Happens Next 2026-10-27
91 Chapter 91: The Crown Prince’s Decision 2026-10-27
92 Chapter 92: Silence 2026-10-27
93 Chapter 93: Certainty 2026-10-27
94 Chapter 94: The Price 2026-10-27
95 Chapter 95: The Palace 2026-10-27
96 Chapter 96: Yours 2026-10-27
97 Chapter 97: Waiting 2026-10-27
98 Chapter 98: The Price II 2026-10-27
99 Chapter 99: The Answer 2026-10-27
100 Chapter 100: The Next Move 2026-10-27

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: The Invitation

Marian spent three entire days avoiding a very specific thought.

Unfortunately, the invitation arrived on the fourth.

The timing felt deliberate.

Vindictive, even.

As though fate had personally decided she wasn’t suffering enough.

The elegant cream-colored card sat innocently on her desk.

A formal dinner at the Imperial Palace.

Attendance requested.

Nothing unusual.

Nothing remarkable.

Nothing whatsoever that should have caused her heart to skip.

And yet.

Cassian will be there.

Marian immediately flipped the invitation over.

The invitation remained unchanged.

The thought remained too.

The traitor.

The absolute traitor.

For the next hour, Marian successfully ignored the invitation.

By which she meant she thought about it continuously.

This was humiliating.

Because she was not a child.

She was not sixteen.

She was not some lovestruck noble girl composing poetry in her bedroom.

She was a grown woman.

A practical woman.

A rational woman.

A woman who had died once already.

She should be above this.

Unfortunately, her heart had apparently resigned from its position.

The following morning, her maid arrived carrying dresses.

Marian immediately knew she was doomed.

”My lady, which gown?”

”Any.”

The answer came too quickly.

The maid looked suspicious.

Correctly.

”You don’t have a preference?”

”No.”

Another lie.

The third of the morning.

Possibly the fourth.

Marian had lost count.

The maid laid several dresses across the bed.

Blue.

Silver.

White.

Gold.

Marian stared.

The dresses stared back.

An argument began.

An hour later, nothing had been resolved.

The blue dress was elegant.

The white dress made her eyes brighter.

The silver dress was sophisticated.

The pale gold dress looked softer.

Each came with advantages.

Each came with disadvantages.

This was ridiculous.

Completely ridiculous.

”Perhaps the blue, my lady?”

”No.”

Five minutes passed.

”The blue.”

Another five.

”No.”

The maid wisely remained silent.

Marian appreciated the restraint.

Eventually she found herself standing before a mirror.

Staring.

Thinking.

And then a horrifying realization struck.

Not even for Adrian.

The thought appeared from nowhere.

Brutal.

Uninvited.

True.

Marian froze.

Because it was true.

She had attended countless events with Adrian.

Countless dinners.

Countless banquets.

Countless celebrations.

She had never cared this much.

Never.

Not once.

And now she was standing in front of a mirror questioning earrings.

Earrings.

The realization was devastating.

”Who am I trying to impress?”

The words escaped aloud.

The maid wisely pretended not to hear them.

The answer, unfortunately, was obvious.

Cassian had seen her covered in mud.

Cassian had seen her soaked by rain.

Cassian had seen her threaten innocent trees.

Cassian had seen her at her absolute worst.

Which somehow made wanting to look beautiful in front of him infinitely worse.

Not better.

Worse.

The situation was becoming untenable.

Far away, in another wing of the capital, Adrian stood before a window.

Watching dark clouds gather beyond the city.

The invitation sat unopened on his desk.

He already knew what it said.

The dinner had been planned long before anyone disappeared into a forest.

Long before anything changed.

Long before Marian vanished.

The thought appeared before he could stop it.

Vanished.

Not missing.

Not delayed.

Vanished.

For a moment Adrian closed his eyes.

The memory returned immediately.

As it had every day since.

Elena had been found.

Relief swept through the search parties.

Through the palace.

Through everyone involved.

The crisis appeared over.

At least, that was what everyone believed.

Then someone asked a simple question.

”Has anyone seen Lady Marian?”

At first, nobody worried.

Marian was a duke’s daughter.

The Crown Prince’s fiancée.

Surrounded by attendants and responsibilities.

Surely she had already returned.

Surely someone had seen her.

Surely—

Nobody had.

The realization spread slowly.

Then all at once.

Lady Marian was missing.

Adrian didn’t learn immediately.

He learned later.

Much later.

By then Elena had already been found.

By then most people believed the danger had passed.

By then an entire day might have gone by.

The exact number of hours no longer mattered.

Only the realization remained.

Marian had disappeared.

And he hadn’t even known.

The memory still made something uncomfortable twist inside his chest.

Because for years Marian had simply existed beside him.

Constant.

Reliable.

Certain.

Like sunrise.

Like breathing.

Like something that would always be there.

And for the first time in his life, she wasn’t.

The search resumed.

The second day passed.

Then another.

No sign of Marian.

No sign of Cassian.

And sometime during that second night, a thought entered Adrian’s mind.

A single thought.

One he immediately hated.

What if she doesn’t come back?

The possibility struck harder than it should have.

Hard enough that he couldn’t sleep.

Hard enough that he found himself staring into darkness for hours.

Hard enough that he finally understood something he had never been forced to consider before.

There was a future where Marian did not exist.

A future where she wasn’t beside him.

Wasn’t laughing at him.

Wasn’t arguing with him.

Wasn’t there.

The realization left an emptiness he could not explain.

Nor did he want to.

Because the moment he imagined that future—

Truly imagined it—

Something inside him recoiled.

Violently.

Not Marian.

Anyone else.

Not her.

Never her.

Adrian opened his eyes.

The clouds remained beyond the window.

The unease remained too.

Because since Marian’s return, things felt different.

Not worse.

Different.

As though something had shifted while she was gone.

Something he could feel.

But not understand.

And for reasons he could not explain, that unsettled him more than anything else.

Several miles away, another man was having his own problems.

Cassian Ashford stared at his wardrobe.

His wardrobe stared back.

Neither appeared particularly cooperative.

This was unfortunate.

Because Cassian had attended hundreds of formal dinners.

Hundreds.

Possibly thousands.

He had never once spent fifteen minutes deciding between coats.

Yet here he was.

Staring.

Thinking.

Debating.

Like a fool.

Wonderful.

Absolutely wonderful.

He chose one.

Then changed his mind.

Then changed it back.

Then immediately became annoyed with himself.

Because he knew exactly what was happening.

And worse—

he knew exactly who was responsible.

A certain blonde-haired woman with blue eyes and terrible judgment.

The realization did nothing to improve his mood.

When he finally looked into the mirror, he almost laughed.

The most handsome man in the Empire.

A title he had spent years ignoring.

A title he had never particularly cared about.

Yet suddenly he found himself wondering something profoundly stupid.

Would Marian like it?

The thought was so absurd that he nearly walked away immediately.

Nearly.

Unfortunately, he already knew the answer.

He was looking forward to seeing her.

And that, more than anything else, was the real problem.

Because the forest had ended.

Reality had returned.

And tonight, for the first time since dawn broke over a forgotten shelter in the woods—

they would see each other again.

Neither Adrian.

Nor Marian.

Nor Cassian.

Had any idea that the dinner waiting for them would become the beginning of something far more dangerous than the forest ever was.

Prev Chapter Novel Info Next Chapter

Recommended Novels

Transmigrated as the Villainess, my University Romance went Off Script champilyn

Genius Doctor Black Belly Miss Dạ Bắc

The Deadly Hitwoman: The Heiress's Special Abilities Seven-leaf Hibiscus

Genius Doctor Black Belly Miss North Night

Peaceful Farm Life Evergreen Tree

The Golem Mage mystic dark

Stop Fooling the Us, China Really is Doing This! Shen Qian Zhi Jian

Reborn In The Three Kingdoms Tang12

My Sister Insisted on Swapping Marriages, and I Became a Marchioness Instead Mo Qi Jian

From Folly to Fortune：I Rewrite My Life After Rebirth! Lu Chengfeng

The Feng Shui Treasure Appraiser Chao Ji Xue Ba

Epoch of Twilight Don't Play People Fo

The Dramatic Crown Princess Wants to Poison Me! Chu Qianmo

The Duke's Pampered Darling is So Scheming Zhan Xiye

Stalked by the School Beauty from the Start: She Says I’m a Natural Disaster Class Wo Bu Shi Tie Qi