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the Villainess they took for granted

Chapter 138: The Season · Oct 27, 2026

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Chapter List (304)

Page number / 7

101 Chapter 101: I Missed You 2026-10-27
102 Chapter 102: A Moment of Peace 2026-10-27
103 Chapter 103: The End of Questions 2026-10-27
104 Chapter 104: Beside Her 2026-10-27
105 Chapter 105: The First Move 2026-10-27
106 Chapter 106: The First Ripple 2026-10-27
107 Chapter 107: The Crown Prince Moves 2026-10-27
108 Chapter 108: The Last Olive Branch 2026-10-27
109 Chapter 109: Between Storms 2026-10-27
110 Chapter 110: The Name 2026-10-27
111 Chapter 111: The distance between us 2026-10-27
112 Chapter 112: What do you want? 2026-10-27
113 Chapter 113: Just Cassian 2026-10-27
114 Chapter 114: Then What? 2026-10-27
115 Chapter 115: The Audience 2026-10-27
116 Chapter 116: A Father’s Argument 2026-10-27
117 Chapter 117: And What of My Son? 2026-10-27
118 Chapter 118: Why Him? 2026-10-27
119 Chapter 119: If I Refuse 2026-10-27
120 Chapter 120: The Future 2026-10-27
121 Chapter 121: The Weight of a Crown 2026-10-27
122 Chapter 122: My Son Deserves Better 2026-10-27
123 Chapter 123: For the Best 2026-10-27
124 Chapter 124: Good News 2026-10-27
125 Chapter 125: The Road Ahead 2026-10-27
126 Chapter 126: Letting Go 2026-10-27
127 Chapter 127: The Proceedings 2026-10-27
128 Chapter 128: His Nephew 2026-10-27
129 Chapter 129: How Did This Happen? 2026-10-27
130 Chapter 130: My Brother’s Son 2026-10-27
131 Chapter 131: The Price 2026-10-27
132 Chapter 132: The Cost 2026-10-27
133 Chapter 133: Ashford House 2026-10-27
134 Chapter 134: Patience 2026-10-27
135 Chapter 135: Yours 2026-10-27
136 Chapter 136: Spring 2026-10-27
137 Chapter 137: The Invitation 2026-10-27
138 Chapter 138: The Season 2026-10-27
139 Chapter 139: Afterward 2026-10-27
140 Chapter 140: Questions 2026-10-27
141 Chapter 141: Attention 2026-10-27
142 Chapter 142: Answers 2026-10-27
143 Chapter 143: Waiting 2026-10-27
144 Chapter 144: His Grace, Duke Ashford 2026-10-27
145 Chapter 145: Home 2026-10-27
146 Chapter 146: Welcome Home 2026-10-27
147 Chapter 147: The Space Between Them 2026-10-27
148 Chapter 148: This Dance 2026-10-27
149 Chapter 149: Reality Returns 2026-10-27
150 Chapter 150: The Ring 2026-10-27

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: The Season

The moment ended.

Conversation resumed.

Music continued.

The ballroom returned to normal.

At least for everyone else.

For Adrian, the remainder of the evening became unexpectedly difficult.

Not because of Marian.

That would have been easier.

Instead, it was because society had apparently remembered something.

The Crown Prince was unmarried.

The realization had spread through the Empire with alarming efficiency.

Three months ago, the dissolution had been treated as a tragedy.

Tonight, half the Empire appeared remarkably eager to benefit from it.

Adrian found the transition impressively efficient.

A duke introduced his eldest daughter.

A marquis introduced his niece.

A count introduced two daughters in rapid succession, as though concerned another family might arrive first.

The introductions continued.

One after another.

Polite.

Appropriate.

Entirely expected.

The Season had barely begun.

Everyone was already calculating.

Adrian endured it with practiced patience.

Smile.

Nod.

Respond.

Repeat.

Years of court life made the process almost automatic.

The difficulty was not the conversations themselves.

The difficulty was remembering them afterward.

One young lady spoke passionately about music.

Another discussed travel.

A third possessed surprisingly strong opinions regarding horse breeding.

Adrian listened.

Responded appropriately.

And forgot nearly everything moments later.

The realization was mildly concerning.

Not because the women lacked accomplishments.

Many were intelligent.

Several were charming.

All were suitable.

Exactly the sort of candidates the Empire would expect him to consider.

Yet somehow none of them left an impression.

Three months ago society had lamented the dissolution.

Tonight society appeared remarkably eager to replace it.

Adrian found the contradiction amusing.

A little disturbing.

And entirely predictable.

A foreign ambassador’s wife spent several minutes discussing the advantages of international marriages.

A duchess somehow managed to mention her unmarried daughter three times during a single conversation.

One particularly ambitious count appeared to have brought his entire family.

Adrian suspected the man’s intentions could be observed from orbit.

The evening became increasingly absurd.

Unfortunately, it also became increasingly difficult to ignore a certain problem.

His attention kept wandering.

Across the ballroom.

Toward Marian.

Adrian immediately looked away.

The reaction had become embarrassingly predictable.

A few minutes later, he found himself looking again.

That was somehow worse.

Marian stood among a small gathering of noblewomen.

The group changed constantly.

Faces arrived.

Faces departed.

Yet Marian somehow remained at the center of it.

The observation struck him unexpectedly.

People genuinely seemed happy to see her.

Not impressed.

Not intimidated.

Happy.

An elderly duchess greeted her with obvious affection.

A countess laughed at something she said.

A retired minister spent several minutes speaking with her despite possessing a reputation for avoiding social functions whenever possible.

The pattern repeated itself again and again.

People approached Marian.

People lingered.

People smiled.

And for the first time Adrian found himself wondering why he had never paid attention to it before.

Not her beauty.

The rest of it.

The ease.

The warmth.

The effortless way people seemed drawn toward her.

A memory surfaced unexpectedly.

He was sixteen.

A palace maid had burst into tears after receiving bad news from home.

Marian had disappeared for nearly an hour.

When she returned, the maid was smiling.

Adrian remembered asking what had happened.

Marian had simply shrugged.

”It wasn’t anything important.”

At the time he had accepted the answer and moved on.

Watching her now, he suddenly wondered how many similar moments he had missed.

The thought unsettled him.

Because the answer was probably too many.

A duke’s daughter was speaking to him.

Adrian realized this approximately halfway through her sentence.

”...and my father believes the western routes will improve significantly within the next few years.”

”Undoubtedly.”

The young woman smiled.

Apparently it had been the correct response.

Adrian had no idea what she looked like.

The realization arrived several moments later.

He frowned.

That couldn’t possibly be true.

He had been speaking to her for nearly ten minutes.

Yet if asked afterward, Adrian doubted he could have described her.

Meanwhile, he could describe Marian’s expression from across the ballroom.

The way she tilted her head when listening.

The way her eyes brightened when amused.

The small smile she wore when trying not to laugh.

The realization was deeply irritating.

The music changed.

Couples began moving toward the dance floor.

A young viscount approached Marian.

Spoke briefly.

Offered his hand.

Marian listened.

Then accepted.

Nothing unusual.

Nothing worth noting.

The dance floor was already filled with similar pairs.

Yet Adrian noticed anyway.

The realization irritated him immediately.

Not the dance.

The fact that he had noticed it at all.

Marian followed the viscount onto the floor.

Several heads turned as she passed.

Only briefly.

Just enough.

The sort of reaction she had inspired her entire life.

The sort of reaction Adrian had somehow stopped seeing years ago.

For years he had known Marian was beautiful.

Everyone knew.

The realization itself was hardly remarkable.

The capital had spent her debut season discussing little else.

Poets had written about her.

Artists had requested permission to paint her.

Young noblemen had found endless excuses to remain nearby.

None of that was new.

What felt new was seeing it again.

Not hearing about it.

Seeing it.

Marian moved gracefully across the dance floor.

Years of training showed in every step.

Every turn.

Every movement.

Of course she danced well.

She had spent years preparing to become Crown Princess.

Adrian knew that.

He knew all of it.

Yet somehow seeing it now felt different.

As though he were looking at a painting he had passed every day for years and only now realized its value.

The thought was ridiculous.

He disliked it immediately.

The dance ended.

Another gentleman approached her afterward.

Then another.

Not all requested dances.

Some merely wished to speak.

To introduce themselves.

To capture a few moments of her attention.

The pattern repeated often enough that Adrian eventually stopped pretending not to notice.

The realization bothered him.

Not the attention itself.

That was expected.

Not the conversations.

That was normal.

No.

What bothered him was something else entirely.

Why was he paying attention?

The question lingered.

Unanswered.

The evening gradually drew toward its conclusion.

Guests began departing.

Carriages lined the palace entrance.

Conversations shortened.

The crowd slowly thinned.

Across the ballroom Adrian caught sight of Marian one final time.

She was leaving.

A countess said something that made her laugh.

The expression transformed her face.

Warm.

Bright.

Effortless.

Then she turned.

And disappeared through the doors.

Gone.

Just like that.

The carriage door closed.

The horses pulled forward.

Moments later the carriage disappeared beyond the palace gates.

The ballroom remained crowded.

The music continued.

The Season continued.

Nothing had changed.

Yet Adrian found himself looking toward the entrance anyway.

The realization irritated him.

Because there had been hundreds of people in attendance that evening.

Hundreds.

Dozens of introductions.

Dozens of conversations.

An entire ballroom filled with possibilities.

And somehow only one person had occupied his thoughts.

For reasons he could neither explain nor entirely dismiss.

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