My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 194

Chapter 194 Lingering Doubts

Chapter 194 Lingering Doubts

:

81

+5 Free Coins

Naomi slumped onto a cushioned stool and sighed. “Mother, you know numbers have never been my strength. Ask me, and of course I’ll say it was difficult.”

Penelope bent toward Naomi and tapped her forehead with a finger, a wistful smile chasing the lines of gentle reprimand.

“I’ve long since stopped expecting you to make the family proud,” she said, yet her tone wrapped the words in unmistakable affection.

Naomi lifted her eyes, curiosity flickering. “And where is Soren?”

Penelope answered without missing a beat. “At Radiant Lodge. He just finished meeting with Mr. Xavier.”

Without hesitation, Naomi set off for Radiant Lodge, the drizzle of early winter misting her cloak in silver droplets.

Inside, she found Soren at a long desk, scrolls and seals arrayed like small fortresses. He glanced up, a single brisk look, then returned to his files in silence.

Naomi stepped closer, lowering her voice. “Is it over between you and Fiona?”

Soren’s brush froze mid–stroke. Ink pooled, forgotten.

“Where did you hear that?” His words were clipped, but behind them swirled thunder; his lips thinned until pale, and, under the veneer of control, a hint of panic surfaced.

Naomi kept her tone gentle, almost apologetic. “After today’s Six Arts evaluations, Fiona told me herself. I wanted to invite her to the estate for the Winter Solstice performance–the troupe is coming that day–but she said she probably won’t visit you anymore.”

Soren did not answer. A shadow spread across his features, so dark it seemed to pull the light from the chamber.

He understood all too well–Fiona’s intentions lay on the table, sharp as a card edge. Either he bowed now or accepted the silence between them. She was wagering on his reluctance to let her go.

Even if he yielded this time, she would only push farther the next, longing to keep him within the circle of her palm.

And yet–knowing this, knowing every angle–his chest still tightened at the prospect of losing

1/3

12:08 Mon, Oct 20

Chapter 194 Lingering Doubts

her.

Naomi whispered, uneasy at the intensity she seldom saw in her brother. “Soren?”

220

+5 Free Coins

Soren forced restraint into his voice. “On the solstice the Niven family has its own obligations. Fiona cannot get away.”

“Then… what about the two of you?” Naomi asked, already guessing the answer.

She knew Soren had begun planning marriage with Fiona; negotiations between the two powerful houses were intricate, obstacles everywhere, yet preparations had been moving.

Soren pressed his knuckles to his brow. “We quarreled. It’s nothing you need to manage. If you visit her now, you will only stir her irritation. Leave her be.”

Naomi, however, could not believe the matter was so simple.

Two days before the solstice, a thin, persistent rain began to fall, threading the gray sky with silver needles.

That same morning the scores for the Six Arts assessments were posted, and Fiona left the Niven estate early, bound for the academy.

“Fiona, did you and Rita have a fight?” Lilith’s words tumbled out as soon as she reached her, worry creasing her young face.

They had never, from childhood till now, fallen into such cold silence.

Fiona offered a small, reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. A quarrel is just a quarrel. Rita will sort things out.”

“I thought Rita would have returned to the Wagner Estate by now,” Lilith murmured, glancing around. “She’s stayed so long this time–did something happen between her and Elijah?”

Fiona would never expose Rita’s embarrassment. She simply said, “Married people quarrel; it’s perfectly normal.”

Lilith let the matter drop, her lashes lowering in quiet acceptance, as though sealing the half- asked question inside a diary no one would ever open.

Outside the academy gates, Fiona stepped squarely into the path of a black–lacquered carriage from the Zonfrillo Estate. The horses stamped, coats gleaming in the pale winter sun.

The door opened. Naomi descended first, her cloak the color of crushed violets, Callum just. behind her. Remembering Soren’s warning to stay out of sight, Naomi hesitated on the

2/3

12:09 Mon, Oct 20

Chapter 194 Lingering Doubts

:

cobblestones, careful not to draw any more eyes than the rumbling coach already had.

+5 Free Coins

“Naomi, Mr. Callum,” Fiona offered a bright, unforced smile, the polite music of her greeting cutting through the frosty air.

“My brother brought me to collect my examination scores,” Naomi murmured, voice pitched for privacy. “Our third brother has vanished from the estate for days. I had meant to beg him for the escort instead, but he is nowhere to be found.”

Naomi tells me you studied with unwavering focus, Callum said, clearing his throat. “I expect your results will be excellent–matliematics especially.”

Words were never Callum’s chosen weapons; that short reassurance was the fullest comfort his blunt tongue could manage.

Yet Fiona’s thoughts orbited only her own score. She slipped into the high–arched hallway of the academy, where braziers threw gentle heat against the stone. Her instructor waited by the ledger desk, eyes kind, lips carrying an unreadable smile.

“Sir.” Fiona folded her hands, every inch the disciplined pupil.

“Your marks are not the very highest,” the teacher said, handing over the scroll stamped by the Ministry of Rites, “but they honor your diligence. In mathematics, only the young lady from Havenford Estate placed first. You stand second. With archery, horsemanship, and music already graded as superior, you may well claim next year’s Lady Laureate.”

In her last life, no one had touched the upper tier at all. Fiona felt a flicker of genuine joy for the unnamed Havenford girl; this season, every discipline of the Six Arts had at least one lady shining at the summit.

She had half–expected Dorothy Linton to seize the mathematics crown.

Examinations favor fortune as much as skill, Fiona reflected. Even the brightest falter when the hourglass turns.

Lilith, too, landed comfortably in the middle tier–quite a triumph for a daughter born outside the main line. In most households such girls dulled their own brilliance so the legitimate heirs could glitter unchallenged; that Lilith had sat the test with an unbowed heart was rarer than the score itself.

3/3