My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 196

Chapter 196 Quiet Currents Shift

Chapter 196 Quiet Currents Shift

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Rita knew the logic well enough. She offered another quick look toward Fiona–regret tugged at her, but trust was harder to summon. Competing with her own sister no longer appealed.

After all, their quarrel had never been worth it. She had only lashed out in a flare of temper, venting her frustration, never truly wishing Fiona ill.

Fiona, however, refused even the briefest glance.

Bitter taste pooled behind Rita’s teeth, but pride would not let the apology rise.

A fresh weight settled on Rita’s skin–a gaze, cold and precise.

She turned. Xavier’s face was calm, almost kindly, yet his eyes had sharpened to an eagle’s edge, as though he read every corner of her heart and cautioned her to tread carefully.

For a junior fourth–rank officer to radiate the gravity of a senior second–rank minister was nothing short of unsettling.

Junbert’s mountain bandits had felt the same chill.

When Xavier first rode into the province, they laughed; imperial officers came in waves, each quickly neutered by local graft.

By day three he had seized several wagons of gold and carried back the severed head of a gang chief. The officials who had shared the spoils hurried out to threaten him.

“Mr. Luthor, if you wish to keep your life in Junbert, remember four words–know your place.”

Xavier’s right hand settled on his saber while his left tightened around the reins. From the saddle he replied, voice like tempered steel, “Know my place? With what will you stop me?”

The would–be intimidator fell that same moment–a warning delivered in blood. Xavier neither blinked nor looked back.

Had the ladies of Jexburgh witnessed that scene, half the capital might have lost its composure.

That same memory now glinted in Xavier’s eyes, and Rita’s pulse stumbled. She lowered her gaze at once.

Only then did Xavier let his gaze drift elsewhere, as though nothing had transpired.

Joanna, seated farther down the long table, spoke gently, coaxing Rita to relent. Husband and

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12:09 Mon, Oct 20

Chapter 196 Quiet Currents Shift

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wife shared both honor and ruin; with so many eyes upon them, they had to keep up the facade of harmony.

Elijah eased into the seat beside her and, with deliberate care, lifted a morsel of food into her bowl, as though the small courtesy might patch the crack everyone pretended not to see.

Even when Hannah offered loud praise for Fiona, Elijah fixed his gaze on the table, refusing himself so much as a single glance in her direction.

Fiona, sickened by Elijah’s nearness, grasped the flimsiest excuse to rise. Yet, unwilling to miss Xavier’s departure, she stopped in the courtyard beyond Ambrosial Garden and took a seat beneath the bare branches.

Xavier did not keep her waiting long; the golden doors swung open, and his figure emerged into the pale winter light.

“The air bites today, Ms. Fiona. You took a plunge only recently–please, wrap up and spare yourself another chill,” Xavier said, a furrow etching between his brows when he noticed she wore no cloak at all.

“Mr. Xavier, do you believe a person can live twice–remember a whole other lifetime?”

“I have heard such legends,” Xavier admitted. “Yet they sit beside tales of ghosts–marvelous, elusive, and impossible to grasp.”

Fiona’s eyes held his. “Mr. Xavier, do you recall that night in Yondale? You were drunk, and you asked me to call you…-her voice dropped to a velvet whisper-“Hubby.”

Xavier regarded her in silence, his expression carved from calm stone.

“Hubby,” she repeated, barely louder than the rustle of dead leaves, watching him without blinking for the smallest tremor of recognition.

She was probing him–if the soul before her had truly walked another life entangled with hers, that single word should have struck a hidden chord.

It had been Soren who first discovered her weakness for fruit–scented silver pearwood. He had also been the man who once, beneath flickering lanterns, urged her to murmur that private title.

Of course, it might not be Soren reborn at all. Perhaps the task of finding the wood had fallen to someone else, someone whose name she had never learned.

Not far away, the man striding toward them faltered mid–step.

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12:09 Mon, Oct 20

Chapter 196 Quiet Currents Shift

Soren stopped where he stood, his gaze dark and unreadable.

She had just called Xavier “Hubby.”

A glimmer of frost gathered behind Soren’s eyes.

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“Ms. Fiona,” Xavier said, looking past Soren as if the man were mist, “I was overserved that night, and I did harbor a certain fondness for you. My bluntness was improper–the fault is mine.”

His features showed no ripple of emotion; the word she kept wielding might as well have been any other sound.

“Then tell me, Mr. Xavier–how did you learn that I favor the scent of fruit in wood?”

“Mr. Niven mentioned your fondness for fruit ever since childhood,” Xavier replied. “Besides, the garments you stitched for me carried traces of peach and pear. I simply assumed your taste in timber would follow the same melody.”

The explanation rang reasonable enough, yet her doubts refused to die. To press further, however, would tip her own hand; if Xavier was not reborn, he would soon begin to question her.