Chapter 52: Chapter 27.2

Cassian furrowed his brows.

He gazed at them with utter disregard, slowly turned his head to the side, and scowled back at them again.

“Who are you? Who are you looking at?”

“Oh, are you looking at me?”

A lady pointed to herself in confusion.

“Do you know each other?”

“No.”

Cassian brought his undivided attention to Yernia at the end.

“Doesn’t he look like the Marquess?”

Almost all the ladies avoided looking at him while blushing hard when they suspected he was the Marquess.

One glance was all it took for Yernia to know the identity of the man standing before her.

She was also sure that the day would be exhausting for her if they found out that she knew it was Cassian.

The rumors that she and Cassian were already married would spread like wildfire.

Turning her head to the side as if she had never seen him before, Yernia pretended to read and concentrated on her book.

The reading club organizer went out to meet Cassian and invited him to participate in the discussion.

‘Why are they letting him in?’ Yernia thought.

She expected Cassian to be kicked out of this place since the reading club was exclusive to women, and he had disrupted everyone’s peace.

He had no legitimate excuse if the club organizer decided to ban him around the premises.

“I thought I’d read some books, too.”

Cassian went straight to Yernia’s table and gave her the flower bouquet.

She didn’t even look at him and accepted his gift.

Yes, she was being mean, but she just wanted to pretend that they didn’t know each other.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t do that because Cassian had placed the flower bouquet right before her.

“I know you like this too.”

Yernia swallowed hard when she caught the sweet scent of cookies from the box.

“Are you still not going to look at me, Yernia?”

“…….”

Why was he adamant about speaking with her?

Cassian could catch on fast because he was intelligent.

He should have known that she wanted to pretend they didn’t know each other when Yernia avoided his gaze as if they were strangers.

‘Let’s pretend we don’t know each other, Cassian!’ She thought in frustration.

“I want to sit next to you.”

This must have been Cassian’s deliberate attempt to appear clingy as if they were close.

“There’s no space.”

Cassian noticed that the woman next to him quickly left her seat.

Cassian’s eyes widened in false surprise and gratitude before his eyelids shifted into down-turned crescents when he laughed. “Thank you, my Lady.”

“What? Oh, yes! Yes!”

Chagrined, Yernia had no choice but to allow Cassian to sit next to her.

The Cassian she had known since childhood hadn’t shown this much kindness to other people in the past.

“What are you up to?” Yernia whispered in his ear with a slight twist in her head.

As Cassian brought his face closer and whispered back, his soft breath passed through her ears. “I thought about visiting you in the reading book club.”

Yernia’s left shoulder unwittingly shrank from the chills she felt on her skin.

“So, I did.”

“This place is strictly exclusive for women. Get out.”

“I will do it if we get out together. I’m here to see you anyway.”

Yernia peeked at the piercing gaze she felt at the far front.

The woman who volunteered to give her seat to Cassian now sat there her eyes twinkling with unholy delight.

Did she think this was some kind of a fun spectacle?”

“Why me?”

“Why else should I come here except the desire to see my fiance?  I miss you, Yernia.”

Cassian came to the book club because he missed her?

Casting him a suspicious glance, Yernia whispered earnestly.  “Did you eat something wrong?”

“If that were the case, I’d be waiting for you in my room. Not here. I came because I missed you. Yernia.”

Well, she just saw Cassian two days ago.

The last time Cassian visited Cilliard Mansion, she asked him to leave her alone for the meantime so that she could have a short reprieve before their upcoming marriage.

On that day, Yernia made a promise to have a happy ending for Cassian and herself.

“You went into hiding, though.”

“I did so that I could organize my thoughts. I’ve been acting stupid all this time, so I planned to change my attitude little by little.”

Yernia couldn’t understand Cassian’s words.

What was he thinking?

Why was he behaving like this?

Why did he tell her these things all of a sudden?

Setting her confusion aside, Yernia got up from her seat.

She couldn’t bear to sit there any longer from the curious gazes surrounding them.

“Why are you doing this out of the blue? What are even these flowers for?”

Yernia exited the gathering while carrying the bouquet and the box of goodies  Cassian gave her.

The road to the gate was far.

As she walked, Yernia buried her nose and inhaled the rich fragrance of the hundred red roses in her bouquet.

It made her feel a little better.

The corner of Yernia’s lips curled upwards, making Cassian smile too.

“I did it for your good.”

“What’s going on with you? You did things I didn’t even ask for.”

“I told you that it would be different this time.”

“Why are you telling me that, Cassian?”

He was still acting strange.

“We will still follow through with the marriage.”

Wow.

Spoken like a true player before her mind could even process it.

“Oh.”

Yernia finally realized why Cassian was acting strange.