Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria) novel Chapter 106

Chapter 106
On this cold night, West maneuvered his way around the crowd in the bar
and headed toward the bar counter.
Following closely behind him was Norwood.
It was late at night but once again, they were summoned by Alaric.

They expected to see him drunk and disheveled when they arrived. To their
surprise, he was dressed impeccably while sitting at the bar counter, his
gaze clear.
He hadn’t touched the glass of alcohol sitting right in front of him.
“What’s going on? Didn’t you call us here to drink?” West asked in surprise
as he walked over to Alaric and greeted him.
“Are you okay, Al? You haven’t had a drop of alcohol even until now.”
Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
Hearing the familiar voice, Alaric came back to his senses and looked up.
When he saw that West had come with Norwood, he glanced at the latter
with a gaze that seemed to be asking why he brought West along.
Norwood paused momentarily and quickly understood what was going on
when he saw the look in Alaric’s eyes.
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Alaric only called Norwood over, but Norwood also invited West because he
wasn’t aware that Alaric didn’t ask West to come.
But since they were already here, there was nothing they could do. The two
men tacitly didn’t say anything more.
West, being his carefree self, plopped down and immediately started
ordering. He muttered to Alaric, “I have to say, you’re really weird. You
came to the bar to drown your sorrows because of Victoria last time, right?
What about this time? Is it also because of her?”
Alaric felt a knot in his chest when he heard Victoria’s name, and he chose
Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
not to answer West.
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“I thought you two were doing fine before. How did things turn out like this?
Since Claudia has come back, shouldn’t she reclaim her place by your side?
I heard that Victoria pushed Claudia at the farewell party Bane hosted.
Claudia even got injured and has a scar. Al, you shouldn’t indulge Victoria
like this. Even if you were childhood sweethearts, you shouldn’t let her
harm Claudia like that.”
Claudia was West’s muse.
He had gotten upset at Victoria the moment he heard about what had
happened at the farewell party, which was why he was now angrily
complaining about her.
He wasn’t satisfied with all that he said as he soon added, “If someone dares
to hurt Claudia in front of me, I swear I’ll do what they did to Claudia
tenfold. They are going to get more than they bargained for.”
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Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
Alaric narrowed his eyes and his voice turned cold as he growled, “What
did you say?”
Even though West shrank back from fear, he still braved himself and
challenged Alaric. “Am I wrong? If a man can’t even protect the woman he
loves, shouldn’t he at least avenge her when someone hurts her? Dude, she
is freaking scarred. Don’t you know how serious scars are to women?”
Alaric only coldly stared at his friend and demanded, “Who told you that?”
“Al!” West’s eyes went wide. “Did Victoria really bewitch you or something
in the last two years? She scarred Claudia by pushing her. Everyone at the
farewell party saw her do it.”
“It wasn’t her.”
Alaric subconsciously denied the accusation for her when he recalled how
she couldn’t be bothered with explaining herself during the party.
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Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
West clearly didn’t believe him. “How is that possible? Everyone who came
back after attending the party said that Victoria.was the one closest to
Claudia at that time. Only she was close enough to push Claudia. Who else
could it be if it wasn’t her?”
He then mocked in a disdainful voice, “You are not going to say that Claudia
tripped over herself, are you?”
Alaric still had a grim expression as he remained quiet.
West paused when he vigilantly sensed something. He then turned his
head to exchange a glance with Norwood, who looked back at him
indifferently.
“What do you mean?” West couldn’t believe it. “You think Claudia tripped
over herself too?”
Norwood pondered for a moment and without confirming whether or not
Claudia fell by herself, he simply asked, “I’ll ask you this-what made you
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Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
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think that it was Victoria who pushed Claudia? Just because she was closest
to her?”
“Her being close to Claudia is one thing, but everyone is saying the same
thing,” West insisted.
“Does having everyone say that make it the truth?”
“Well, if everyone is saying it is the truth even though it isn’t, what is the
actual truth then?”
West looked at Norwood with a blank expression on his face.
“Norwood, I don’t understand why you always take Victoria’s side every
time something happens.”
“Am I taking her side, or are you too biased toward Claudia?”
The bartender brought their drinks right then. Norwood picked up one of
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Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
the glasses and gently swirled it around, the specially crafted cocktail
sparkling under the illumination of the bar lights.
“If one’s subjective consciousness is constantly dominated by a single
ideology, it makes it easy for them to overlook other possibilities.”
Alaric’s pupils contracted when he heard those words after staying silent
the whole time.
Meanwhile, West stared at Norwood with a strange expression on his face.
“What’s this all about? Why are you suddenly so profound, talking about
subjective consciousness?”
Norwood only tilted his head and flashed a small smile.
“You think of Claudia as your muse, hmm? Can you accept it if she did
something to hurt others?”
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hapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
When West heard this, he exclaimed incredulously with his eyes wide
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open, “That’s impossible! Claudia is such a kind hearted person. How could
she ever do something to harm others?”
“That’s your subjective consciousness at work. It is because you are partial
toward Claudia that you firmly believe she is noble and incapable of doing
anything wrong. You don’t even believe that she can make mistakes.
Whenever there’s even the slightest negative news, you automatically shift
the blame onto others. That is why you perceive the person closest to her as
the scapegoat.”
“When have I ever thought that?” West demanded.
“But am I wrong?” Norwood calmly gazed at him.
“Of course, you are!” West denied rather fervently. “Norwood, what kind of
person do you think I am?”
“If it’s not the case, why did you automatically assume it was Victoria who
Chapter 106 You’re Not Bewitched by Her, Are You?
pushed Claudia even though there is no evidence? Why didn’t you
investigate before letting Al take revenge on behalf of Claudia?” Norwood’s
gaze was sharp, and his words were direct and incisive as he went straight
to the point.
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“I…” West was rendered speechless by Norwood’s words. He couldn’t say
anything at all for a moment.
What was even more frightening was that he realized Norwood’s logic was
actually right.
Everything he had said had been easily overturned.
It was true that West hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes. He didn’t go to
the farewell party as he had something else to attend to. He only regretted
not going that night after such a big incident occurred.
Something like that probably wouldn’t have happened to Claudia if he had
been there.
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He believed that he could make everything revolve around Claudia when he
was near her. She was the center of his universe: Even if someone wanted
to harm her, he would protect her and save her from harm.
The Claudia he adored was undoubtedly the most beautiful and kind
person in the world. How could she possibly do something to harm others?
With these thoughts in mind, West stood up abruptly, his expression
resolute. “You are saying this only because I didn’t look for evidence, right?
Norwood, you think that I’m being partial toward Claudia, but I think you
are prejudiced against her. You want evidence, eh? Okay, I’ll get you
evidence!”