Reborn to Flee My Fiance's Obsession (Fiona and Soren) novel Chapter 306

Fiona glanced at Pearl.

Pearl understood at once and helped Esme up into the carriage.

Esme was already crying so hard she could barely get the words out. She dropped to the floor and knocked her head down as she said, "Thank you for saving my life, Ms. Fiona. I'm willing to work like an ox or a horse to repay you. Please take me in. I can do anything."

Fiona only smiled.

What settled over her face looked lighter than before. Right now, Esme had come for a purpose, and there wasn't a shred of sincerity in it. But once they spent their days together later on, Fiona knew that would no longer be because of Zephyr's arrangement.

The care Esme had shown her in that other life had never been something a person could fake.

But Fiona was not going to keep a spy at her side.

So she would not keep Esme.

"Do you have a name?" Fiona asked her, patient and even.

Esme shook her head. "My father only ever called me Lassie."

"Then from now on, you'll be called Esme," Fiona said.

"Thank you, Ms. Fiona." Esme looked at her like she was holding on to a piece of hope she still hadn't let go of.

Fiona then told Pearl to take out some money.

Pearl placed it in Esme's hands, and Fiona said, "Take this money and go start some small business for yourself. Right now, I can't take you in."

Esme's whole body went rigid. "Ms. Fiona, I really can do a lot of work. Please take me in."

"I saved you only because I felt we were fated to meet. Go on and live your life without worry. Once things settle down for you, send a letter to the Niven family under the name Esme. When I see it, I'll know it's from you. If there's a chance, I'll come see you."

The part about writing was there for one reason.

Fiona was guarding against Esme failing Zephyr's errand and being disposed of for it. If Esme had a reason to be seen by Fiona again, then Zephyr would leave her alive.

"Thank you, Ms. Fiona."

Esme knocked her head to the floor several more times.

Fiona arranged for someone to send her away.

Pearl asked, curious, "Ms. Fiona, then why did you even give her a name?"

Usually, a master only bestowed a name after taking someone in.

"Maybe it's because I really was fated with her. I just keep feeling that Esme suits her perfectly," Fiona said with a smile. "It's almost like I've seen her before in a dream."

Pearl sounded a little sour. "Good thing you didn't take her in. Otherwise your heart would've been stolen by her."

Fiona turned and looked at Pearl for a moment, then teased, "What, you're even jealous of her? You grew up with me from childhood. Who could possibly get ahead of you?"

Pearl's face warmed a little, and she didn't say anything else.

"You're a prince, Zephyr. How would I ever dare?" Since he'd laid it out that plainly, Fiona could only play along.

She couldn't keep insisting anymore that Elijah's matter had nothing to do with her.

Zephyr looked more satisfied after that.

"You know how it is. A man has to handle things outside. But I can promise you this—no one will threaten Fiona's place. As long as you marry me, the Niven family will become the foremost imperial in-laws."

The foremost imperial in-laws.

That meant the emperor's wife's family. The emperor's in-laws.

"What do you mean by that, Zephyr?" Fiona said, without letting anything show.

"I misspoke," Zephyr said with a smile.

But Fiona knew exactly what he was doing.

There was no chance he had said something like that by accident. More likely, he wanted her to carry the message back to her father—that he now held the upper hand. That was why he'd made that little "slip."

And it also showed he badly needed her father's support.

Things over in Broadmoor looked to be getting more and more unstable.

Maybe he already knew there was still something strange about Soren's "death."