Reborn to Flee My Fiance's Obsession (Fiona and Soren) novel Chapter 318

"Your son will be more careful from now on," Zephyr said at once, catching the meaning and following it.

Emperor Aldric flicked a hand.

"You may go."

At the Fragrant Leaf Teahouse, Fiona sat with Cierra for a short while, then rose and took her leave.

"Ms. Fiona, I don't know when I'll be able to come to the Fragrant Leaf Teahouse again, so you don't need to come looking for me," Cierra said. Marcus had only rarely let her out to get a little air.

Fiona smiled.

"Once this stretch passes, it'll get better. Ms. Cierra won't have to keep living like this, with every day spent waiting for the next shock."

Cierra nodded.

"I'm very glad Ms. Fiona came to see me."

By now, the only family Cecilia could still see was Fiona.

Fiona left a few small trinkets behind for her.

But when Fiona walked out and neared the carriage, something felt off.

The driver looked like someone had him under threat, so stiff he didn't dare make a move.

Fiona stopped short.

Her mind ran back over everything she had done after coming to Fragrant Leaf Teahouse today, checking each step for anything careless, anything that might have given her away.

Only after confirming that she had merely seen Morgan and met with Cierra did she ease a little.

Even if someone suspected her, suspicion alone meant nothing without proof.

A light breeze passed by, and with it came the scent of gardenia.

Fiona paused again.

Among the men she knew, only Soren liked to wear the same fragrance when he was around her.

She stepped forward and lifted the curtain.

Sitting upright inside was none other than Soren.

He had likely dressed this way to avoid notice. He wore ordinary black brocade, and his face looked stern and composed, carrying that same distant chill from her last life beneath the clean edge of his noble bearing.

That familiar indifference held her in place for a long moment.

"It has only been half a year, and Ms. Fiona already can't recognize me?" he asked, his voice low and steady.

The second he spoke, that coldness broke apart.

Only then could anyone catch the faint teasing tucked inside his words.

Only then did Fiona let out the breath she had been holding, though before anything else, she turned and scanned the area around them.

"I've already checked. No one else was following you," Soren said when he saw how guarded she was.

Only then did Fiona mean to get into the carriage.

He knew exactly where Fiona drew the line.

The people under her hand were all chosen by her personally. If he touched one of hers, he would be crossing straight into territory she would not let pass, so he had kept his measure and would not do something that would sour her against him.

"That Esme from before was someone Zephyr meant to plant beside you. She wasn't some ordinary girl from an ordinary household."

A planted handmaid was a maid selected and trained as a spy.

Compared to ordinary girls, they were born sharper and far more alert.

"I never let her stay by my side," Fiona said.

"Even if you had, once I returned to Jexburgh, I still would've dealt with her." Soren's tone did not shift. "I won't allow Zephyr's people around you. Leave something like that in place long enough, and sooner or later it'll blow everything apart."

Fiona paused.

Then it clicked.

In her last life, Soren had probably known Esme's identity too. He just had never interfered with the people around her. He had likely taken it for lingering attachment to Zephyr and assumed she had deliberately kept Zephyr's person close.

And if his suspicion had gone any farther, he might even have taken her for Zephyr's spy.

For a husband to endure that much, there was no way it had sat cleanly with him.

No matter how little Soren had liked her then, that did not mean he could have been completely untouched by either that betrayal or the shame of it.

Whether he had tolerated her as a spy or tolerated that humiliation, in that past life he had probably let it go for one reason only.

She had saved his life.