She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 168

He casually pulled a book from the shelf and flipped it open, realizing with a jolt that it was entirely in French.

While he wasn't fluent, he knew enough to catch the gist as he skimmed through the pages.

A memory surfaced. Once, Hulda had received a massive, heavy delivery.

At the time, she was still taking cooking lessons from Callie, so he assumed she was just wasting his money on more useless, high-end culinary gadgets.

When she opened the boxes, he had found them packed with books—half of which were foreign-language texts.

What was it he had said to her back then?

Right. He had called her pretentious.

Before he realized it, he had flipped all the way to the back. There, neatly written on the final blank page, was a detailed reading reflection—written entirely in flawless French.

Line by line, an entire page of fluid, precise handwriting.

He recognized her handwriting immediately.

Herbert stared at the page, struggling to translate her complex French vocabulary, feeling a heavy, sickening thud against his ribs.

He quickly reached for another book. This one was in German.

Unlike the French novel, almost every single page of this heavy text was covered in Hulda's meticulous German annotations.

Herbert didn't speak a word of German. Pulling out his phone, he used a translation app to scan a page, only to discover that it was an incredibly advanced, authoritative textbook on quantum mechanics.

He thumbed through the pages, staring at the dense, highly technical notes written in his wife's hand, his heart hammering against his chest.

Suddenly, he vividly remembered the sheer, unadulterated joy on her face the day those books had arrived.

And he remembered her reaction when he had scoffed and called her "pretentious."

She had frozen for a second, looking at him calmly, and said, "I'm going to read every single one of them."

He recognized the name of the pastry immediately. It was the exact one she used to bring to his study every night while he worked.

No wonder he hadn't been able to stomach more than one bite of the version Sylvie had baked for him recently. She hadn't known to adjust the sugar.

The notebook started by solely tracking his preferences. Further in, it began recording what Miles liked, and eventually, it expanded to document the exact culinary preferences of every single member of the Jewell family.

Herbert closed the heavy leather notebook and let out a long, deep breath.

He had to admit, her icy demeanor at the press conference and the sudden appearance of Caspian Sterling had genuinely triggered a terrifying sense of losing control.

But right now, holding this journal in his hands, that panic evaporated completely.

Hulda loved him so deeply. She had resorted to desperate measures just to marry him. After the wedding, she had made him the absolute center of her universe, sacrificing her own pride to bend over backward for his entire family. She had even abandoned her own brilliant scientific career just for him.

A woman who loved him like that could never actually walk away from him, or from their home.