The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 318

The banquet hall was awash in dazzling light, the clinking of glasses echoing everywhere.

The crystal chandeliers cast brilliant rainbows over the elegantly dressed crowd, highlighting soft laughter and shimmering jewelry. Servers wove through the guests with trays of champagne, the silver catching the chill of the lights.

Christian stood frozen like a stone statue.

People drifted past him. Some cast curious glances, others whispered to their companions. He heard absolutely none of it.

Only one sentence was looping violently through his skull:

Iris is Evelyn.

Evelyn is Iris.

The woman who spent three years in the Lancaster house, quietly tending to her plants, so silent she practically didn't exist.

The woman he had ignored, neglected, and ultimately thrown out like garbage.

She was the medical genius, Dr. Rose.

She was the legendary jewelry designer, Iris.

Two different identities, each one globally revered.

Yet in those three long years, he had never once bothered to really look at her.

Christian's fingers began to tremble.

He remembered all those days she had spent kneeling in the garden, planting roses all by herself. The sunlight had warmed her back, her fingers caked in dirt, a faint, contented smile on her face.

Back then, he had dismissed her as a shallow rich girl playing in the dirt.

Now he realized she wasn't just planting flowers.

She was cultivating her inspiration.

Those were the masterpieces that would later stun the world.

He remembered the times she sat by the window, sketching quietly in a notebook. He had never once walked over to look, assuming it was just a pathetic housewife's hobby.

Now he realized she hadn't just been doodling.

She was sketching Heart of the Rose.

The very necklace that had just brought the entire room to its feet.

He remembered the day she left. She took nothing but two suitcases. Every single piece of jewelry he had ever bought her was lined up perfectly in the drawer, utterly abandoned.

She hadn't wanted a single thing from him.

She just wanted out.

Christian squeezed his eyes shut.

He felt like the entire world was one massive lie.

His father lied to him, his mother lied to him, Lyra lied to him, and even the woman he thought was completely useless had lied to him.

No, she hadn't lied.

She simply had never shown him who she truly was.

Because he had never bothered to look.

An indescribable torrent of emotion clawed at his chest. Fury? Grief? Agonizing regret? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that he needed to break something, or he was going to lose his mind.

His hand clamped down violently.

He was still holding his champagne flute.

"Are you insane?!" she shrieked, her voice shaking. "What did you just do?!"

Christian didn't answer.

He just stared blankly at his bleeding hand, his eyes completely hollow.

Piper panicked, screaming at the server. "Get me a towel! A bandage! Anything to stop the bleeding!"

The server nodded frantically and bolted away.

Just then, Miles shoved his way through the crowd. He had just returned from tracking Evelyn, only to walk straight into this massacre. The blood drained from his face.

"Boss!"

He snatched the towel from the returning server and immediately bound Christian's wound. The pristine white cloth soaked through with crimson in seconds, but the heavy bleeding slowed.

"Boss, we have to get you to a hospital," Miles ordered.

Piper nodded frantically. "Yes, yes, go to the hospital! I'll come with you!"

Christian finally spoke, his voice cracked and raw.

"No."

He looked at Piper, forcing a grotesque, twisted smile. "Stay here. Network with your mentor. Don't throw away your shot because of this."

"But your hand..."

"It's fine," Christian cut her off. "Just a scratch."

Piper stared into his eyes. The sheer agony churning inside them rendered her completely mute.

She opened her mouth, but ultimately just nodded in defeat.