Chereads / A Troublesome Engagement / Chapter 18 - Chapter 17: Above the Roses (1)

Chapter 18 - Chapter 17: Above the Roses (1)

"I'm not so sure you'll keep quiet about this though…"

An immensely quiet answer was all the raven haired woman received from the person sitting in front of her. Of course, she didn't find this insulting in one bit, instead she found it entertaining.

"Why would Killian even think about marrying an idiot like her? I'm sure this is just for pure convenience."

The woman with raven-colored hair chuckled, almost spitting her tea out of her mouth.

"I'm sure it is, but the fact that Killian Entrinia will marry Violet Amaryllis will not change no matter how pure the convenience is," The woman tried to sip on her tea again, careful enough not to have the urge to spit it out again. "And who knows, maybe Entrinia really wanted to marry that woman without other motives."

"That's impossible!"

The woman in front of her slammed both her hands on the table, making her teacup tilt and spill. The small sized desserts fell off from the three tier dessert tray and landed on the white table linen.

"Calm down…I said maybe."

The golden eyes of the woman landed like a block of cold ice onto the face of the raven haired woman, then averted her gaze and looked to the tranquil scenery beside her. The golden sun was granting the vigorous growing roses sunlight, the clear water running down from the tip of the fountain.

"...Violet Amaryllis, she can't be actually interested in Killian."

"I don't think she is, there was never a rumor that Killian and Violet were seeing each other. It must be…" Kiohne, the jet black haired woman, trailed off her explanation and conclusion by devouring the bite sized desserts one by one, except for the ones that fell off to the table cloth of course.

"It must be their parents. It's an arranged marriage."

The golden eyes of Brielle Teurun glinted with an unknown desire after hearing her own statement.

"I'm surprised that Killian didn't try to break the engagement though…How many months had they been engaged?"

Brielle asked with a hasty expression.

"A week?"

Khione answered.

"A week?"

Brielle's hand landed on her forehead, softly touching her roses colored locks. A satisfied and relieved expression swarmed her face and took a sip of her tea again.

"Thank goodness…"

Brielle muttered under her breath after the tea went down her throat.

"So? Are you going to do something about this?"

Khione asked, her left leg swinging back and forth.

"Let's just wait. I'm sure Killian will break off their engagement soon."

"What if he doesn't?"

"He will."

"Ah…Because that's what he did to anybody who tried to approach him for marriage?"

Brielle stopped everything she was doing, including her breathing. Khione noticed this and abruptly started to speak again but before she could do so, Brielle answered.

"Yes. That's exactly the reason."

Having known that she stepped out of the line, Khione let out an akward smile, beads of heavy sweat running down her forehead. Their afternoon ended with the golden sun shining above the roses.

***

Violet, on the other hand, was busy scaring children away with a face much more fearful than an unnamed serial killer's mask. Both Jade and Violet were heading for the orchard that Olivia's mother mentioned.

After hearing some details about the nearby orchard, she nagged at Violet to take her there. Violet had no plans to heed to her wishes of course, but Jade was more persistent than she originally thought.

"I heard it's the season of peaches right now, does the orchard have peaches too?"

"Who knows…"

Jade's eagerness and excitement was killed off by Violet's forced response. It sounded like the words themselves were struggling and were trying hard to jump out of her mouth.

"Can't you be a little excited? This is my first time visiting an orchard, you know?"

"I didn't know and don't give a f*ck."

"You-"

"Goodness! Miss Violet, is that you?!"

Jade was interrupted by another voice. Neither of them knew who owned the voice, so they stopped at their tracks.

At that moment, a lady carrying a basket on top of her head ran towards them at decent, normal speed.

"...Mrs. Martha, is something wrong?"

Violet surveyed the surroundings for a second, and once she made sure there was nothing out of the ordinary, she focused on the lady once more.

"Something wrong?" The lady, Martha, stopped in front of them, lowered the basket on her head and placed it on the ground, then heaved a heavy breath. After seeing the lady run to them as if she was in alarm, worry started to creep around Jade too.

"Of course there's nothing wrong!"

The lady beamed with happiness as soon as she raised her head back up. Jade felt ashamed for being worried about nothing, so did Violet.

"You scared me. I thought a building was on fire or something."

Violet crossed her arms and took a deep sigh.

"Oh! I see you brought someone too! Your sister?"

"No."

Violet dismissed her question in an instant.

"Your friend?"

"Yes."

This time, it was Jade who answered the lady's questions which made Violet turn her head around rustily. Jade only smiled brightly after seeing Violet's dejected expression.

"Ah, I see. You're here for sightseeing, hmm?" Martha picked her basket back up and placed it on her head again. Violet did not even get the chance to check what was inside the basket, but she paid no mind to the matter.

"Yes, Violet is giving me a tour around the village," said Jade with an inaudible giggle at the end. Mrs Martha gasped dramatically in surprise, almost like what Jade had said was completely otherworldly.

"Oh my…That's amazing! Where are you going first?"

Martha asked.

"We're going to the orchard! I don't know which orchard, but we're going there!"

"Oh, Velya's orchard! I'm heading there too, I hope you don't mind me joining you."

"We don't mind at all."

While they walked the non-concrete road,

Violet's face drained in both color and blood as she listened to Jade and Martha's chat. She was walking ahead of them—only about three steps, not wanting to overhear any more of their conversation.

"And you know, Miss Violet always acted like she was a rash person with a short temper, but she really wasn't!"

Martha exclaimed paired with exaggerated hand gestures.