Irresistible Touch

Chapter 19

Lilian:

I was still out of it when I reached home.

I thought I had done everything I could to avoid him, but clearly, I did not do enough. Otherwise, I would not have met him again.

Oh, God… What have I done so wrong? Do not torment your loyal devotee like this, please!

Did he pass by the strap by chance or was it a premeditated visit?

Since he had Andrew buy up all the pastries from our stall, I could not help but wonder whether he was buying them for Diana.

It could not be true that a rich young lady like herself actually took a fancy to my mother's simple pastries, right? How could that be? A woman of her status must have tried all the delicacies this world had to offer, so how could such simple peasantry cuisine capture her taste?

Unless… Did Diana tell him something? Is that why he came by to take a look?

I scratched my head in exasperation, hoping I could scratch some wits into my stupid head so that I could clear my mind of this nonsense soon, but clearly, other than making my scalp sore, my silly attempt was completely useless.

Stupid, stupid head… Everything in there seemed to disappear when I needed it most.

"Sweetie, what’s going on with you? You've been acting strange all day."

My mother's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Hastily, I gave her a smile and shook my head. "Nothing's wrong, Mother. I think I'm just struggling to readapt to helping out at the stall since I've been home the past few days."

My mother's expression clearly said that she did not believe me, but she did not question me more than that. Instead, she stroked my cheek gently and smiled back. "You should rest if you feel tired, dear. I'll call you once dinner is ready."

"All right, Mother." I knew that she was letting me off here, which I was grateful about.

Sorry, Mother. Seems I made you worry again, but there are things that I just cannot tell you, I'm afraid.

After returning to my room, I flopped down on my bed and tried to clear my thoughts, but a certain figure haunted me persistently, constantly pervading my mind's eye.

I remembered so clearly the expression he had then, I remembered every word, every syllable that left his mouth.

I must be jinxed.

I hate having my emotions messed around like this, but I just could not control it.

What does he, o' mighty Wolf King want, running out of his stupid castle and coming all the way to a rural town like mine? Does he truly believe that he was the strongest Alpha there ever was and that nobody could ever pose a threat to him?

Our race had always been one to revere the strong. One cannot stay a Wolf King forever just because they defeated the king and took their place once. As soon as the slightest weakness appeared, their enemies, lurking in the dark, would take that opportunity to strike and replace them.

That was why no one person had ever occupied the position of Wolf King for too long. After all, there had never been a shortage of the strong and ambitious among the werewolves as a race.

Even though I did not like Arthur, I had been by his side for three years. Even though he hid his emotions well, I was still able to lift the veil and get to understand him, even just a little.

He did not believe in love. He was a controlling man who could not accept being swayed by anyone else.

Well... I do admit that he resembles me in that regard, but I gave up on love on my own terms. I doubt he was ever born believing that love could truly exist, either in him or the world.

As he grew older, he knew he had to take precautions and make connections to protect his position, and the best way to do that was to form a bond with someone through political marriage.

The power of his spouse's family could become his greatest asset. After all, he did not have anyone by his side who he could truly put his trust in other than Andrew.

To be precise, Arthur was a man who had no trust in anyone but himself, not even Andrew who he seemed to hold in such high regard.

Getting married to a man like that for eternity... Goodness, just the thought of it made me shiver.

I suddenly felt a twang of sympathy for poor Diana.

No... Why was I thinking about this nonsense again? I should be thinking about whether or not that man's appearance today was a coincidence or not instead.

Oh God, please save me and free me of this habit of letting my mind wander.

I lost sleep that night.

The next morning, when I sat at the dinner table with dark rings around my eyes, my mother looked shocked. "Oh, my dear, did you not sleep well last night? Was it a nightmare?"

Father noticed my poor complexion too and asked in concern, "Lilian, why don't you stay home today and catch up on sleep? You don't look so good."

"Yes, you're right. Our sweet daughter needs proper rest to save her pretty little face." My mother nodded approvingly.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes before shaking my head. "I can't fall asleep during the day. Don't worry, I'll just sleep a little earlier tonight."

I had never had the habit of napping during the day. Even with the curtains shut and the room dark, it still felt nearly impossible for me to fall asleep. Perhaps that was just how my biological clock was set. I could only fall asleep at night.

My parents were aware of my sleeping habits too, so they did not press the issue. However, my mother did urge me to head home if I felt sleepy and not try to push myself.

Of course, I nodded in agreement, but I had already decided that I would hang in there until the evening no matter what. That man had already left the town with his fiancée yesterday, anyway. There was no need for me to skulk around anymore.

After breakfast, I followed Mother out to set up the stall.

As soon as we finished putting our pastries on display, the man from the neighboring stall came by and asked, "Could I have a few of these, please?"

My mother looked at him in surprise before nodding with a smile. "Of course! Pick out whatever you like. I'll give you a good price since it's you."

The man smiled gratefully at her and rubbed his hands together. "Why don't you make the decision for me? I'm sure your pastries must be scrumptious if even the Wolf King himself is your customer. I'd like to give them a try too."

As he was talking, several other stall owners came by as well with the same request. They were all asking for the pastries that the Wolf King enjoyed.

The unexpected boost in sales was a flattering surprise for my mother. She gave all of them discounts and packed their orders carefully.

Once they were gone, my mother said in awe to me, "Oh sweetie, I never thought that something like this would actually happen to us! If I had known business would be booming today, I would have made sure to fill the Wolf King's order to the brim yesterday. With a nice discount too, of course."

I did not expect that Arthur's visit yesterday would inadvertently become a form of advertising for our pastry stall. For a while, I felt a troubling conflict of emotions welling up in me.

We managed to sell out all our goods today, and there were even people who put in orders for the next day, all attracted by the news that even the Wolf King himself enjoyed the pastries so much that he bought them to go.

The sudden improvement in the business made my mother overjoyed. She even thought of inventing new recipes to keep the variety fresh.

As for me, even though I was still as disgusted by that man as usual, it was hard to feel unhappy when profits were rolling in.