the Villainess they took for granted

The invitation arrived the two days later.

Marian was having breakfast in the morning room when a footman entered carrying a silver-trimmed envelope.

He placed it beside her plate.

"From the Imperial household, my lady."

Marian looked down.

The seal was unmistakable.

For a moment, she simply stared at it.

Then she reached for the envelope and broke the seal.

The paper inside was heavy and cream-colored, the Imperial crest embossed at the top.

Marian read the formal wording.

The Emperor, under whose patronage the Season would commence, requested the honor of her presence at the opening ball.

Her eyes moved lower.

Three days from now.

Marian leaned back slightly.

"That was quick."

She had known the ball was coming.

Everyone had.

The arrangements had apparently been settled for days, even if the invitations had not yet been released.

Still, seeing the date written down made it feel different.

The Season was no longer something they had been discussing over tea.

It was beginning.

And she was going.

Marian folded the invitation carefully.

Her thoughts returned to Clara’s drawing room.

To the teasing.

To the questions.

To the suggestion she had initially found almost ridiculous.

Why not consider Adrian?

She had laughed at it then.

She had even continued laughing afterward.

But she had thought about it.

More than she intended to.

The problem was that every time she tried to dismiss the idea, she found herself returning to the same conclusion.

Adrian made sense.

Far too much sense.

If she approached marriage practically, there was hardly another man who could compete with him.

He was the Emperor.

His wealth was beyond question.

His position could not be challenged.

He could provide House Valmont with security without becoming another burden upon it.

A marriage to him would strengthen her family in ways no ordinary marriage could.

And then there was the fact that she knew him.

That alone mattered.

With another gentleman, she would have to spend the Season learning who he was.

She would have to discover his temperament, his habits, his patience, his faults.

She would have to determine whether she could actually live beside him.

Whether she could respect him.

Whether she could tolerate him when they were alone.

Whether she could imagine waking beside him for decades without eventually wanting to flee.

Adrian was not an unknown.

She knew his strengths.

She knew his temper.

She knew how he behaved when he was irritated, when he was tired, when he was pleased.

She knew how serious he could be.

She knew how quietly stubborn he could become when he had made up his mind.

She knew what kind of man he had been before he became Emperor.

And now—

He was Emperor.

That was the part she still had difficulty imagining.

For most of her life, Adrian had been the Crown Prince.

The man she was expected to marry.

The future Emperor she had grown up beside.

Now he was no longer waiting for the throne.

He was sitting on it.

Marian lowered her eyes.

She had not seen him in eighteen months.

That thought suddenly felt much more significant than it had yesterday.

Eighteen months.

She wondered how much he had changed.

She wondered whether he would look different.

Whether the responsibilities of the Empire had hardened him.

Whether he was still the same Adrian beneath the crown.

And, despite herself, she wondered what it would feel like to stand in front of him again.

Marian sighed.

This was precisely why she had wanted to think about the matter before the Season began.

She could not afford to let herself become sentimental.

She had already learned where that could lead.

Her love for Cassian had been real.

It had been deep and immediate and entirely her own choice.

She had chosen him.

She had loved him.

She had intended to marry him.

She would never diminish what they had simply because he was gone.

But that did not mean Adrian had meant nothing to her.

Before Elena Hart, everything between them had been fine.

Perhaps it had never been the same kind of love she had felt for Cassian.

It had been quieter.

Older.

Interwoven with eighteen years of familiarity.

Adrian had been part of her life for so long that loving him had once seemed almost as natural as breathing.

There had been no question that they would marry.

No question that he would become Emperor and she would stand beside him.

Then everything had changed.

Marian had chosen Cassian.

She had walked away from that future.

And now Cassian was presumed dead.

Marian looked down at the invitation again.

She had returned to the capital intending to find a husband.

That much was already decided.

So why was she treating Adrian as though considering him would somehow be wrong?

Because she had once rejected him?

That was not a practical reason.

Because she did not know whether he would forgive her?

That was precisely what she needed to find out.

Marian rested her chin lightly against her hand.

There was one uncomfortable truth she could no longer avoid.

If she was going to put the same effort into getting to know another man, why deliberately exclude the one man who already satisfied almost everything she wanted?

It made no sense.

She could meet ten gentlemen.

Twenty.

She could spend weeks speaking to their families and observing them at dinners and balls.

She could carefully determine whether any of them were suitable.

But Adrian was already there.

He was not a stranger.

He was wealthy.

Powerful.

Capable.

Familiar.

And, as far as she knew, still someone she could imagine living with.

Love could come later.

Perhaps it would.

Perhaps it wouldn’t.

Marian no longer believed love alone was enough to build a life.

But if she could have affection, familiarity, security, compatibility, and the possibility of love all in the same marriage—

Why wouldn’t she try?

She smiled faintly.

"All right."

There was no need to make it more complicated than that.

She would try.

Not because she expected Adrian to take her back.

Not because she assumed he was still waiting for her.

Not because she believed she was entitled to another chance.

She would simply give the possibility a chance.

If he was receptive, she would continue.

If he wasn’t, she would move on.

There was an entire Season ahead of her.

Marian folded the invitation again.

Then a thought occurred to her.

She was going to see him.

Her heart gave a sudden, unmistakable beat.

Marian blinked.

She hadn’t expected that.

She looked toward the window.

This wasn’t the same as thinking about Adrian in the abstract.

In three days, he would actually be there.

She would see him.

He would see her.

And for the first time in eighteen months, they would be standing in the same room.

Marian smiled despite herself.

Perhaps she was nervous.

Perhaps she was simply curious.

Perhaps it was both.

Either way, she had made her decision.

She would try.

And she would see what happened.

--

Tbc

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!