the Villainess they took for granted

Three days later, Marian stood before her mirror.

Her gown had been chosen carefully.

Not because she intended to compete with every debutante in the capital.

Not because she needed the entire ballroom looking at her.

She simply wanted to look her best.

If she was going to do this, she would do it properly.

That had always been Marian’s way.

Once she made a decision, she rarely saw the point in doing things halfway.

Her maid adjusted the final fold of her gown.

Marian studied herself in the mirror.

Yes.

This would do.

She knew Adrian’s preferences.

After eighteen years, how could she not?

He had always liked it when she made an effort.

Beautiful gowns.

Carefully arranged hair.

Jewelry.

And especially when Marian looked beautiful without pretending that she didn’t know it.

A faint smile touched her lips.

She remembered.

Marian turned toward her maid.

"Have someone bring out the jewelry I left in storage."

Her maid hesitated.

"The pieces from before?"

"Yes."

There was no need to explain further.

When Marian had become engaged to Cassian, she had put away the jewelry Adrian had given her.

She had not thrown it away. Much of it was far too valuable for that.

But she had not wanted to wear his gifts while preparing to marry another man.

A servant returned some time later carrying several small cases.

Marian opened them one by one.

Necklaces.

Bracelets.

Hair ornaments.

Earrings.

Then she saw them.

A pair of diamond earrings.

She picked them up.

She remembered exactly when Adrian had given them to her.

Her fingers lingered against the diamonds.

This was what she had been looking for.

If she was going to make the first attempt, she needed some way of knowing whether there was anything left on his side.

Adrian might still care.

He might not.

He might have moved on entirely.

Marian had no way of knowing.

But he would recognize these.

He had given them to her himself.

If he saw them tonight, he would understand that she had chosen to wear something that came from him.

That was enough.

She wasn’t going to ask him what he felt.

She would simply watch.

Marian looked down at the earrings.

Three years had passed since she had requested to end their engagement.

But the last time they had truly spoken about what existed between them had been much more recent.

Almost twenty-two months ago.

After her engagement to Cassian had been formalized, Adrian had still spoken to her.

She remembered that conversation clearly.

She remembered the questions he had asked.

She remembered the way he had looked at her.

And she remembered enough to know that, at that time, his feelings had not simply disappeared.

But almost two years was a long time.

Since then, everything had changed.

Adrian had become Emperor.

Marian had lost the man she loved and spent eighteen months away from the capital.

Neither of them was the same person they had been then.

She couldn’t know what remained.

The earrings, at least, would give her something to observe.

If his gaze lingered, she would know.

If something shifted in his expression, she would know.

And if there was nothing—

then she would know that too.

Marian smiled faintly.

"These."

Her maid carefully took the earrings and fastened them.

The diamonds caught the light.

Marian looked at herself again.

She wasn’t dressing as though Adrian had already chosen her.

She wasn’t assuming that he would want her.

She was simply making sure he understood that she had chosen to be noticed by him.

The rest belonged to him.

Marian sat while her maid finished arranging her hair.

Her heart was beating faster.

She didn’t deny it.

There was no reason to.

She had loved Adrian for eighteen years.

Perhaps what remained now was different.

Her love for Cassian had been immediate and consuming.

With Adrian, there was history.

Affection.

Familiarity.

Trust.

The comfort of knowing someone almost as well as she knew herself.

And before Elena Hart, everything between them had been perfectly fine.

She had loved him.

She simply had not loved him in the same way she had later loved Cassian.

That distinction mattered.

But perhaps it didn’t mean that what she had once felt for Adrian was gone.

Marian looked at her reflection.

The nervousness in her chest was difficult to ignore.

It wasn’t only because she was about to see Adrian again.

He was no longer merely the Crown Prince she had grown up beside.

He was the Emperor now.

The man she had once expected to marry had become the most powerful man in the Empire.

And in a few hours, she would stand before him again.

Marian drew a slow breath.

She had spent the last three days thinking about this.

There was no point pretending she hadn’t.

She had made her decision.

Now she simply had to find out what remained.

Her fingers touched one of the diamond earrings.

She knew Adrian would notice them.

After eighteen years, she knew him well enough to be certain of that much.

And she knew herself well enough to read what came after.

She knew the way his eyes changed when something caught his attention.

The slight shift in his expression when he was pleased.

The subtle signs he showed when he was trying not to reveal what he felt.

That knowledge had not simply vanished because their engagement had ended.

Marian looked at herself one final time.

The gown.

Her hair.

The diamond earrings Adrian had given her.

A deliberate choice.

A quiet message.

She was here.

She was looking at him.

And now she would see whether he looked back.

She picked up her gloves.

If he did, she would continue.

She would see where it led.

And if he didn’t—

she would accept it.

There were other men in the capital.

She would not spend the entire Season chasing a man who had no interest in her.

But she also wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life wondering whether she had given up on Adrian without even trying.

This was about giving herself a chance.

Whatever Adrian chose to do with that was entirely up to him.

He owed her nothing.

If he chose not to take it, Marian would accept that.

At least she would know she had tried.

She smiled faintly.

One attempt.

One honest look.

That was all she needed.

She turned toward the door.

The opening ball awaited her.

--

Tbc

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