CHAPTER 57: AFTER-EFFECTS 2

"I can tell you're not at ease being here, so I'll get right to the point. I must warn you, however, that this is me being honest with myself; I will not force you to do anything," Nadia finally hit the young man on the head with the nail, making him nervous.

"All right, then, go ahead."

Nadia chuckled as she listened to the forceful statement made by the person she was crushing on. To think that there were days when she couldn't think straight because of him, and yet when he's in her company, all he wants to do is get away from her.

Was she truly that awful? Was there nothing good about her that would cause at least one person to fall completely in love with her without any motive?

"I've been in love with you for quite some time. I wanted to wait until I was an adult to tell you about it, and I also hoped that by now you would have guessed my true intentions and acted on them, but I guess I was overconfident with myself," Nadia confessed as she twirled her glass of red wine.

The young man didn't expect Nadia to say everything out loud like that. He felt extremely awkward now, and he had no idea how to respond to her. He had no idea what she would do if he rejected her, and if he lied to her and pretended to agree, his lover would murder him.

He was now in a bind, and he had no idea how to get out of it.

"Like I said, I'm just here to tell you how I used to feel. These last few days have made me think a lot, and I've realized that I'll never be able to have you in this life. So why should I squander my youth pinning for you and lighting a candle for someone who has another person in his heart?"

Hearing that, the young man was taken aback for a moment, but he felt better because he could tell Nadia had truly changed and would not hold this against him.

"I am so glad you are seeing things clearly. Nadia, you're a nice girl, but forcing things isn't the way to go. I hope you find someone who loves you as much as you love yourself one day," the young man decided to smooth things over.

Nadia felt pricked by needles as she listened to him speak as if he wasn't involved in this matter. She was overjoyed that she had decided to think things through and get rid of these poisonous feelings; otherwise, she would have gone berserk to teach this jerk a lesson.

"Hahahahahahahaha, I will not harm you in any way. I just want you to know that one day in the future, you will look back on this day and regret every single word that you just said," Nadia said solemnly, sending shivers down his spine.

"You..."

"Thank you for stopping by, and you can be assured that from now on, I will not bother you," Nadia said, picking up her expensive handbag and leaving the room to the young man himself.

"Shit!!!!!" yelled the young man as he threw a glass against the wall. He was so enraged at the thought of being powerless against an eighteen-year-old and feeling so threatened that he wanted to bury himself.

"I am so helpless; if I had more power and authority, no one would trample on me like this in the future. One day, I'll show these girls that they messed up because of how they treated me!" the young man swore solemnly as he chugged the expensive wine down his throat.

Nadia had no idea that what she did on this day would result in the birth of a powerful man in the future who grew up to not care about anyone. Whatever he desired, he was willing to go to any length to obtain it, even if his regrets piled up in the end and he was unable to obtain the one person he desired at the time.

But did it make a difference to Nadia? No way, the young lady was in a bad mood and was on her way to some retail therapy to heal her broken heart.

                                                                  ****

A young woman with a frown was busy going through some files in a different duchy and in a large living room. Things had not been going well, especially after Arianna's counterattack, which had left Ruby with a lingering trauma in her heart.

Everywhere she went, she felt as if everyone was laughing at her and mocking her. Arianna made her realize that while some people may appear to be adoring her, in the end, they all see her as the same person she was at the start.

To them, she was just a social climber, someone who got lucky and became a member of the aristocracy, but the fact remained that Ruby was a commoner, and that was one thing she would never be able to change in this life.

Arianna forced her to see it. Ruby felt hopeless after she was taunted with those words in front of so many people. It had always been her who had the ball and was in charge of everything, but that one mistake changed everything.

Arianna trampled on her dignity so severely that she became ill for several days afterwards. Since when had Ruby suffered such a crushing defeat, especially at the hands of someone so spoiled that she wouldn't even lift a finger to fight?

Ruby despised Arianna so much that she wished to further tarnish her name, but who knew there were so many insane people out there? The more she did it, the more enraged her fans became and acted even crazier.

In the end, she was defeated and had to accept the status quo. Lucas called several times, but she refused to speak with him. She didn't want to see the other person because she had been humiliated because of him.

So Ruby avoided Lucas like the plague, refusing to see him when he came by, rejecting his calls and refusing to respond to his texts.

It had been a long time since she had seen his face, and she truly missed him, but Ruby was not the type of person to bow down first.

If she does that, will he not trample on her in the future, knowing she will lower herself for him again? Ruby is aware that she does not have many strong points, and that if Lucas grows tired of her, he will leave her and marry some aristocratic girl as if nothing happened.

But she was a different story; the moment she tied herself to Lucas, she locked herself in a prison from which she would never be able to escape. If everything were to fall apart one day, she would be remembered as the commoner who was once engaged to a young duke and nearly made it there.

She doubted that there would be brave men willing to accompany her if such a time came in the future.

She signed the last file she had been reading before closing it. Ruby understands that in order to survive this harsh life, she must do everything herself and have something of her own, which is why she runs a few businesses to support herself.

She wasn't born a fool to rely solely on a man, especially since men were unpredictable. She didn't want to wake up one day to find Lucas no longer on her side and her entire source of income gone.

While she still had the opportunity, she decided to take advantage of it and create something for the betterment of her life while resources were plentiful.

She stood up and stretched for a few moments after finishing her work for the day before making her way to the kitchen, where she poured herself a glass of guava juice and chunked it down her throat.

Ruby, who was feeling refreshed and a little full, decided to order some pizza online and eat it while watching a romantic movie. Because she couldn't call Lucas because of her behavior, she decided to do it all at once.

Thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang, and she dashed to the door, clutching some bank notes. When she opened the door, she froze because what she saw wasn't the delivery man she was expecting, but rather someone she didn't expect to see for a while.

"You...!"

"Are you expecting someone else? Are you really that sad to see me?" Lucas inquired, sarcastically, as he observed Ruby's expression.

"What exactly are you doing here?"

"Unlike someone who has completely forgotten about her obligations, I am here to check in on my fiancée. I am a person who remembers. "So who are you looking forward to?" Lucas couldn't help but inquire.

He didn't like how she'd come happily to the door, only to have her face drop like that when she saw him. Was she seeing someone else now that she had achieved the level of celebrity that any other girl would kill for?

"I am waiting for my food," Ruby said without hesitation because she knew that if Lucas was provoked, he would transform into a beast, which Ruby did not want to see on a day like this.