Mated to the Mad Lord-Chapter 235: Hopes and Reality

The sun had set even more than before, but again, Fiona was relieved that there were still a lot of people in the plaza, which meant that it wouldn’t be easy for her father to act rudely against her and simply decide to kidnap her in anger if it came to it.

Finishing her glass of water, Fiona got up with her heart pounding in her chest and moved to leave the restaurant.

Just barely missing a waiter who was on her way to ask her if she had made up her mind about the food she was going to eat.

Walking down the stairs of the building felt heavier than usual, but she did it, making her way down to the streets. Her heart thumped even louder when she saw the number of cars, aware of the number of bodyguards that would be in them.

Regardless, she marched forward, standing a few steps away in visible sight so that her father would have no issues meeting her gaze. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

But she had underestimated him.

She had barely stood still on the side of the sidewalk when she saw the car door open, with Eldric walking out with a soft smile on his face as he met her gaze.

Again, her heart raced in her chest as she raised her hand and beckoned him forward, noticing even with the distance between them how easily she could see the frown that threatened to appear on his face.

One he struggled to hold back as he stepped forward, signaling for his bodyguards to stay back as he moved to stand beside her.

He wore a suit this time around that somehow made him look like a cheery uncle instead of the devil of a man she knew him to be.

"What is this?" He chuckled the second he moved to stand beside her, facing forward instead of turning to take her entire image in.

"Are there snipers waiting to shoot me down?" he asked, and Fiona was more than aware that although he used a joking and light tone, he was most definitely half-serious.

Shaking her head before he was done speaking, she stared ahead too, doing her best not to lower her head, sure that the moment she did was the moment she would be treated as less.

"It’s nice to see you, Father!" she said with a light tinge of a smile on her face, meaning it, but at this time, whatever was left of Eldric’s light humor was quickly flowing away with the evening wind.

"I would say the same if you didn’t look well! If I’m being precise, your cheeks look even more rosy than before!" he pointed out with a look of displeasure that Fiona caught and immediately saw a need to address.

Not seeing any reason why she had to keep stalling, especially when she would have to get to it no matter what.

"William kidnapped me!" she began, noting the slight expression of surprise on her father’s face even as she hurried to continue.

"It’s good that you were able to—"

"But I have fallen for him, and I’m carrying his child!" Unable to resist the urge to gently rub her belly as she spoke, she felt Eldric’s heated gaze turn to fix his eyes on her face with an incredulous expression.

"YOU’RE JOKING!" he snapped, but Fiona simply turned her head all the way to hold his gaze just as intensely to communicate the fact that she wasn’t.

A few moments of tense silence suddenly passed in which Fiona waited for him to explode and rain insults on her.

Aware that it was his nature, she wasn’t surprised when he opened his mouth to speak with a wretched expression on his face.

"You are a bigger idiot than I thought!" he said, the insult milder than she expected, but the impact was much greater, especially when he held her gaze and spoke in a way that he truly believed what he had just said.

"I spent so long training you, and you end up falling for ’LOVE!’" he barked out, his brown eyes burning in anger as he fixed them on her, fists balled tightly beside him as he turned his gaze back to the streets.

Releasing a long sigh before forcing his hands into the pockets of his pants after adjusting his suit.

Again, a long moment of silence passed in which both of them said nothing, especially Eldric, who had already realized why he had been called.

"You do know that William is not going to—" he suddenly began to speak just at the very moment when Fiona also opened her mouth to do the same.

"Father...I need the antidote for the poison you gave him!" she said, her words bringing a huge smirk to his face as he turned to look at her with an even greater disbelieving expression.

So much for LOVE! he thought to himself as he realized that William was simply using her, and from the looks of it, he had already achieved his goal.

At that very moment, he no longer saw any reason to be polite and was just about to signal towards the bodyguards to pick Fiona up when he heard her turn to him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Please, Father...I know this isn’t Cain’s child, but William is also a Lord! That has to count for something!" she begged with tears in her eyes, as she wondered if her father would actually go as far as to allow William to die even after she told him he was the father of her child.

Again, the smirk on Eldric’s face only grew much bigger as he stared at her, shaking his head in slight delight.

"You love him?" he asked her, watching her immediately nod her head to respond with an intensity in her eyes.

"I do! I really love him!" she confessed with the entirety of her soul and a burning look in her eyes, but all Eldric felt was the urge to laugh right in her face, an urge he barely held back as he chuckled under his breath, nodding his head.

"Then I’ll give him the antidote! I’m not such a callous man to do such a terrible thing to the father of my grandchild!" he sighed with a look that said, for once, he would take a step back.

Fiona was astounded, and it showed on her face as she stood rooted to the ground, staring at his face with a shocked expression, even as a smile slowly spread across it.

"Father!" she gasped, wanting to cling to him only to hold back, recalling the fact that they had never been that close in the first place.

Still! She beamed at him. "Thank you, Father!!"

Eldric shook his head slightly in response.

"No need! No need!" he responded with a light smile, even as he continued to stand there with his hands in his pockets, looking forward as his suit jacket flapped a little in the wind.

Fiona was excited, and it was clear on her face. Unable to hold back, she asked when she would be able to get it.

"He’s terribly sick, Father...it worries me! The faster I get the antidote, the better!" she said, and Eldric also nodded his head.

"I agree! But it also worries me that he might not accept it!" Eldric sighed, even as he raised his hands and gestured to a bodyguard who immediately hurried over.

Fiona’s body stiffened as she struggled to stand still and not run until she heard Eldric order the guard to bring a box.

"You brought it?" she gasped in excitement, and Eldric, acting like a doting father, smiled in response.

"Of course!" His gaze was still raised up and forward, Fiona’s excited gaze on the guard in a way that allowed her to completely miss the cruel and dark look that flashed in Eldric’s gaze as he spoke to her.

"What’s the first lesson I taught you?" he asked in a low tone, turning to look at Fiona, whose gaze was still fixed on the guard.

"Always keep your enemies’ weakness close!" he said, a soft look in his eyes as he looked at her, which Fiona caught when she turned to look at him, only to interpret it as nothing but a doting expression for a daughter he hadn’t seen in a while.