Provoking a Graceful Bloom Novel

---- Chapter 114 Selena regarded Freya with cool detachment as she calmly said, "So, you intend to ruin my face?" "Do you think I dare not?" Freya's eyes blazed with fury, hotter than ever. "Even if | ruin your face, do you think Frederick would hold it against me?" "Then, by all means, try," Selena said, the corner of her mouth lifting in a faint, teasing smirk. The words were enough to fully ignite Freya's rage. "You asked for it!" she hissed. Raising her hand, she lunged forward, her fingers curling like claws.

Just as her hand was about to rake across Selena's delicate, flawless face, Selena raised her own hand to shield herself. To anyone watching, it looked like no more than a reflexive attempt at self-defense. But suddenly, Freya felt a piercing chill lash across her face. "Ah!" she shrieked, stumbling back several steps. Her neck burned with a sharp, stinging heat. She reached up and wiped at her neck, only to find streaks of blood on her fingers. ---- Her neck had been scratched... by her own hand? How could that be?

She looked back at Selena, who had only just lowered her hands from shielding herself. Not a mark marred her face. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Freya demanded, her voice rising with panic and fury. She scanned the area, but aside from two distant patrolling guards, there was no one. What had just happened? "Do you want to try again?" Selena asked with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "What trickery is this? Do you have allies hiding nearby?" Freya spat, glancing around wildly. Selena's smile was serene. "Was it not you who scratched yourself?

Foolish enough to do it yourself, and you think | need accomplices?" "How dare you!" Freya snapped. Her gaze swept the empty surroundings again, disbelief and anger warring in her expression. But no matter how hard she looked, she could not detect anything amiss around them. At last, her eyes fixed on Selena's face, fury blazing so hot in her eyes that they turned bloodshot. ---- And then, Freya suddenly laughed. "Hah, you scheme so carefully to seduce Fred, but what use is it? He doesn't feel a thing for you.

Have you really not realized that?" Selena had no desire to engage in such quarrels. Arguments with someone so desperate and irrational were tedious, absurd, and utterly meaningless. She simply felt bored. Seeing Selena attempt to pass her, Freya stepped once again into her path, teeth clenched. "Do you imagine your little schemes could make Fred return to you? Pah! He does not care for you. Nothing you do will matter." Selena continued to ignore her, stepping past and preparing to leave.

From behind, Freya called out coldly, "My skill is inferior to Sebastian's, yet how do you suppose | could have wounded him and ruined his body?" Selena froze mid-step. That was precisely what she had long wondered. She had once tried asking her brother, but he refused to speak of it. Thinking that perhaps he was too pained to recount the incident, she let it lie. Selena turned, her gaze sharp as it settled on Freya with a cold intensity that made the other woman flinch and instinctively step back. But almost immediately, she regained her composure. ---- Why should she fear Selena?

The woman was powerless. What could she possibly do? Pride swelling, she straightened her back, her eyes glinting with barely concealed triumph as she revealed, "Of course it was Fred who helped me." Selena's right hand tightened into a fist. "What?" A palpable chill radiated from her, forcing Freya's breath to catch. The latter's mind raced and panic flared, yet she gritted her teeth and snapped, "I meant to kill Sebastian that day, but he struck me instead. It was Fred who held him down, allowing me to strike at his vital spot!"