Provoking a Graceful Bloom Novel

---- Chapter 183 The moment Freya saw Frederick, her eyes immediately welled with tears. She felt wronged, resentful, and utterly helpless. "Fred, why did you refuse to see me? If | hadn't come to find you, were you really planning on never seeing me again?" She wiped her tears as she stood in the courtyard, glaring at him. Her cheeks were flushed, whether from anger, humiliation, or both, it was hard to tell. Frederick cast her a brief glance, then stepped past her and entered the study. Freya bit her lip, her sense of grievance deepening. How could he ignore her so completely?

"Fred!" Her voice, once soft and pained, now trembled with anger. However, Frederick didn't answer. He walked straight into the study and began his work. Freya had no intention of following him inside, feeling it would be humiliating to do so when he hadn't even tried to make amends! But once he entered the study, he immediately set to work without sparing her another glance. Her indignation boiled over, and she struggled between leaving and staying. In the end, she followed him into the study, her face ablaze with fury. ---- "Fred! What's going on?

If you despise me so, then let us end this here! From now on-" Finally, he looked up from the papers to fix her with a cool stare. "I lay on my sickbed for three days, yet you didn't come to see me. Did you expect me to soothe you when | was barely able to stand?" His eyes were much colder than before, but that wasn't all. There was a deep disappointment, and, almost painfully, a trace of doubt directed at her. Freya was momentarily at a loss for words, but her face still burned with anger. "I tried to see you, but they wouldn't let me in. What else could I do?

| care for you, you know I do!" Frederick let out a light sigh, and an overwhelming fatigue suddenly washed over him. He was weary. Bone-weary. He hadn't seen Selena today, and he knew it was because she still harbored resentment toward him. That's why she had deliberately avoided him and hid herself away. Otherwise, how could she have gone somewhere unknown with Aurora after knowing he was waiting for her? In truth, her relationship with Aurora was hardly close. As far as he knew, Selena had never spent any private time with her.

Observing the burdened expression on Frederick's face and the ---- distant way he now regarded her, Freya felt the fire of her anger slowly ebb. In its place grew a quiet, aching sense of grievance. "You really think I'm that foolish, that I'd insist on doing things | don't understand just to show off? | did it all for you!" She bit her lip, her eyes stinging as tears slipped down. But instead of softening Frederick's heart, her tears only fueled his irritation further. "Fey, | have matters to attend to. You should go back," he said, opening another letter.

There was a pile of official documents waiting for him to deal with. Back when Selena was by his side, she often helped shoulder the burden. Things had felt so much easier then. He had trusted Selena implicitly, and the letters she handled needed no scrutiny on his part. She always knew which matters were important and which could wait. The pressing issues, she would ask his opinion, while the rest, she handled on her own without needing to consult him. Selena had been so young then, but already extraordinary. Yet, he had allowed such a remarkable lady to slip away.

'My dearest Lena...' "Do you truly believe Selena joined the campaign to save you?" Freya asked, knowing full well all the rumors spreading outside. ---- She glared at Frederick, her eyes red with anger. "If everyone else is foolish, does that mean you have to be too? Fred, she didn't go to Mount Iron for your sake. She went for herself!"