Her Graceful War Song by Summer's Blaze

Thomas met Zoey's gaze, feeling a knot in his throat. It was a matter of a man's dignity, and he wasn't sure how to articulate his thoughts.

"Do you know everything?" Zoey asked, studying his expression.

"I can't say I know everything." He sighed deeply before asking outright, "After I left for the Southern Frontier, did she develop feelings for my cousin? Did they exchange tokens of affection?" "Tokens of affection?" Zoey wasn't aware of that detail.

Thomas stood and walked to the drawer behind his desk, pulling out an emerald pendant. "I found this under the bed where she used to sleep. It was wedged between the foot of the bed and the wall. I recognize it. It belongs to my cousin." He laughed bitterly.

"It was under her bed. She must have taken it out at night to look at as she thought about him. When did she start liking my cousin? I always thought we had a loving marriage, but it seems she was hiding someone in her heart all along. You knew about this, didn't you?" Hearing him speak like that, Zoey felt a pang of bitterness. Here was a man so pure-hearted, he couldn't even bring himself to consider the darker implications of finding that pendant. He could only imagine Viola had pulled it out during a sleepless night. He was a man who had escaped captivity and helped build a spy network-someone who had fought through hell. He should have been capable of the most meticulous and skeptical thinking about everything.

Yet, he had never once questioned Viola.

Zoey didn't dwell on the sorrow in his eyes. She took a deep breath, and laid it all out.

the Southern Frontier, she returned home and knelt before my mother-in-law. She said she wanted to stay at Silverstone Estate for a month. At the same time, she asked for

birthday banquet, she had drunk too much and went to rest in her room. Your cousin was also present at the residence at the time.

mistook him for you.

what she told us."

cut deeper than any blade, which was why Zoey chose not to share them. When Viola returned, she hadn't divulged the specifics either. She had just given a brief explanation of what had happened. It was only because

long, and the alcohol clouded her judgment. She had seen Silas' handsome face and had drunkenly

a lightning bolt. His mind went completely blank,

the ache in Zoey's chest. Yet, some truths had to be spoken boldly, or

Do you know she returned to Silverstone Estate today, just like she did back then,

you-if there's no hope from

with the abortion."

to form any words. It was as if something was lodged in his throat.