Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 394

The forest banquet was finally over.

By the time Mila was brought back to the old manor, night had fallen and she was close to collapsing from exhaustion. The dress they'd stuffed her into was far too tight and heavy, chafing with every step she took. But what bothered her even more was that, during the entire feast, she'd managed to snag just a single bite-

sized pastry.

She hadn't even gotten a chance to try another before being whisked away.

Moving listlessly in sync with the maid's brisk motions, Mila let the woman peel the crimson gown-more of a shackle than a dress-off her body. She slipped into a light, white silk nightgown and sprawled on the sofa, too drained to care. Still, clinging to a sliver of hope, she asked weakly, "Is there any dinner?"

The maid ignored her, simply redressing the bandage on Mila's left hand before leaving in silence.

So, no dinner again tonight. Great.

She genuinely didn't get it. Cossio was impossible to predict. If she spoke up, he punished her; if she stayed quiet and tried to blend into the background, she still got denied food. What did he even want from her?

This place was suffocating. She couldn't bear another day of it.

As soon as the room was empty except for her and the wolf, Mila sprang into action. She dug her fingers into the crevice of the sofa and fished out two gold- foil-wrapped chocolates.

She'd swiped them at the banquet when Cossio wasn't looking-her only successful heist of the night.

She pressed one of the candies to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent of chocolate, and for a moment, it soothed the storm inside her. Her stomach, though, had other ideas and let out a loud, indignant growl.

hesitation, she crawled into bed and slid one piece of chocolate into the crack beneath her pillow, safely out of

but didn't wolf it down; just nibbled off half. The chocolate melted on her tongue, rich and velvety, its sweetness chasing away the faint bitterness. For

the bed suddenly

hand. Mila jerked away, shaking her head and

feasted on meat every single day, and now he wanted to steal her

tucked it back into the crack under the pillow, just in case the next round of linen-changing maids

She'd savor it later-slowly.

his teeth and growling at her from the edge of the bed, Mila cocooned herself in the blankets. She'd figured him out by now- mischievous

stash was

this, with only half a chocolate to her name, Mila woke in the middle of the night, stomach aching with hunger. She was almost used to

now.

Almost.

to this. She was starving. She needed to do something -fast. If she didn't figure out a way out of

She'd had enough.

up, the wolf

might as well use him as an early warning system. If

under the cover of darkness. She

down

of the hall, on the landing by the stairs, her eyes fell on a faceless woman's portrait. She couldn't

longer she stared, the more familiar the painting felt, though she couldn't quite place it. The woman in the portrait was young, that much

But something was odd.

direct ancestors-former heads of the family, important figures who had shaped the lineage, each immortalized for posterity. Like a family shrine, but in oil