Iris's small voice cut through the tension like a knife. "But I want Auntie to come!!" she insisted, pulling against Sera's hand and looking pleadingly between the two women.
Sera stopped dead. She looked down at her niece, her expression one of utter, betrayed disbelief. Her gaze, cold and sharp, slowly lifted to Kaelen. This wasn't just defiance; in Sera's eyes, this was proof of manipulation. Her jaw tightened, a muscle feathering in her cheek.
"Fine," she hissed, the word so low only Kaelen could hear it, laced with pure venom. "But you will pay for this, Blackwood. You stay out of our way. You do not speak unless spoken to. You are a ghost at the table. Understood?"
Kaelen gave a single, tight nod, her heart a frantic drum against her ribs. She had won a battle she hadn't even meant to fight, and the victory felt like a condemnation.
The car ride to the restaurant was a silent, three-person glacier. They were led to a quiet, opulent table at a restaurant so exclusive it didn't have a name on the door. The air smelled of truffles and money. A sommelier appeared instantly. Sera ordered a bottle of mineral water, her tone dismissing him.
A waiter presented ornate menus. With a polite smile, he suggested, "May I recommend the shellfish tower to start?"
Kaelen, without thinking, looked up from her menu. "No shellfish for the kid," she said, her voice firm. "She's allergic."
The moment the words left her mouth, she knew she'd made a mistake.
The air at the table went from cold to arctic. Sera's head turned slowly, her eyes wide with a shock so profound it momentarily overrode her hatred. "How," she asked, her voice dangerously quiet, "did you know that?"
[System Warning: You have revealed information unknown to the original Kaelen Blackwood. Character consistency compromised. Plot deviation detected.]
Panic flared in Kaelen's chest. Oh no. How did she know that? She couldn't say, 'Oh, I read it in a webnovel where your niece dies in a car crash after I was a jerk.' Her mind scrambled for an excuse, any excuse.
"I, uh…" she stammered, feeling her cheeks heat. She let out a weak, forced chuckle that sounded utterly ridiculous in the hushed dining room. "I must have seen it on her medical forms. You know, when you both moved in. Standard Blackwood security protocol. Check for allergies, that kind of thing." It was a lame, transparent lie. The original Kaelen wouldn't have bothered to glance at those forms, let alone remember a detail from them.
Sera stared at her, the disbelief in her eyes hardening into something colder, more calculating. She didn't believe a word of it. The lie had only made her more suspicious. She turned back to the waiter, her posture rigid. "Scratch the shellfish. The roasted vegetable plate to start."
The meal proceeded in a stifling silence. Kaelen pushed food around her plate, her appetite gone. Iris, sensing the terrible mood, ate quietly, her eyes darting between the two women. The 8% approval hovering over her seemed to flicker uncertainly.
Just as the waiter was clearing their main course plates, a shadow fell over their table.
A woman stood there, tall and imposingly elegant. She wore an impeccably tailored pantsuit the color of steel, and her scent a clean, powerful mix of ozone and fresh bergamot was that of a powerful, confident Dominant Alpha. Her smile was polished and professional, but it didn't reach her sharp, assessing eyes.
Kaelen's blood ran cold. She didn't need an introduction. She knew that face, that presence, from the novel's descriptions. This was the heroine. The rival. The perfect Alpha.
Valeria Ironwood.
[System Notification: Major Character [Valeria Ironwood] has entered the scene. WARNING: [Rival] character arc activated. High probability of plot disruption.]
Her gaze swept over their table, lingering for a fraction of a second too long on Sera's strained expression and Kaelen's obvious discomfort before settling on Sera with a look of warm familiarity.
"Seraphina," Valeria said, her voice a smooth, cultured alto. "Fancy seeing you here." Her eyes then flicked to Kaelen, and her smile turned razor sharp. "And Kaelen Blackwood. What an… unexpected surprise."