Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria)

Chapter 54

If Victoria could refrain from remembering the old days, her days would

just go by in a daze.

However, it would only double the pain when the memories came back to

overwhelm her.

The affection he casually showed to her in the past turned into knives that

cut her skin open at the moment.

Leaning against the safe deposit box, she closed her eyes in despair.

If only he could return her feelings. Even if it was just a little, she wouldn’t

be as desperate as she was right now.

When she returned home with the marriage certificate, Alaric just got out

of the shower. He came out of the bathroom with a gloomy expression.

Just as he was about to pass by Victoria, he noticed the marriage

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certificate she was holding.

At the sight of her holding their marriage certificate, he stood still and

raised his head. The expression on his face only darkened more as his

gaze pierced through her body like icicles.

Her hands tightened around the certificate helplessly when she met his

gaze.

After a moment of silence, he sneered. “You seem eager.”

Victoria was taken aback by his comment. She parted her lips but the knot

in her throat held her back from saying anything. At last, she only held the

certificate tighter as her gaze fell to the ground.

What does he expect me to say? There’s neither anything I can tell him nor

a point in saying anything. After all, it’s his idea to have a divorce. The

person he truly likes is the one who saved his life back then. Besides, I’m

also paying back her favors. We’ll leave it at that. I have nothing to tell him.

Chapter 54 Getting a Divorce

After having him all to myself for two years, I don’t have any regrets. The

history we have together can make a good compensation for his absence

in the future.

At last, Alaric broke the silence. “The surgery is tomorrow, so we don’t have

to pretend anymore. I’ll spend the night in the study room.”

Then, he grabbed his pillow and left the room.

Victoria stayed still for a moment before eventually setting their marriage

certificate on the bedside table. After that, she took the clean clothes and

headed into the bathroom.

The next day, Victoria was woken up by her phone’s alarm. Feeling groggy,

she rolled to the side and turned off the alarm. After that, she sat up on

the bed while massaging her throbbing temples.

Chapter 54 Getting a Divorce

She was unable to get a good sleep last night.

Her mind thought of Griselda one moment and the next moment it was

replaced by her divorce and another moment by her child.

She had no idea about the time she fell asleep. She was reminded of the

same things for the rest of the time as they plagued her dreams.

Taking a moment on the bed to collect her thoughts, she slid down the

bed and headed over to the bathroom to wash her face.

After getting into the bathroom, Victoria was frightened by the sight of her

reflection in the mirror.

She had visible dark circles under her eyes and her pale face only set

them off, Her eyes were red and bloodshot, and her hair was disheveled.

The combination made her a walking definition of an unhappy woman

who was living a disorderly life.

Chapter 54 Getting a Divorce

Victoria studied her reflection in the mirror without a word.

She didn’t like her reflection in the mirror at all. She quickly washed her

face and combed her messy hair. Then, she applied a mask to her face

and decided to put on makeup after that.

Even though she didn’t mind her appearance, she didn’t want to worry

Griselda.

Around ten minutes later, she peeled off the mask and began to brush her

teeth and clean herself. At last, she put on light makeup and got dressed

in a casual outfit.

When everything was done, she stood in front of the mirror to make sure

she was presentable. Aside from her bloodshot eyes, she had indeed

reached her goal.

However, she didn’t possess any magic to make the redness vanish within

a second. Thus, she put on a pair of rimmed glasses after a moment of

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pondering. Let the others think it’s an accessory.

At that moment, her phone vibrated. Victoria reached for it and found a

new message from Alaric. ‘Get downstairs when you are ready. I’ll be

waiting in the garage.‘

His message was simple. She couldn’t feel any affection or concern from

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She replied to his message with a simple response before getting up to

grab a coat and heading downstairs.

When she was passing by the living room, the butler approached her. “Mrs.

Cadogan, you’re leaving early today. Did you have enough sleep last

night?”

Victoria cast a smile at him. “I have.”

Judging from the coat that she was wearing and her passing by the

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dining table without stopping, the butler couldn’t help but ask, “Do you

need breakfast?”

As expected, she shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m heading out.”

This time, the butler kept silent.

Truth be told, he already noticed that something was going on between

Alaric and Victoria. When he woke up in the early morning, he also found

that Alaric slept in the study room last night. Noticing the lights in the

study room were up, he approached to check on the room and found

Alaric inside.

Alaric had circles under his eyes and his expression wasn’t the best either.

He turned in the butler’s direction and asked in a hoarse voice, “What?”

The butler was immediately shocked by his boss‘ look and didn’t dare

answer.

Chapter 54 Getting a Divorce

After that, Alaric skipped breakfast and headed straight to the garage with

a cold look on his face.

Watching Victoria walking out of the house, the butler sighed to himself,

helpless about being unable to rectify the situation.

She wore her coat on her way to the garage.

It was freezing outside in the early morning, and the garage was colder.

Thus, Victoria was surprised to see Alaric wearing only a dress shirt in such

cold weather. There was a cigarette between his fingers as he leaned

against the car.

As she approached, she could see the stark contrast between them.

He looked pale after spending a night of lack of sleep. Compared to

Victoria, who wore makeup, his emaciated face made a huge difference

from hers.

Chapter 54 Getting a Divorce

He raised his head in her direction when he heard the echoing footsteps.

His eyes dimmed at the sight of her vibrant face and he broke the silence

after a moment. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

The moment he spoke, she found that his voice was unexpectedly hoarse.

She was taken aback for a moment before finally nodding. “I slept rather

soundly last night. What about you?”

Putting his cigarette out, Alaric fixed his dark eyes on her before

answering, “Same.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” The longer she studied his face, the more clues

she found, which were his bloodshot eyes and the dark circles under his

eyes.

He looks pathetic, she thought. Luckily, I have the foresight to put on

makeup and wear the glasses.

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Silence settled between them soon after she answered.

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Alaric stood right there, not bothering to speak or get in the car. All he did

was watch her without a word, a dark expression on his face.

His gaze was piercing, and Victoria found it uncomfortable from the way

he was watching her. At last, she forced herself to speak, “Are we going or

not?”

He dodged her question by shooting another back. “What’s the rush?”

“I’m not rushing,” Victoria retorted. “I’m simply worried that you’re rushing.”

He cast her an unfathomable glance and sneered. “Why would I be

rushing?”

She deflected the question by feigning ignorance. “How would I know?”

Alaric choked on her retort and barely managed to bring himself to say

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something unrelated to their topic.

“Did you bring all the necessary documents? I don’t want to learn that you

forgot to bring anything when we arrive at the state government later.”

Victoria couldn’t help but counter, “I did. I got them ready last night. How

could I forget to bring such important documents?”

After that, she turned to him. “You even saw it last night, didn’t you?”

Alaric was speechless. “Snowball, have you ever wondered for once why

you are so spoiled?”

Victoria cast a glance at him. “It’s all thanks to my dad.”

Does he expect me to say it’s him? He’s so full of himself!

At that point, Victoria already lost her patience in waiting for Alaric to take

the initiative. Opening the door, she got into the car before poking out her

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head and urging, “Let’s go. I think the state government is already open.

The sooner we get things done, the earlier we can visit the nursing home.”

She fastened the seatbelt as she said that.

After a few silent beats, Alaric finally got into the driver’s seat.

As it was early in the morning, the traffic was smooth. Their car arrived at

the entrance of the state government without any delay.

Today was just another ordinary day so when the pair arrived, there

weren’t many people around other than a few couples.

Most of them were there to apply for marriage. The couples were huddled

together and whispering sweet and affectionate words to each other.

Victoria and Alaric were the exact opposite of the couples around them.

The pair were both good–looking and had tall stature, which made them

grab attention all the way. Other than that, Alaric walked inside the

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building with a dark expression. Thus, the onlookers only needed one look

to tell the pair was here to apply for dissolving their marriage.