Page 139 of The Villainess Chose Naps Over Death Flags

A Choice Made in Moonlight

Caspian couldn't sleep.

He'd tried. He'd gone through all the motions—changed into sleeping clothes, dismissed his valet, climbed into bed. But sleep refused to come.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the banquet. Millicent's drunken accusations. The wine arcing through the air. Caroline's perfect composure as she handled the attack with grace and wit.

The way the entire hall had applauded her.

She'd been magnificent.

But underneath the pride he felt, something else churned.

Millicent's words: "You trapped him. Everyone knows it. You used a seduction spell. Got yourself pregnant. Forced the Duke into marriage with your scheming."

It was all true.

Caspian had known it from the beginning, of course. Had been there when Caroline sobbed that the spell was meant for Percival. Had heard the confession, seen the devastation on her face when she realized she'd caught the wrong man.

But hearing it announced publicly, thrown in Caroline's face in front of eighty witnesses...

It had brought everything back. The garden. The spell. The overwhelming magic. The intimacy that neither of them had chosen freely.

Waking up to her horror and his own guilt.

The forced marriage that followed.

Caspian gave up on sleep and rose, pulling on his evening clothes minus the coat and loosening his cravat. He needed air. Space. Movement.

The gardens called to him.

He made his way through the quiet estate, nodding to the guards who were too well-trained to comment on their lord wandering the halls in the middle of the night.

The western gardens were peaceful in the moonlight, the fountain's gentle splash the only sound.

Until Caspian saw her.

Caroline sat on the fountain's edge, her nightgown and robe pale in the silver light. Her hair was loose, falling around her shoulders. She was running her fingers through the fountain water, lost in thought.

Mochi sat nearby, grooming his paws. Shadow lay at her feet, his head resting on crossed paws.

She looked beautiful. Ethereal. And terribly, heartbreakingly sad.

Caspian's feet carried him forward before he consciously decided to approach.

Caroline turned at the sound of his footsteps, her eyes widening slightly.

"Caspian," she said softly. "I didn't expect... you couldn't sleep either?"

"No," Caspian admitted, stopping a few feet away. "The evening was... eventful."

"That's one word for it," Caroline said with a weak attempt at humor.

Silence fell between them, heavy with unspoken things.

"Are you all right?" Caspian asked finally. "After what Millicent said—"

"What Millicent said was true," Caroline interrupted, her voice steady despite the way her hands trembled slightly. "That's what I can't stop thinking about."