The Strange Groom's Cursed Bride-Chapter 83: Brothers and competitors

Suzy looked at Alice suspiciously. Her gaze was sharp, analyzing. "Why does it seem like you’re forgetting things? You’re behaving like a different person."

Suzy leaned forward, her voice dropping. "The way you talk. The way you look at people. Even your posture. I mean—" she glanced away for a second, then back, her expression earnest. "Is something going on with you?"

Alice faltered. She wanted to deny it. Come up with something clever, light, believable. But nothing came. Her mind was blank, her usual quick wit nowhere to be found under the pressure of Suzy’s piercing gaze.

So instead, she went for something close to the truth.

"I... I’ve had some memory issues lately," she confessed, her voice hesitant. "It’s not that bad, but also it helps me forget unpleasant things."

Suzy’s skeptical expression didn’t waver. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you for real?" she asked, her tone doubtful, probing.

Alice nodded, a faint apology in her eyes. "Yeah. I’m sorry." She quickly added, "Not like full amnesia or anything. Just... I forget things. Mostly things that stress me out or feel unpleasant. It’s not all the time. But it’s there."

"When did it happen?" Suzy pressed, her brow still furrowed, a genuine concern now overriding her skepticism.

"Just before... just before the wedding." Alice answered, the lie feeling heavy and cold, but necessary.

Suzy’s gaze lingered on her for a moment longer, then a thoughtful look crossed her face, tinged with a faint, almost sympathetic smirk. "Hmm. Trauma to get married, maybe?" She offered, a light joke, but with an underlying hint of understanding.

"Well, anyway, it’s nice you’re forgetting things and your eyes are brighter now. Maybe you could finally be happy." Her voice softened, a genuine hope shining through, a stark contrast to the weighty secrets Alice carried.

Alice tried to swallow the discomfort lodged in her chest with the mocktail, taking a gulp.

Then Susan said, "Who knows? Maybe you and Hades would fall madly in love."

Alice almost choked on her drink, a loud, sputtering gasp that drew a quick glance from a nearby waiter. She slammed her glass down, liquid sloshing. "What the hell are you saying?!"

"I’m just saying!" Suzy laughed, eyes glinting with pure mischief. "Come on. Hades may look like the son of the devil himself, but those are always the ones who fall the hardest in movies. The kind of guy who’d burn the world for the one woman he can’t resist."

Alice rubbed her temple, a headache brewing. "You’re insane."

"I mean... he bought you a flower shop. That’s poetic as hell." Suzy pointed a fork at her.

Alice snorted, a sharp, disbelieving sound. "Yeah, we’re talking about someone whose number I don’t even have, Suzy."

Suzy waved her off, unperturbed. "Forget the number. Look at the actions. Man gives you a car, card, and a boutique in your name? Girl, if you seduce him just a little, he’d crumble. Bet. I mean, you already have a crush on him, don’t you?" Her eyes twinkled with knowing mischief, pushing the boundaries.

"I—what?! Who has a crush?! On who?! Are you insane?" Her voice was a horrified squeak.

Suzy snorted, thoroughly entertained. "Don’t be shy now. You’re married anyway." freewebnσvel.cѳm

"I am not having this conversation with you again!" Alice wiped her mouth with sharp, exaggerated movements, her face a fiery red. "No, nope, not today, Satan."

Suzy only leaned back with an irritatingly smug smile, clearly enjoying Alice’s discomfort. "Fine, fine. I’ll let it go. For now. But I’m just saying, if he burns a city for you, don’t act surprised."

Alice made a rude noise under her breath and focused hard on her half-empty plate, trying to will her thoughts elsewhere. But no matter how hard she tried, the unease wouldn’t leave her. There were too many things that didn’t make sense. Too many shadows.

She couldn’t ask Suzy about Caroline and her art. She also didn’t want to push more about Paula now. So the only thing left...

Finally, she glanced up. "Suzy..."

Suzy perked up, abandoning her smugness for genuine attentiveness.

"How much... do you really know about Hades?" she asked, her voice softer, more serious, betraying the turmoil inside her.

Suzy’s eyes lit up with amusement, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Didn’t you just say we weren’t going to talk about him?"

"I changed my mind." Alice’s tone was firm, brooking no argument.

"Well, aren’t we moody." Suzy teased, but her eyes held a genuine curiosity for Alice’s sudden shift.

"Suzy." Alice’s voice was a low warning.

"Okay, okay." Suzy held up her hands in surrender, the amusement still lingering. She tilted her head, her expression becoming more thoughtful. "Honestly? I know as much as you. Almost nothing. He left so many years ago."

"Why?" Alice pressed, leaning forward, her earlier indignation forgotten in the face of this pressing mystery.

Suzy shrugged, her expression clouding slightly. "As a kid, Hades was still Hades. Different."

"Different how?" Alice urged.

Suzy’s tone softened slightly, a hint of unease entering her voice. "Hard to get along with. Intense. He didn’t talk much. Didn’t play like the others. The only one who could even be around him without things getting weird was Dawin. But even that was a rollercoaster."

Alice listened closely. She tried to picture a young Hades, a miniature version of the formidable man she knew, navigating this strange, opulent world.

"They were the kind of brothers who could sit together and read Aristotle for fun, then two hours later be dangling off the second-floor balcony trying to kill each other with antique spears. It was crazy. When they competed over something, it was wild. Dangerous. The kind with blood." She shook her head, a shiver running through her. "That kind of rivalry? It couldn’t go on forever. Someone had to go. And naturally... it had to be Hades."

That word—naturally—snagged in Alice’s mind like a nail in silk. It suggested an unspoken truth, a deeper reason for his exile.

She looked at Suzy, her eyes drilling into hers. "Why naturally?"

Suzy blinked, clearly caught off guard by the blunt question. "Huh?"

Alice’s voice was quiet, almost insistent. "Why did it have to be him who left?"

Suzy shrugged, a flicker of discomfort in her eyes. "I mean... I don’t know. He is the second son. And Dawin is the heir. And..."

Alice waited, holding her breath, sensing the unspoken words hanging in the air. The rumor. The one about his illegitimacy.

Suzy didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she waved it off, a nervous laugh escaping her. "Forget it. It’s old family gossip."

What? Why? Alice wanted to press for answers. She knew that pause had to be something related to the rumors about Hades’s illegitimacy. But she didn’t press. She didn’t want to. She had more things to worry about. Aurora. And the tangled web of her sister’s life that was slowly, terrifyingly, unraveling around her.

Suzy, completely unaware of Alice’s internal calculations, went on to say, "Well, I’m glad they’ve all matured. I doubt they’d have any reason to get all crazy again as adults. Unless Hades suddenly tries to covet the heir position, or they were fighting over a girl." She paused, then gave a confident shake of her head. "And I don’t see the possibility of any of those. Hades already was married. Dawin doesn’t even seem interested in women. And Hades also do not seem to be interested in the company."

So that was that. Alice was thinking, her brain calculating. If Hades wasn’t interested in the company, if he wasn’t after the heir position, what was he after? And why had he come back? Why did he have so many people around him? Gavin didn’t even bother to hide his weapons. The man was practically a walking arsenal.

So many things going on in her brain.

"Should we order dessert now?" Suzy asked, picking up the digital menu tab again, a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

Just then, a smooth, unctuous voice cut in from directly beside Suzy’s chair.

"Look who the breeze blew here."

Alice hadn’t even fully looked at him yet, but she saw it in Suzy’s face—the way her cheer died so suddenly it was like someone had blown out a candle inside her. Her shoulders stiffened, her lips pressed into a thin, tight line, and her eyes dimmed, just a flicker. But enough. Enough to signal an immediate, profound change in the atmosphere.

The man wore a slick, expensive blazer over a dark turtleneck. His smile was casual but sharp, too curated to be entirely genuine, a predatory glint in his eyes. He was handsome in the way of a movie villain you kind of wanted to like; dangerous but polished, exuding an almost suffocating aura of self-importance. His hair was perfectly in place, meticulously styled, his jaw cleanly shaved, and his cologne wafted ahead of him like a territorial mark, cloying and assertive. There was another young man beside him, mirroring his posture and faint smirk, looking like whatever annoying personality this villain guy had, he also had it in spades.

"Ladies," he drawled as he reached the table, his voice carrying just a bit too much confidence, too much familiarity. His eyes swept over Alice in one lazy, lingering pass, an uncomfortable, possessive assessment, before finally landing on Suzy, a predatory glint entering his gaze. "Didn’t think I’d run into you here."

"Derren," Suzy said, her voice tight, a cold, flat acknowledgment. The playful light had completely vanished from her eyes, replaced by a steely, almost defiant, blankness.

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