After I Finally Became His Perfect Donna Chapter 02

After I Finally Became His Perfect Donna Chapter 02

Back at the Vane estate, a small child of four or five came running over. He wrapped himself around Dorian’s leg and tilted his head to look at me.

“Daddy, who’s this lady?”

Dorian’s body stiffened for a moment.

His throat bobbed. There was a thread of nervousness in his voice. “Lyra, this is the child you pushed down the stairs. His name is Mike. He’s four now. Please don’t be angry.”

He was waiting for my reaction.

Five years ago, I would have been furious.

Mireille had stood at the top of the staircase with her swollen belly, smiling at me. “Lyra, the one who isn’t loved is the real other woman.”

I pushed her.

Afterward, Dorian said I was insane and sent me to the Academy.

Inside the Academy, the walls of the isolation cell were plastered with photos of Mireille and the child.

The instructors said those were the people I had hurt. I was to look at them every day until I learned to repent.

I looked at that child’s photograph for five years.

Now he was standing right in front of me. Alive, breathing, running, jumping, calling Dorian daddy.

I crouched down and touched his head.

Hatred is a luxury. It takes so much energy, and I didn’t have that kind of energy anymore.

“I’m not angry.” I looked up at Dorian, my voice calm.

Dorian stared at me, his brow creasing.

He yanked Mike away, his tone stiff. “If you’re not angry, then come inside and eat.”

I didn’t know what he was unhappy about. This was exactly what he’d wanted me to learn.

At dinner, Mireille placed shrimp on my plate.

“Lyra, the kitchen made this especially for you. Eat up, you need to get your strength back.”

I looked down at the piece of shrimp in my bowl, pink-white and glistening.

I’m allergic to shrimp.

When Dorian and I first got married, I accidentally ate a bite of sauce with shrimp in it and went into anaphylaxis on the spot. They spent a full day and night resuscitating me.

After that, shellfish never appeared on the Vane estate dinner table again.

Mireille blinked. “Oh dear, did I get it wrong? I could have sworn Dorian told me shrimp was your favorite.”

Dorian didn’t look up. He was peeling shrimp for Mike. “If she tells you to eat, eat.”

I picked up my fork.

At the Academy, I’d refused to eat because of my allergy once.

They said they were helping me desensitize. “Mrs. Voss, a perfect wife cannot inconvenience her husband over something as trivial as an allergy.”

I picked up a piece of shrimp, put it in my mouth, and chewed slowly.

The physiological nausea surged up. I pushed it back down.

One piece. Two pieces.

By the time Dorian noticed something was wrong, I’d already eaten most of it.

He snatched the fork from my hand, his voice cracking. “What are you doing? Lyra, you’re allergic to shrimp, did you forget?”

I lifted my head. Red welts were already blooming across my face. My breathing was getting shallow.

“Are you out of your mind?” He was frantic and furious, the words tumbling out before he could think. “Even if you wanted to frame Mireille, you didn’t have to be this obvious about it!”

I looked into Dorian’s angry eyes, bewildered. “I wasn’t trying to frame her. I just thought… it would make you happy.”

Dorian froze.

His expression looked like someone had struck him across the face.

On the way to the hospital, my consciousness drifted in and out.

I vaguely felt myself being held tight. Whoever was holding me had a racing pulse and a voice that trembled.

I remembered the first time I’d gone into anaphylactic shock, Dorian had held me just like this.

His eyes had been red then. He’d said, “You scared me to death, do you know that?”

Back then, I believed him. I believed he truly loved me.

Later, kneeling on the floor of the Academy while electricity convulsed through my body, I’d sometimes think of that Dorian with the red-rimmed eyes.

I’d think about it for a while, and then I’d stop.

Because the current would still pass through my body.

Pain was still pain.