?Chapter 471:


    “Say it.”


    “Do you still love Kristian?” Cyril asked, summoning all his courage. Afraid she might not know who he meant, he quickly added, “I mean, Kristian Shaw.”


    Freya blinked, surprised by the question.


    Just as she was about to respond, Kristian appeared and interrupted, “Still refusing to give up?”


    Cyril was startled. He turned and stiffened upon seeing Kristian. What the hell was he doing here?


    “Didn’t I tell you she’s not into younger guys?” Kristian said, his voice slow and cold. “Technically, you’re a few months younger than her.”


    “Do you really not like younger men?” Cyril still wanted to hear it from Freya herself.


    Freya hesitated. If it had been a straightforward confession, she would’ve politely declined.


    But this question caught her off guard. After a pause, she finally said,


    “Liking someone isn’t about age or looks. It’s about understanding.”


    Kristian’s frosty starended squarely on Freya’s face the moment those words left her lips, his expressionced with undisguised disbelief. “Really?”


    Freya, ever the aesthete, had always held a deep appreciation for good-looking people.


    And Kristian knew that better than anyone.


    “What’s there to doubt? Haven’t you heard the saying?” she asked, her voice unbothered, her eyes slowly drifting toward him.


    Kristian didn’t say a word. He simply stared at her, as though bracing himself for whatever warped reasoning she was about to throw at him.


    gα?ησν????s brings your imagination alive


    “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Freya said inly, her features softening into something sincere. “As long as I like someone, I’ll find them attractive no matter how they look.”


    “Do you actually believe that?” Kristian asked, dragging the words out with quiet skepticism.


    Freya met his gaze and responded without a flicker of hesitation. “Why wouldn’t I believe my own words?”


    With that single line, something shifted between them—something strange, tense, and undefined.


    A memory flitted through Kristian’s mind—Freya once asking him, “Did you not believe anything I said?”


    “Can we exchange contacts?” Cyril asked then, mustering his courage, still visibly uneasy in Kristian’s presence. “So we can keep in touch when we’re back in Alerith.”


    “Sure,” Freya said, already reaching into her purse for her phone.


    Kristian quietly moved between them, standing directly in front of Cyril. “Eaton is calling you. Shouldn’t you head over?”


    Cyril blinked in confusion. He turned his head on instinct, only to see no one there.


    “Eaton didn’t call me…” he began, but Kristian had already whisked Freya away.


    It dawned on Cyril then—Kristian wasn’t just being protective. Kristian genuinely didn’t want him anywhere near Freya.


    Kristian held Freya’s hand openly, guiding her across the hotel lobby into a quiet side corridor tucked away from the crowd.


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