Chapter 34: The Gilded Cage

"Miss Sterling."

Butler Chen gestured toward a group of twenty specialized architects standing respectfully near the foyer. "These are the structural design specialists I contracted per your instructions."

He cautiously glanced at Victoria’s face, catching the suppressed grief and possessive fury hidden beneath her stoic expression. Butler Chen sighed inwardly; he had truly believed Julian might be the one to break her tragic cycle, only to witness history repeating itself.

"Proceed with the modifications," Victoria commanded coldly. "Fortify the perimeter of Rose Manor into a complete fortress. I want Julian unable to cross the gates without my explicit permission."

She would make Julian her caged bird, forever trapped within the world she created for him—unable to escape, and unable to belong to any other woman.

"Understood, Miss Sterling," the lead contractor replied, bowing before heading outside.

Victoria glided upstairs to the master suite. Sitting on the edge of the plush bed, she leaned down, resting her cheek against Julian’s chest to feel his steady heartbeat.

"Julian..." A single tear slipped down her pale cheek. "Why were you in such a hurry to get engaged? Why couldn’t you keep playing along?"

If he had simply continued his sweet charade, she could have kept deceiving herself into believing someone genuinely loved her. But in less than a week, he had shattered her fragile dream with his own hands.

"Julian," Victoria whispered gently, her fingertips tracing the arch of his dark eyebrows. "From now on, you stay right by my side. I will never give you another chance to run."

When Julian finally opened his eyes, his first reaction was to check his wrists and ankles. Cold steel cuffs bound him to the heavy headboard.

I am officially doomed, Julian thought in despair. Victoria had locked him up again, and this time, simple sweet-talking wouldn’t get him out.

Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open. Victoria stepped out wearing a plunging black silk robe. The gentle warmth she used to display was completely gone, replaced by an unhinged, dark possessiveness. ℴℴ𝘮

"V-Victoria..." Julian’s heart hammered against his ribs.

"My sweet Julian," Victoria sat on the edge of the bed, her lips curling into a dark smile. "You really are a bad boy."

"Victoria, listen to me! It’s a complete misunderstanding! I never wanted to marry her!"

Victoria sneered softly. "Lying to me again, Julian?"

Julian groaned internally. That useless system had forced him to attend the venue personally to annul the engagement, turning a simple task into a total disaster.

"You are mine, Julian. You can never leave me."

Victoria leaned down, pressing her lips to his in a fierce, overwhelming kiss that burned with possessive desire.

[ Ding! ] The system’s prompt echoed in Julian’s mind: [ Congratulations, Host! Task completed. You have gained +2 Stamina points. Current Stamina: 4. ]

As Julian endured her intense embrace, he couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly—at least the extra stamina would help him survive her terrifying endurance.

When Victoria finally pulled back, her eyes were dark, glowing with a victory she had no intention of relinquishing. She traced a cold finger along Julian’s jawline, her thumb brushing over his bruised lips. "Try to run again, Julian, and I won’t be so gentle."

Julian forced a faint, submissive nod, letting his eyelashes flutter down to hide the spark of utter absurdity in his gaze.

Gentle? he thought, feeling the lingering sting on his mouth. If that was gentle, my old stamina of 2 would have put me in an ICU.

By the time Julian opened his eyes again, sunlight was streaming through the heavy velvet drapes. Victoria was already gone, and the heavy metal restraints on his wrists had been removed.

She really is built different, Julian thought in disbelief, stretching his sore shoulders. How does she pull an all-nighter like that and still head to the office at dawn?

After washing his face, Julian walked over to open the bedroom door, only to be immediately blocked by two towering, black-suited operatives.

"Apologies, Master Vance," the guard said respectfully. "Miss Sterling has instructed that you are strictly confined to this room."

Julian sighed. Great. Promoted from manor-arrest to room-arrest.

Butler Chen walked down the hallway, carrying a breakfast tray. "Master Vance," the old butler offered kindly, "Miss Sterling is deeply hurt by yesterday’s events. If you wish to regain her trust, you must prove that the engagement was truly a setup."

"It was a setup!" Julian insisted. "I never had any intention of marrying Miss Ross! If Victoria had arrived thirty seconds later, she would have seen me reject the ring and walk off the stage myself!"

"Is that the truth, Master Vance?" Butler Chen’s eyes lit up with a flicker of hope. If Julian hadn’t meant to betray her, perhaps Miss Sterling wouldn’t be consumed by the same darkness that ruined her parents.

"More real than solid gold," Julian declared.

"In that case," Butler Chen advised, "if you want Miss Sterling to believe you, you need to provide concrete evidence of your true intentions."

Evidence? Julian crossed his arms, falling deep into thought. What proof could he possibly show her?

Standing by the doorway, Julian looked out toward the grand foyer below, watching in utter confusion as several workers carefully carried a reinforced, polished crystal coffin into the first-floor display room.

================================================

Authers note : Thanks for reading Chapters , but some of readers asking Questions about previous Chapter that

1) I remember that MC already telling her about getting engagement and his intentions, but how story proceeding that conversation is never happened?

2) mc is smart , so it basically impossible to make this silly mistake.?

#REPLY " : In Chapter 27 conversation 👇👇

Victoria... hypothetically speaking, if I had to attend an engagement ceremony with another woman—not because I actually want to get engaged, mind you, just to officially break it off—would you let me go?"

Victoria’s smile remained fixed, but her eyes turned pitch-black. "No."

Julian sighed inwardly. She clearly thought he was making up an excuse to" lie" to her.

----------------

So victoria didn’t really believe him that he is going to attend an engagement 🥲

[Thanks you gifting : Ice cola 🥤 CantRelate]