Larissa put down her glass and, undeterred, reached for a piece of chicken drenched in chili oil. \u201cGrandpa Zoltan, please, speak freely.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She popped the spicy chicken into her mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Compared to Larissa, Zoltan ate with a practiced ease. \u201cIn a family like ours, with so many descendants, true harmony is a rare thing. Even if I didn\u2019t give everything to Haskell, the others would still feel a sense of imbalance. I chose Honora for Haskell initially because she was known as the most talented woman in Regal City. I thought she could be an asset to him in managing the family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2026 you were Haskell\u2019s own choice. After his accident, the Judson family tried to back out of the marriage, offering you in Honora\u2019s place. I was going to call it off entirely, but when Haskell returned, he told me he wanted to proceed with the marriage. I didn\u2019t understand at first, but after meeting you at your welcome banquet, I saw why he was so drawn to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, even with his legs crippled, I never intended to choose another heir. But his injury would have made it much more difficult for him to maintain control. I wasn\u2019t angry about you poisoning my granddaughter tonight. Because I know that my grandson, Haskell, needs you. I want to use you, to ensure that he can secure his position as the head of the Palmer family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At his words, Haskell\u2019s expression hardened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandpa, you don\u2019t need to worry,\u201d he said seriously. \u201cI can handle the family\u2019s affairs on my own.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He never wanted to use Larissa. He married her simply because he loved her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though her face was flushed from the spice, Larissa\u2019s expression was earnest. \u201cGrandpa Zoltan, you\u2019re overthinking things. I\u2019m treating Haskell\u2019s legs not for any ulterior motive, but because I am both his fianc\u00e9e and a doctor. Even if he were just an ordinary patient, if I had the ability to heal him and you could meet my price, I would still help. You can\u2019t call that \u2018using\u2018 me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She paused, then a mischievous smile spread across her face. \u201cBesides, the thought of this handsome face belonging to me one day is more than enough motivation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing her joking even as her face was bright red from the heat, Haskell couldn\u2019t help but chuckle. He refilled her water glass. \u201cIf it\u2019s too spicy, you don\u2019t have to eat it. There are other, milder dishes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fine! It hurts, but it\u2019s delicious!\u201d Larissa shook her head, her fork already moving toward another dish.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haskell just smiled, a look of helpless affection on his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:25\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 320\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just like Haskell\u2019s mother in that respect,\u201d Zoltan mused. \u201cShe chose my good\u2013for\u2013nothing son, Thatch, for his looks tool\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa smiled faintly. \u201cIt\u2019s only natural. We\u2019re drawn to beauty, just as we\u2019re drawn to food.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zoltan studied his grandson for a moment. \u201cLooking at you now, it\u2019s clear your father, Thatch, failed you in many ways. But the one thing he did right was giving you that handsome face.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A faint, bittersweet smile touched Haskell\u2019s lips. \u201cIndeed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Wings of Broken Time by Alina Das 520 Larissa put down her glass and, undeterred, reached for a piece of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-throne-of-thorns-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}