Chapter 122 - Exotic Fruit And Exotic Her

[GOAL :

20 GOLDEN TICKETS (month) = 2 extra Chap.

200 Power stones = 2 extra. chap.

(weekly)]

....

"Vitello, who would be attending the wedding from your side?" Alessandro, another bastard asked him. He forced his eyes from her to look at her father. 

[Ah, wedding to Sophia Marino. How could he forget this most important task? ] 

"I don't have any living family members," Santiago replied. 

Lies. 

He did. But they are not family anymore. 

Moreover, he wouldn't want them present at his wedding to Sophia Marino of all people.

As to what he was planning? It was a talk of another time. 

"I'm sorry," Don Marino said without being sorry at all. It was a question as to how could a man say all the things with such a straight face, without showing emotions at all. 

Santiago just nodded. Right now, his focus was only on one person. 

"I made some special dessert for you," Carina smiled at him. "Tell me how it tastes."

Lord knew who many preparations she had made for this day. When she had heard of her daughter's engagement, she was scared. Really scared. But when she met Santiago Vitello, all her worries disappeared into the thin air. She didn't know why but this man felt reliable to her. And only the Lord knew that her gut feeling was never wrong. 

"Sure," Santiago smiled like a gentleman. Even without trying, he was charming all of them. 

As a servant came with a plate of dessert everyone was assaulted by a weird stench but only Persephone found the fragrance coming out of the dessert delicious and mouthwatering.

It was the same fruit that once helped Santiago in helping Persephone. Unfortunately, she didn't remember any of that. Perhaps, it was for the good. 

On the other hand, just one smell, and Santiago knew what fruit it was. 

Why did everyone here think that just because he was from the Maisean empire, he liked this fruit too just like them? 

"What's that Carina?" Don Marino didn't bother to hide his contempt when everyone else was miserably failing. 

"That's a dessert made of fruits which is indigenous to Mr. Vitello's country," Carina informed her husband kindly. 

"Okay," Don Marino grimaced. Why did his wife had all of the weirdest ideas? Was one idiot not enough that he had brought another one of the same kind? Sometimes, he wondered if Carina was an even bigger mistake than Penelope. 

"Mrs. Marino, I really appreciate your effort but I particularly don't like the fruit," Santiago said, making several people sign in relief. However, he didn't fail to notice a look of sadness casting on Persephone's face when she saw the dessert tray going away from her. This girl! She still didn't find its smell unbearable?

He had to pinch the bridge of his nose to cover his reaction. How could she? She stayed with this stench for hours without feeling bothered. Amidst these thoughts, his mind wandered to a particular scene when he found her naked by the creek in the middle of the forest and danger. He pinched his thigh and chided her brain to not wander into the forbidden zone. 

"But I think Miss Marino would like to try it," Santiago kindly offered and Persephone's eyes shone with happiness. 

This was how Persephone was served the dessert but she chose to eat it away from everyone. She needed a reason to leave the dining table and she got it when she ate the dessert much to everyone's horror. She even asked the housekeeper to send the remaining dessert to her room. The beautiful and calming fragrance of the fruit was calming her down. It was even better than Ellison's salad. 

She was taking deep breaths while closing her eyes when she heard Sophia's voice. 

"What are you doing, Percy?"

"I'm thinking if someone would make perfume from that fruit. I loved its fragrance," Persephone replied, making Santiago choke on his breath. 

"You are crazy," Sophia could only say this. 

She opened her eyes and found Santiago standing beside her sister. And so she said, "Mr. Vitello, how about you send me this fruit occasionally and you can have my blessing? I won't mind you marrying my sister." 

Sophia gasped in horror before leaving them alone. She couldn't deal with this crazy sister of hers. Pregnancy was harming her brain cells too. 

Santiago just looked at her. "You will sell off your sister for some mere fruits?"

[Truly, it sounds like something Persephone would do if you ask him. ]

"Mere fruits?" Persephone gasped dramatically. "Did you just call them 'mere fruits'? How could you? How could you call Euphoria just ordinary? How can an empress and a maid be the same?"

Did her words make sense? 

No, right? But why did it not surprise him a bit? 

She always managed to render him speechless with her unusual talks and actions. 

Yet, Santiago couldn't help but smile when he realized that her reaction was the same as the day when he called the dolphins mere. Why the hell memories were surfing in his mind? Why was he connecting everything to the past that they shared? 

"Ah, I'm sorry," Santiago said. "I forget you are just like our people. Crazy over this stinky fruit."

"Your people sound intelligent, " Persephone commented while shrugging her shoulders. 

Santiago's eyes weren't on her face now but on the Sapphire shining on her neck whereas Persephone's gaze was behind him where Nico and Sophia seemed to be arguing. Even she could sense tension between those two from here. She wondered what her sister's fiance would do if he found Nico talking so intensely with his soon to be wife. 

"Would you like a tour of the mansion?" Persephone offered. 

Santiago naturally agreed. 

He didn't know that she was buying some time for Sophia and Nico. Men like Santiago and her brother were always possessive of their belongings. To them wives and mistress were belongings too. If Santiago found this tension between Sophia and Nico, she dared not fathom what a scene might be created right here.. So, she attempted to take him away from the premises and give time to Nico and Sophia to solve whatever was going on between the two of them.