Chapter 70

It was strange, almost intoxicating, to be viewed this way. When I walked through the corridors, I felt the weight of their gazes, but it was different from what I had grown used to. Instead of judgment or pity, there was a quiet reverence in their eyes. They looked at me not just as a guest or a burden to be tolerated, but as someone who mattered, someone who held a place of importance in their world.

I knew why, of course. Clyde had made sure they saw me this way. He had woven this narrative where I wasn’t just Isabella, but the woman who would soon stand beside him. It was a role he had crafted carefully, one that came with privileges I was only beginning to understand. And even though I knew this respect was born out of his influence, it didn’t stop me from feeling its allure. In this house, under Clyde’s roof, I was no longer an outsider looking in. I was someone of significance, and that feeling was both empowering and disconcerting.

As I walked towards the hall, where Clyde wa