Chapter 188: Even the Siltflow River Can’t Wash This Clean
It happened the year Arabella Donovan was eight. The Sacred Temple had a special visitor. He wasn’t special because he looked strange or unusual. It was because everyone else who came up the mountain to the temple carried bags filled with daily necessities, incense, and candles for offerings. He, too, carried a large, bulging bag, but his contained the ashes of his beloved.
At first, Arabella Donovan didn’t pay much attention to the elderly man with completely white hair. It was only when her master began speaking with him that she learned he had visited their Sacred Temple forty years prior. He had been accompanied by his beloved—another man.
The two had just gone public with their relationship back then and were met with fierce opposition from their families and society. Both had been beaten by their families and locked in their homes. But because they were truly in love, neither was willing to let their relationship end there. So, they each devised a way to escape and eloped together.
The Sacred Temple was their first stop after they ran away. The two young men, their faces still bruised, knelt in the main hall. Before them were the gods; beside them, their beloved. They didn’t know what the road ahead held or what the future would bring. They didn’t even know if the choice they had made was right or wrong, yet they followed each other without hesitation, never looking back.
Her master had an excellent memory—or perhaps he had simply seen through it all from the beginning. He recognized the visitor at a glance as one of the two young men from all those years ago. With a faint smile, he asked after the other one.
The visitor said nothing, only stroking the bag in his arms with a tender gaze.
Arabella Donovan later learned that the other young man had passed away from an illness more than ten years ago. The bag the visitor held contained his ashes.
For more than a decade, he carried his beloved’s ashes, visiting all the places they never got to see and trying all the foods they never got to taste. Now, sensing his own time was near, he wanted to bring his love back to the Sacred Temple where their journey began. He would kneel before the gods once more and pray they could meet again in the next life.
After the visitor left, tranquility returned to the Sacred Temple. A month later, however, her master made a sudden trip down the mountain. When he returned, he brought back the familiar-looking bag and said, "He’s gone."
The young Arabella Donovan was bewildered at the time. It was only when she was older that she understood: the visitor had gone to find his beloved who had passed away too soon.
This incident had a profound impact on Arabella Donovan, who was used to seeing spouses turn on each other, brothers fight among themselves, and sisters tear each other down. It taught her that while people who were deeply devoted and faithful to one person for life were rare, they did exist.
That was why, after learning about Dennis Donovan and Guinevere Preston, Arabella Donovan’s first instinct was to figure out how to help Dennis Donovan find her.
Though the world can be cruel, those truly in love shouldn’t be forsaken.
The incident also taught her a valuable lesson. On one hand, there was a love like that of the two visitors, or of Dennis Donovan and Guinevere Preston—a love for one person that was steadfast and true for a lifetime. On the other hand, there were scumbags like the Crofts, father and son, and Terry Jules, who used love and marriage as a tool to satisfy their own greed and materialism.
A person’s orientation doesn’t determine if they’re good or bad, but their character and nature do.
’So, in the end, love is nothing more than a high-stakes gamble. Bet right, and it’s happily ever after. Bet wrong, and you lose everything.’
Arabella Donovan didn’t like gamblers, and she certainly didn’t consider herself one. For now, at least, she preferred to steer clear of the whole affair.
The Jennings family was speechless.
However, Arabella’s example made Mrs. Jennings realize that her previous comments had been inappropriate. Not only could they be misconstrued as prejudiced, but they could also give sensitive people an excuse to attack her for her words.
"Serena is right. There are good people and bad people everywhere; you can’t generalize. But those two are just so outrageously vile! And it seems like there’s nothing we can do about them..." After all, their plan was never carried out, so Chloe Ulrich wasn’t physically harmed. At worst, a young girl’s heart, full of love, had been shattered.
"That’s just infuriating!" Mrs. Jennings felt like someone who’d binge-watched an entire TV series where the main character was tormented from start to finish, only to be killed off in the finale with no resolution. She looked utterly displeased.
"I wouldn’t worry about that," Brandon Jennings chimed in. "Knowing The Qing Court, there’s no way he’ll just let this slide. Besides, don’t be fooled by Chloe Ulrich. She might be a bit of an idiot when she’s in love, but if you truly piss her off, she could take care of those two all by herself. You know that old saying, ’When you love someone, you want them to live; when you hate them, you want them to die’? That describes her perfectly."
The moment Brandon Jennings spoke, Arabella Donovan’s internal gossip-radar went on high alert.
"Brandon, you seem to know... an awful lot about Miss Ulrich, don’t you?"
As soon as Arabella said it, every eye in the room snapped to Brandon Jennings.
The color drained from Brandon Jennings’s face, and he started to stammer.
"I—I... It’s not what you think. She was notorious in college for being an idiot in love. The moment feelings were involved, she’d get dumb, and she’s a magnet for scumbags. The guys she dated were all obviously trash, but she never saw it. If The Qing Court hadn’t been watching out for her, she would’ve been taken advantage of countless times by now."
"Ooooh," Arabella Donovan nodded knowingly. "Okay, I believe you."
’Like hell I do! He’s panicking, he’s totally panicking! I didn’t even say what I was thinking, alright? What’s with the guilty conscience? You’re definitely hiding something! Was it her brother keeping an eye on her, or was it you? And you claim you’re not interested, yet you know how many boyfriends she’s had? You’ve been watching her so closely you even know all her exes were scumbags and *how* they were scumbags. Right. Those who know, know.’
Brandon Jennings was speechless. He felt like he’d jumped into the Siltflow River—there was no washing himself clean now.
"Ahem..." Brandon Jennings did his best to ignore the burning stares from his family and tried to steer the conversation back on topic.
"Her brother found out that you were the one who warned Chloe at Jennings Plaza. He’s very grateful, but he’s also worried. He wanted me to ask you... does this mean her ordeal is officially over?"
Hearing that, Arabella snapped out of her gossipy mood. She frowned. "Didn’t you say that before you broke down the door, they mentioned someone wanted to use Terry Jules to set a trap for Miss Ulrich? Haven’t you found out who that was?"
"That’s exactly what The Qing Court is worried about. After those two were taken into custody, they flat-out denied everything."
’Of course they wouldn’t talk at the station, that would just add another charge to their sentence. What I’m asking is, don’t you guys have other... methods to use after they’re released? Miss Ulrich’s brother doesn’t seem very capable if he couldn’t even get that information out of them!’
Brandon Jennings was speechless again. Crap. Now not only was his own reputation in jeopardy, but he’d also accidentally tanked his best friend’s standing with his cousin.