Zelda nearly dropped her whisk when Leopold came crashing down onto the cobblestone path with a thud.

"Blimey, Leopold, that's flagstone, you absolute brute!" She exclaimed, still half-focused on perfecting her cake recipe. Jasper could not help but chuckle at the scene. "Alright, alright, enough with the dramatics. Get up," he said with a grin.

Leopold rose, shaking his head with a laugh and holding a gift box. "Well, Sir, these are some of your favorite things. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I just grabbed a bit of everything." Jasper's smile widened. "You're quite the character, kid. No wonder that Martinez girl fancies you so much. Speaking of which, aren't you going to come out?"

Hearing this, Leopold froze, his feet suddenly as heavy as lead.

His heart stopped for a moment as if encased in ice.

Vivienne and Percival exchanged glances that did not need words; it was clear Leopold was in the dark.

Percival just shrugged. If he knew, would he have even shown up?

Thomas muttered under his breath, "Percival's as ruthless as ever."

Zelda, putting aside her baking tools, dragged Griffin out from the shadows. "No use hiding now, love. It's not like you're being dragged to the altar."

Griffin Martinez stood at the threshold, her eyes cast down, her feet rooted to the spot.

Both of them were wracked with unspeakable thoughts and mutual guilt.

Vivienne nudged Leopold forward with a swift kick. "Snap out of it, will ya?"

Leopold stumbled into Griffin's space, and she looked up, her eyes rimmed with unshed tears, at a loss for words.

Zelda snickered and finally remembered to turn off the oven while she, along with Natalia and Yasmine, quietly exited the kitchen.

Percival and Vivienne ushered Jasper to the back garden, leaving the two frozen figures alone in their awkward silence.

breeze caused

and draped it over Griffin's shoulders, breaking the silence. "When

"Dad said you were alright, so he let me

more, she wrapped her arms around Leopold,

was not

"Couldn't you try to comfort

his impression, Griffin had always been the woman who was either forcing him to marry her, chasing after him on a motorbike, or swinging his custom-made whip

blinked in

and kicked him in the shin, annoyed. All the tears she had shed for him when he was captured, and he was

Leopold yelped, rubbing

away as she saw Leopold's comical attempt to stand on one

looked up to see her smile through the

moment, he vowed never to make

tall, he took her hand in his. "Smile more, it suits

as she held his gaze,

she was glad her unwavering trust in

the curve of his neck. "I'm just so relieved you're okay,

his hands, hesitating before

pulled them around her waist, holding

rolled her

dad's way better

"Yeah. Especially at bedtime, he never lets us

their mouths before they could

and Vivienne shared a laugh at the young couple's

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