Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria)

Chapter 586 What Did Ludson Do to You?

So, Victoria decided to keep mum and let Alaric put Nicole to sleep. Sure enough, Nicole wasn't so easy to fool. "Huh? But Mommy was just speaking with me a minute ago. Why did she fall asleep so quickly? Mommy..." The cheeky little girl even wanted to poke Victoria's cheek to check if she was asleep.

Alaric could vaguely see her movements in the dark as he winced and pulled her into his arms. "Alright, Nicole. You'll wake Mommy like that if she's already asleep."

Nicole, who was now next to Alaric, paused at his words before slowly realizing something. "That's right, I shouldn't wake Mommy. She has been walking the entire day and she's probably tired." Victoria had spent the day walking on her feet, unlike Nicole and Nathan, who had been sitting in the shopping cart all day long.

"Yes, Mommy is exhausted, so let her rest. You've been a good girl today. So, you should go to sleep too." Since he had already placed her at his side, he didn't want her to return to Victoria's side lest she disturbed Victoria's sleep. Hence, Nicole placed his arms around her and freed up his arm as a pillow for her to rest on. "You're sleeping next to me tonight."

As Nicole had never slept next to him before, she blinked a couple of times at him and asked innocently, "Is your arm soft, Daddy?"

Alaric's figure was lean, and his arms weren't exactly fat, so they weren't soft at all. It doesn't seem like a good idea to use my arm as her pillow, he thought. So, he said after a few seconds of hesitation, "Then... Should! get you a pillow?"

"I want to sleep by Mommy's side." She sulked.

"But she's already asleep and you'll wake her up if you go over now."

This time it was Nicole's turn to slip into a dilemma, undecided on whether she should sleep on Alaric's hard arm or wake up Victoria. In the end, she lay on Alaric's arm, and the second her head rested on it, her face wrinkled into a scowl. "Daddy, I think I'll share a pillow with you instead."

"Okay." Alaric shared half of his pillow with her, but alas, an adult's pillow was not suitable for a child, so he got out of bed, found a clean towel, and placed it over his arm for her.

Nicole felt her skin rubbing against the towel as she thought, Although it's not as soft as Mommy's arms, it's way better than Daddy's tough arms and doesn't feel that bad. Soon, she fell asleep, utterly content. Apparently, it was true that children could fall asleep at will. Just a second ago, Nicole was still nattering on, but now she was already asleep in a blink of an eye. When Alaric heard that her breathing had gradually become even and long, he relaxed. Finally, this heartless kid is asleep, he thought helplessly, tucking her under the

blanket.

After all that was done, something came into his mind, and he turned to Victoria's direction while pursing his lips together. It looks like it will be a sleepless night for me.

Victoria hadn't fallen asleep, and she had merely kept her eyes closed in avoidance. So, she was fully aware of the conversation between Alaric and Nicole. She kept her silence for a long time before sighing inwardly. Both of them were no fools and knew that they were far from asleep. After all, nobody would fall asleep so suddenly

within mere seconds, especially after Nicole's bombshell.

One didn't answer and the other didn't expose it; they were just giving each other an out. The sounds of children's long, steady breathing echoed in the room while the adults were both immersed in their own thoughts.

Victoria stared at the ceiling and thought about all sorts of things in her cluttered mind. In the end, she had no idea when she actually fell asleep. It was as though she was suddenly hit by a sleeping spell and slipped into slumber just like that. The next morning, when she woke up, she saw that she was the only one left in bed. She looked around dazedly and only went downstairs after a few seconds.

It was already New Year's Day, and almost everyone was busy in the hall and greeted her upon seeing that she had woken up. Eventually, she finally found a familiar face after walking around the house and approached her. "Sasha, where are the others?"

A smile appeared on Sasha's face at the sight of her. "Oh, you're awake, Victoria. Everyone else is out on errands.

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Everyone is out? Victoria repeated in her head. I just slept in a little and everyone was gone when I woke up. Nonetheless, she simply nodded, turned on her heels, and was just about to leave when she recalled something and stopped abruptly. "Sasha, I remember that you have a son. Will he be back for the holidays?"

At the mention of this, the smile on Sasha's face turned stiff. A few seconds later, she said in dismay, "He's not going to be back because he's spending New Year's Day with his friends in another town, Esti, and will have

lots of fun there."

Although Victoria had lost her memories, she had learned through conversations that Sasha had a son who had just graduated recently. Normally, youngsters didn't like to spend the holidays at home and would prefer to hang out with their friends when they were free. She could understand this and nodded to show her

understanding before leaving the room.

Meanwhile, Sasha remained rooted on the spot as she sighed softly.

As Victoria couldn't find anyone and didn't have to do anything in the house, she was bored out of her wits. In

the end, she decided to return to her room to catch a little more sleep. Alas, something popped up in her mind after she climbed into bed, and she gave Summer a video call.

On the other end, Summer picked up her call almost immediately and was very excited to receive Victoria's call. She even roasted Victoria, claiming that Victoria had left her at the back of her mind after she went abroad and thought that Victoria would only call her after the holidays.

"Of course not. I'll definitely call you during the New Year's. Even if I don't call you now, I'm pretty sure I'll call

you tonight."

"So, you mean that you're not calling me tonight after this call?"

"No, I'll call you in the evening, too."

A contented smile spread across Summer's face after she heard Victoria's reassurances. Unfortunately, right afterward, her expression turned a little odd. "There's something I would like to tell you."

"Yeah?"

"My boss, that Ludson guy..." Summer drifted off, her ears burning brightly as she bit her lower lip.

Victoria stared at her with a look of confusion. "Yeah? What did he do to you?"

"Well, the company is closed for the annual holidays, and I assumed that this workaholic would continue. working like the previous years. Who would have guessed that he... he also took the annual leave?" Still, Victoria couldn't get the point of Summer telling her this. "Isn't that normal? Maybe he decided to finally take a break, or maybe there's nothing special he has to work on this year. Why are your ears red?" "Ah!" The second Victoria pointed out that her ears were crimson, she shrieked like a cat that had its tail stomped on "Red? My ears? No, it's not. You're just seeing things. That's right!"

If Victoria were merely suspicious earlier, she was now certain that there was something amiss with Summer.

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