His Gentle Voice, His Cruel Thoughts Chapter 08
I never replied to Alder’s message. There was no reason to anyway.
A week before my debut solo exhibition, I returned to the villa to retrieve what was truly mine.
After walking into the master bedroom, I opened a hidden compartment in a closet packed with haute couture gowns, which contained my early, unfinished paintings.
Alder had never seen any of these items. Now that I thought about it, I realized he had never shown any interest in my past or passions.
When I passed by his study on the second floor, the door was left slightly ajar.
He had left his home laptop on, and the screen was frozen on Crescent Gallery’s official website. The name in the search bar was Stardust.
I paused and stared at it for three long seconds.
It dawned on me that Alder was actively looking into Stardust, but it didn’t matter to me anymore. He was about to get his answers soon, regardless of what his motives were.
As I left the villa, I ran into Danika at the door. She cast me a contemptuous glance and asked, “Maeve, are you packing up and moving out for good?”
Her thoughts were sickeningly arrogant. [Hurry up and get lost already. The spot next to Alder should have long been mine anyway.]
“Excuse me,” I said in a flat tone.
But she stepped sideways to block my path and intentionally bragged. “Oh, by the way, Crescent Gallery is hosting a debut art exhibition next week.
“The mysterious artist, Stardust, who painted ‘Moonfall on Leviathan,’ is finally making a public appearance. I’ve invited Alder to attend with me.
“An event of that caliber… is something a she-wolf like you, who only knows how to hide away in the kitchen, probably won’t get to witness in your entire lifetime.”
I curled the corners of my lips into a smile and replied, “In that case, I hope it’ll be an eye-opening experience for you.”
Once I walked out of the main gates, I dialed Randall’s number. “I need you to add one more wolf to the exhibition’s VIP guest list.’
“Who?”
“Alder Garrison. Send the invitation to his personal phone number under Stardust’s name.”
I wanted Alder to walk into the exhibition hall himself, not as a trophy date for Danika to show off.
On the day of the art exhibition, Crescent Gallery was packed with executives and elites from every pack enterprise.
I stood behind the one-way glass on the second floor and coldly overlooked the grand exhibition hall below.
Danika entered the vente with a few of Noirwood Enterprise’s senior executives. Her thoughts buzzed with a frenzy of excitement.
[Today is going to be my moment! Once I secure the exclusive license to ‘Moonfall on Leviathan,’ we’ll see who dares claim I’m inferior to the useless Maeve, who only knows how to cook!]
At 3:00 pm sharp, Alder walked through the doors with the private invitation from “Stardust”.
Danika’s eyes lit up as she rushed over to greet him.
He gave her a curt nod, but his eyes scanned the crowd anxiously, like he was searching for something. His thoughts betrayed an anxiety he hadn’t even realized.
[Maeve hasn’t texted in days. Does she want me to swallow my pride again and drive out to Westfield to fetch her before she finally agrees to come home?]
He was still living in a fantasy world, convinced that all it took was a casual wave of his hand for me to run back to him.
At 3:15 pm, the debut art exhibition officially commenced. 15 incredibly breathtaking, original masterpieces were unveiled in the central gallery space.
The gallery director stepped onto a small stage under the brilliant spotlights, and his voice rang out through the hall.
“Now, let us welcome the brilliant master themselves, Stardust, to personally unveil our final masterpiece!” /The entire hall fell into a dead silence as everyone held their breath.
Danika straightened up and flashed her perfect smile, getting ready to step forward and be the first to shake Stardust’s hand.
After taking a deep breath, I pushed the second-floor doors and slowly descended the spiral staircase.
The moment the gallery’s spotlights found me, every single pair of eyes in the room followed and locked on me. Danika’s smile instantly stiffened. Her hands holding the champagne flute started shaking violently, and her inner thoughts were a high-pitched, cracked shriek.
[Maeve Rosethorn! Why did she come out of there?]
Alder stood at the front of the crowd. The moment he saw me, the arrogance in his eyes cracked, and he stood completely paralyzed to the spot.
I walked to the center of the stage and accepted the microphone, then calmly swept my gaze across the hall.
“Good afternoon, everyone. I am Stardust, creator of ‘Moonfall on Leviathan.’ And my real name is Maeve Rosethorn.”
The hall erupted in an uproar.
Danika staggered back, looking ashen-faced, while Alder’s thoughts hit me like a massive, crushing tidal wave. [Maeve is Stardust? How is that even possible?
[The legendary, genius artist I spent six months trying to track down, who I was willing to pay any price to work with, was sleeping beside me this whole time!]
Instead of looking at his bloodshot eyes, I turned and gestured toward the deep-blue, final painting behind me.
This final masterpiece is titled ‘Lost Lustrum.’ It represents a suppressed soul shattering its shackles and shedding husks of its past to claim a new life.”
I looked at Alder below the stage, and my voice was completely devoid of emotion as I continued, “And I am using this piece to put an end… to the pathetic bond that defined the past five years of my life.”
