Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1747

Helpless, Arianne relented and accepted her mission.

It was time for lunch. She declined Mark’s invitation and dragged Robin to a cozy little Chinese restaurant for the break.

After taking their seats and making their orders, Arianne feigned her tone to be non-committal as she asked, “So… How come you and Sylvain haven’t tried adding members to the family yet? He’s more than old enough to be a father while you’re just the right age. You know what it’s like: better have children early while the body’s at its prime than to wait until you’re thirty-odd years old and life’s fraught with uncertainties. By then, your body’s state might not be as optimum for childbearing, too.”

Robin was a little skeptical of her intention. “Hey… Wait a minute. This isn’t because Sylvain’s asking, is it?”

Arianne’s mind scrambled in slight panic, but outwardly, she doubled down on her pretense of casualness. “Wha-wha-what? Oh, nooooo. Why would he make me ask you something like that? Noooo way. I was just curious myself! But if you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s fine. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m acting as his spy trying to lure you into spilling some secrets or something.”

Robin sighed. “Nah, that wasn’t what I meant. It’s just… At first, I wanted to have a child as soon as possible, too. But, well… After knowing about what his mom thinks, I don’t think I should have kids right now. Instead, I want to be strong and independent. Only a woman like that has the confidence and resolve to stand up for herself,” she explained. “On the other hand, if I were to be impregnated and had to stay at home, I’d be losing my job and my source of income, and his mother’s contempt of me would only multiply. I don’t want that; I want to prove myself to her. I want to show her that I don’t need Sylvain to keep my life afloat, and I didn’t marry Sylvain for his means.”

The root of the problem seemed to still be Ursula. Arianne paused for a moment before admonishing, “Well, judging from one of his oft-mentioned topics, Sylvain seems to really want a kid. Aren’t you worried that you might never win his mother’s nigh-impossible respect while your efforts wear away at your relationship with your beloved? See… At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what other people think of you; Sylvain will always be your strongest tether. You’re not marrying his mother now, are you? This is life between the two of you, and what’s more… Sylvain has always chosen you since the get-go. He’d rather have his mom live on her own than lose you. Seriously, you don’t have to pay that shrew any mind.”

Robin hung her head in evident dismay. “Even now, my parents have never shared a meal with his mother—not even once. They’re still strangers to one another,” she said. “Shouldn’t in-laws act as a family after marriage? But whenever his mother talks about me or my family, she never stops using that… scornful tone or changes that look of despise. Do you know how it feels to be dehumanized as unworthy and to be completely nothing, Arianne?”

Honestly, Arianne wanted to keep quiet just to avoid upsetting him. “Look, it’s a sensitive, personal issue between the two of you, and I just don’t know how to go about it, okay? Besides, according to Robin, it’s not even something I should be telling you! God, it’s like I’m your spy or something…”

Sylvain fished out his phone and transferred cash into her bank account—twice her lunch bill. “…And there you go, my sincerest sincerity in a form everyone can understand,” he quipped. “Look, it’s fine; you can lay everything she told you on me. I won’t tell her it’s from you.”

Arianne accepted her “payment” and glared—though very meekly—at him. “Hmph, you think you can just bribe me with money? You underestimate me,” she muttered. “Anyway, I asked, and she said it’s because she thinks her entire family is being dissed by your mother. She wants to prove herself to your mom through a score of achievements, which is why she doesn’t dare halt her career to bear a kid. It takes at least two years for a woman to go through the beginning of pregnancy to the kid’s arrival, you know? And then when the child’s here, you two will have to decide if you want to raise them yourselves or hire a nanny. Seriously, Robin would have to miss work for two years just for this—and that’s why she doesn’t want to.

“My take? I think your mom really left some lasting trauma in her, Sylvain. But you probably shouldn’t take this to your mom, though, because that’s only gonna complicate things for Robin. She seems to have decided on a strategy for this already, and that is to weather her trials through,” she finished. “I guess that’s life, I’m afraid. Just a long slog of suffering.”