CH 23

After that invitation, Dr. Hester invited Evan several times but Evan rejected them all. But Dr. Hester was very persevering and still warmly invited Evan to his house.

At the beginning, Evan was very puzzled. Thinking of it, Alia’s conditions are not bad. Why is Dr. Hester so impatient to push her to him? You must know that being a priest’s wife is not an easy task.

But when he thinks of what happened before, Evan also understands what Dr. Hester is trying to do. Alia’s bold act of asking John to break up their engagement has long spread across Delanlier. This has caused a mess of her upbringing and reputation and decent people weren’t willing to accept Alia. So, Dr. Hester set his sights on Evan, a well-known benevolent priest.

When Evan thought about it this way and understood it, the guilt that still existed completely disappeared. Since everyone is using each other, then there is no need to show mercy.

Three days later, Evan took the initiative to visit Cornwall Manor. He had already made inquiries and found that Dr. Hester would return to his clinic that day. As Duke Wilson’s family doctor, Dr. Hester and Duke Wilson are always in contact.

Evan didn’t give a prior notice of his visit so when he got to Cornwall Manor, he was greeted by Duke Wilson’s complicated look and Dr. Hester’s happy look.

Evan was secretly delighted but on the surface, he pretended to say, “I promised Lord Edward that I would come and see him and I came today because I passed by. I’m sorry if my visit is really abrupt.”

The duke nodded stiffly without saying anything but Dr. Hester said excitedly, “Reverend Bruce, you’re here to spread God’s gospel, how can your visit be abrupt? The duke is a faithful believer, he will definitely welcome you.”

The Duke’s face was ugly but he had to say, “Dr. Hester is right, your visit to Cornwall Manor is full of brilliance.”

Evan smiled secretly but he came because he wanted to see why the duke didn’t want him to have anything to do with Alia.

Evan nodded to the duke and Dr. Hester and followed Butler Chris to Edward’s room.

While going upstairs, Butler Chris spoke up coldly, “Thank you very much for keeping your promise to visit again, you’re a real gentleman.”

Evan was stunned at first and he smiled. It was really nice, this cold butler of the duke was also in the bag. Now that he is embraced on all sides, he is getting closer to his goal.

Butler Chris led Evan to the door of Edward’s room and left. Evan knocked on the door and it was Alia who opened the door.

Alia was stunned the moment she saw Evan. In the past few days, her father had told her a lot about Evan, so she was a little embarrassed to see Evan. For a while, no one spoke up first between them.

After a few seconds, Edward broke the awkward silence between them. When he saw that Alia stayed at the door for a long time, he spoke loudly, “Alia, who is the person outside?”

Alia’s face stiffened, then she turned around and said, “It’s Reverend Bruce.”

When he heard this, Edward ran to the door, his big eyes shining. When he saw Evan, he rushed over to grab the hem of Evan’s clothes, “Reverend Bruce, you’re really here.”

Evan rubbed Edward’s hair with a smile and spoke softly, “Lord, it’s not good for you to run around like this, you could easily get injured.”

Edward raised his head and cautiously looked at Evan, “I won’t fall, I’m not a small child.”

Evan smiled and stroked the side of his face without speaking.

Alia, who was standing by the side, watched this tender scene and she couldn’t help the strange feeling in her heart.

Evan led Edward in, and Alia followed behind with an unnatural expression. Although she had no special feelings for Evan, the relationship between the both of them had obviously changed now.

Evan’s expression didn’t change at all. Smiling, he sat beside Edward and listened to him talking about himself, occasionally interjecting. The atmosphere between the two was as warm as the atmosphere between a father and son, while Alia sat on the side and couldn’t get a word in.

Alia felt very uncomfortable with the situation. She was also eager to interject but Evan didn’t give her a chance to. He calmed the very excited Edward and turned to look at Alia. He said warmly, “Miss Alia, I don’t know if I can talk to you alone for a while?”

Alia pursed her lips nervously, and finally nodded in response.

Edward sat on the sofa and looked back and forth between Evan and Alia with his small head raised. Suddenly, he laughed softly as if he thought of something.

Seeing him laugh, Evan asked softly, “What’s the matter with you?”

Edward just chuckled without speaking.

Evan just shook his head helplessly, read a few more verses from the Bible and watched Edward fall asleep. He smiled and gestured to Alia, and the two quietly left the room.

Evan didn’t walk out from the main hall but went through the side door to the garden. Alia followed behind feeling uneasy.

Both of them walked to a small pavilion in the rose garden. Evan spread his handkerchief on the chair very gracefully and let Alia sit down, while he stood on the side with a look of hesitation on his face.

Alia couldn’t stand the awkward atmosphere so she spoke first, “Reverend Bruce, what’s the matter?”

Evan sighed, “Miss Alia, you should know the intentions of Dr. Hester, right?” When he said this, Alia blushed, hurriedly stood up and said, “My father’s behaviour is very inappropriate, please don’t mind it.”

Smiling, Evan waved his hand, “You misunderstood. I didn’t mean to criticise Dr. Hester. You have gone through such a terrible experience, it is understandable for the doctor to have such thoughts but…” Evan paused slightly.

Alia was too ashamed to raise her head and stammered, “Reverend, you don’t need to say any more, I understand what you mean. I will tell my father to stop disturbing you in the future.”

Evan just smiled bitterly, “Miss Alia, please listen to me.”

Alia looked up at Evan nervously, then lowered her head and nodded quickly.

Evan breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “You know, as a Reverend, although I can get married, I have dedicated my everything to God so I don’t plan to share this love with others. But you’re in a difficult situation in the town now, and I need someone to take care of myself. So my suggestion is, if that’s the case, why don’t you marry me, so that our predicament can be resolved.”

Evan spoke quite calmly but his eyes were full of love. When he finished speaking, Alia looked shocked, she stared at Evan completely forgetting her prior shyness.

“Reverend Bruce, what do you mean?” Alia murmured like she was in a dream.

A person who was serious one moment suddenly proposed to her the next moment. Alia has never experienced such a crazy thing in her life.

“I’m asking for your opinion, Miss Alia.” Evan said seemingly tenderly but his eyes had long been attracted to the corner of a blue-gray coat behind the rose bushes.

Alia lowered her head and took a deep breath to calm herself down, then she looked at him with a certain firmness in her eyes.

“Reverend Bruce, like I’ve said before, in my opinion, marriage is a product of love. There is no love between the two of us, so marriage should not exist between us. Reverend Bruce, I am not willing to sacrifice my own love for the sake of my reputation or future. That kind of marriage is not a happy paradise but a grave, so please don’t say it again. I will talk to my father and will never bother you again.”

After Alia finished speaking, she left in a hurry.

Evan stood there watching Alia leave, as if he was struck by lightning, his eyes full of disbelief and also full of pain, sadness and annoyance.

At this moment, the duke came out from behind the rose bushes. He looked at Evan with a complicated look on his face and spoke in a low voice, “I’m so sorry, I accidentally heard such unfortunate news.”

Evan looked like he was drained of his strength, he sat down on the chair in frustration, lowered his eyebrows and said in a low voice, “It doesn’t matter. I’m so stupid.”

Duke Wilson frowned as he watched Evan, his deep ink black eyes unpredictable, “I just heard that you want to marry Alia without love. Since there is no love, why are you so sad?”

Without looking up, Evan waved his hand with a wry smile, “Your Excellency, you should also see that Alia is in a very bad situation right now. I was afraid that if I spoke directly, she would think that I was pitying her but she said such terrible words. I didn’t expect that Alia has no feelings for me at all.”

Evan’s words were heart-wrenching and the pain was about to pour out between the words. The duke’s brows furrowed deeply, he stood in the same place looking down at Evan with a complicated expression, who was covering his face with his hands in pain.

He was surprised at the fact that Evan had just proposed to Alia, but listening to Evan’s explanation, he felt it was very logical. He could hardly think of a reason why Alia would reject such a noble, considerate and kind man. He had already felt that Alia was not worthy of Evan so he didn’t want Hester to get his wish. But now that Evan was really rejected by Alia, the duke’s heart was filled with anger.

Duke Wilson bent down and squatted in front of Evan, he raised his hand to pat Evan’s shoulder and spoke in the softest tone he had ever used in his life, “Reverend Bruce, you deserve the best girl in the world. Alia doesn’t deserve you and she doesn’t deserve your sadness.”

The corners of Evan’s mouth twitched slightly. When the duke didn’t react, he suddenly raised his head, looked straight at Duke Wilson and spoke with a sad tone, “Lord Duke, I’m afraid that I’ll have to spend the rest of my life just serving God.”