141 Ch. 141 Anxia’s Plan

(flashback on a week earlier)

Anxia rode a horse and mounted it herself for the first time. She didn’t expect riding a horse to stimulate her adrenaline; it was incredibly fun!

She could even gallop her horse and jump small fences as if she were a talented horse rodeo player.

Seeing Anxia enjoying her time, Lori couldn’t be patient riding one. Thus, Anxia offered Lori to sit in front of her while the horse could saunter. The horse taker also walked beside them to hold the reins and control the horse.

“Mom, wouldn’t it be boring for daddy to wait for us?”

“He said he wouldn’t.”

“But why doesn’t he want to play with us?”

Anxia chuckled, taking advantage of this opportunity to taunt Richard in front of Lori. “Maybe he’s afraid of horses.”

“Mom... I know you lied.”

.....

“You’re no fun, Lori. Since when can you see my lies?” Lori used to believe everything she said, whether real or a lie. Now it wasn’t easy to fool the little girl. Why should Lori grow up so fast?

“I beg your pardon, madam. But our master isn’t afraid of horses. He just had bad experiences with horses.”

“He had? What kind of bad experience?” Anxia was interested to hear more about her husband.

“Well, I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but I heard a rumor that Mr. Calvin lost a bet while playing polo with his friends. Some say that Mr. Calvin always wins matches so that someone cheats and humiliates him. Well, those are just rumors.”

“Polo? You mean a game of scoring goals while riding a horse?”

“That’s right, madam.”

“That means Richard is good at equestrian?!”

“Exactly, madam. Among the Calvin brothers, Mr. Richard is the most gifted.”

Anxia didn’t expect to hear this new reality. All this time, she thought her husband didn’t want to ride a horse because he couldn’t. But it turns out her husband didn’t want to ride because he had a bad experience.

“Mama, what is polo? It looks like fun.”

“When we get home, I’ll put on a polo match on the television. If you put it into words, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Okay. If daddy is good at horse riding, why doesn’t he want to play with us?”

“Why don’t you ask him later? Bentley, do you have no idea what a terrible experience my husband had? I wish to help him get over his trauma.”

Bentley looked straight ahead as he pulled on the reins to guide the horse to turn and keep walking. He also tried to dig into his memory to look for other rumors circulating when the Richard case ‘raged’ occurred.

Then he remembered something fundamental.

“Ah, I remember. Back then, a bet bestowed young lady Heinest as the grand prize.”

Anxia’s brow furrowed, hearing the name of a girl she had long forgotten.

Young Lady Heinest? Was it Quinn Heinest?

“Mr. Richard and Mr. Raymond are furious for using Lady Q as a betting prize. For the first time, Master Richard gave his all to win the match. But it looks like someone cheated, so the master’s party lost badly.”

For some reason, Anxia no longer felt interested in her husband’s bad experiences. She could guess what would happen next, and she didn’t want to hear anymore. However, her mouth was sealed shut silently, and inevitably, her ears listened to everything until the end.

“I heard that one of the twin brothers found out about the cheating, and the cheater didn’t want to admit it and claimed the grand prize he was after. Then Mr. Richard beat the man black and blue. At that time, the news about Richard Calvin ‘going on a rampage’ spread widely, making him someone to avoid. Since then, Mr. Richard and Raymond have stopped appearing at the polo club. They even left the club.”

“When did this happen?”

“I believed it was ten years ago.”

Anxia turned her head to the side to glance at her husband, sitting casually with a laptop on his lap. If the man was still avoiding horses, did that mean Richard remembered the betting incident ten years ago? Isn’t that the same as the man placing his memories of defending and protecting Quinn?

Anxia bit her lip, realizing that she was feeling jealous. She didn’t like that man to remember that beautiful elf-like girl again, and she didn’t want him avoiding horses just because of the bad things that happened to him protecting Quinn.

Is there no way to get the man back riding without bringing up the memory?

Anxia flashed a crooked smile as a brilliant idea crossed her mind.

(flashback end)

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Back to the present day..

Anxia hummed happily and couldn’t wait to see her husband’s reaction.

Last weekend, he had asked Bentley, the horse caretaker, about the strengths and weaknesses of this horse owned by Richard’s friend.

And she discovered that one of the horses had an unusual phobia. This dark brown stallion was lovely and never rebelled or fought when someone was mounting it.

The stallion named Elwood was the most docile horse among the other horses, so beginners didn’t need to worry about making Elwood the first horse they rode. Alas, this friendly horse would panic and be challenging to control when it sees a snake.

Yup. Elwood had an acute phobia of snakes of any kind. And today, Anxia was planning to ride Elwood to carry out her plan.

historical

After making sure Lori was safe with the Bentley and her female assistant, Anxia lifted her feet onto the saddle footrests, and with so much ease, she landed on the saddle. She caressed and patted Elwood’s big neck gently.

“Bentley, can I go to the woods today?”

“Yes, madam. But please don’t go too far. Otherwise, you will get lost.”

“Sure.”

Anxia stamped her foot along with the reins making Elwood understand the rider’s wishes. Elwood strolled according to Anxia’s wishes. Just as Elwood came out of the circular fence, especially for the horse running area, Anxia took out something from her waist bag.

Then, she threw it forward while ensuring Elwood saw that ‘something.’

And just as she expected, Elwood gave a horrified neigh as it raised its forelegs to make Anxia scream at the top of her lungs.