Dumping The Ice King His Mini-Tyrant novel Chapter 272

Daph darted to Selene’s other side, just about to launch into a spinning kick.

“Big Sis…”

A familiar voice rang out, and Daph froze mid-kick, her martial arts prowess cut short.

“Grandma? What are you doing here?” Daph blurted out in confusion.

Selene’s startled eyes swept over to Matilda.

It was the dead of winter, yet Matilda wore nothing but a flimsy white silk dress. She was barefoot, her pale feet flushed red from the cold.

Selene couldn’t fathom why Matilda would let herself end up like this.

“Mom, where are your shoes?”

Matilda’s cheeks were flushed, her hair in disarray, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

She sniffled, rubbing her eyes with clenched fists. “I heard Gwyneth was back, so I called Victor, but he wouldn’t answer. So I went to the airport to find him—and I saw him there, with Gwyneth, and… oh, it hurts so much!” Her voice broke into sobs.

Victor had always treated Matilda like a precious treasure; even Selene had believed their marriage was happy.

Now, thinking back to Victor’s behavior at the board meeting—how he’d rushed to the airport and hadn’t returned to the office all afternoon—Selene just rolled her eyes. Frankly, Victor’s absence made her job as the new vice president much easier.

She turned to Matilda. “Mom, what are you going to do? Are you thinking of divorcing him?”

Selene couldn’t bring herself to call Victor “Dad.” The thought made her skin crawl.

Matilda’s tears welled up in big, shimmering drops as she wailed, “Big Sis, how can you be so heartless? Just because your own marriage fell apart, you want everyone else to be miserable too? You want me to end up divorced and unwanted, just like you?”

Selene tugged her coat out of Matilda’s grasp. “Mom, you need to go home.”

Matilda stomped her foot and threw her head back, bawling at the sky. “I want Victor! If you won’t call him to pick me up, I’m not leaving!”

And with that, she crouched down, arms wrapped around her shoulders, chin resting on her forearms, her sobs shaking her whole body.

“Victor… Victor! I love you so much—where are you?”

Selene pulled out her phone, scrolling for Clayton’s number to ask him to come collect Matilda.

As she searched, she tried to reason with her mother. “If you’re going to wait for that man, at least find somewhere warm. What’s the point in making yourself suffer like this?

Do you really think a man who abandoned you, who left the company behind just to pick up another woman at the airport, will feel guilty just because you’re out here, a mess and freezing? Do you honestly believe he’ll suddenly care?”