Chapter 135

• The coffeehouses in the capital buzzed with chatter, and every storyteller seemed eager to embellish the tale of Cassandra’s latest business triumphs. They painted her as a visionary who had conquered markets and cities, expanding her empire in a way few could rival. Her strategic decisions were hailed as brilliant, her resilience as heroic. Slowly but surely, the general public began to admire her forgetting all the harsh judgments they’d once cast upon her when news of her divorce spread like wildfire.
• I couldn’t help but notice the shift. At one point, I had been just as dismissive of Cassandra. But now, as her success soared, so did her reputation. People were fascinated by her story, captivated by her rise from a broken engagement to a powerful, independent force in the business world.
• It was only when Heather came to visit me that the depth of my regret became clear. Heather finally admitted the real reason she had been so distant, why she’d kept herself confined to her quarters after Cassandra’s engagement had ended. When Heather’s daughter had married, Cassandra had sent gifts expensive, thoughtful tokens of congratulations but Heather had rejected them outright, dismissing Cassandra as unworthy of such gestures. “A divorced woman has no place sending gifts,” she had muttered to anyone who would listen.