Dumping The Ice King His Mini-Tyrant novel Chapter 413

Claudia’s lashes fluttered, dark and glossy, now glistening with tears.

Her voice was gentle, almost languid. “Are you going back in?”

Selene shook her head. “Let Daph handle it herself. Monica’s helping her anyway.”

The two women stepped out of the changing room.

Claudia paused, watching Selene’s silhouette ahead. Summoning her courage, she said quietly, “I really envy you.”

Selene turned to look at her.

A faint mist clouded Claudia’s soft gaze. “You’re a natural, Selene. Even if the Vaughn name lost its shine, even after leaving that family, you managed just fine. Without the title of Mrs. Vaughn, you’re still Vice President at Thompson Victory Technologies. You’re dating Mr. Shaw…”

A wistful smile touched her lips as she spoke of Selene’s achievements. “Most women—once they leave their husbands, they have nothing left.”

She looked at Selene with a gentle admiration, certain that her friend’s future was something she herself could never reach.

Though they’d never been close, there was a quiet understanding between them—two women with similar regrets, bound by echoes of their pasts. Whenever they saw each other, it was impossible not to remember what they’d lost.

They were always careful, wary that anything they said or did might stir up old wounds.

Even at school, their greetings were distant, almost formal.

Countless times, Claudia had opened Selene’s WhatsApp chat, wanting to say something—anything—but in the end, she’d always left it blank, unwilling to bother Selene or burden her with more worries.

Selene gently reminded her, “Claudia, you were a prodigy—the one who got into Luminere Academy of Dance at sixteen. You became principal dancer at the Luminere National Performing Arts Company. Your theater shows always sold out…”

Claudia lowered her gaze. “After I had my baby, I couldn’t dance anymore.”

Dancers live on borrowed youth. When she got pregnant, plenty of well-meaning people had urged her to end the pregnancy, but she’d chosen to say goodbye to the stage for good.

Her lashes cast deep shadows beneath her eyes. “I’m not like you. I don’t have the courage to start over. No matter how hard I try now, I can never catch up to the girl I was at seventeen or eighteen.”

Selene didn’t look at her, just said quietly, “It took me a long time—years in a loveless marriage—before I finally learned to love life again. I had to rescue myself, to nurture myself back to life, to grow all over again.

Don’t fight with the person you used to be. Chin up. Look forward.”

Time and youth had slipped through their fingers; there was no way back.

Some mistakes, once made, can never truly be undone—no matter how long you live or how much you wish otherwise.

Abbey’s glare cut to Claudia. “Claudia, I might never see you again, so I’m going to say everything I’ve kept bottled up for years.

I hate you!”

Her fists clenched tight, jaw rigid with anger.

Claudia stared at her, confused. From the very first time they’d met, she’d sensed Abbey’s hostility, though she’d never understood why.

Abbey’s voice rose, trembling with fury: “If you decided to have a child before you turned twenty, why did you still have to compete in the Floral Cup Championship? Why did you have to win every major award in classical dance?”

“Because you beat us all, some of us never got the roles we deserved. Without those awards, we couldn’t get into better companies, couldn’t get the parts we wanted. Do you even realize how many lives you ruined because you couldn’t focus on just one thing?”

“If I’d won the Floral Cup gold, I could’ve made it onto a bigger stage. Instead, I’m stuck here, teaching toddlers how to dance!”

Tears welled up as Abbey swiped angrily at her eyes, her cheeks flushed with humiliation. She thought of her resume, lined with nothing but silver medals.

Claudia’s rise had overshadowed every other dancer in the city. After Claudia retired at her peak, the women who’d spent hundreds of shows as her understudies had watched their own opportunities vanish.

Head bowed, Claudia stood silent, a shadow falling over her. Her hands twisted together at her chest, nails digging into her palms.