Chapter 39
“Elizabeth…are you still mad?”
Linda approached cautiously, looking very much like someone who had been wronged to the extreme by Elizabeth.
“What will it take for you to forgive me?”
Linda continued, “It’s my fault. I saw the dress Mom bought for you earlier, and it’s not the one you’re wearing now. That’s why everyone thought you were wearing a knock-off.”
“I had no idea Mom bought you a new one later on.”
Her implicit suggestion was that her parents favored Elizabeth more and treated her badly.
This made some of their friends feel sympathetic toward Linda.
After all, due to the knock-off dress fiasco, they felt that Linda had embarrassed them in front of Peter, and so harbored some resentment against her.
“Mom didn’t buy it,” Elizabeth calmly clarified.
Linda replied, “You don’t have to worry about me being jealous. You’re Mom’s biological daughter; naturally, she’d treat you well.”
Their friends couldn’t help but admire Linda’s supposed kindness and grace.
Seeing Linda like this, Lily snapped, “We’ve already apologized. What more do you want? How were we supposed to know Lady Wilson would secretly switch your dress without telling Linda?”
She muttered under her breath, “Honestly, you’re just some commoner from the countryside, completely wasting that beautiful dress. If you hadn’t come back, all of this would’ve belonged to Linda.”
Though Elizabeth was their distant relative, it was Linda whom they’d grown up with and felt closer to.
“Lily!” Linda bit her lip, her face a mix of restraint and grievance, “What did you promise me? Didn’t we agree that we need to make my sister forgive us? Why are you still saying things like this?”
Lily, resentful, shot back, “That’s her fault! If she’s wearing the real deal, why didn’t she say so sooner? She’s intentionally making us the laughingstock.”
“Because you’re playing deaf,” Elizabeth remarked, rather uninterested in their performance.
Linda Wilson gave a bitter smile and said, “Elizabeth, can’t you forgive me? Have I disappointed you that much? I’ve decided that once I graduate from high school, I’ll move out and stop being a burden to you.”
“Linda!” Lily exclaimed in surprise, “What are you talking about? Why should you be the one to leave? You’re the most innocent one here.”
She turned her gaze toward Elizabeth, her voice tinged with mockery, “You’re really good at pretending. Oh, I heard you want to enroll in Sunny Heights High School. You’ve got a lot of nerve. With your abilities, it would take lifetimes for you to get in.”
The friends who were listening couldn’t help but chuckle. Was Elizabeth bragging? Really?
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and lazily asked, “You’re also a student at Sunny Heights?”
“Of course,” Lily proudly said, standing tall.
Elizabeth asked, “What’s your rank?”
Without thinking, Lily replied, “Last place, although…”
“What’s there to be proud of?”
Elizabeth interrupted, her face full of disdain, “You’re last place, and you’re proud?”
Had she been her student, she would have made her write lines ten thousand times.
The crowd burst into involuntary laughter.
Really, what was there to be proud of for being last?
Lily was speechless.
Damn it, I’m pissed off!
At the same time, Elizabeth spotted a woman entering her line of sight.
Her gaze paused for a moment before she walked over to the woman.
Feeling ignored, Linda’s face darkened. She watched the direction Elizabeth was heading, hooked up a corner of her mouth into a smile, and followed.
Elizabeth approached the woman and tugged lightly on her sleeve, “Hello.”
Seeing Elizabeth’s action, Sir and Lady Wilson both froze.
Jack went silent; the humor that had been in his eyes slowly faded. He looked at Elizabeth with skepticism and a trace of barely perceptible tension.