Camryn had learned how to build a wall around her; rumors could not hurt her at all. Her aunts and Carrie had tried various ways to ruin her reputation by going to the York family, yet all their attempts had failed. The only person she cared about, Callum, had chosen to trust her and stay by her side unconditionally. There was nothing that could hurt her anymore. “That’s right. Ignore what others say. Many people used to badmouth Elisa too. They kept criticizing her.“Didn’t you think Elisa was nice after getting to know her? That’s why it’s better not to care about other people’s opinions. They’re just jealous.”Camryn replied, “Yes. They’re just jealous. Elisa was hit the worst out of all of us.”Luckily, Elisa had always had a positive attitude. She continued doing things her way despite the rumors about her. It was obvious that those people were just envious of her courage to pursue Zachary. Zachary was the man of countless women’s dreams when he was single. However, n
Tasha told Camryn apologetically, “I’ll get someone to take you inside. I need to greet Mrs. Longbottom.”Camryn looked forward. Rosella and the rest had already entered the lavish manor with Ginny. She did not know anyone around her, so she said, “Do you mind if I follow you to meet Mrs. Longbottom, Tasha?“I don’t know many people here,” she added. Tasha smiled. “Okay. Let’s go and have a look at what Mrs. Longbottom looks like. I’ve never heard of her.”She did not know anyone with the last name Longbottom among Wiltspoon’s elites. Even the other ladies had not heard of that name. Tasha was curious. “I’ve met her once, but I’m not sure if she’s the same person as the Mrs. Longbottom who’s here tonight.”Tasha was guiding Camryn by holding her hand. She was surprised when she heard Camryn’s words, “You’ve seen her before?”“Yes. I saw Mrs. Longbottom in Serenity’s bookstore a few days ago. She seems to be in her twenties. She looked beautiful and rich. She was looking for
Birth rates started falling as fewer marriages took place. Even newly introduced government policies were unable to incentivize the younger generation to marry and have children. Camryn and Tasha soon arrived at the manor’s entrance while chatting. As most guests were arriving at that hour, the Houses’ outdoor parking lot could not fit that many cars. The employees were directing the guests to park outside the manor or by the roadside, which already had a long row of cars parked. “Ms. Tasha.”One of the maids called Tasha the moment she walked out. Tasha first greeted the guests who had just arrived and got someone to guide them into the manor. After looking around, she could not spot Mrs. Longbottom. She asked, “Where’s Mrs. Longbottom?”“She’s still in her car. It was just parked.”The maid pointed at a luxury car not too far away. In the car, Carrie had spotted Camryn and Tasha. She used to attend banquets often with her mother and had met Tasha several times. How
Carrie greeted Tasha sweetly and shook her hand. Next, she looked toward Camryn. Tasha introduced, “This is my friend, Camryn. She’s the Newman family's young lady and also the York family's second missus.”Carrie said to Camryn, “So this is Mrs. York? Have we met before? I think we’ve seen each other at a bookstore.”Camryn’s expression was soft. She smiled. “Yes, we did. I find your voice very familiar.”Carrie felt nervous. As expected, Camryn knew her voice well. ‘Calm down. Don’t expose anything. If Camryn notices something, Mr. Longbottom will be furious. I’ll be in great trouble if he gets angry.‘What is there to be scared of?’Carrie kept telling herself that there was no need to fear Camryn. It had always been her bullying Camryn. “Why do you think so? I believe we’ve only met once.”Carrie pretended to look confused. She said, “We saw each other in a bookstore near Wiltspoon School. I was buying some books for my brother-in-law.”Camryn maintained her expres
‘Camryn had wronged me first. How dare she say I’m the one to blame?’Camryn was slandering her simply because she could not defend herself. The public praised Camryn for her gentleness. Although she was constantly bullied and treated worse than a maid in the Newman family, she seemed more like an elite lady than Carrie was. No one knew how cunning Camryn was. Tasha smiled. “Let’s head inside, Mrs. Longbottom.”She did not forget to hold Camryn’s hand after speaking. Camryn could see, but it was only limited to short distances. Tasha knew she needed to take care of Camryn, whose sight was like that of someone with high myopia. Although they had not interacted much before, they quickly got along that night. Tasha liked being friends with Camryn. Carrie was jealous upon seeing Tasha taking care of Camryn. Her bodyguards were worried that she might expose herself. When Tasha was not paying attention, they stepped forward and nudged Carrie as a reminder to control her emo
“You’d do the same if you were her. Would you have revealed your plan to avenge your dad and send your stepfather and mother to prison?“If you did, you wouldn’t survive.”Sally was rendered speechless. After some time, she said, “Anyway, I don’t like her.”“Camryn doesn’t need you to like her. I only introduced you two to each other because I’m your friend. Since you’re so arrogant, forget it. Forget this ever happened.”After speaking, Tasha left. She and Sally had known each other for several years. The Abrams family may have kept a low profile, but they had quite the status in Wiltspoon. Otherwise, Sally would not have turned up at the Houses’ banquet. Tasha felt like she had misjudged Sally based on how she treated Camryn. Sally usually seemed like a generous lady, so it never crossed her mind that Sally would treat Camryn that way. Maybe Sally thought Camryn should not have sent Mr. and Mrs. Newman to prison as they had raised her. However, Mrs. Newman was not jai
No wonder Elisa was her only best friend. Tasha was not picky about friends, but… It was difficult to sustain a friendship when two parties shared different views. “Camryn only regained her sight because of Callum. He had to travel several times to get Dr. Carden to treat her eyes. I don’t know how Camryn got so lucky to receive his love.“I saw it when she came in too. Mrs. York treats her well. I heard that she’s very protective of Camryn.“Some people are just lucky.”Tasha sensed the jealousy and bitterness in Sally’s words, especially when Callum was mentioned. She eyed Sally and asked straightforwardly, “Do you have a crush on Callum?”Sally blushed immediately. Indeed she had. Whenever she saw him during banquets, she would hover within his peripheral vision deliberately. Unfortunately, she never caught his attention, not even once. She told her mother that she liked Callum and wanted to be his wife. Her parents supported her, but they said she had to count on he
Sally blushed and said, “The York brothers are fine men. Their parents are open-minded too. Men of the Yorks are loyal to their wives. They have an excellent reputation. “Who doesn’t like outstanding men? I started liking Callum after meeting him several times.”Tasha admitted that Sally’s take on the York family was spot on. She replied, “You’re free to like whoever you want, but Callum is married. You should give up.”“I liked him first.”Sally muttered, “Camryn simply had a headstart when I was deciding on how to confess.”Tasha laughed. “Love isn’t first come, first served. It’s about fate. Two people who have known each other since childhood won’t end up married if they weren’t destined to be together.”Elisa knew Zachary a few years earlier than Serenity, yet she failed to win his heart. On the other hand, Zachary and Serenity got married right away. Zachary would rather marry a stranger than accept Elisa’s feelings. Therefore, love did not work on a first-come, firs
Camryn smiled, “You spoil me too much. You’ll turn me into an absolute sloth who only waits around for you to take care of me, and it might tire you out.”“That won’t happen. I enjoy taking care of you,” Callum assured as he reached to help her with the snacks, but she would not let him feed her anymore. Callum had no choice but to hand her the snacks.“Although Trenton is young, he has mettle. When we put his parents away, it was hard for him to accept, but in the end, he did. As long as he has the right values, even the hardest things can be accepted over time and he won’t resent anyone else for it either.”Camryn pushed the snack box closer to her husband, indicating that he should have some too. “If Trenton didn’t have the right values, I wouldn’t care for him so much. Given the hurt and pain I suffered during the twenty-odd years under his parents, if I hated them, they’d have nothing to say in defense.“Because Trenton has treated me well since he was little, respects me as
Just now, Carrie came here and made a scene, and he had given her fifty thousand dollars. Although he had not spent much time with her, they were siblings. He could at the very least still recognize her. However, when Camryn asked him that, Trenton's heart started to race, not daring to confidently say that the lady really was Carrie.As for the young lady beside her? He had watched the video a few times but had not paid much attention to her. All he could see was a beautiful, young woman dressed in luxurious attire. In the video, he heard Camryn refer to her as Mrs. Longbottom, so her husband’s family name had to be Longbottom.Mrs. Longbottom had a good attitude toward Camryn and even supported her. He was not familiar with Mrs. Longbottom at all, though. Why did Camryn ask him that? Should he know her? Trenton watched the video two more times but could not find anything unusual about her. It was just that he was not acquainted with Mrs. Longbottom. If he had not seen the video,
The young couple looked at Trenton, then exchanged smiles.“How much did you give Carrie?” Camryn asked her brother gently. Camryn could harden her heart to completely ignore Carrie and not give her a single cent, but Trenton could not be as ruthless as she was, mainly because while Carrie had not been particularly kind to Trenton, she also had not bullied him outright. She had treated Camryn very poorly though and had never shown her any respect at all, so their sisterly bond had deteriorated to the extreme. It was already generous of Camryn not to completely destroy Carrie after taking charge, which was probably out of consideration for the fact that they shared a mother.“I-I gave her fifty thousand. She said it was almost Christmas, and she wanted to buy gifts and new clothes, so I-I gave her fifty thousand.” Trenton looked down as he spoke, not daring to look at Camryn, afraid she would scold him.Camryn gave her brother a long look but did not scold him. Instead, she took o
Callum was silent for a moment before he said, “I wanted you to get familiar with the route to my office, which is why I asked you to deliver the flowers yourself.”“Did you ever think about how difficult it was for me as a blind person? It was so hard for me to walk all the way to deliver those flowers,” Camryn retorted.Callum pulled her into an embrace and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Camryn. It was my fault for not thinking it through, which put you through a lot.”Camryn pushed him away, “We have customers constantly coming in. Don’t just hug me out of nowhere. You’re as thick-skinned as a rhinoceros, but I’m not. At that time, I was angry and silently cursed you a hundred thousand times, but your insistence actually did help me learn the way to your office and now, I can find my way there even with my eyes closed.”At that moment, Trenton returned. After Carrie left, he felt a bit down and stayed outside for a while to compose himself before coming back in. He did not wan
Just then, a customer came in wanting to buy a bouquet. Camryn first brought over some sample pictures for the customer to choose from. “No need to choose, just help me arrange a bouquet of roses. I’m going to confess my feelings,” said the young boy, a hint of shyness on his face as he spoke.Camryn smiled gently. “Alright, please wait a moment while I prepare it for you.”Callum assisted by inviting the young boy to sit down and poured him a glass of water.The boy glanced between Camryn and Callum and quietly asked, “Are you and the boss married or dating?”“We’re married. She’s my wife.”The boy expressed his envy. “You both seem very happy.”“Yeah, we are very happy. I love my wife very much, and she loves me too.”Thinking about the girl he was pursuing, the boy’s face lit up with anticipation. “I also have someone I like, and I’m going to confess to her, though I just don’t know if she feels the same. I’m a bit nervous.”Callum, drawing from his own experience, advised
“She hasn’t paid. Stop her.” Camryn was not going to let her get away with it. With a command, her two bodyguards stopped Carrie.Carrie said furiously, “Camryn, I only took a few flowers from you! You have so many flowers here. What's the big deal if I take a few? You still want me to pay? I’m your sister! Don’t you know that blood is thicker than water?!”“Blood might be thicker than water, but business is business. Anyone who buys flowers from me has to pay, including you. Besides, you’ve never treated me like an older sister. You always bring up how we’re sisters when you want to take advantage of me, but that won’t work here. My roses are freshly transported, and since you’re my sister, I’ll let you have them for twenty bucks each. You took about five stems, so just give me a hundred. I won’t rip you off.”Carrie’s expression changed in an instant. “Camryn, why don’t you just rob a bank? You’re charging twenty bucks each? You’re just a thief! Here! I don’t want them! I’d rather
“If Mom said she would create an opportunity for you to get with the king, would you really believe her? It’s just talk—nothing actually happened.” Trenton could not resist poking Carrie’s forehead a few times. “Carrie, can you please come back to earth? In your current state, forget about finding a great guy like Callum—even a regular, decent guy would be turned off by you.”Carrie swatted away her brother’s fingers, irritated and embarrassed. “Am I really that bad? I’m young, beautiful, have a great figure, and a dignified heiress. If the monarchy still existed, I could marry the king and be his queen without a problem.”“Carrie, you have sky-high ambitions, but be careful, don’t fly too close to the sun and end up like Icarus.”As soon as he said that, Trenton was met with a smack from his sister.“Is there a brother who curses his own sister like that? What do you mean by that? I’m destined to have the princess life. I’ll be fine.”However, deep down, she was still worried bec
Camryn was right—he was just too soft-hearted. If he were as ruthless as her, Carrie would have found a job long ago after running out of money.To encourage Carrie to become independent, Trenton decided that after Christmas, he would stop giving her living expenses. He would also tell their parents during his visit to prison that Carrie was truly hopeless.“Trenton, you keep siding with her, and one day you'll regret it. She’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing who has deceived who knows how many people. Do you really think she cares about you? She just wants to win your complete trust to take everything that belongs to you for herself. By driving us out of our home, she’s not only seeking revenge on Mom and Dad but also on us—especially you. She’s just pretending to be nice to you to sow discord between us siblings.”“Carrie!” Trenton said seriously, “Don’t talk about Camryn like that. She’s not that kind of person. I believe in her, one hundred percent.”Carrie was so furious she wanted
“Alright, alright, I can't win with the two of you against one,” Carrie sulked. “Give me money to spend. I'm out of money.”She reached out her hand toward Camryn, wanting her to give her money. Camryn slapped her hand away. “Even Trenton knows to take advantage of the winter break to find a part-time job and earn some pocket money. You’re perfectly capable, yet you don’t look for a job.“To put it bluntly, if you’ve gone to sweep the streets, you'd still have a source of income. I have money, but I won’t give it to you. Don’t think that just because we’re sisters—estranged, too, at that—I have an obligation to support my adult sister. I’ve said it before: if you want money to spend, earn it yourself.” With that, Camryn walked away to tend to her plants.As Christmas approached, the flower market was bustling. Every day, many people came to buy flowers, and all her employees were out delivering flowers to clients. Sometimes, when it got too busy, she even had to ask her two bodyguar