Corinne turned a deaf ear to Rosie and continued to walk forward.Rosie, in her high heels, caught up with Corinne and lashed out harshly, "You failed to win Jeremy's heart, Corinne, and you'll fail to win Lucas's heart too! Someone as poor as you can probably only marry those nouveau riches in the countryside."Quit dreaming about winning the hearts of these rich men! Can't you look at yourself and stop trying to snatch away my man or Anya's man?"Corinne nodded curtly. "Fine! No problem! Can you get out of the way now?"Rosie was speechless because of how little of an effect her words had. "What's with the attitude, Corinne?""Didn't I already promise you I won't snatch the men you're after? What else do you want me to do?""You—""Rosie, Corinne," Anya's tender voice interjected, "What are you two arguing about?"Corinne and Rosie looked in the direction of the voice simultaneously and saw Anya dressed in a gorgeous costume. Her exquisitely done hair and makeup made her look
Anya groaned in pain and had a horrified, aggrieved look on her face. "Corinne! W-w-why did you push me?"Rosie was taken aback when she heard that and looked angrily at Corinne. "You're up to no good again, Corinne! What a vicious woman you are, harming Anya time and again!"Corinne's hands were hanging naturally by her sides, and she was stunned when facing the accusations from Anya and Rosie. Her lips twitched slightly, and she let out a soft snort.'Here we go again!'Anya tried every means to get Corinne to go to the birthday earlier, but since there was little success with the present, she pulled off one of her usual tricks.It was the same boring ploy that she used to do in the past.Rosie carefully helped Anya up and asked, "How are you feeling, Anya? Did you hurt yourself?"Anya had tears in her eyes, and she looked rather weak. "Rosie… My foot... It hurts...""Your foot? Oh no… Could it be a fracture? What do we do now?"Rosie checked Anya's foot anxiously, but ther
"Yes, sir!"Anya struggled stubbornly in Lucas's arms, and tears started to well up in her eyes."No... I'm fine, Lucas! I need to perform! I've already told Grandpa I've prepared a special gift for his birthday. He'll be very disappointed in me if I don't show up onstage. You know how long I've taken to prepare this gift, Lucas..."Lucas frowned and chastised, "Be a good girl, Anya! I'll explain the situation to Grandpa for you. Nothing is as important as your health right now, so stop making such a big fuss!"Anya cried, "No, Lucas! I don't want to! I've been looking forward to this for a long time! I don't want to give up now... Let me go, Lucas! I want to go on stage! I want to perform! I swear I'm fine..."Anya flailed about, hindering Lucas from moving forward. Nothing he said could persuade her, and there was nothing he could do about her situation.Rosie looked at the situation, feeling worried about her best friend's injury and the headache that her dream man Lucas had t
Rosie glared at Corinne and said, "Is that so difficult to understand, Corinne? I'm asking you to go onstage and take Anya's place to sing 'A Love Entranced'!"Corinne frowned slightly. "Me? Taking her place for the performance? How is that helpful?"Rosie rolled her eyes confidently and said, "It's very helpful! You'll be using heavy makeup when you're singing on stage, so no one can tell that you're not her if they don't look carefully! You can just go on stage, sing the song as Anya, and we'll treat it as if Anya was the one who came on stage to sing for the old man. No one will notice anything!"After hearing Rosie's idea, Anya pondered it momentarily and soon understood her best friend's intentions. Rosie deliberately tried to make a fool out of Corinne with the performance. It did not take a genius to figure out that a poor country girl like Corinne could never belt out an opera.Corinne's family finances and childhood environment hindered her from taking opera lessons. Once
Corinne was not persuaded and was adamant about refusing.At that moment, Lucas finally said in a stern and impatient tone. "That's enough! Stop causing trouble! If Anya can't take the stage, getting someone else to take her place is unnecessary. Grandpa isn't going to blame anyone. I'll just explain Anya's situation to him."After hearing what Lucas said, Corinne could not be happier to be freed from that pressure.Anya insisted tearfully, "I didn't prepare any other gifts for Grandpa aside from this performance… Even if Grandpa doesn't blame me for not giving him a proper present, it'd still leave him with a bad impression of me in the future. That's why I need to complete the performance for him..."Lucas frowned and gazed down at his stubborn sister. "Listen to me, Anya. Your health is more important than anything. If you want to sing the opera you've practiced for Grandpa, you can always do so another day. There will be more opportunities for you to sing for him in the future!
Rosie glanced again at Corinne with disgust and barked sarcastically, "Why are you spacing out? Let's go! I'll bring you to get your makeup done!"Corinne sighed, nodded helplessly, and followed Rosie as the latter led her backstage.Lucas stared coldly at Corinne's rear figure and narrowed his eyes. He did not care much about Corinne's potential performance later, but he simply felt that Corinne's reaction was a little odd.Things were bound to happen whenever Corinne showed up, and there was always some trouble in the offing. All he could hope for was that she would not ruin his grandfather's birthday party that day.Had he not been forced to calm his younger sister's emotions so she could get her foot injury checked up, he would not have allowed Corinne to stay around, let alone perform on stage.At that moment, Edmund finally arrived with the Lovelaces' family doctor."Sir, Doctor Kingsley is here," Edmund said.He then looked worriedly at Anya while she was still nestled in
Lucas nodded in relief after hearing what the doctor said. "I see. That's good to hear."Anya had a sudden thought and said, "I'm still a little worried about Corinne's performance, so since the doctor already checked my foot and said that I’m fine, I'd like to go and watch it."Lucas frowned. "Didn't you hear the doctor advising you not to walk for now? Be obedient."Anya pouted pitifully. "I really want to watch the performance... Please just take me there, Lucas. I just want to have a look."Lucas frowned for a moment and said, "Not a chance. Corinne will perform under your guise, so aren't you afraid that someone might spot you in the audience?"Anya was stunned since she had completely forgotten about that point. She wanted to see Corinne make a fool of herself and show up just in time to prove that the person on stage was someone else instead of her."Lucas… I just want to watch her from a distance... We don't have to be in the audience. We can just watch from a distance...
Rosie went off stage, glanced at the audience, and walked over to sit in the first row behind Edgar and Gertrude.The second elder of the Lovelaces was Lucas's grandfather. If she could strike up a good relationship with the old man and his wife, then it would almost certainly benefit her in her future relationship with Lucas.Rosie exchanged greetings with the elders in a very respectful and polite manner before taking her seat. She looked up at the stage and saw Corinne making an appearance.'Let the show begin!'Corinne led the other dancers on stage with a firm stride and raised her voice to sing."Farewell, my love. Farewell, my love. We must go our separate ways. Remember this farewell, keep our memories in your heart, and think back to our time before our farewell…"Her voice did not break, she was not out of tune, and she nailed every single word correctly.Her voice was crisp, and those in the audience who were chatting while listening to the performance could not help