As Seraphina Ashworth reached the doorway, she sensed a persistent gaze fixed upon her.
Whirling around, she saw a dignified, elegant woman standing there, her eyes filled with hatred.
Seraphina Ashworth frowned in confusion.
‘I don’t think I know her.
Why am I sensing such intense malice from that woman at the doorway?’
“Seraphina, what’s wrong?” Sylvia Blaine asked, puzzled, when she saw her daughter halt in her tracks.
“Hmm, Mom, who is that?” Seraphina Ashworth asked, looking up at Sylvia Blaine and pointing to the woman at the doorway.
Sylvia Blaine followed her daughter’s gesture and saw who it was—the person she despised most, Gemma Montague.
Gemma Montague hadn’t expected Seraphina Ashworth to spot her.
Caught off guard, her gaze locked with Sylvia Blaine’s.
Seeing how happy Sylvia was now, the hatred in her heart threatened to erupt.
“Mom…” Seraphina Ashworth sensed her mother’s mood shift because of the woman at the doorway and tugged on her hand.
“It’s a long story.
I’ll tell you when we get home,” Sylvia Blaine said gently, snapping out of her reverie.
She withdrew her gaze from Gemma Montague and looked down at her daughter.
“Okay.”
“What are you two up to?
Why are you lagging behind?” Paul Ashworth said softly, draping his arm around Sylvia Blaine.
“It’s nothing.
Let’s go.”
Watching Paul Ashworth’s tender, doting expression toward Sylvia Blaine and her daughter, the indignant fury in Gemma Montague’s heart intensified.
‘Sylvia Blaine, how dare you be the one to marry Paul Ashworth?
All of this should have been mine!
I will never let you and your child get away with this.
Just you wait.’ Her hands were clenched so tightly that her veins bulged, and her face twisted into a savage expression.
Because of what happened, the banquet soon broke up.
While the Ashworth family departed in joyous harmony, the atmosphere at the Winters family’s home was nothing short of gloomy.
In the Winters family study, Cecil Winters sat at his desk with a grim expression.
The younger generation of the family stood opposite him, hardly daring to breathe.
Only Kiera Winters, oblivious to the danger, was making a scene.
“Grandpa, my injuries hurt so much!
Seraphina Ashworth was so arrogant today, she acted like our Winters family is nothing!
You have to teach her a good…” Kiera Winters whined, clutching her wounds and feigning weakness as she approached Cecil Winters.
SLAP.
Before Kiera Winters could finish, Cecil Winters shot to his feet and slapped her viciously across the face.
The sound echoed in the silent study.
Startled by the slap, the other young family members immediately lowered their heads and put on an obedient facade, terrified they would be next.
When Linda Quinn saw her father-in-law strike her daughter hard enough to make her face swell, she was instantly displeased.
“Sir, how could you be so harsh?
Elara is already injured!”
“Stay out of this.
You are not to interfere,” Cecil Winters snapped.
He would not allow anyone in his house to challenge his authority.
Frowning, he glared at Linda Quinn.
Chastised by Cecil Winters, Linda Quinn felt a pang of fear.
She was about to say something more when her husband pulled her aside.
Seeing the dark look on his face, she had no choice but to quietly stand down.
“You disgraceful child!
Have I spoiled you so much that you’ve become this brazen?
Look at what you’ve done today!
You’ve brought utter shame upon the Winters family!” The more Cecil Winters recalled the humiliation they’d endured before the Ashworth family, the angrier he grew.
Kiera Winters collapsed to the floor, her face stinging and her injuries throbbing with renewed pain.
Dazed by the force of Cecil Winters’s slap, she felt a surge of indignation.
“Grandpa…
you hit me?”
“Hitting you is getting off lightly!” Cecil Winters’s eyes were wide with fury as he glared at Kiera Winters, his expression a mask of bitter disappointment.
“If word of what happened today gets out, do you have any idea how much damage it will do to the Winters family?”
“Grandpa, please calm down,” Quinn Winters, who had been standing quietly aside, suddenly interjected in a low voice.
“Elara has been punished.
I’m sure she won’t dare do it again.”
Cecil Winters looked at his favorite grandson, and his anger abated slightly.
Glancing at the injured Kiera Winters on the floor, he waved his hand impatiently at Linda Quinn.
“Take her to have her wounds treated.
She is forbidden from leaving the house for the next few months.”
Linda Quinn went forward, helped her daughter to her feet, and quickly left the room.
“Sigh.
If only the others were half as sensible as you, I’d have far fewer worries.” Cecil Winters looked at his composed grandson, his temples throbbing at the thought of the others.
“Grandpa, it seems the Ashworth family hides its true strength well.
Seraphina Ashworth is nothing like the sickly girl of the rumors.” Quinn Winters recalled how Seraphina had easily defeated a group of attackers by herself.
‘Her Ancient Martial Level must be quite high.’
“Hmph.
How could Paul Ashworth’s daughter be ordinary?
No one in the Ashworth family is.
Aethelburg is about to descend into chaos,” Cecil Winters said, his gaze deep and inscrutable.
“And you and your siblings must intensify your training.
Don’t let the Ashworths surpass you.”
“I understand, Grandpa.”
…
In Sylvia Blaine’s bedroom, Seraphina Ashworth was curled up lazily on the sofa, waiting for her mother’s explanation.
“Seraphina.” Having changed out of her cheongsam and into casual loungewear, Sylvia Blaine exuded an even softer, more serene grace.
“That woman just now was Gemma Montague, the youngest daughter of the Montague family and the second daughter-in-law of the Winters family.
She used to be in love with your father and opposed me at every turn.
Later, she framed me and had me poisoned.
When your father found out, he was so furious he wanted to kill her.
But one of the ingredients in the antidote I needed could only be found with the Winters family.
Back then, Clayton Winters, who was infatuated with Gemma, came to your father with a deal.
He offered the ingredient to save Gemma’s life and asked your father to spare her.
My life was hanging by a thread, so your father had no choice but to agree.
Afterward, though, he retaliated by crippling all of the Montague family’s businesses, which caused a huge sensation in Aethelburg.” As Sylvia Blaine recalled everything Paul Ashworth had done for her, her face bloomed with a blissful smile.
“And then?”
“‘After that,’ Sylvia Blaine murmured, stroking Seraphina’s long hair, ‘once I had recovered, your father eagerly prepared our wedding, and we were married.'”
“Mom, what does it feel like to love someone?” Seraphina Ashworth asked, looking at her mother with genuine curiosity.
Though she had been reborn, she had never been in a relationship in her past life and had no idea what loving someone felt like.
Sylvia Blaine smiled gently.
“Hmm, the feeling of love…
it’s complex, yet addictive.
You don’t want to fight it.
When your father was willing to give everything for me, without holding anything back, I knew he was the one.
And over time, I’ve come to love him more than I love myself.”
Seraphina Ashworth watched her mother.
Whenever she spoke of her father, her eyes would fill with happiness, the light in them shining ever more brilliantly.
She had noticed Paul Ashworth at the door for a while but chose not to alert her mother.
Instead, she teased playfully, “Dad, aren’t your feet getting tired from standing there?”
Hearing this, Sylvia Blaine shot a look at the doorway and saw her husband leaning lazily against the frame.
The memory of her words made her face flush instantly.
His burning gaze met hers, and her blush deepened until she felt her face was on fire.
“Well, Mom, I think I’ll be going.
Dad probably has something he wants to talk to you about,” Seraphina Ashworth said cheekily, hopping off the sofa and winking at Sylvia Blaine.
“Wait, Seraphina!”
Sylvia Blaine hurried to grab her daughter’s hand, but Seraphina was too quick, slipping to the doorway in an instant.
“Dad, I’m heading out.
Don’t want to be a third wheel,” Seraphina Ashworth said with a grin, her eyes crinkling as she walked past Paul Ashworth.
After Seraphina left, Sylvia Blaine wanted to bury her head in the sand like an ostrich, keeping her gaze lowered, not daring to look at Paul Ashworth.
Paul Ashworth couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of his wife’s blushing face.
He strode over, sat beside Sylvia Blaine, and pulled her into his arms.
His voice was low and magnetic as he said, “I think I just heard someone confessing her love for me.
Did you hear that?”