Chapter 1439
“I thought you’d deny it…”
Chloe responded nonchalantly, “So if I deny it, it’s not true?”
Queen Julia shook her head, gripping Chloe’s hand tightly. “Your denial changes nothing. You’re still my granddaughter.” As she said this, Julia hugged Chloe even tighter, like a young child clinging onto her, afraid she would leave.
1
Julia’s actions coaxed a small smile out of Chloe. “So, there’s nothing left to say.” Chloe put up a tough front, but she didn’t know why she felt so emotional talking to this high and mighty queen.
She wasn’t emotionless. Yasmine had disappeared for over thirty years, and Julia had shifted all her love for Yasmine to someone else. Chloe felt a sense of injustice and bitterness on Yasmine’s behalf.
Even though Julia had her own reasons, a sense of sadness and helplessness, the gap of over thirty years was a harsh reality.
Chloe felt wronged herself too because Barbara and Becky, who grew up under Julia’s protection, were unfair to her.
Queen Julia wasn’t bothered by Chloe’s coldness. Instead, she said, “Right, there’s nothing more to say. So, you’ll accompany me to the banquet tomorrow night. I can’t wait to announce your identity to everyone.”
Chloe frowned. “Can I refuse?”
“No.”
“What if I insist…”
“There are no ifs. If you have ifs, I have my own. The outcome won’t change, you have to come with me.”
Chloe was speechless. How was this different from Damon’s “I refuse your refusal“?
Chloe didn’t leave the palace. Queen Julia arranged a room for her in her own quarters. Out of frustration, Chloe requested to see her personal doctor Jane, appointed by Damon.
“If you won’t let me go out, bring my personal doctor in.”
Queen Julia said, “There are many doctors in the palace…
“Sorry, I only trust my own people.”
So, Queen Julia had no choice but to bring Jane in.
Ava nervously contacted the folks in P City and then called Barbara to ask about Becky. Thinking of Becky’s impotent rage, Ava wished she could just strangle this useless idiot!
Ava had been cautiously vigilant for over a decade, only for it all to be ruined by Becky. Damn it!
“Becky’s in the hospital now,” Barbara said.
When Ava stormed into the hospital intending to scold Becky, she saw Becky with a crooked chin and nose, prepped for surgery. Her face was a horrific sight. Ava was both shocked and angry. Looking at Becky’s face, she almost passed out! “Damn it! What was wrong with the face I gave you?! You actually wanted plastic surgery?!” A
Ava yelled furiously, her angry voice echoing throughout the hospital.
“Mom…” Becky cried pitifully. “You have to avenge me! Chloe is the villain, she did this to me, and at the state banquet, too. It’s so humiliating…”
If Becky’s face wasn’t already beyond recognition, Ava would’ve slapped her a couple of times. In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to do it and left the hospital.
“Fools! All of them!” Ava screamed in anger as if she wanted to tear the night sky apart.
Despite Barbara’s best efforts, the news about the state banquet spread like wildfire. As soon as Ava finished screaming, a few reporters rushed out of a car parked in front of the hospital, scrambling to surround her.
Ava hurried out of the hospital, completely unprepared; she didn’t even bring a bodyguard.
“Princess Ava, what’s your opinion on what happened at the state banquet?”
“Why was Princess Barbara so certain that Ms. Chloe was a fraud? What led her to believe so?”
“We heard that Ms. Chloe might be Queen Julia’s real granddaughter, what’s your take on this, Princess Ava?”
Ava’s face was beyond grim. She wasn’t in the mood to answer any of the questions thrown at her by the reporters.
“Princess Ava, why aren’t you answering? According to our investigation, you were best friends with Queen Julia’s biological daughter Jasmine when you were young. Is there something hidden beneath this?”
The reporter’s question hit Ava’s sore spot. Her eyes widened, her gaze icy, and her expression gloomy.
“What do you mean? What does my friendship with Jasmine have to do with whether Chloe is the princess of Y Country?”
The reporter smiled. “Because Ms. Chloe is your friend’s daughter…”
Ava clamped her mouth shut, biting her teeth in silence. She wasn’t a fool; it was clear the reporter was trying to bait her.
Barbara, standing nearby, watched Ava for a few seconds, then gracefully stepped forward, smiling elegantly at the reporters‘ cameras. “First of all, I want to apologize to all the citizens of Y Country for the chaos at the state banquet, an incident we did not foresee. I can’t deny that I played a part in it. I acted impulsively out of fear that the Queen would be deceived, driven by anger and worry…”
The reporter reiterated the previous question, “Why were you so certain that Ms. Chloe was a fraud?”
Barbara smiled and said, “Because my mother Ava once told me that the Queen’s real daughter had died long ago. She saw her cremation with her own eyes, so how could she have a granddaughter? Moreover, the Queen herself stated that she was being overemotional and shouldn’t have made judgments based on a simple song The Queen has always been smart, so how could she be duped?”
Ava was pushed aside by the reporters, her mind a whirlwind after hearing Barbara’s words. It wasn’t until the reporters left that Ava, leaning against a pillar at the hospital entrance, finally regained her composure.
After a while, Barbara walked up to Ava, smiling as if nothing had happened, and said, “Let’s go…” No sooner had she finished her sentence than Ava slapped her so hard that her head turned to one side…
Barbara stayed silent for a few seconds and then turned her head back to Ava.
Ava was fuming “What the hell were you trying to say, Barbara? Don’t tell me you didn’t see that the reporters were trying to trap you!”
“Did I say something wrong? Everybody knows that the Queen didn’t make a clear stance at the state banquet, and a piano piece doesn’t prove anything! Isn’t that the truth? What do you want me to say? Chloe is the Queen’s granddaughter?”
“You know that’s not I you meant!”
Barbara suddenly let out a cold laugh, her tone icy. “I can only say this to potentially leave us a way out in case of emergency. Otherwise, we’ll be kicked out by the Queen!”
Cole was the first to know about what happened at the state banquet and started laughing. “Chloe dared to mess with the Y Country’s royal family. She’s just asking for it.”
Wendy also felt very satisfied. She sneered, “She brought this trouble on herself. Losing face in front of the whole world, she deserves it.”
Cole nodded. “With my press conference yesterday and today’s news, the Harper Group’s Board of Directors will surely let Damon taste the bitterness of failure!” Wendy laughed crazily. “Yes, I want him to fully realize how stupid it was to choose Chloe over me! I want him to lose everything because of Chloe!”
