Felix, too, believed Ysabelle was incredibly lucky to have Sophie in her life.
He had always been supporting her, but he was never able to help her out with her problems.
Sophie, on the other hand, did so much for Ysabelle that he felt ashamed of himself.
“Your Sophie sure is an amazing person, Mr. Tristan!” Felix exclaimed.
Charles and Sean arrived at the scene as well.
They had known Ysabelle since she was little, so they could not possibly miss out on such a huge occasion.
“Yeah, she sure is!” Charles nodded in agreement as he continued, “By the way, Winter has been in Alendor for quite some time now, Mr. Tristan. Will you please let her come back? She's no match for Sophie at all!”
Winter had been begging to return after spending an exceedingly long time in Alendor.
“I think it's best if Winter remains in Alendor, Charles. You don't know what she might do if I let her come back, and I won't let anyone cause Sophie any harm. Winter won't be able to handle the consequences if anything happens to Sophie,” Tristan replied.
Winter was not the type of person who would give up easily.
In that case, keeping her in Alendor was the best option.
Charles let out a huge sigh before saying, “You just won't take any risks, huh? All right, then. I understand.”
In truth, he was under a lot of pressure from Walter badgering him to ask Tristan to let Winter return.
“It can't be helped. She's more important than my own life,” Tristan replied. He would not let Winter return as long as she still posed a threat to Sophie.
“Could you at least send her to Anglandur instead? The environment in Alendor is really horrible...” Charles requested. This isn't too much to ask, is it?
Tristan simply nodded at him in response.
He had been close friends with Charles for many years, so he figured it would be okay to fulfill the latter's tiny request.
Sean gave Charles a pat on the shoulder without saying a word.
He could understand the reason behind Tristan's decision.
Even so, he felt bad for Charles. Winter was the latter's sister, after all, and being stuck overseas all by herself was not a good thing.
Alas, no one was able to change Tristan's mind on the matter.
Taking that into consideration, perhaps it was not all that bad to have Winter stay overseas.
With Xandra personally handling Ysabelle's press conference, things were naturally off to a good start.
From backstage, Ysabelle could see that the place was swarming with journalists.
She was calm at first, but the sight of all those journalists got her feeling nervous again.
Seeing that, Sophie walked up to her and gave her hand a squeeze as she said, “It'll be fine. You've done well, so nothing will go wrong.”
It was true that Ysabelle had done the best she could.
Ysabelle flashed her a smile. “Yeah, I'll give it my best, Sophie.”
She's right! I've worked so hard all this while, so it's time to reap the rewards of my hard work! I can't be chickening out now!
“That's the spirit!”
The host then called out to Ysabelle, prompting her to go on stage. As they had done quite a lot of advertising beforehand, she had amassed quite a fanbase.
The second the fans saw Ysabelle appear on stage, they started screaming her name.
For the first time in her life, Ysabelle was able to experience the support that a fanbase provided.
After hearing the voices of her fans, she no longer felt afraid.
“I'm sure all of you here know who this beauty is. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Ysabelle Lombard of TS Entertainment!”
The fans screamed in excitement once the host introduced Ysabelle.
Ysabelle waited for them to quiet down before saying, “Hello, everyone! It's me, Ysabelle! I'm very happy to see all of you here today. To be honest, as a rookie in this industry, I'm thrilled to receive such a tremendous amount of support.”
Since it was a press conference for the release of her new album, she sang her first title track, which was composed by Richie himself.
That alone was enough to hype Ysabelle up for a long time, as Richie had a ton of fans himself.
Most of the people in the crowd turned up because they were fans of Richie.
However, they fell in love with Ysabelle after listening to her performance.
“This girl sure is great at singing!”
“Yeah! I really love her voice! It's so distinctive!”
“I know, right? Richie will be having a concert in a few days! Do you think she will be attending it as well?”
“I don't think so. Richie never invites guests to his concerts.”
“That's hard to say. Richie never composed songs for others either, but look what he did for her.”
Nothing was truly impossible in the world.
“True that!”
Felix felt really glad for Ysabelle when he heard those comments.
Ysabelle has worked so hard for so long, and she's finally made her dreams a reality! I'm sure she'll be able to continue doing what she loves from here on.
“Ysabelle sure is talented in singing! I kind of like this song!” Charles praised.
He used to think that Ysabelle was all talk back then, which was why he was genuinely surprised to see her start her career as a singer.
Felix nodded in agreement. “I like it very much.”
“As if there's a single thing about Ysabelle that you don't like!” Charles teased. He likes Ysabelle so much that I bet he'll praise her even if she does something nasty!
“Yeah, I like everything about her,” Felix replied.
I'm not sure if my feelings for her will end up burdening her, though...
“You'll have to up your game, then. The entertainment industry is a very complex world, Felix. If you like her, then you need to hurry up and go steady with her,” Sean reminded him.
There were simply far too many temptations in the entertainment industry, and a naïve girl like Ysabelle could easily succumb to those temptations.
“I believe in Ysabelle, so you guys should, too,” Sophie said. Ysabelle knows exactly what she wants and thus will not let those temptations lead her astray.
“Yeah, you're right.” Tristan agreed with her statement.
Ysabelle is a member of the Lombard family, after all. None of the Lombards are fools. She knows what she's doing.
A signing event took place after the press conference. Because the press conference was broadcasted live on the internet, a lot of people came over to show Ysabelle their support upon listening to her performance.
That was why Ysabelle ended up spending over three hours meeting and greeting her fans at the venue.
Naturally, Felix stayed there with her the entire time.
For some reason, Ysabelle felt incredibly at ease when she went backstage and saw him waiting for her.
“Thanks for keeping me company, Felix!” That was the first time she had spoken to him so calmly.
Without saying a word, Felix spread both his arms out.
At such a moment, he did not want to say anything else but give her a big hug.
Seeing his action, she ran up to him and hugged him tightly as she continued, “I'm really thankful to you for staying by my side all this while.”
Felix wrapped his arms around her.
“I will always be by your side, so make sure to save me a spot, okay?” he said gently.
Ysabelle fell into a daze.
It was her first time seeing him behave so gently.
Now that I think about it, Felix has been by my side all along. He was always the first to rush to my aid whenever I ran into trouble.
“Felix, do you like me?” Following that line of thought, Ysabelle asked the question, only to realize how nervous she was afterward.
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