Her Gilded Revenge For Stolen Fate novel Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Confrontation Was A Risk

“A token?” Vivian asked, her voice all innocence.

The act made Celia’s temper flare. She really wanted to tear that false sweetness right off Vivian’s face.

But she couldn’t, not with Beatrice and Flora watching. To bring up the token now would reveal her whole display of grievance as a calculated act.

Beatrice saw too much, and Flora, for all her motherly love, was not a fool.

If they began to doubt her now, she would not only lose their affection and trust but, worse still, see all her plans fall apart.

Confrontation was too great a risk. Celia had to back down.

“A misunderstanding, Vivian,” Celia said, her voice carefully light. “I was only curious how you managed to obtain the Moonbay Abbey pass.”

“Please, don’t mock me, Celia,” Vivian replied with a soft smile. “I’ve never had your good fortune. All my luck went into bringing Mother Hadley here.”

The words made Flora reconsider Vivian.

After the scene at Beatrice’s birthday party, she had written Vivian off as a hopelessly spoiled girl, and Quentin spoke of this daughter with nothing but distaste.

She never imagined Vivian would take such initiative, much less be the one to do what it took to save Simon’s life.

[Celia Snyder’s Fortune Points: 87.] The system’s notification appeared, and Vivian allowed herself a small, genuine smile.

“A good sign, Host,” the System observed. “Hadley’s disapproval has hurt Celia’s standing. Her Fortune Points will keep falling.”

“It’s not over yet,” Vivian reminded herself, staying cautious.

She still remembered the agony of having her heart cut out and her blood stolen. That nightmare had been crafted by Celia and Sylvia.

Beatrice gestured Sylvia closer. “You have raised a good daughter,” she said warmly. “She has been a help to Flora, and to this house.”

Sylvia looked up, her eyes wide with humble surprise.

“Flora’s health was ruined when she bore Simon,” Beatrice continued. “She has been weak ever since. Without Celia’s blood in her medicine years ago, she might not have lived this long.

“If we had lost Simon today, it would have broken her completely.”

Sylvia’s eyes shifted briefly.

Moved by her own words, Beatrice then took the emerald bracelet from her wrist and clasped it around Sylvia’s.

Praise from Beatrice was always for Sylvia’s own loyalty. To be honored for her daughter’s deed was a new and sweet satisfaction.

Celia looked down, her face a careful blank.

Beside her, Nina burned with silent fury, her eyes shooting daggers at Vivian.

She couldn’t grasp Vivian’s uncanny luck in finding the real practitioner.

Had Hadley’s identity been fake, Vivian would be facing blame, not praise.

But Nina could only swallow the envy rising in her throat and hold her tongue.

She understood the manners expected of a young lady from the Snyder family.

*****

After Hadley’s visit, Simon began to recover his strength.

The pall over Hearthstone Court finally lifted. Flora felt well enough to resume her duties and even ordered new gowns for the Snyder girls to wear to the palace.

In her previous life, Vivian had been grounded by Quentin in her family’s private chapel over a scandal she hadn’t committed, so she missed the palace event.

She later learned about an incident from that time. Enoch’s cousin, Edward Fletcher, and the Ninth Prince, Nicholas Shelton, had been arguing in the Imperial Menagerie when someone deliberately opened a bear’s cage.

While the beast was lunging at Edward, Celia’s move was to shield Nicholas, leaving him completely unharmed.

“Celia is blessed with immense fortune,” the System said. “Beasts would never harm her.”

Vivian adjusted her veiled hat, took Judith with her, and set off again for the Hunting Palace.

“Are you planning the same thing again, Host?” the System asked. “Giving Enoch a warning before it happens?”

Vivian shook her head.

Her memories of a previous life would make others see her as strange, like a living curse.

She didn’t truly know what kind of man Enoch was, and she wasn’t ready to take that chance.

“I just need a favor from him,” Vivian said to the System.

When Vivian finally got her meeting with Enoch, she came straight to the point and asked for his help.

Enoch, famous for his bad temper, didn’t ask for reasons. He thought for only a moment before agreeing.

“All right,” Enoch said. “I’ll do it.”

Finally hearing Enoch’s agreement, Vivian breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Even though approaching Enoch was meant to repay a debt, being alone with him still made her nervous.

*****

Ten days passed, and the time for the palace party came.

As the daughter of a concubine, Vivian dressed modestly. She blended in easily with the others from the Snyder family, attracting no special notice.

Nina watched Vivian closely but discreetly.

With her bangs covering the scar on her left cheek, Vivian could look almost pretty from a certain angle.

But a single gust of wind was all it would take to ruin it. Nina watched, a spiteful satisfaction rising as she thought, ‘All that fuss just to hide a flaw. Pathetic.’