Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 473

That wasn't something you could just buy with money. A couple of days ago, an old friend had come over, seen the set, and relentlessly hounded him about how he managed to get his hands on it.

Wilfred pointed at the tea set resting on the coffee table. "Look, that's the one. It's the gift Little Star gave me at the banquet."

Julius picked up one of the pieces from the table and examined it closely.

Every single piece bore Master Magnus Walden's signature, but etched right next to the master's name was a tiny, distinct star.

It was undeniably the work of Master Walden's protégé. That little star was the ultimate proof.

Master Walden's crafting technique was so unique that it was impossible for others to replicate. Only his absolute best pupil could produce works identical to his own.

Rumor had it that the pupil deliberately marked their pieces this way to ensure the legendary master would never be forgotten.

Even though they were technically the pupil's works, they were still considered priceless.

Yet, no one in the world had ever discovered the true identity of Master Walden's one and only protégé.

When Stella first received the tea set, it had been carefully packaged. He had even helped her carry it into the hotel, completely unaware that it was a masterpiece.

"Grandpa, Stella bought this tea set at the Myriad Treasures Gallery in the Antiques Quarter."

At the time, she had mentioned getting it from the Gallery, and Weber Harper had even tried to snatch it out from under her.

He had taught the Harper family a harsh lesson over that little stunt.

He'd heard that the head of the Harper family had furiously chewed Weber out and completely cut off his trust fund.

Now, broke and desperate, Weber had no choice but to actually show up and work at his family's company.

In a way, Julius had done the Harpers a huge favor by disciplining their useless playboy.

Wilfred picked up the fairness pitcher and studied it intently.

After gazing at it for a long moment, he began grumbling again. "Every time I look at that little star next to Master Walden's name, it reminds me of our Little Star. It's all your fault for being so useless. You've been apart from her for so long and you can't even figure out a way to fix it."

Whenever she wasn't using the device, it stayed powered off and meticulously hidden. She only brought it out when absolutely necessary.

And every time she finished chatting with Julius, she deleted every single message and hid the app icon from the home screen—a security trick Julius had taught her.

That way, even if Tiger somehow discovered she had a phone, he wouldn't find anything suspicious.

If it ever came to that, she would just claim she found it lying around.

She powered it on, punched in a specific sequence of symbols to unhide the messaging app, and opened her chat window to find Julius's text waiting for her.

She replied: [How did you figure that out?]

Julius hadn't expected a response so quickly. A grin spread across his face, completely unhidden.

Sometimes, he would send her a message and wait agonizingly long hours for a reply.

He knew she was in a dangerous situation where it often wasn't safe to text.