The Tower Reversed: Back to 18 (Venus) novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54 The Gift and Pretense

Lumi leaned closer to her again, her voice soft and sweet. “Venus, it’s a huge honor that Rayne is filming the Zrebert promotional video. Should we go congratulate Rayne together later? Oh, and this is the gift I prepared for Rayne. Let me give it to you first. You can tell Rayne later that you bought it for him. He will be so happy.”

Without another word, she shoved the gift box into Venus’s arms.

Venus didn’t take it.

Smash!

The gift box fell to the floor and a clear sound of shattered porcelain filled the room.

Lumi gasped sharply. “Oh no! I ordered this custom ivory-glazed tea set from a local ceramic artist two weeks in advance! What do we do now? It’s ruined!”

As she spoke, her eyes filled with sparkling tears.

“Venus, even if you don’t like me, you shouldn’t vent your anger on the gift meant for Rayne. He had wanted this tea set for a long time and I went through so many connections to have it custom-made. Now that it’s broken, how am I supposed to explain this to him?”

Lumi was getting emotional as she spoke. Her tears began to fall.

The staff nearby saw this and quickly comforted her. “Ms. Lumi, don’t be scared. We all saw that Venus broke the tea set. It has nothing to do with you.”

“Exactly! You’re such a kind person, Ms. Lumi. There’s no way Rayne would blame anyone’s at fault, it’s Venus!”

you. If

“Look at her completely unconcerned face. It’s disgusting. Isn’t she going to apologize after breaking someone’s thing?”

“How shameless!”

Lumi crouched down and picked up the broken box, her eyes rimmed with red. “It was my fault. I didn’t hold it properly. If Rayne asks, I won’t say it was you, Venus. It’s all on me.”

Venus said with a smile, “Oh yeah, absolutely your fault.”

The staff immediately turned hostile, jumping to Lumi’s defense.

“I clearly saw you refuse to take it! That’s why it fell!”

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“Exactly! Ms. Lumi was being kind and trying to help you fix your relationship with Rayne, but you threw away her kindness. You’re just awful!”

“How dare you push the blame onto her? If we hadn’t seen it ourselves, you would have completely bullied her!”

“That’s enough, everyone. Venus didn’t mean to. It’s my fault. I only wanted to help her. I didn’t expect my kindness to backfire. I’ll just buy another, a more expensive one, so she can still give it to Rayne,” Lumi said tearfully, looking pitiful yet gentle.

Her graceful, selfless act instantly won her the crowd’s sympathy. The staff showered her with praise, while glaring at Venus as though she were some cruel villain.

Then suddenly, a clapping sound was heard.

Venus applauded with a mocking smile. “With acting skills like that, you should go for Best Actress Award. You and Rayne would make the perfect pair.”

“Venus, what are you saying? He’s my brother! I know you dislike me, but you shouldn’t make jokes about Rayne and me.” Lumi’s long lashes fluttered gently, making her looked pitiful.

Venus laughed again. “You were the one who came up and took my arm. You were the one who shoved the gift box into my hands. I didn’t even say a word. Aren’t you just putting on a show?”

“I didn’t … ” Lumi’s voice broke as she blinked back tears. “I really was thinking of you! I just wanted to help you and Rayne get along better. I had no other intention.”

“You know perfectly that Rayne hates me, yet you wanted me to hand him your gift and lie to his face? You think that would make him like me more or hate me even more?”

Venus continued, her tone ice cold, “You broke the gift yourself, but you’re pushing the blame onto me. You say it has nothing to do with me, but every word you say is stirring things up so everyone thinks I bullied you and I broke the gift.

“And you people, what are your eyes for? Lumi deliberately bumped into me and broke her own thing, and now I’m the shameless one?

“This is just like being in a jewelry store. Once you touch it, it’s on you if anything happens.

“Lumi knew her box held fragile porcelain, yet she shoved it straight at me without warning. What else could that be if not a setup?”

Her words hit home. Someone in the crowd suddenly spoke up, voice full of indignation.

“Venus is right! This had happened to me once. I was traveling and saw a fine crystal bangle in a mall. The awful seller handed it to me directly. Before I could even touch it, he dropped it himself and made me pay 38,000 just so I could leave.”

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