This Time, I'll Be the Villain's Favorite Daughter novel Chapter 371

Chapter 371 Grandpa, Your Beard Is Ugly

“That’s Maya over there, isn’t it? Isn’t she going to sit with us?” Phoebe hadn’t quite put it together yet, and the words slipped out the moment she spotted her friend across the room.

Then she stopped herself.

She’d just seen Alfred pull Maya over to sit right in the middle of them.

Even Toby had walked over and taken a seat.

They looked exactly like a family all gathered together, whole and complete.

Iris looked thoughtful.

She wasn’t dumb, and by now her tone had shed every trace of its earlier confusion, settling into a plain statement of fact. “My dear partner… why is she sitting with that crowd?”

Phoebe responded with an “Uh…”

Somalie reacted with a “Whoa!”

The three of them propped their chins in their hands and sank into collective contemplation.

At this point, some of the answers were practically spelling themselves out, and all that was left was an official confirmation.

They weren’t the only ones watching the Clarks‘ table

Across the entire ballroom, gazes were drifting toward it, subtle yet unmistakable.

A few middle–aged guests huddled together. “Are all the direct descendants of this family here?”

“Do the direct descendants even have a daughter?”

“No idea. I’ve seen a few from the other family members, though.” A third man took a sip of his wine, his eyes flickering. “But that girl… is she a direct descendant, or some kind of fiancée?”

“How could a fiancée be on such close terms with that many Clarks at once? And in a setting like this, no less.”

The Clark family members who hadn’t shown their faces in years had suddenly appeared in plain sight tonight, and everyone was still digesting it.

The gears in their heads were turning especially fast.

After all, if she was a direct descendant, then this girl carried a completely different kind of weight.

Right at that moment, the last group of arrivals came through the doors.

Philbert walked at the front, his steps steady and his gaze calm, flanked by several people around his age, all of them smiling and unhurried, and at least two of those faces had appeared in the international news

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11:12 am TN

Chapter 324 frandpa. Your Beard I. Ugly

more times than anyone could count.

The entire ballroom went quiet the instant he stepped inside.

Finished

The group of major figures took their seats one after another, and the air at the main table grew noticeably heavier.

Maya instinctively pressed a little closer to her mother’s side.

Wendy’s arm came around her at once, pulling the child tight against her, the embrace carrying an almost instinctive urge to protect.

Philbert said a few brief words, his voice low and his expression serious, nothing more than the usual formalities.

But everyone listened with their full attention all the same.

“Maya.”

The next second, Philbert suddenly changed course and called out her name.

Maya’s back straightened on instinct, and her whole body seized with the dread of being called on by the homeroom teacher.

Philbert broke into a smile, fixing his unhurried gaze on Maya, who had been hiding in Wendy’s arms this whole time, and a cat–and–mouse glint of mischief and amusement showed in his eyes.

It was as if he’d become a completely different man from the stone–faced one who’d been giving remarks a moment ago.

Philbert raised a hand and pointed to the single empty seat beside him. “Sit here.”

The few big shots beside him glanced over and traded a meaningful look.

So this was the real main event of the night.

Maya was speechless.

She was forced to let go of the arm she had wrapped around her mother, and under the stare of dozens of eyes, she gathered up her skirt and walked forward.

With the tension thick in the air, Maya felt her nerves prickle all the same.

She glanced around for a couple of seconds and saw Philbert watching her encouragingly, looking like he wanted her to say a few words.

In the grip of all those nerves, Maya’s mind went completely blank.

“Grandpa,” she said, staring at the beard her grandfather had spent so long growing out, the words tumbling out before she could stop them.

“Your beard is really ugly.”

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Chapter 374 Grandpa. Your Beard Is Ugly

The instant the words landed, the entire main table froze,

Finished

The big shot in the suit who’d been sipping his coffee paused mid–motion, his hand hanging in the air.

The others nearly spat out the drinks they’d just raised to their lips and broke into a couple of hard coughs.

A hairline crack appeared in Philbert’s perfectly composed face.

The corner of his mouth twitched, and the whole room went dead silent for about three seconds.

Then Philbert’s cold face relaxed into a laugh.

“You little rascal,” he said, laughing and shaking his head as he reached out to pull her into the seat with an affection that left no room for refusal. “You spent the whole afternoon dressing yourself up like a Christmas tree, just so you could come here today and tell me my beard is ugly?”

Maya shot back, “My friends are the ones who decorated me. It wasn’t my own choice.”

Did people really just automatically unlock a beard once they hit a certain age?

Her grandfather had clearly been a refined, handsome man in his day.

“But your beard. It’s really ugly.”

The beard.

So ugly.

Really ugly…

In that instant Philbert’s expression turned complicated. Even a man like him seemed a little wounded by the blow. “You really have no taste, girl. It took me a long time to grow this out.”

Maya had always had a real problem with his beard.