Whispers of Destiny: His Belated Love novel Chapter 46

The man frowned, "There's a time and place for making a scene. Today is not the occasion for your antics. Mom and the Templeton family can't afford to lose face here."

"Is it really Mom and the Templeton family who can't lose face, or is it Victoria who can't?" Rosemary snorted with laughter, her words sharp as thorns. "If I leave now, everyone will say I'm guilty. By tomorrow, everyone in the circle will know,” She paused, "that my master's skills are lacking, that the work I repaired is flawed, that we're frauds!"

For some reason, she didn't want Maxwell to know she was Rose, and he didn't need to know either.

"So what's your plan? Fix that painting yourself?" Maxwell, unfamiliar about the restoration circle and ignorant about Rose, assumed she was just another employee at Heritage Revive Studio. "You, a cleaner who observed for a few days, has made you an expert?"

In his mind, Rosemary was just a cleaner at the restoration studio; Christ had confirmed it after digging around, and Maxwell trusted Christ's competence—no way was there a mistake about something so trivial.

Maxwell took a deep breath, "Rosemary, what are you planning to fix it with? A broom?"

He didn't mean to look down on her; but professions could be worlds apart—one can't just watch and wish oneself skilled.

Was he not doing this for her own good?

He was nudging her to find an excuse to leave, to spare her the embarrassment and save face for the Templeton family. The Templeton family could brush off criticism, but Rosemary? Not so much.

Although they were legally married, they hadn't had a wedding, and only today had their marital status gone public. Who knows what stories people were scheming against her in secret? Especially if she ended up ruining a masterpiece.

"If you have the time to worry about how I'm going to restore it, you might as well worry about Victoria. For someone so high and mighty, being publicly humiliated could have unimaginable effects on her.”

Maxwell's brow furrowed. He was trying to discuss the risks involved, yet she kept dragging Victoria into it.

"Stop dragging others into this. If the painting isn't restored well, it's Rose's fault. You don't need to take the fall for her mistakes."

Rosemary scoffed. Well, who knew Maxwell was such a lapdog, taking Victoria's every word as gospel.

Meeting her fierce gaze, Maxwell softened his tone, "Be reasonable. I'm doing this for your own good."

Rosemary scoffed in response, "You really believe that yourself?"

"Mrs. Templeton." Wendy's voice came from downstairs, interrupting their argument, "I've prepared everything you asked for."

Without another word to Maxwell, Rosemary replied to the voice downstairs, "Thanks, Wendy. I'll be right down."

In the living room downstairs, the painting was laid out on a table, with the items Rosemary had requested beside it.

No one else had the mind for anything but to crowd around and watch the scene.

The damage was just a small section in the bottom right corner, nothing too severe. Otherwise, Rosemary wouldn't have been able to repair it in such a short time.

The music in the living room had stopped, leaving only the whispers of onlookers.

Maxwell stood on the periphery, his cool gaze fixed on Rosemary as she bent over her work, utterly absorbed in restoring the antique.

He had never seen her so engrossed in her work before. Back at the Templeton Group, she had the title of assistant but was always running errands, using little brainpower, let alone being particularly earnest. Most of the time, she just seemed to be idly sitting around, daydreaming.