Chapter 972: Duke Houston
After the act staged by Wen Xinya, it was no longer appropriate for her to stay. After all, Si Yiyan’s real motive was to use the doc.u.ment to help Lucifer reap the greatest benefit. Hence, she immediately informed Si Yiyan about it and bade Duke Moville farewell before taking her leave.
As soon as Duke Moville saw her leave, his gray eyes it up and he loosened his grip on the cane.
Wen Xinya headed to the kitchen to check on the medicinal soup that she had brewed, after which she instructed the servants to bring some snacks to the living room and serve them to Duke Moville. When she exited the kitchen, she caught sight of Avrora standing at a spot not too far away from her.
She smirked coldly, having already expected that Avrora would wander off on her own.
Wen Xinya walked towards her slowly, her light blue maxi dress swaying gracefully together with her footsteps. “Miss Avrora, what brings you here? If you’d like to take a tour around the mansion, why didn’t you inform me beforehand so that I could make arrangements? This mansion is huge, it’s easy to get lost here.”
Although Wen Xinya sounded courteous and was polite with her tone, Avrora understood that she was just trying to remind her not to wander around the mansion on her own.
Avrora’s face grew sullen, though she still tried her best to suppress her immense anger. “I’m here specially to look for you, Miss Bella.”
Avrora tried her best to remind herself that she had to swallow her pride and stoop lower in order to obtain the doc.u.ment from Wen Xinya.
Staring at her apprehensively, Wen Xinya asked, “You are looking for me? What’s the matter?”
She was obviously well aware of Avrora’s purpose in looking for her. However, she felt that Avrora was being extremely naive for thinking that she could get the doc.u.ment back just by putting down her pride and ego.
Avrora looked down and said softly, “I’d like to talk to you about the doc.u.ment, Miss Bella.”
Wen Xinya glanced at her quietly while smirking coldly. “Miss Avrora, I’ve already handed the doc.u.ment to Rex, so he’ll naturally be the one in charge of everything. We women better not get involved, lest we cause more trouble.”
She came to look for me out of the blue and the first thing she mentions is the doc.u.ment. How confident of her.
Avrora said softly, “Miss Bella, you’re right. As women, we really shouldn’t get involved when men are discussing matters. However, I’m the daughter of an aristocratic family and I’ve been taught since a young age to always put my family’s interests first. I have been taught to do everything I can to solve the problems faced by my family. So, I hope you can understand my plight, Miss Bella.”
When she came out to look for Wen Xinya, she was already expecting to hear some excuses. Hence, she made all the necessary preparations beforehand.
Seemingly having no reason to reject her, Wen Xinya asked softly, “In that case, there’s no harm in us having a chat.”
Avrora was over the moon.
Wen Xinya brought her to the pavilion by the lake where the servants quickly served some fruit, snacks and floral tea.
Most wealthy European women enjoyed drinking floral tea because they found it to be a graceful and refined hobby.
Wen Xinya picked up the teacup but did not drink the tea. Instead, she looked down at the glazed porcelain teacup that was exquisite and ostentatious. The jasmine petals were floating on the surface of the tea and their fragrance wafted up to her nose.
She remained silent and Avrora was also at a loss for words. If she were to speak first, she would have lost the upper hand and become the weaker party. Yet, she had no other option but to do so.
Avrora bit her lip and took out a doc.u.ment from her bag, which she then placed in front of Wen Xinya. “Miss Bella, feel free to see what it is.”
Wen Xinya glanced at Avrora, whose forehead was relaxed. Not showing a tinge of misery at all, she looked extremely proud and exuded a sense of superiority like the aristocrat she was. This was the real Avrora.
Wen Xinya s.h.i.+fted her gaze onto the envelope which seemed to contain a small booklet. From the way Wen Xinya saw it, she reckoned that it was something similar to a Chinese household register. The drastic change in Avrora’s att.i.tude proved that the doc.u.ment may be small, but it was extremely powerful and tempting.
Noticing that she remained silent, Avrora grew a little fl.u.s.tered and said, “Miss Bella, you don’t have to be so uptight. It’s just a doc.u.ment. There’s no harm in taking a look at it.”
Wen Xinya laughed and said, “You’re right, there’s no harm in taking a look.”
She wanted to see what tricks Avrora was getting up to.
She picked up the envelope and opened it to see that there was a blue booklet inside. She knew that it was a household register.
She took out the booklet and flipped through the pages casually. The first page of the booklet comprised of a photo of the Russian aristocrat, Duke Houston, and the second page was that of his wife. The third page was blank except for Duke Houston’s stamp on the bottom right corner of the page.
She could vaguely guess Avrora’s intentions.
Avrora said smilingly, “Miss Bella, have you ever heard of my maternal grandfather, Duke Ross?”
Wen Xinya did not answer her. Duke Ross used to be a prestigious Russian aristocrat in the past but ended up losing his family because of his offspring’s incompetency.
Avrora continued, “I have an aunt who married into the Houston family, but unfortunately, her husband, who is also my uncle, pa.s.sed away during an anti-terrorism movement not long after they got married. Ever since then, the Houston family’s bloodline ceased and, in order to retain their family’s position, my aunt announced to the world that my uncle had an illegitimate daughter. Everyone believed the claim because my uncle was indeed a Casanova during his younger days.”
Wen Xinya’s eyes lit up.
Avrora continued smugly, “The higher-ups allowed them to keep their position on the account that my uncle contributed greatly to the country at a young age. If we can find the long lost heir, she will be able to succeed the throne and… Duke Houston’s position may seem minor, but it’s rare in the upper-cla.s.s society. They once commanded great respect from the others, too.”
Avrora could no longer continue because her intentions were already extremely clear. Anyone with a little wit would know what to do.
Although Duke Moville’s doc.u.ment contains attractive privileges, it can’t compare to the clout of being an aristocrat. So what if that Bella comes from a wealthy and formidable family in Russia? Rex is based in Russia at the end of the day, and if he can become a duke, Bella will gain glory as well. Smart women make plans for themselves. I believe Bella will know how to weigh the pros and cons.