Chapter 391

Chapter 391

A voice laced with amusement rang out.

"Valeria."

Valeria turned around. The moment she saw Victoria, her eyes lit up and she became incredibly warm. "Victoria? How many years has it been since we last saw each other!"

"Valeria, I've missed you so much!"

As soon as Victoria finished speaking, she spread her arms wide and jogged toward Valeria. Her attention was so focused on Valeria that as she ran over, she accidentally bumped into Sophia. Sophia stumbled back a step, her arm throbbing faintly. She'd just been lectured by Valeria, and her temper was already simmering. Getting shoved by Victoria only made her fury burn hotter.

But all she could do was swallow it down.

The two women chatted as if no one else existed. Victoria first gushed about how much she'd missed Valeria. Valeria listened, mentioning how she'd settled abroad and how Victoria, while studying overseas, would often visit her. Then Valeria asked after Victoria's family's health.

They were having a wonderful time.

Sophia knew perfectly well that this harridan was only being so warm to Victoria because her family was also one of Silverlight City's four noble houses.

The harridan had just insinuated that she was some shallow, materialistic woman, but wasn't she just as much of a social climber? Who was better than whom, really?

After Valeria and Victoria had chatted freely for a while, Valeria finally seemed to remember there was another person in the living room.

She couldn't help but shoot Sophia a look, her tone unfriendly. "What are you doing standing there?"

Victoria then gave Sophia a more deliberate once-over. "Oh? So you're the one who married Beck. I didn't look carefully just now—thought you were a maid standing there."

"Sorry about that, bumping into you."

Victoria's apology was completely perfunctory.

Sophia was furious but forced herself to keep smiling. "It's fine, Ms. Gonzalez."

Victoria gave a careless twitch of her lips as a response before continuing her conversation with Valeria.

Sophia hastily retreated. "Valeria, I'll leave you two to catch up."

The moment she turned around, Sophia's expression darkened. If she ever got the chance, she'd make that damn harridan pay.

Once Sophia left, Valeria affectionately took Victoria's hand and asked, "Victoria, do you have a fiancé yet?"

At the mention of marriage, Victoria shook her head dejectedly. "No."

"Valeria, why would you ask something like that? You know perfectly well that I have… have someone in my heart."

Victoria's shy, bashful demeanor—as if she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud—made Valeria laugh heartily. "I know. Your heart and eyes are full of Michael. You won't marry anyone but him in this lifetime."

"Valeria, stop it." Victoria lowered her head, her ears turning red.

"What's there to be embarrassed about? There's no one else here."

"I… I just don't want Michael to hear."

Victoria bit her lip.

"Michael's not home."

"Not home?" Victoria looked somewhat surprised. "Wait, Valeria, isn't today Arthur's birthday party? I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't planning to come. I just had the servants send over the gift I'd prepared. But then I heard you were back, and I thought about how long it's been since we've seen each other. I didn't know when you might go back abroad again, so I decided to come after all. But it looks like the party's already over? And it ended kind of early, didn't it?"

When the party came up, Valeria's expression soured. "It ended early, and it's all because of Alice Baker!"

"What?" Victoria feigned surprise.

She hadn't planned to attend Arthur's birthday party—not because she wasn't feeling well, but because she didn't want to see Alice there. Didn't want to watch Alice and Michael making eyes at each other right in front of her.

But even though Victoria had stayed home, her thoughts had drifted to the party all evening. Part of her wondered if skipping it was a mistake. Wasn't this party actually a good opportunity to remind Michael of her existence? Was she really going to keep running away? Running solved nothing. She needed to fight for what she wanted.

Of course, it wasn't like she hadn't tried before.

She'd attempted to win over Mason, hoping to gain his approval first. But she'd failed. Mason was completely biased toward Alice now, hoping Alice and Michael would marry. Her plan to get close to Mason had ended in failure.

But then she'd heard that Valeria was back too. She thought their relationship was pretty good—maybe Valeria would be willing to help her win back Michael's heart. With that thought, Victoria had suddenly mustered her courage and decided to attend Arthur's birthday party after all. She just hadn't expected that her brief half-hour of hesitation would make her arrive too late.

Valeria recounted everything that had happened at the party.

Victoria kept exclaiming in shock and agreement, giving Valeria all the emotional validation she needed.

It made Valeria feel that after talking with Victoria, her mood had improved considerably. Victoria understood her.

"Ms. Baker went way too far. I mean, it's not that she can't make handmade gifts for Arthur—kids like handmade things, that's normal. But she couldn't just bring 'only' a handmade gift, could she?" Victoria frowned.

"Exactly! What she did was wrong. You weren't there to see it—if you had been, you could've backed me up. You have no idea how outrageous Mason and Michael were, both taking Alice's side, that awful woman. It's so bizarre!" Valeria finished, and even now she felt a tight, uncomfortable pressure in her chest.

Seeing Valeria frown, Victoria quickly raised her hand to pat Valeria's back. "Valeria, don't get upset. It's not good for your health."

That one sentence earned Victoria Valeria's highest praise. "Good girl, you're so thoughtful. I wish you were my granddaughter. Though I suppose not being a granddaughter doesn't matter—you could always be a granddaughter-in-law, right?"

Valeria fixed her gaze on Victoria with a teasing smile, then laughed to herself. But her laughter quickly faded when she couldn't make sense of Victoria's reaction. Victoria had lowered her head, her eyes silently welling with tears. The smile vanished from Valeria's face immediately. She frowned and asked gently, "Victoria, what's wrong? Why are you crying all of a sudden?"

Victoria hastily wiped away her tears. "It's nothing, Valeria. I just feel like I'm going to disappoint you. You've been so good to me, so loving and appreciative, but in this lifetime I probably won't become the Miller family's granddaughter-in-law. Michael is the only one in my heart, but there's someone else in his. Maybe I'm just not good enough, not outstanding enough. I can't compare to her, so Michael doesn't love me either."