Chapter 49 No Foul Play!
Chapter Forty-Nine
Clara clenched her fists so hard that they turned white at her side as Madam Graves spoke.
Madam Graves had a sly little smirk on her lips as she said those words, and Clara’s palms itched to wipe it off her face.
But that would be a literal death sentence.
The Beaumont family would be done for, and her husband would have her head for such disrespect.
And to make matters worse, the woman was absolutely right. The terms of the betrothal was that the Beaumont daughter would be given to the Graves son.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Clara knew this was the truth, but she could not just accept that her plans to have her own daughter marry the most eligible man in all of Crestmont would go down the drain the way it did.
She had known about the betrothal when she had Aria shipped to the country side. When it was time to fulfill the betrothal, the Beaumont family had presented Selena.
Back then, the Graves family had thought it would be better to just take the educated and well raised Selena Beaumont, instead of Aria Beaumont, who was no where to be found as at then, and was undoubtedly uncultured.
Clara thought it was disgusting that the Graves family now accepted Aria as though they hadn’t rejected her earlier.
She would make them pay for this deceit.
Madam Graves walked close to her and crossed her arms on her bosom, “And besides, Aria is the eldest daughter of the Beaumont family, the one who was supposed to honor the betrothal,” she clasped her hands in delight, even though her eyes glinted with mischief, “I would say, it all worked out well. Things went as originally as planned.”
Clara scoffed in fury, “That’s not the point. The point is the Graves family deceived us by lying about their son’s condition,” she uttered, deliberately raising her voice slightly higher than its usual tone, “This is totally unacceptable.”
As she spoke, the crowd became more interested in what she had to say, and they started gathering around them in groups once more.
Madam Graves glared at her, “The Graves family never lied to you. Lucian was indeed paralyzed and in coma just two weeks ago.”
Selena scoffed, and Clara rolled her eyes at the blatant lie.
She could now see what was going on clearly.
Madam Graves had always wanted Aria for her son. Probably because she had been friends with Isabella as well.
Or the bitch was just too stuck up and was looking down on her, Clara Beaumont.
Even George had his brows furrowed in confusion, “If he was really paralyzed and in a coma two weeks ago, how could he be on his feet now?” He asked, his eyes widened in surprise, “That’s impossible!”
The crowd murmured as well, nodding their heads at each other and whispering behind their palms.
Clara smirked in delight at the turn of events. She crossed her arms this time across her bosom, and walked calmly towards Madam Graves.
Madam Graves expression remained calm, her smile a slow sneer as she watched Clara make a fool of herself.
“The Graves family should just admit that they lied to us. You showed blatant favoritism because Aria is the daughter of your late friend, Isabella!” Clara uttered, her declaration causing gasps from the crowd.
Clara went on, unaware of how foolish she sounded.
“If it wasn’t for favoritism, then why will the Graves family would choose a country bumpkin as a wife for their son?”
The crowd murmured amongst themselves again, some questioning the matter while others thought it was actually not a big deal.
Madam Graves laughed lightly, “Clara, you sound very foolish right now, do you know that?”
Clara bristled, her nose flaring with anger, “You!…”
A single glare from Madam Graves cut her off.
“Who was it that decided to send Aria to the Graves family household?” She uttered, her voice raised high as well, “The Beaumont family had sent Aria to us themselves.” She glared at Clara, “There was nothing like foul play. You made that decision yourself.”
“That’s because you deceived us!” Clara reiterated, almost exploding with anger, “if you’d told us the truth concerning your son’s condition, we would never have sent Aria to you.”
As soon as those words left her mouth, Clara’s eyes widened in dismay. She looked around her, and caught sight of the judging looks from the crowd.
She had just admitted to being mean to her step daughter. It was clear from her words that she thought it okay to let Aria marry Lucian if he was paralyzed and comatose.
She caught sight of Aria’s disgusted scoff, while Lucian glared so darkly at her that she nearly stumbled.
Everyone looked at her in disgust and murmured amongst themselves.
“How can she do that to her step daughter?”
“Madam Graves was right after all. Aria Beaumont is the eldest daughter of the Beaumont family, the one originally betrothed to Lucian. So there’s no problem here.”
“It was strange how Aria was overtaken by grief and had to be shipped to the country side when Isabella died. I now know for sure that it was arranged by Clara.”
“Yea, that’s right. She wants to make the girl lose all her birthright, even her rightful betrothed.”
Clara’s face turned beet red at the words she was hearing.
George could not take it any longer. Red faced, he pulled his wife back and hissed in her ear, “That’s enough! Stop talking unless you will continue to shoot yourself in the foot!”
“So it was okay for Aria to get married to Lucian when he was paralyzed, but she’s not fit for him, now that he’s whole?” Madam Graves uttered with a slight scoff.
“She’s just a country bumpkin!” Selena uttered in a trembling voice, “Does the Graves family, in all sincerity, prefer her over me?! Are you all not just trying to save face?! Huh?!”
“The Graves family would pick Aria Beaumont over you any day, Miss Selena,” Madam Graves uttered, her voice loud and clear, “If it weren’t for her, Lucian would not be standing here whole! She’s our Graves family miracle worker!”