Chapter 93 Everything Is in Her Plan
Clio was also startled.
She scolded guiltily, "You're getting more and more improper. How dare you eavesdrop?"
A mocking smile appeared on Cressida's handsome and refined face.
"Mother, you're wronging me. I saw your cup was empty and wanted to pour you some tea. How was I supposed to know you and Rose were having a private conversation?"
"Cressida," Rose's smile was forced, and she instinctively stood up. "It's nothing. I was just scared by what happened earlier."
Cressida smiled without saying a word.
She put down the teapot. "Rose, if you're scared, go home early."
After speaking, Cressida returned to her seat and started talking with Jessica.
Clio stared at Cressida coldly.
"Mother." Rose didn't dare speak carelessly anymore.
Clio patted her hand under the table. "Don't worry. The party isn't over yet. I'll think of another way."
Over there, Jessica couldn't sit still.
She wanted to get up several times.
"Cressida, I want to go check on Peter's injury." Jessica frowned, glancing repeatedly in the direction Peter had left.
Cressida held her back.
"Princess Sophie just sent the royal physician to bandage and treat him. He'll be fine."
"But..."
"If you go now, people will see, and it'll cause bad rumors. Even if you want to visit him, now isn't the time."
Cressida's last sentence was extremely cold.
There were too many people on the ship with prying eyes, and Jessica was rather naive. Letting her visit Peter would cause trouble.
Fortunately, Jessica was willing to listen to Cressida. She nodded and stopped thinking about going to see Peter.
Just then, Nanny rushed onto the ship in such a hurry that she tripped on the steps.
The sound of her fall caused gasps from those around.
Clio turned around and frowned when she saw Nanny's disheveled state.
"No manners at all. Running so frantically on Princess Sophie's ship—do you have a death wish?"
"Mrs. Clio Hamilton, something terrible has happened!" Nanny's voice was trembling. "Mr. Michael Hamilton is missing. I've searched several times and can't find him. Could Mr. Michael Hamilton have fallen into the river?"
"What?" Clio stood up abruptly, her face turning pale. "Didn't I arrange for two maids to watch him, plus the coachman?"
Nanny said, "Mr. Hamilton wouldn't stay in the carriage. He made a fuss about getting out, so the maids followed him. Who knew that as soon as Mr. Hamilton got out of the carriage, he ran off? We couldn't catch up with him, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone."
Clio panicked and immediately forgot about Cressida, hurrying off the ship with the maids to find Michael.
Hearing the commotion of their departure, Sophie specifically sent Juliet to ask Cressida.
"Ms. Hamilton, what happened? Do you need help?"
"Juliet, my brother Michael is missing. He had a head injury and can't recognize danger. Mother is afraid he fell into the river. What should we do?" Cressida pressed her temples, looking extremely worried.
Juliet's face became serious. "This is serious! Don't worry, I'll tell Princess Sophie right away."
Juliet returned to Sophie's cabin, and soon both Sophie and Odette sent out guards.
Cressida stood on the ship, leaning on the railing and looking down.
The guards split into two columns, one left and one right, calling out Michael's name along the riverbank.
Several noble ladies, including Elysia and others, came to comfort Cressida and tell her not to worry.
Rose looked at Cressida's worried profile and suddenly felt Cressida was terrifying.
If Clio's guess was true—that Michael had been beaten into an idiot by Cressida—then Cressida's act in front of everyone now was truly hypocritical!
The more Rose thought about it, the more indignant she felt.
Why should someone like Cressida be the Hamilton family's lady? Hypocritical, cold-blooded, and shameless.
If she had Cressida's family background, she would never be so heartless. No wonder Clio didn't like Cressida.
Once she became the true lady of the Hamilton Mansion, the first thing she'd do would be to kick Cressida out!
Finally, someone shouted, "Found him!"
Soon, several guards carried Michael up.
Michael had a foolish grin on his face, mud and sand on his body, and his pants were completely wet.
Sophie and Odette both came out of their cabins to ask, "Where was he found?"
A guard said, "We searched along both sides of the riverbank and found Mr. Hamilton clinging to the anchor rope on the side of the ship, soaking in the water, so we pulled him up."
Clio rushed back too, her legs weak with fear.
Seeing that Michael was safe, her eyes immediately reddened as she patted Michael's shoulder.
"I told you not to run around. Why won't you listen?"
Odette's tone was gentle. "Mrs. Hamilton, the child has been found. Don't scold him anymore. He must have accidentally fallen into the water."
Clio quickly pulled Michael to bow. "Quick, thank Princess Sophie and Queen Odette."
Michael turned around but looked at the delicacies on the table behind them.
He immediately ran over and started stuffing food into his mouth.
His behavior scared several nearby ladies, who moved far away from him.
Clio's face froze.
Rose hurried over to pull him away. "Michael, eat when we get home."
Michael found her annoying and pushed her away with his arm, very irritated. "I want to eat!"
Cressida looked at Verity in the back of the crowd and gave her a look. Verity turned and left.
Cressida stepped forward and bowed to Sophie and Odette. "I thank Princess Sophie and Queen Odette on Michael's behalf. Michael is unwell, so we'll head back now. We bid farewell to Princess Sophie and Queen Odette."
Sophie sighed. "He's such a poor soul. Don't let him catch cold. Go home quickly."
Odette also said, "You can attend parties anytime. Should I send a royal physician to the Hamilton Mansion? To treat him again."
Cressida politely declined and looked back at Clio. "Mother, let's go."
Clio's face was livid. She didn't want to leave, but she also felt they couldn't let others laugh at them anymore.
She told Nanny to pull Michael along.
The family helped each other down, and as soon as they descended the stairs, Clio heard Joseph's quiet comments from behind.
"Isn't this Michael supposed to be a future general? He's just an idiot!"
"Michael was never outstanding to begin with. If it weren't for General Hamilton, who would know him?"
"Mrs. Hamilton is also thoughtless. With Michael like this, why did she bring him out? How dangerous."
"Alright, everyone say less. I think Cressida has had it hard enough." Sophie stopped the gossip, and the voices faded away.
Clio felt humiliated, her nails digging into her palms.
Clio stared at Cressida ahead, wishing she could reach out and push Cressida down the stairs!
If it weren't for Cressida's doing, how would Michael have become like this?
He used to be skilled in martial arts with a bright future!
After they returned to the Hamilton Mansion.
Patrick hadn't come back yet. They heard he was on the neighboring ship, being flattered by a group of people and feeling quite pleased with himself.
When Patrick heard that Clio and the others were leaving early, he didn't care at all.
Cressida said goodbye to Jessica and returned to her room, where Emma brought clean water for Cressida to wash her hands.
Verity came in and said, "Ms. Cressida Hamilton guessed right. Those two maids didn't watch Mr. Michael Hamilton properly at all. They were just focused on watching the boat race."
Before leaving earlier, Cressida had already instructed Verity.
She told Verity to find an opportunity to lure Michael to a dangerous place.
Given Clio's personality, she would definitely leave people to watch Michael, but the maids would also be careless. In their eyes, Michael was just a child with the mind of a five-year-old, easy to fool.
Give him something to play with, and they'd think they could keep him sitting in the carriage.
That's why things went wrong.
Most likely, Clio was now scolding those two maids.
Cressida changed clothes and slowly rubbed her sore neck.
She didn't know if it was because Yosef was there today, but she had indeed been quite tense.
Fortunately, she had achieved all her goals for the day.
The day Chris left, Cressida had asked him to help arrange Ronan's token.
The jade pendant she obtained was a replica, but the student of Ronan that Chris found was real.
Years ago, Cressida had already laid the groundwork for this, so that if her identity was ever exposed, she would still have a chance to turn things around.
As for Rex, after meeting Chris that day, Cressida took Emma to the Tower of Serenity and went directly to find Rex.
Thanks to her previous life, Cressida knew Rex had visited prostitutes.
If people knew Rex's secret, he would definitely be ruined.
Cressida had solid evidence, and as soon as she mentioned it, Rex was so scared he knelt down.
She had originally wanted Rex to come to the boat race and bring up meeting Ronan's student, but unexpectedly, Rex, feeling guilty, first confessed that the knife-walking incident was because he'd been bribed by Michael.
Moreover, Rex also told Cressida that recently, Clio's people had brought Rose to see him.
Rose asked him to visit the Hamilton Mansion and tell Ernest in front of everyone that Cressida would bring misfortune to Clio, and to mention the strange phenomena when Cressida was born.
Cressida hadn't expected that going to find Rex would yield such an unexpected harvest.
Rex naturally didn't dare offend her again. During their two meetings, he was extremely obedient.
At today's boat race, only Yosef's plan to suddenly expose her secret was outside her plan, but fortunately, it didn't affect much.
The only problem was that Yosef would definitely keep targeting Cressida from now on.
Cressida said to Emma, "I'm going to sleep for a bit. Wake me when Father returns."
Regarding the near exposure of her identity, Cressida had to bring it up before Clio to frighten Patrick.
After dusk, night fell, and Patrick finally returned, drunk.
He had drunk quite a bit, but his mind was still relatively clear.
When Cressida went to see him in the study, Clio also rushed over after hearing the news.
As soon as she saw Cressida, Clio took the offensive. "Mr. Hamilton, we were almost killed by Cressida! At today's boat race, someone brought up her birth..."
Hearing this, Patrick's eyes, which had been somewhat drunk, suddenly widened.
"What happened?"