Chapter 85: My Fiancée Is the Most Powerful
The spacious gallery suddenly fell completely silent.
Only Catherine's voice could be heard as she inspected the paintings throughout the gallery, requesting position changes or direct removal.
Catherine stood before a painting. Beneath the tall canvas, green mountains layered in the distance, a young girl's dress flowing gracefully—she looked like a fairy standing before the verdant hills.
Elijah approached and introduced, "Ms. Catherine Windsor, this painting was submitted by Esme for the exhibition. It's Esme's original work. Mr. Charles Windsor knows about this painting too and even said Esme painted it very well."
Esme's work?
"Elijah, have you ever seen Dominic's 'Maiden Before the Mountains'?"
"I haven't had the honor of viewing every single one of Dominic's works."
Who was Dominic anyway? A master oil painter whose works were directly given as important gifts to foreign dignitaries visiting Stellara.
As a gallery manager, how could he just see them whenever he wanted?
"'Maiden Before the Mountains' happens to be in my study right now."
Catherine took out her phone and showed Elijah the painting hanging in her study.
The Windsor family had prepared a study for each child. Since they didn't know what Catherine liked, Aurora had asked for Catherine's input when decorating and arranged it according to her preferences.
"Maiden Before the Mountains" was the first painting Dominic gave to Catherine. It was inspired by her, and there was only one in the world.
When Dominic held his exhibition before, he had displayed that painting too.
The painting before them was a complete fake of "Maiden Before the Mountains"!
Elijah looked at the painting on Catherine's phone, then at the one hanging before him, cold sweat pouring down.
"Miss, this is Esme's work after all. We can't just take it down like that."
Catherine said coolly, "My gallery can feature creative works and reproductions. Dominic has always welcomed people learning his creative techniques, but we can't have fakes being passed off as originals. This painting must be dealt with."
"Yes, I understand."
Elijah had no choice but to call Esme.
"What? Has Catherine lost her mind? What gives her the right to throw away my work? That's clearly Samuel's gallery—what gives Catherine the authority to make decisions?"
"Esme, Catherine is now the gallery's owner. Samuel has already given the gallery to Catherine."
Esme nearly crushed the phone in her hand!
She had her eye on that gallery for ages. Both its location and taste were perfect for her. If only Samuel would agree to give her the gallery, she'd have plenty to talk about in Imperia City's high society circles.
She had seen "Maiden Before the Mountains" at an art exhibition before and loved it.
She finally managed to create a reproduction, but then that painting was taken by Dominic. Hardly anyone outside had seen it. Even when she hung it up before, Charles didn't notice it was a fake. How did Catherine know the painting was fake?
Catherine must be jealous of her talent and deliberately slandering her!
Her heart was truly vicious!
Esme viciously pounded her pillow several times, grabbed her bag, and headed out the door, going straight to Samuel's house.
It was just because she hadn't been around Samuel these past few days that Catherine found an opening. She must have bewitched Samuel to make him give her the gallery!
Meanwhile.
As Catherine walked out of the gallery, she saw a low-key yet luxurious Aston Martin parked across from it.
A globally limited edition that required asset verification to purchase, worth a fortune when resold. The body had even been modified. Many passersby stopped to look.
Annie, dressed in an impeccable suit, stood before the car, smiling and bowing to Catherine.
Catherine strode toward the car and got in through the door Annie opened.
Inside the car, Alexander wore a sharp handmade suit with a crisp tie. Whether intentional or not, his collar was embroidered with a leaf decoration—clearly a handmade suit from Quinn's collection, worth a fortune.
Catherine had almost forgotten she'd made this suit. It seemed last year some rich person Simon mentioned had commissioned several suits from Quinn. It happened to coincide with when the Galactic Aurora Collective's experiments needed money, so Catherine made them overnight.
She never expected that the only suit Quinn made was for Alexander.
While assisting, Simon had even remarked that the suit's owner had a great physique.
Thinking of this, Catherine's face flushed slightly, and she coughed uncomfortably.
Alexander had been reviewing financial reports, but hearing her soft cough, he looked over with concern.
"Not feeling well? Annie, let's go to the hospital."
"No need, I'm a doctor myself."
Alexander put away his financial reports and somewhat apologetically reached out, taking Catherine's small hand. His features appeared particularly gentle under the car's interior lighting.
"Sorry, I've been busy these past few days and didn't come to keep you company in time."
She hadn't said she needed company, had she?
Catherine tried to pull her hand back. Alexander let her, smiling as he released his grip.
He just wanted to check if her hand was cold. Though reluctant, he didn't want to do anything she'd dislike.
But the moment he released her hand, Catherine inexplicably felt a bit disappointed.
"How did you know I was here?"
"I called The Martinez Mansion, and Grandfather told me. I remember this gallery is under Grandfather's name. Did you come to see paintings?"
Alexander didn't know Catherine enjoyed art exhibitions yet. The Howard Group also owned many galleries—he could give them all to her in the future.
"I came to work."
Alexander was somewhat surprised. He didn't expect Samuel to be so generous, letting her take over the gallery when she'd just turned nineteen.
"Artists tend to have difficult temperaments. If you need anything, you can come to me. I'll help you."
Running a gallery wasn't as simple as it seemed. The most difficult part was dealing with the gallery artists' temperaments—each one worse than the last.
He couldn't bear to see Catherine upset by arrogant artists.
Catherine said coolly, "I don't think their temperaments will be worse than the Faceless Ones members."
Alexander paused slightly, then remembered his fiancée wasn't some hothouse flower—she was an opponent who matched him in every way.
She could handle assassins on the border—a few artists were nothing.
But when she spoke with that faint pride, her delicate chin lifted at a beautiful angle, making Alexander's heart skip a beat.
Alexander's smile was exceptionally gentle and tender. "Of course, my fiancée is the most capable. I just can't bear to see you unhappy. Can you join me for dinner?"
Alexander rarely humbled himself like this. When someone in power lowered their head, it felt especially tender.
Catherine nodded and agreed.
"Sure."