Chapter 300: False Mask (Part 1)

Chapter 300: Chapter 300: False Mask (Part 1)

Seraphina Sterling didn’t lie. She simply watched her quietly, her expression saying it all. She had seen what just happened—all of it. For a girl with such strong pride, a lie would have been an even deeper wound.

Nadia Chapman watched Seraphina Sterling quietly. ’What on earth does this girl want? Why did she follow me out here?’ "Are you here to mock me? Don’t bother. I know my place. I know the difference between myself and Fiona Chapman! I don’t need some outsider to come and laugh at me!"

"Mock you? Why would I do that? I don’t see anything to mock. My situation isn’t much better than yours; you saw what happened today. The only difference is that I’ve always fought back. Whether it was against Jasmine Faulkner or Faye Sterling, I’ve never once admitted defeat. Take today, for instance. Faye Sterling wanted me to take the fall, to be her scapegoat, but in the end, she was the one Martin Quinn led away. And I’m still here, perfectly fine. Do you know why?"

Seraphina Sterling held her gaze. "It’s because I already knew what they were planning. I had already met with Martin Quinn beforehand and hinted to him that I wasn’t the one responsible—Faye Sterling was. That’s why I can stand here right now, completely unharmed. You see? Our circumstances are similar, but our outcomes are completely different."

Nadia Chapman was a top student from a prestigious university; of course she understood what Seraphina Sterling meant. If Seraphina hadn’t seen through the malicious intentions of Jasmine Faulkner and her daughter, she wouldn’t have emerged from the banquet unscathed. ’If that had happened to me, I probably would have had no choice but to be the scapegoat.’ At this thought, she gave a self-mocking smile, one tinged with a hint of desolate sorrow. ’This is my fate!’

’Look at us. Our situations are clearly the same, but I could never do what Seraphina Sterling does. Our situations are the same, yet Seraphina lives so freely and fearlessly. Even Madam Sterling can’t touch her!’

"Actually, you can do it too. You’re a student at a prestigious university and the eldest daughter of the Chapman Family. You lack neither status nor education. As long as you’re willing to work for yourself, to fight for yourself, you can do it. In fact, you could do even better than me! Dignity is never given to you by others; it’s something you have to earn through your own efforts. If you’ve made up your mind, if you truly want to change, I can give you an opportunity."

Seraphina Sterling waited quietly for her decision. The matter was incredibly urgent, bordering on a crisis, but Seraphina still gave Nadia Chapman enough time to think it through. ’After all, this is a monumental decision, both for her and for me. If she doesn’t want to change from the bottom of her heart, then even if I give this to her, it will all be for nothing.’

Nadia’s heart, however, was surprisingly calm; she wasn’t as conflicted as she would have imagined. ’I may be the eldest daughter of the Chapman family, but very few people know that. My life is actually worse than an ordinary person’s. In the Chapman household, I’m basically invisible.’

’Fiona Chapman gets to wear lavish clothes and live a life of luxury, while I have to rely on part-time jobs just to cover my living expenses.’

’I’ve lived this way long enough. So long, in fact, that I’ve grown sick of it. I’m about to graduate from university. It’s time for a change, time to live my own life! I don’t care about anything the Chapman family has to offer. Whatever I want, I’ll get it for myself!’

"I hear there’s a coffee shop nearby with amazing coffee." Nadia Chapman smiled faintly, having just made the most important decision of her life. Many years later, during a press interview as a distinguished entrepreneur, she would recall this moment—this decision, made in a hallway of the Stelluna Hotel, right after being mocked, right after quitting her job—as the start of her career, and the beginning of her happy life.