Chapter 199: Something Went Wrong

Chapter 199: Chapter 199: Something Went Wrong

Joy’s piano playing came to an abrupt halt, taking Vivian slightly by surprise.

Vivian didn’t think much of it. Accidents could happen to anyone during this kind of performance. Since Joy took the opening of the Drake Family banquet so seriously, Vivian felt she should help her push through, even if something unexpected had come up.

That was Vivian’s principle in life.

Since she had promised to help, she naturally had to see it through.

However, despite her intentions, the situation with Joy seemed to be beyond her expectations.

"Joy?"

Hazel, who had been giving a speech, also seemed to notice the commotion and walked over.

Although the video on the large screen was still playing, Hazel’s sudden departure drew the attention of quite a few guests.

Vivian realized that things were probably more serious than she had thought.

What was going on?

She temporarily stopped playing, stood up, and walked over to the front, only to find Joy clutching her side in sheer agony.

"Miss Drake, what’s wrong?" Vivian asked, unaware of what had happened. Just as she spoke, Hazel also arrived and asked, "Joy, what’s wrong?"

Hearing this, Joy—still wearing a pained expression—leaned against the piano to sit up slightly straighter and replied, "There seems to be something inside my dress.

"It cut my skin, and it hurts so much. Hazel, call a doctor right away. I might have to leave the banquet for now. I’m sorry."

"It’s alright, don’t be afraid. I’ll call a doctor over right now," Hazel comforted her, shocked to see the spot she was clutching stained red.

He then turned to Vivian and said apologetically, "I’m sorry, Mrs. Faulkner, for causing you trouble tonight. I don’t know if you could do me a favor and help escort Joy to the lounge?

"Today’s banquet is very important, and I might need to stay here and keep things running."

"..."

Vivian felt a bit helpless.

But since things had come to this, and she had already promised to help Joy from the start, she decided to see it through to the end.

"Alright," Vivian nodded in agreement.

Hazel shot her a grateful look, and Vivian took the opportunity to help Joy to her feet.

Everything went smoothly after that.

Not long after Vivian helped Joy back to the lounge, the doctor arrived. After an examination, he found a needle inside the dress Joy was wearing.

"A needle?"

Vivian was very surprised.

She remembered that Joy had handed this dress to her in the very beginning. Vivian had roughly checked it over at the time; the fabric was extremely soft, and she hadn’t felt any trace of a needle.

Vivian watched as the doctor extracted the needle from the dress.

If it had been hidden inside from the very start, Vivian felt she would have easily spotted it.

But in reality, she hadn’t.

How did this needle suddenly appear?

"Is this the needle?"

By this time, Joy’s wound had been treated. With a hemostatic patch applied, she looked much better.

Her cut wasn’t deep, just a bit long, which was why it had bled so much and looked slightly terrifying. In truth, the injury wasn’t severe.

"Yes," the doctor said, placing the needle into a tray. "Miss Drake, your injury is not serious. Just be careful for the next few days and try not to get it wet. It will heal quickly and won’t leave a scar."

Hearing this, Joy felt relieved and said to Hazel, "Hazel, could you please see the doctor out for me? By the way, is the banquet still going smoothly?"

Hazel had rushed over right after the opening remarks.

The opening of the banquet was mainly to introduce the industries the Drake Family planned to enter after returning to Veridia. The subsequent project collaborations could be negotiated gradually.

Since there was no immediate rush for those matters, Hazel had hurried over to check on Joy.

"Don’t worry, everything is fine," Hazel replied before personally escorting the doctor out. ℴ

Joy took the opportunity to apologize to Vivian. "I’m so sorry for causing you all this trouble. Thanks to you being here tonight, it would have been a huge mess if I were alone."

"It’s no problem at all," Vivian replied.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Joy?"

It was Sylvia’s voice.

She had been missing the entire evening. It was unclear if she had only come over because she heard something had gone wrong at the banquet.

"Come in," Joy frowned, though her attitude toward Sylvia was still relatively polite.

Sylvia quickly entered. She strode in, her gaze sweeping over Vivian without trying to hide her hostility.

Noticing the obvious hemostatic patch under Joy’s white evening gown, Sylvia asked, "What happened? I was gone for a moment, and you couldn’t even handle the opening properly?"

Joy’s expression instantly darkened, and she replied coldly, "There was a needle in the dress that was originally prepared for you.

"Sylvia, if you truly cared about the Drake Family’s affairs, you shouldn’t have gone back on your word and suddenly refused to play. This piece was incredibly difficult to begin with. If Mrs. Faulkner hadn’t helped me, things would have been much worse.

"Your temper is really getting out of hand. I’ll definitely have a serious talk with Grandpa about this later."

"You!" Sylvia was clearly unwilling to accept the reprimand. Glaring at Joy, she noticed the needle resting on the doctor’s tray. She sneered and said, "Well, isn’t that a coincidence?

"This dress was originally meant for me. Tell me, Joy, did you put this needle in there yourself? Were you trying to harm me?

"But somehow, you ended up shooting yourself in the foot?"

Joy was getting angry. She picked up her phone, though it was unclear what she intended to do. Right at that moment, Sylvia looked as if she had suddenly remembered something.

"I remember now." Sylvia suddenly gave a cold laugh, glanced at Vivian, and asked, "When I was in the banquet hall earlier, I saw Joy looking for you.

"You left with her, so she must have invited you to play the piano, right?"

Being stared at with such suspicion made Vivian feel uncomfortable. Her intuition told her that Sylvia was physically incapable of saying anything nice.

Not wanting to waste her breath, Vivian asked bluntly, "So? What are you trying to say?"

"I’m trying to say—" Sylvia picked the needle up from the tray, gestured with it in front of her eyes, and asked, "Could it be that you were jealous of Joy?

"If I’m guessing correctly, the evening gown Joy is wearing was originally supposed to be yours, right? Then, for some unknown reason, Joy ended up wearing it.

"Unaware of the truth, she only realized she was hurt halfway through the performance.

"Tsk. Vivian, what a brilliant scheme. Why did you do all this? To get revenge on me? Or simply because you couldn’t stand seeing Joy outshine you?"

Sylvia shamelessly pinned the blame on Vivian.

Vivian frowned. Just as she was about to speak, Joy interjected, "Sylvia, stop spouting nonsense! I accidentally tripped and got my original gown dirty.

"This has nothing to do with Mrs. Faulkner. Apologize to her right now!"

Sylvia refused to listen. She scoffed, curling her lip and looking at Joy with pure disdain. "You might defend Vivian, but I certainly won’t.

"Apologize? Not a chance!"

Sylvia was utterly rebellious. She rolled her eyes at both Joy and Vivian, turned around, and prepared to leave.

But at that moment, more people arrived at the door.

Hazel had returned. With him were Julian, Eleanor, and the two Rhodes parents.

"What’s going on?"

Julian walked at the very front, his presence imposing. As soon as he entered the room, he made a beeline for Vivian, looking as though he would protect his wife no matter what.

Seeing him like this, Vivian couldn’t help but smile.

He was here.

She felt that she wouldn’t be needed to handle whatever came next.

Sure enough, right after Julian asked his question, Vivian could feel the air pressure in the room begin to drop steadily.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on Julian.

Sylvia gulped, clearly a little afraid of him. She laughed awkwardly and said, "President Faulkner. Just now..."

"I’ll explain," Joy interrupted. She didn’t seem to have any intention of covering up for Sylvia, and in a few concise sentences, she recounted everything that had just happened, including the accusations Sylvia had made.

After finishing her explanation, Joy stood up, bowed to Vivian and Julian, and apologized, "President Faulkner, Mrs. Faulkner, I am so sorry. It’s my fault for not keeping Sylvia in check."

Sylvia couldn’t believe it!

With so many people present, Joy was giving her absolutely no face!

That was Julian Faulkner!

And Joy had just laid all of her misdeeds bare in front of him?

"Joy!" Sylvia was almost in tears from anger.

Joy simply looked back with a stern expression and said, "Sylvia, apologize to President Faulkner and Mrs. Faulkner. As long as they forgive you, I will let bygones be bygones as well."

Sylvia didn’t want to. She looked at Vivian, her eyes full of reluctance, then looked at Julian. In the end, she chose to compromise.

Julian’s gaze was far too cold.

Sylvia really didn’t want to ruin her relationship with him so drastically. If an apology would soften the tension, she was actually willing to do it.

It was all Vivian’s fault!

The reason Sylvia had been upset earlier tonight was because Joy was being too polite to Vivian. When they were talking, Sylvia had hinted that Joy didn’t need to treat Vivian with such courtesy.

Vivian had no real background; she was completely different from proper aristocratic heiresses like them.

She had only gotten lucky, caught Grandma Faulkner’s eye, and married Julian. That was the only reason she had managed to leap up the social ladder and elevate her class!

But Joy completely disagreed with Sylvia’s views.

Joy had told Sylvia that while Grandma Faulkner’s favor played a part in Vivian’s current standing, it was largely due to Vivian’s own merit.

Joy listed Vivian’s achievements, including joining the International Designers Association, managing her company, and her successful collaborations with the Faulkner Family.

All of these things proved that Vivian was a highly capable person.

"Sylvia, I hope you stop being so stubbornly misguided," Joy had sighed, speaking to her earnestly. "Sometimes, it really isn’t that difficult to acknowledge someone else’s excellence and your own mediocrity."

That single sentence had crushed Sylvia.

Feeling as though her inner insecurities had been completely seen through, Sylvia had flown into a humiliated rage and stormed off.

Sylvia had figured that tonight’s piano piece was genuinely difficult. If Joy didn’t come crawling back to apologize, then Joy would just have to play it herself.

Then Joy would be the one making a fool of herself!

Just as Sylvia was feeling smug, watching the banquet about to begin and wondering if Joy was going to come looking for her, she discovered that Joy had gone to invite Vivian instead.

This was impossible for Sylvia to accept!

She had been observing from the shadows, which was how she found out about the evening gown.

Her earlier accusations weren’t based on any actual evidence. It was purely because she hated Vivian and wanted to sling mud at her.

But!

Sylvia hadn’t even cared if she succeeded; she just wanted to disgust Vivian.

But now... Julian, Eleanor, and her family had all stepped forward to speak up for Vivian!

They were even demanding that she apologize to Vivian!

Sylvia’s face flushed bright red. Looking at Vivian’s calm and indifferent expression only made her angrier.

What right did Vivian have to be so calm!

It was as if she didn’t care at all, making Sylvia feel like nothing more than a clown!

"Sylvia? What are you waiting for?"

Just as Sylvia’s blood was boiling, Joy urged her again.

Sylvia completely snapped.

She had already rationalized it to herself—apologizing was just a temporary loss of face, and deep down, she still wanted to maintain her connection with Julian.

But now, being rushed by Joy, a wave of pure rebellion surged up within her.

Apologize?

She wouldn’t apologize!

Sylvia spun around and slapped Joy hard across the face, yelling, "Get lost! I’m not like you! I’m not going to throw away my dignity just for some business deals!

"If you want to be a bootlicker, go be one yourself! I absolutely refuse!"

With that, Sylvia turned on her heel and stormed out.

This time, she truly left, without a single look back.

Joy stood there, stunned.

She touched her cheek, completely unprepared for the fact that Sylvia would actually hit her.

"..."

Vivian was also left speechless.

Had Sylvia lost her mind?

She remembered that within the Drake Family, Joy’s status was actually higher than Sylvia’s, wasn’t it?

With things turning this ugly tonight, it was hard to say how Sylvia was going to explain herself to the Drake Family elders.

"Miss Drake, are you alright?" Vivian asked, looking at Joy’s reddening cheek. "Do we need to call the doctor back?"

Joy sighed and shook her head. "No need.

"I’m sorry, Mrs. Faulkner. I also bear responsibility for Sylvia acting this way. Since she refuses to apologize to you, I will apologize on her behalf."

Vivian didn’t really care much about apologies anyway.

But seeing Joy in this state, she gently replied, "It’s alright, Miss Drake, I don’t mind. You... should just get some rest first."