Chapter 104: Face-Slapping Laura Jennings and Noelle Lockwood

Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Face-Slapping Laura Jennings and Noelle Lockwood

"Miss Yara is Great-Aunt’s invited guest! Who dares to kick her out!"

Though the child’s voice was young and tender, it already carried a nascent authority that froze the approaching security guards in their tracks. Christian was trailed by a large group of bodyguards. His face was taut, and despite his soft, cherubic features, he exuded an intense, intimidating aura.

"Don’t be afraid, Miss Yara."

Estelle froze. She never expected Christian to be the one to step up for her.

Clearly, Noelle and Laura Jennings hadn’t expected this either. Noelle, in particular, was so furious she wanted to march over and strangle this meddling little bastard! But she had to hold herself back.

Feigning disappointment, Noelle’s expression dimmed. "Christian, Christian, how could you..."

Laura suddenly snapped out of her shock and shrieked, "Christian Sloan! Look at how you’re behaving! Are you really helping an outsider and scolding your grandmother and your own mother?"

Christian replied coldly, "You know perfectly well whether Miss Noelle Lockwood is my real mother or not, Grandmother. Since we both know the truth, there is no need to keep up this charade."

Laura nearly fainted from anger. "You... you..."

Christian’s words prompted the surrounding onlookers to exchange surprised glances.

Noelle realized things were going south. The only reason the public still treated her as the future daughter-in-law of the Sloan family was because everyone believed she was Christian’s biological mother. She knew she couldn’t let him continue this line of thought, so she hastily redirected the conversation.

"Christian, Mrs. Sloan just let her concern cloud her judgment. Please don’t blame her! Besides, we aren’t trying to target Yara. It’s just... it’s just that she doesn’t have an invitation..."

Christian said coldly, "I already told you. She is Great-Aunt’s guest, and mine as well."

Feigning helplessness, Noelle sighed. "Even so, we still have to follow the rules. And the rule is that no one can enter without an invitation. If everyone acted like Yara, wouldn’t things descend into chaos?"

Christian was struck once again by Noelle’s shamelessness. He pressed his lips together, suddenly feeling a bit helpless. He thought, "This woman is clearly so wicked... Yet Grandpa, Grandma, Dad’s assistant, and even Daddy all say that Noelle risked her life to save me back then, so I have to honor and respect her. How is that even possible!"

Estelle suddenly felt a pang of heartache for him. Christian was only five years old. With a supposed mother like Noelle and a grandmother like Laura, he must have had a very hard life growing up. Stepping forward to shield Christian behind her, Estelle’s eyes turned icy as she fixed her gaze on Noelle’s smug face.

"Since Miss Lockwood insists that no one can enter without an invitation... then may I ask how exactly you got in?"

Laura instantly sneered, "Noelle was allowed in because she has an invitation, of course!"

Estelle asked nonchalantly, "Is that so? Where is it?"

Unable to contain her smugness, Laura put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Are you blind? What do you think is in Noelle’s hands right now? Get lost before you make a bigger fool of yourself!"

It was true. The crowd was utterly confused by Estelle’s angle. Noelle had, without a doubt, used an invitation to get through the door.

But to their surprise, Estelle merely chuckled. "Let me phrase the question differently. Is this invitation... actually yours, Miss Noelle Lockwood?"

A sudden silence fell over the crowd for a few seconds as everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

Noelle’s fingers tightened around the card, but she put on a look of perfect innocence. "Yara, what kind of joke is this? Of course the invitation is mine."

Estelle shot her a sidelong glance and spoke coldly. "Is it? How unfortunate, then, that my invitation mysteriously vanished this morning. Aunt Iris made it explicitly clear that she wasn’t inviting you today. So my invitation goes missing, and you—someone who shouldn’t have one—miraculously end up with one in your hands. How do you explain that?"

Noelle bit her lip. Laura’s heart leapt into her throat, and she immediately raised her voice to mask her guilty conscience.

"What are you implying? Are you saying Noelle stole your invitation? What a load of nonsense! Even if Iris Sloan previously said she wouldn’t invite Noelle, who’s to say she didn’t change her mind?"

Estelle’s lips curled into a smirk. "Since Mrs. Sloan is so confident that the invitation belongs to Noelle, why don’t we ask Miss Noelle to open it up? Let’s see if my name is written inside."

Laura suddenly burst into boisterous laughter. "Hahaha! Estelle Lockwood, you’re hilarious! If you want to impersonate a guest of the Sloan family, you should at least do your research first! The Sloan family’s invitations don’t have names on them!"

The bystanders immediately turned to look at Estelle, their faces alight with the anticipation of a good show. It was true. The invitations they had all received were uniformly produced by the Sloan family and didn’t include names. Anyone who had ever received one knew exactly how they were formatted and designed.

Estelle’s claim that her name was written on it proved she was spouting nonsense. Because every single invitation was identical, it was absolutely impossible for anyone’s name to appear on one!

Laura was overwhelmingly smug. She reasoned that even if they had stolen Estelle’s invitation, it didn’t matter. The girl was utterly brainless anyway, so she only had herself to blame!

Estelle looked calmly at Noelle. "Well, Noelle, do you dare to open it?"

Noelle knew Estelle had no way to prove the invitation was hers. Putting on a helpless expression, she said, "Yara, your name isn’t on this invitation at all... This is my invitation. Wouldn’t I know what’s written inside my own invitation?

"But today is Aunt Iris’s banquet, after all. It wouldn’t be right to cause a scene at the entrance. Since you want to see it so badly, I’ll show it to you.

"However, you have to promise me that once you’ve seen it, you’ll leave. Please don’t disturb the banquet, alright?"

The crowd couldn’t help but marvel at how magnanimous Miss Noelle was. Even though Yara had repeatedly claimed the invitation was hers, Miss Noelle maintained a gentle demeanor and negotiated with her pleasantly. If it were them, they would have kicked Yara out ages ago!

Estelle raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Open it."

Shaking her head helplessly, as if demonstrating boundless tolerance, Noelle brought the invitation in front of her and slowly flipped it open.

"Yara, I’m really not trying to make things difficult for you. Like I said, rules are rules. Those without an invitation simply cannot enter."

Noelle had attended several Sloan family banquets in the past. She knew for a fact that their invitations never featured names. Combined with Laura’s reassurance, she felt completely at ease in this moment.

She thought, "So what if this is Yara’s invitation? If Yara really is Estelle, I’ve already stolen so much from her in the past—what’s one more invitation? Going against me will only result in her humiliation! It was true then, and it’s true now! Whether she is Estelle or Yara, she is nothing but my stepping stone!"

At that thought, the smile on Noelle’s face widened slightly. She looked gentle and helpless, as if perfectly innocent, yet every word that slipped from her lips was designed to push Estelle further into the abyss.

"Yara, if you want to attend a banquet next time, you can tell me in advance. I will definitely try to figure something out for you. But today, I must ask you to please..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the invitation was fully unfolded.

Seeing the glittering gold name stamped on the card, the crowd collectively froze.

"Wait a minute, Yara’s name really is on the invitation!"