Chapter 88: That Person Is the True Heiress of the Lockwood Family, Nathaniel Sloan’s Wife

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: That Person Is the True Heiress of the Lockwood Family, Nathaniel Sloan’s Wife

Noelle Lockwood stood up helplessly. Her eyes were red, and she bit her lower lip, trembling. Looking utterly pitiful, she said, "Miss Yara, I don’t understand what you mean..."

She looked as pathetic as could be. Any man who saw her would not be able to help but feel tender and protective toward her. Unfortunately, the guests were Estelle Lockwood’s friends, and Nathaniel Sloan had never bought into this act.

Estelle’s lips curled into a meaningful smile. "Noelle, didn’t you say you wanted to be my servant and wait on me? Since when do servants eat with their masters? Come, peel these crab shells for me."

Laura Jennings immediately wanted to curse her out, but Nathaniel shot her a cold glance. The words caught in her throat, and she muttered awkwardly, "Nathaniel, she’s going too far..."

"Too far? Could it be that being my servant was just empty talk? Am I actually supposed to put her on a pedestal?" Estelle asked faintly.

Everyone around them looked over. Noelle’s expression twisted. She wanted nothing more than to hack Estelle into pieces! She had just been saying that! How dare this Yara actually treat her like a servant and order her around? Who gave her the nerve?!

But Noelle put on an innocent, fragile facade again. "Mrs. Sloan, please don’t get angry at Miss Yara. I’m doing this willingly... Miss Yara, let me help you."

After all, Noelle was a huge star. Seeing her acting as a servant in the restaurant attracted a lot of onlookers.

As she was peeling the crab, her eyes darted around. Suddenly, she let out a cry, "AH!" The crowd turned to look and saw that the crab shell had cut Noelle’s hand.

Laura said heartachingly, "Is this enough?! There should be a limit to how much you pick on someone. Noelle is injured now. Can you just drop it?"

A light smile lingered on Estelle’s lips. "She’s injured? Is it serious?"

Noelle wept silently. "It’s nothing..."

Laura slammed her chopsticks down with a CLACK. "How could it not be serious?! You made her peel crab shells without even giving her any tools! You made her do it barehanded! Isn’t that going too far?!"

Peeling king crab shells barehanded was indeed painful and made one prone to injury.

Estelle nodded, but merely remarked nonchalantly, "But if I gave her tools, the CLINK CLANK of cracking the shells would be too loud. It would disrupt our meal."

Henry Kendrick’s friends immediately chimed in, "Exactly. She’s just a servant. Why care so much about her?"

"If she were making a CLANG CLANG CLANG noise while we were eating, wouldn’t it be noisy?"

Henry already knew what Estelle was trying to do. He suppressed his heartache, and a cold sneer surfaced on his lips. "Yara, your servant isn’t up to par. Yet you still keep such a useless servant around. You’re too kind-hearted."

Laura’s anger flared through the roof. "All of you, shut up! Nathaniel, you saw that! Even with you here, Yara is making things difficult for Noelle like this! And you’re just going to let it slide? Do you even have any respect left for me, your mother, or for Noelle?!"

Hearing Henry’s words, Noelle felt a vague sense of familiarity, but she couldn’t remember where she had heard them before. She didn’t dwell on it and tried her best to maintain her innocent, pitiable act. "Mrs. Sloan, it’s fine. Please don’t get angry on my behalf..."

Noelle had already secretly contacted her assistant to record this scene and post it online. Although her plagiarism scandal had previously dragged her reputation to rock bottom, she still had a large group of die-hard fans. Once this video of her ’being treated as a servant by Yara’ was released, it would surely evoke sympathy from the general public.

Sure enough, voices sympathizing with Noelle and questioning Yara were already popping up online.

Nathaniel’s eyes were dark and profound. He couldn’t figure out what Yara was trying to do. She seemed to be making things difficult for Noelle, but in reality, this did her own reputation no favors. Instead, it made Noelle an object of public sympathy.

Noelle’s eyes darted around again. While peeling the next king crab, she deliberately cut her hand, and blood immediately gushed out. "AH!"

"Enough!" Laura shot up from her seat and grabbed Noelle’s hand, screeching, "Yara, what exactly are you trying to do?! Noelle is not your servant! She is of noble status. How can she be a servant?!"

The scene instantly fell silent.

Estelle slowly finished a piece of crab meat and elegantly wiped her mouth before casting a sidelong glance at her. "Miss Noelle Lockwood is of noble status and cannot be a servant? However, I’m not entirely sure which aspect of Miss Lockwood’s status is so noble."

Noelle lowered her eyes. Of course, her status was noble. She was the daughter of the Lockwood Family. Wasn’t that noble enough? But she had always portrayed herself as humble in front of outsiders, so she couldn’t say this herself. Fortunately, Laura would say it for her.

Laura frowned, finding Estelle’s words laughable. "She is the dignified eldest daughter of the Lockwood Group, the apple of the Lockwood Family’s eye! How is that not noble?!"

"Ah, so her status is noble because of the Lockwood Group." Estelle nodded and then smiled, seemingly bringing up an irrelevant matter. "I wonder if Miss Lockwood remembers an incident from five years and ten months ago at a socialite gathering. You forced someone to peel king crabs for you barehanded."

Nathaniel paused in his movements.

How could Noelle possibly remember something that happened almost six years ago? She felt that Yara was just looking for an excuse to pick on her!

"It seems Miss Lockwood doesn’t remember," Estelle smiled faintly. "Then let me remind you.

"At the banquet, you brought a woman with you and claimed she was your servant, making her peel crab shells for you. But king crab shells are incredibly hard; peeling them barehanded would definitely make her bleed. Yet, you didn’t allow her to use any tools. You said the CLINK CLANK of the shell-cracking tools was too loud and would interrupt the conversation with your friends."

As soon as those words were spoken, the surrounding crowd’s gazes toward Noelle instantly turned disdainful. When she peeled crab shells barehanded, she cried and whined, subtly and overtly accusing Yara of bullying her. But it turned out that Noelle herself had treated someone else the exact same way.

Laura clearly hadn’t expected this either. Her expression stiffened for a moment before she stubbornly retorted, "You... you said it yourself! That woman was Noelle’s servant! It is only right and proper for a servant to wait on Noelle!"

"Ms. Jennings makes a fair point. If she was a servant and Noelle paid her, then it would be justifiable. But..." Estelle paused. The smile vanished from her eyes, leaving only a pitch-black abyss. "But the ’servant’ Miss Lockwood spoke of at that time..."

Estelle’s gaze swept across the room. Seeking justice for her past self, she spoke with resounding clarity: "She was the true blood of the Lockwood Family, the real daughter who had just returned to the family! And at the same time—"

She turned to look at Nathaniel, emphasizing every word, "She was also Mr. Sloan’s lawfully wedded wife."

Nathaniel’s gaze instantly turned as sharp as a blade, piercing straight toward Noelle!

Estelle’s expression remained indifferent. "Miss Noelle Lockwood, you, a fake daughter, are of such noble status that you cannot serve others. Therefore, the real daughter of the Lockwood Family and Nathaniel Sloan’s wife was fit to serve you. Is that what you mean?"